WEBVTT - David McCullough: The Constitution Was Written by Serious People

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<v Speaker 1>This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,

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<v Speaker 1>the show where America is the star and the American people.

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<v Speaker 1>Up next, the story of the creation of our nation's

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<v Speaker 1>governing document and what inspired the men who created it.

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<v Speaker 1>Here to tell the story of the Constitution is the

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<v Speaker 1>late great historian David McCullough at a Constitution Day event

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<v Speaker 1>at the National Archives in two thy eleven. Let's get

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<v Speaker 1>into the story.

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<v Speaker 2>Now. We're talking today about a document that's old by

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<v Speaker 2>our standards, but not old as history goes. Our country

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<v Speaker 2>is not old as history goes. There are cathedrals in

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<v Speaker 2>France and elsewhere in Europe that were built and still

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<v Speaker 2>stand and still evoke responses from everyone who comes there,

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<v Speaker 2>that were built before Columbus ever set sail. We are

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<v Speaker 2>a new society, a new event in history, as old

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<v Speaker 2>as some of it may seem from our point of view. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>another lesson of history is that some people have the

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<v Speaker 2>capacity to see adversity as opportunity. Adversity is often extremely difficult,

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<v Speaker 2>and sometimes tragic and sometimes heartbreaking, but adversity can also

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<v Speaker 2>be an opportunity to change things, to improve, to pioneer,

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<v Speaker 2>to build. And then there's the very real and very

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<v Speaker 2>pertinent lesson of history concerning this subject of this morning,

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<v Speaker 2>and that is that America is a combined effort. Very

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<v Speaker 2>little of consequence is ever accomplished alone. Very little of

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<v Speaker 2>consequences ever accomplished alone. One person may get a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of credit or all the credit, but never is it

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<v Speaker 2>just one person. And this combined effort, many heads in

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<v Speaker 2>many hands, as James Madison said, is the reason why

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<v Speaker 2>the Constitution happened. Now, in the summer of seventeen eighty seven,

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<v Speaker 2>our country was in very bad shape. It was a

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<v Speaker 2>time of turbulence, time of uncertainty, time of worry suffering.

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<v Speaker 2>People were in debt, seriously in debt. Crops had failed

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<v Speaker 2>in many parts of the country. There was deep fear

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<v Speaker 2>and deep unrest. One of the most notable examples of

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<v Speaker 2>that was western Massachusetts, which gave rise to what was

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<v Speaker 2>known as the Chase Rebellion, which was a serious event.

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<v Speaker 2>Thousands of farmers descending on a city of Springfield, the

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<v Speaker 2>armory there to try and get the weapons, being stopped

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<v Speaker 2>by a military force Americans against Americans. Now, it didn't

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<v Speaker 2>come to an awful lot, but it set a tremor

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<v Speaker 2>of fear through the whole country. The problem was the

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<v Speaker 2>federal government wasn't very strong. There really wasn't a federal government.

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<v Speaker 2>We had the Articles of Confederation, We had no chief executive.

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<v Speaker 2>The Revolutionary War was fought without a president. The president

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<v Speaker 2>was the commander in chief, if you will, George Washington,

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<v Speaker 2>So you could see George Washington as not just having

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<v Speaker 2>been president of the United States for eight years, but

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<v Speaker 2>having served more than eight years as commander in chief.

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<v Speaker 2>So in all, he was really the figurehead, the leader

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<v Speaker 2>of our country for sixteen years. And if he had

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<v Speaker 2>not attended the Constitutional Convention, the Constitutional Convention might not

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<v Speaker 2>have succeeded. His presence, His gravitas, his importance, his integrity

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<v Speaker 2>were essential. Now is a great cast of characters who

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<v Speaker 2>met there in Philadelphia in seventeen eighty seven. Five of

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<v Speaker 2>them are worth noting. All of them are worth noting.

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<v Speaker 2>But James Madison, who probably worked harder, very quiet, small man,

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<v Speaker 2>poor health, very intelligent and very dedicated. Alexander Hamilton from

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<v Speaker 2>New York, who was a spectacular talker, a stimulating prodigy

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<v Speaker 2>of a mind, charming charismatic. Ben Franklin, the wise old

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<v Speaker 2>man of the scene of the play. If you will,

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<v Speaker 2>who doesn't say an awful lot during this session, but

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<v Speaker 2>whose p like Washington's, is immensely important. Gouvernor Morris, who

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<v Speaker 2>was tall, handsome, talked more than anybody from Pennsylvania, another

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<v Speaker 2>very important figure. Their meeting in Philadelphia in secret, in

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<v Speaker 2>the same room where the Declaration of Independence was worked

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<v Speaker 2>out and soigned. Many of you, I hope have been there.

