because he is his friend. q&a,ncer: tonight on randall eliasson talks about the ongoing trial of bob menendez and other political corruption cases. tonight at 8:00 eastern on q&a. each week, american artifacts takes viewers into historic sites across the country. up next, we visit the national constitution center in philadelphia. rare early several drafts of the constitution. welcome to the constitution center. this is the only institution in .merica charted by congress

i am so excited to show you a new gallery we have opened. american treasures, which contain the five rarest early drafts of the u.s. constitution. constitutional convention were these five drops displayed in the same place. now thank you to be great partnership of the historical society of pennsylvania and david rubenstein, we have been able to open this gallery and tell the story of the evolution of the text of the constitution into the draft that was ratified in 1787. it is so exciting. let's go inside and take a look. ways, this gallery tells the story of the underappreciated hero of the constitutional convention, james

wilson. you have all heard of james madison, and hamilton, and washington. james wilson was the intellectual architects of the behind thethe idea constitution. that we do people have the sovereign power. that was the big idea and eventually the preamble of the constitution. it was not the way things started when the delegates came to philadelphia to draft the constitution. they came as individual sovereign states. wilson who had served in the wanted aal congress, stronger central government and president elected by the people. we the people of the united states as a whole are sovereign. not the people of individual states. that brilliant idea was what

lincoln invoked when he insisted that the south had no authority to secede without the consent of the people of the u.s. as a whole. even the foundation of the idea , in this amazing gallery, we will see the evolution of wilson's tract. we're about to see wilson's draft. .e was born in scotland he went to saint andrews university. study ato america to ben franklin's college. he served in the continental where he became concerned that the central government did not have strong enough powers. he was of -- he was originally concerned with independents. his mind and became a strong supporter. he was anti-slavery. he was a pennsylvania delicate for the constant -- for the

convention. wilson and madison were the two aryl national -- intellectual members of the convention. that the people mobs anderate into popular passions have to be checked in order to ensure direct democracy does not degenerate. wilson and madison had a big debate. wilson was a distinguished supreme court justice. we're about to see the very first draft of the constitution written by james wilson. now we are going to see the rarest draft of the u.s. constitution in american history. the very first draft.

many of us know the copy in the national archives. .hat was the final copy every important document has a first draft, and this is it. july 24, 1787.on the constitutional convention begins on may 25. the edge us the constitutional center is 525, which is like may 25. two months later, it was the first time the committee created this draft. how did it and appear? it belongs to the historical society of pennsylvania. 1789, theon died in year the bill of rights was proposed. he gave this document and other son, bird wilson. he died in 1859, and gives it to his relative, and she gives it

to the historical society of pennsylvania. they had it for a long time. all of these documents are here at these historical society, wouldn't it be wonderful if americans across the country could see them? thehey are being blind to constitution center to be displayed on a long-term loan. look at wilson's beautiful handwriting, which is still legible. let's pause for a second and think about how exciting this is, the first time anybody sat down to look at the constitution, they saw this draft. there are significant parts about it. .here are is no preamble thanks to wilson, the final drafts would begin with "we the people.

there are three separate ranches of government. those with the first words of the first draft. congress does not have specific powers listed. it says congress can make laws for the general interest of the union. the presidential term is six years. there is a single term for the national executive. we can look at wilson's handwriting, we want all of you viewers to be able to study the evolving text of the constitution. so you can learn from it and see how it evolved. that is why we have created this great online tool. after you finish watching the show, we have it here on our touchscreen. center.org. this is basically the printed

version of each of the texts we display here. we are talking about the july 24 version. you can now see these are the very first words of the u.s. constitution. the government of the united states will have three branches. let's remember that it has three branches. the second branch, the legislature of the u.s. consists of two branches. that was a huge struggle. they spent months at the convention disagreeing. then there was a crucial question about how the two branches would be elected. virginia said we want popular elections. small states like new jersey said, no, we want each state to

have two representatives. roger sherman, the connecticut compromise, decided to mix and match. the senate has two representatives per state. the first branch should be elected by the people, the second branch should be chosen by the individual legislatures. 17th amendment, it was the state legislators not the people who chose senators. drafts compare how the change. there is no preamble in this draft. the infamousthat compromise that allowed the states who were determined to preserve slavery to accept the constitution.