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<v Speaker 2>You've seen it. It's not a very large room. It's

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<v Speaker 2>not a vast impressive gathering place, and its importance to

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<v Speaker 2>our story as a country, to who we are and

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<v Speaker 2>what we stand for, could not be greater. One of

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<v Speaker 2>the historians has said that the Constitution is our crowning work,

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<v Speaker 2>was the crowning work of the American Revolution. It was, indeed,

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<v Speaker 2>But keep in mind it is not a crown of

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<v Speaker 2>gold and jewels. It's a crown of words on paper.

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<v Speaker 2>Words matter. What we say, what we profess to believe

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<v Speaker 2>as expressed in words matter not just at the moment,

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<v Speaker 2>but possibly for a very long time to come. The

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<v Speaker 2>pen is a sword. The pen can be a weapon,

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<v Speaker 2>but the pen can also be a magic wand. And

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<v Speaker 2>when you think of what these relatively few people did

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<v Speaker 2>in very little time three months meeting in that room

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<v Speaker 2>with the windows closed because they don't want word to

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<v Speaker 2>get out. Sentries at the windows to keep people from

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<v Speaker 2>coming up and listening in that heat of Philadelphia and

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<v Speaker 2>humidity of the center. This is punishment. But they're working

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<v Speaker 2>in secret, not to keep anybody from knowing, but keep

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<v Speaker 2>the politicians in them, ambitious statesman, if you will, who

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<v Speaker 2>are in that room, from grandstanding, from saying things for effect.

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<v Speaker 2>They're saying things for popularity or to make an impression

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<v Speaker 2>back home. Not their business. Their business is to hammer

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<v Speaker 2>out a document that will stay on the test of.

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<v Speaker 1>Time and when we come back, more of the story

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<v Speaker 1>of the Constitution and the men who wrote it, the

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<v Speaker 1>men who created it. Here on Our American Stories, leeh

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<v Speaker 1>abb Here, host of Our American Stories. Every day on

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<v Speaker 1>this show, we bring you stories of America, stories of us.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's because of listeners like you that were able

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<v Speaker 1>to tell the story of this great and beautiful country

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<v Speaker 1>every day. Our stories will always be free to listen to,

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<v Speaker 1>to our American stories and the story of the Constitution.

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<v Speaker 1>Telling the story at a National Constitution Day event at

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<v Speaker 1>the National Archives back in twenty eleven is the late

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<v Speaker 1>Great David McCullough. When we last left off, we learned

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<v Speaker 1>that the drafters of the Constitution had to spend many

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<v Speaker 1>months away from home in secret to create the document

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<v Speaker 1>that we now all live by in a little stuffy

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<v Speaker 1>room in Philadelphia. Let's return to the story.

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<v Speaker 2>That was asking a great deal of those people three

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<v Speaker 2>months away from home, three months away from their work,

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<v Speaker 2>three months a very hard, concentrated effort under difficult circumstances,

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<v Speaker 2>calling upon their patriotism, not the flag waving patriotism, chest

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<v Speaker 2>beating kind, but the kind of getting down to do serious,

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<v Speaker 2>difficult work in a very serious, worrisome time. But those

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<v Speaker 2>people saw this as our chance to do it right.

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<v Speaker 2>We're going to do it. Let's do it right. What

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<v Speaker 2>they worked out, as I hope all of you know,

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<v Speaker 2>is the basic structure of our government. And that's easy

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<v Speaker 2>to say, and it's easy to say, oh, yes, I

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<v Speaker 2>know that the bicameral legislature, the chief executive and the judiciary.

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<v Speaker 2>What they were really working out is a national government,

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<v Speaker 2>a national government with power, which is the very issue

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<v Speaker 2>that troubles so many people today. So is all of

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<v Speaker 2>this relevant to the world we live in. It certainly

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<v Speaker 2>is every day. Should you understand it, should you think

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<v Speaker 2>about it? Absolutely all the time. We can never know

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<v Speaker 2>enough about the founding fathers as they've come to be known,

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<v Speaker 2>never know enough, and we're learning more all the time.

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<v Speaker 2>It isn't an old story that's been just talked to death,

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<v Speaker 2>and it is again infinitely compelling because of its human

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<v Speaker 2>frailties and human soaring. One of the mistakes people make

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<v Speaker 2>very often is that they read about a success, an

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<v Speaker 2>accomplishment that improves an old problem, that dispenses with what

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<v Speaker 2>was inadequate before, and they think it was a perfect

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<v Speaker 2>job therefore, and that what was there before was inadequate

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<v Speaker 2>and a failure. Now. There is a great deal to

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<v Speaker 2>be said for that point of view, but it's almost

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<v Speaker 2>always not quite complete. The articles of Confederation were weak.

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<v Speaker 2>They didn't have an executive to run the country, taxing power,

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't there power to control diplomatic negotiations for the whole

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<v Speaker 2>country wasn't there on and on, But the Articles of Confederation,

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<v Speaker 2>as weak as it was, got us through eight and

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<v Speaker 2>a half years of the Revolutionary War, the most bloody

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<v Speaker 2>war in our history on a per capita basis except

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<v Speaker 2>for the Civil War. People forget that. And just because

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<v Speaker 2>they wore funny clothes and walked around with wigs on

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<v Speaker 2>and so forth, doesn't mean that they weren't human beings

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<v Speaker 2>suffering all the horrors of war. Isn't just a number

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<v Speaker 2>of people who are killed. It's all the people who

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<v Speaker 2>have been wounded and stricken with disease, and taken away

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<v Speaker 2>from their families for years at a time on terrible

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<v Speaker 2>food and no pay all. Somehow or other, the Articles

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<v Speaker 2>of Confederation in that government that was in Philadelphia managed

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<v Speaker 2>to do it. Also, ironically, the same summer, this tumultuous,

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<v Speaker 2>troubled summer venteen eighty seven, under the Articles of Confederation

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<v Speaker 2>was past. The Northwest Ordinance. Think about this. Think The

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<v Speaker 2>Northwest Ordinance created a new part of the country for

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<v Speaker 2>the future's development. Five states would result from it, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,

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<v Speaker 2>and Wisconsin, a territory bigger than the entire nation of France,

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<v Speaker 2>center of the Great Lakes, one of the most valuable,

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<v Speaker 2>most American places on the map. And they specified there

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<v Speaker 2>would be no slavery before we even had a constitution,

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<v Speaker 2>no slavery in those states, and that there would be

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<v Speaker 2>public education, neither of which would wind up in the Constitution.

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<v Speaker 2>So they were ahead of the Constitution in that respect.

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<v Speaker 2>So to just dismiss the Articles of Confederation as having

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<v Speaker 2>been largely a failure is to not understand what really happened.

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<v Speaker 2>The fact that there was no slavery in those states

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<v Speaker 2>would change our whole history, And of course it was

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<v Speaker 2>admirable in the extreme, the fact that they saw that

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<v Speaker 2>education was essential to our whole system, to its success

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<v Speaker 2>and did something about it, didn't just talk about it.

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<v Speaker 2>Jefferson said, any nation expects to be ignorant and free,

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<v Speaker 2>expects what never was and never will be. But there's

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<v Speaker 2>nothing in the Constitution about that. The other point I

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<v Speaker 2>want to make is that the Constitution isn't a success entirely.

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<v Speaker 2>Martin Luther King put it very well that it was

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<v Speaker 2>a promissory note because it ducked it avoided the issue

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<v Speaker 2>of slavery. The issue with the ultimate lead into the

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<v Speaker 2>worst calamity in the history of our country, the Civil War.

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<v Speaker 2>Six hundred thousand people died because of slavery in that war,

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<v Speaker 2>six hundred thousand people, and that's not counting all the

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<v Speaker 2>people that went home with one arm or no legs.

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<v Speaker 2>We are accountable for what we do. History shows that,

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<v Speaker 2>and we are capable of rising up out of terrible

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<v Speaker 2>troubled times and doing something something thrilling. That is a

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<v Speaker 2>symbol of affirmation. And the Constitution is that even before

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<v Speaker 2>the amendments were added the Bill of Rights, even before

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<v Speaker 2>the fourteenth Amendment was finally added, ending slavery, we keep

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<v Speaker 2>fixing it now. Whether the Constitution should be taken literally

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<v Speaker 2>or should be judged by the temper in the moment

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<v Speaker 2>and the problems of the moment by the jurists is

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<v Speaker 2>continuing issue. The great effort was to find a middle way.

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<v Speaker 2>That's what they were struggling for in that hot broom

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<v Speaker 2>with the windows closed, to find the middle way together.

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<v Speaker 2>And they succeeded in doing it, and it might not

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<v Speaker 2>have gone that way. That's the other thing it didn't have.

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<v Speaker 2>History is never on a track. We're often taught this followed,

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<v Speaker 2>this follow that followed that got to memorize it'll be

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<v Speaker 2>on the test on Wednesday, and therefore it had to

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<v Speaker 2>come out that way. It never had to come out

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<v Speaker 2>any one way or another. And what they achieved at

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<v Speaker 2>Philadelphia was like nothing else that had ever been achieved.

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<v Speaker 2>Words on paper, a constitution on paper, a written constitution,

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<v Speaker 2>still still the law of the land, still part of

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<v Speaker 2>who we are and what we believe. There are only five,

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<v Speaker 2>I believe, colleges or universities or institutions of higher learning

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<v Speaker 2>in our country that require their students to take at

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<v Speaker 2>least one term on the Constitution. Three of them are

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<v Speaker 2>military academies. Now, if you say to someone, do you

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<v Speaker 2>think it's a good idea that officers in the military

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<v Speaker 2>should know the Constitution? Oh, yes, they certainly should. What

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<v Speaker 2>about all the rest of us? What about all of us,

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<v Speaker 2>not just incoming people from elsewhere in the world applying

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<v Speaker 2>to become citizens, to have to take a very good,

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<v Speaker 2>serious test in American history. We all should. It's part

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<v Speaker 2>of our job, part of being a citizen. And it's

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<v Speaker 2>infinitely interesting. I think that everybody should go to Philadelphia

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<v Speaker 2>at some point and go into that room and think

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<v Speaker 2>about what was done. There. Think about those human beings

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<v Speaker 2>and they're frailies. Some of them got in a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of trouble later on, personally or professionally. Some of them peaked,

0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.000
<v Speaker 2>as we would say then, but while they were there,

0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:10.240
<v Speaker 2>they were using the best ability they had. They were thinking,

0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:16.760
<v Speaker 2>this wasn't a sound bite opportunity to be practiced by

0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.920
<v Speaker 2>sound bite rains. These are serious.

0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:27.400
<v Speaker 1>People, and indeed serious people they were, and they were

0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.800
<v Speaker 1>certainly not sound bite people or sound bite minds. It's

0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.480
<v Speaker 1>why we have not the oldest nation, but we certainly

0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.560
<v Speaker 1>have the oldest constitution. Is what those guys did on

0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:43.639
<v Speaker 1>those days in Philadelphia, those sweltering days, was truly a miracle.

0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.160
<v Speaker 1>When we come back more of how the Constitution came

0:17:48.240 --> 0:18:09.240
<v Speaker 1>to be here on our American stories, and we returned

0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.199
<v Speaker 1>to our American stories and the final portion of our

0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:17.280
<v Speaker 1>story on the Constitution and its drafters and signers with

0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:21.239
<v Speaker 1>the late great David McCullough, let's pick up where we

0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:22.480
<v Speaker 1>last left off.

0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.960
<v Speaker 2>Some of them got in a lot of trouble later on,

0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:31.240
<v Speaker 2>personally but professionally. Some of them peaked, as we would

0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.440
<v Speaker 2>say then, but while they were there, they were using

0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:41.119
<v Speaker 2>the best ability they had. They were thinking. This wasn't

0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:47.639
<v Speaker 2>a sound bite opportunity to be practiced by sound bite brains.

0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.080
<v Speaker 2>These were serious people. Now. Most of them, over half

0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.080
<v Speaker 2>of them, were under forty years old. Don't think of

0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.480
<v Speaker 2>them as wise old founding fathers. Some of them were

0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:04.800
<v Speaker 2>like Franklin. Most of them were quite young, but they'd

0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:09.520
<v Speaker 2>had the experience of the war, which did not make

0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:17.639
<v Speaker 2>them anything but versed, steeped in the realities of tragedy

0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:24.040
<v Speaker 2>and accomplishment and courage and faith. Look at the First

0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.719
<v Speaker 2>Amendment alone, for example, what would we be without that?

0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.520
<v Speaker 2>Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press.

0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.360
<v Speaker 2>What does that mean? It means freedom of expression, freedom

0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:43.000
<v Speaker 2>to use your mind, freedom to have ideas. One historian

0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:47.159
<v Speaker 2>is called history the inexhaustible storehouse of ideas. Think of

0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.920
<v Speaker 2>it as that. Don't think of history as memorizing dates

0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:56.200
<v Speaker 2>or quotations from great pronouncements. You can look those things

0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:59.040
<v Speaker 2>up in a book. Think of it as an adventure.

0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.800
<v Speaker 2>Think of it as a human, unfolding, human story of

0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:09.720
<v Speaker 2>infinite interest, in which more happens that is unbelievable than

0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:15.000
<v Speaker 2>happens in most works of fiction. The truth is often

0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:20.359
<v Speaker 2>much stranger than fiction, and more illuminating, and fortunately a

0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.880
<v Speaker 2>great deal of it has been superbly written down the ages.

0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:29.679
<v Speaker 2>Those people are all teaching us something, and they're asking

0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:31.960
<v Speaker 2>us to get to know them better and to get

0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.840
<v Speaker 2>to know what they went through to achieve what they

0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.960
<v Speaker 2>did in difficult times. We just celebrated the tenth anniversary

0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.560
<v Speaker 2>of the attack on the World Trade Center and on

0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:47.160
<v Speaker 2>the Pentagon here, and I remember vividly I was here

0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.200
<v Speaker 2>when it happened. People on television elsewhere in the press

0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.960
<v Speaker 2>saying this the darkest, most difficult time we've ever been through. Well,

0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.640
<v Speaker 2>it is indeed a very dark and very difficult time,

0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.520
<v Speaker 2>but we have been through worse. And one of the

0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.240
<v Speaker 2>values of history is that it keeps it makes impossible,

0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:09.480
<v Speaker 2>helps you to keep the dark times in proportion. Other

0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:13.000
<v Speaker 2>people have faced as difficult or worse, and look what

0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.679
<v Speaker 2>they did. That should be an inspiration. The story of

0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.520
<v Speaker 2>the writing of the Constitution of our country should be

0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.919
<v Speaker 2>an inspiration to us. Now. It's very important that we

0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:28.480
<v Speaker 2>know what they wrote. But I want to stress one

0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:32.520
<v Speaker 2>more thing. It's very important that we know also what

0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:38.960
<v Speaker 2>they read, because we are what we read. What were Washington, Jefferson, Franklin,

0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:43.639
<v Speaker 2>John Adams Jefferson. What were they reading when they were students?

0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:49.679
<v Speaker 2>What were they reading through life? From which writers? Which

0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.520
<v Speaker 2>words were they taking inspiration? One of them we know

0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.679
<v Speaker 2>was Alexander Pope, the great English poet, and his eg

0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:05.280
<v Speaker 2>is LG. A Man. Act well, you're part there, all

0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:09.520
<v Speaker 2>the honor lies. They all knew it, they all quoted it.

0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:14.160
<v Speaker 2>What's that mean? Act well, you're a part history, Luck, fate,

0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.040
<v Speaker 2>God choose about how you wish to say. It has

0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:22.359
<v Speaker 2>cast you in a role. Play it the best you can.

0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:33.320
<v Speaker 2>Why for money, No for power, no celebrity, no honor.

0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:39.560
<v Speaker 2>We don't hear much about honor these days. Act well,

0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:42.399
<v Speaker 2>you're part. They're all the honor lies. Now that doesn't

0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:44.160
<v Speaker 2>mean they always were able to do that, but they

0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:48.840
<v Speaker 2>were striving for that objective. And if you understand that,

0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.040
<v Speaker 2>you can understand who they were and why they were

0:22:52.160 --> 0:23:00.080
<v Speaker 2>the way they were a great deal more Scincly, in

0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:06.520
<v Speaker 2>seventeen seventy nine, a full eight years before the Constitutional Convention,

0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:15.239
<v Speaker 2>Massachusetts passed its constitution. And the Constitution of Massachusetts was

0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:19.280
<v Speaker 2>not just a harbinger or a preview of what was

0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.919
<v Speaker 2>to come in the national Constitution. It was a model.

0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:29.680
<v Speaker 2>Everything has its antecedents. Everything has some hint, some forecasts

0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:34.679
<v Speaker 2>in previous times, and in this Massachusetts Constitution is a

0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:38.320
<v Speaker 2>clause a paragraph written by John Adams. John Adams was

0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:42.760
<v Speaker 2>not in Philadelphia, nor was Jefferson, as I'm sure you know,

0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:47.239
<v Speaker 2>because they were serving as diplomats in Europe, but they

0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.600
<v Speaker 2>were reacting to it. They were keenly interested in all

0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:53.640
<v Speaker 2>the latest news. When the word came through that had

0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:58.200
<v Speaker 2>finally been passed, Adams wrote immediately to say, it's marvelous.

0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:02.000
<v Speaker 2>It's a tremendous accomplishment, but it needs a bill of rights.

0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:04.919
<v Speaker 2>Jefferson did not say much about needing a bill of

0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:08.320
<v Speaker 2>rights for quite some time, but eventually came around seeing

0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:11.399
<v Speaker 2>it that way. But the paragraph that Adams wrote for

0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:14.600
<v Speaker 2>the Massachusetts Constitution is the note I would like to

0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:19.280
<v Speaker 2>conclude my remarks to you this morning on When he

0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:21.639
<v Speaker 2>wrote it, he was sure that it would be rejected,

0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:25.359
<v Speaker 2>but he just had to do it ease his own mind.

0:24:26.280 --> 0:24:31.080
<v Speaker 2>It was passed unanimously and is still part of the

0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:35.640
<v Speaker 2>Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Wisdom and knowledge, as

0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:39.200
<v Speaker 2>well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people,

0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:43.840
<v Speaker 2>is necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties,

0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:48.400
<v Speaker 2>and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages

0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:52.920
<v Speaker 2>of education in various parts of the country and among

0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:58.080
<v Speaker 2>the different orders of people, in other words, everybody. It

0:24:58.200 --> 0:25:04.240
<v Speaker 2>shall be the duty, the duty of legislators and magistrates,

0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:08.439
<v Speaker 2>in all future periods of this Commonwealth to cherish the

0:25:08.640 --> 0:25:14.160
<v Speaker 2>interests of literature and the sciences in all the public

0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:20.800
<v Speaker 2>schools and grammar schools for the promotion of agriculture. Now

0:25:20.840 --> 0:25:28.840
<v Speaker 2>listen to this list. It includes everything virtually for the

0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:35.560
<v Speaker 2>promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a

0:25:35.640 --> 0:25:39.800
<v Speaker 2>natural history of the country. To countenance and inculcate the

0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:46.480
<v Speaker 2>principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity,

0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:55.560
<v Speaker 2>industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings, sincerity,

0:25:56.359 --> 0:26:01.320
<v Speaker 2>good humor. There shall be good humor, all all social affections,

0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:07.120
<v Speaker 2>and generous sentiments among the people. Who could write anything

0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:12.639
<v Speaker 2>like that today and get it passed. His faith and

0:26:12.840 --> 0:26:20.360
<v Speaker 2>education was that as the bulwark of society. When he

0:26:20.520 --> 0:26:26.960
<v Speaker 2>was a young man, he wrote the following. John Adams

0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:30.120
<v Speaker 2>was a farmer's son. John Adams was the only founding

0:26:30.160 --> 0:26:34.200
<v Speaker 2>father who never owned a slave as a matter of principle.

0:26:36.080 --> 0:26:38.199
<v Speaker 2>He was twenty five years old when he wrote in

0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:43.280
<v Speaker 2>his little diary, I must judge for myself, But how

0:26:43.320 --> 0:26:47.480
<v Speaker 2>can I judge? How can anyone judge unless his mind

0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:51.760
<v Speaker 2>has been opened and enlarged by reading. And on that

0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:55.200
<v Speaker 2>I closed my remarks, and thank you very much.

0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:02.440
<v Speaker 1>And you've been listening to the late great David McCullough

0:27:02.880 --> 0:27:06.760
<v Speaker 1>telling the story of the Constitution back in twenty eleven

0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:10.600
<v Speaker 1>at the National Archives, and he said something so interesting.

0:27:10.640 --> 0:27:13.480
<v Speaker 1>To talk about what they wrote, We had to talk

0:27:13.520 --> 0:27:16.600
<v Speaker 1>about and have to talk about what they were reading,

0:27:17.240 --> 0:27:20.240
<v Speaker 1>the story of the Constitution, and in the end, the

0:27:20.320 --> 0:27:24.119
<v Speaker 1>story of us here on our American stories.