3/5 of all other persons, to tax the states. repealed, no longer relevant by the 13th amendment which abolishes slavery. the 3/5 coppermine is in the early draft. this is going to change a whole bunch of times. we see the senate appoints supreme court justices. now of course the president appoints them. the first draft had only the senate. processes are unclear how they should be passed. september 12, they come up with a process to amend the constitution. it does not have the vetoes of ratification. ae framers are proposing

constitution, but it is not until it is ratified that it achieves the status of supreme law. the first draft says there should be ratification because the people choose represent -- representatives. do people are sovereign, the constitution can only be ratified in our name. our right to govern comes from god or nature, not from govern. we have a right to abolish government whenever it fails to protect citizens. thee are spelled out in bill of rights. that is represented by the ratification process. the ultimate contribution of james wilson, the preamble.

let's look at the second draft. we're going to see for the very first time the constitution expresses the idea of we the people. see there going to second draft, also written by james wilson. this was written august 3, 1787, after a 10 day break. the committee of detail, which was a geographically diverse group. amazing to read. also to see how dramatically the constitution is evolving. the most important evolution in the second draft is wilson's immortal preamble, we the people of the states of new hampshire, massachusetts, rhode island, and so forth.

name all of the individual states? some thought it was a vestige of a time where we the people of the states were sovereign, others think it was just to signal how many states were ratifying. language of the individual states is left out of the final draft. let's check out the text. it is so exciting to compare the evolution of the preamble. let's go back over here to the great interactive. you can check it out online. the is the manuscript of committee. there is the original preamble. of the states of new hampshire, connecticut, and etc.. in a,

it does not have the inspiring language about establishing justice. it just says, ordain and establish the following constitution. let's scroll down a little bit. , the name shall be the united states of america. isn't that exciting? the first time that we see on paper the words united states of america. we now have a short preamble. congressional powers getting specified. congress has the power now to declare war.

later, the president took a greater role. this is important to defining congresses power. mentioned the continental congress only has specific powers. the u.s. constitution gives congress the flexibility to pass laws necessary and proper to carry out its powers. the scope remains debated today. the senate has treaty making and ability to appoint supreme court justices. still the president has no role in these duties. the election of the president. look at this. there is an election where the president is chosen by the legislator. legislature. that was james madison's idea. he fears a directly elected president or a president who

communicates directly with the people would be an invitation for tierney. he wants the president elected by the legislature. wilson objected. he said, no, we need an election by the people. the electoral college was a compromise. the title for the president shall be his excellency. by ballot bylected the legislature. haspresidential term expanded to seven years. the president is limited to one term. the framers do not want to encourage executives to seek favor with congress. they think he will be independent if he has a single seven-year term. we begin to see the outlines of an amendment process.

congress can call another convention. that is in the final version of the constitution. that is even there today. that remains part of the constitution. and ratification, we have more information about ratification but a blank space for the number of states needed to approve ratification. crucial. the constitution, the ratification process specified even in the second draft, is illegal according to the ratification process. the article says it can only be all 13 states. this provision says a certain number of states but not possibly the whole would be sufficient to write -- to ratify the constitution.

it was illegal because framers were invoking their natural law. they insisted they could choose a ratification procedure that was illegal according to the existing methods of ratification. all of that, just in the second draft. now we are in early august. let's now move further along in august and see the next draft. the preamble that we know and revered today. we the people of the united states. let's go see it now. welcome to track three of the constitution. september 12, 1787, five days before the constitution is proposed. a lot of really important changes are being made at the last minute.

these changes come out of the committee of style. that is a committee with an elegant name and impressive group of members. , jameser hamilton , and morris. morris was an oppressive delicate from pennsylvania. he was a beautiful stylist. he was responsible for the crucial stylistic change in the u.s. constitution, which is in this draft of the committee of the preamble says we the people of the united states. of the statesple of rhode island, etc.. why did it change? some say it is merely a stylistic change the framers did

not know which states would ratify. others disagree and say the tangible expression of james wilson's believe that we the people as a whole are sovereign. not the individual states. there are another series of important changes. congressional power is altered. now has the power to declare rather than make war. the presidential term is four years. plus, it is election by the electoral college. that is the compromise wilson wanted. the electoral college was considered a group of wise delicates who would know the best candidates who could exercise independent judgment and choose the finest

candidates. then we had the growth of the party system. by jacobt is signed broom, a delegate from delaware. it includes his notations. section eight,e the powers of congress. made a joint ballot appointed treasurer. instead, it says congress has the power to collect taxes. they are justand cutting and pasting and scratching words out. let's go back to the interactive. let's look at other changes.

here we are at the text of the document we just saw. which isd the preamble evolving. we the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and insure domestic tranquility, permit general welfare, do ordain this constitution for the united states of america. even on this draft, jacob bloom outstood -- has scratched to sentences. there are some other fascinating annotations. you can check them out online. senate the idea that the .- for the benefit of quakers

the manner of holding elections, congress can make regulations except for the place of choosing senators. let's look at other changes on the side. we have talked about this change in the preamble, and also the aim of forming a more perfect union. the power to has make trees and appoint supreme court justices along with the sentence -- along with the senate. almostndment process is fully spelled out. congress can propose amendments. have -- we saw a version of that in the earlier draft. three quarters of the legislators are state

dimensions. inification says the people nine states are enough to ratify. we are almost there. it is the time for constitution day, september 17. we are going to see the u.s. constitution. it is constitution day, september 17. we have the final version of the constitution, which is printed for the delegates to debate and share with congress and the states. how exciting to think that this is arguably more constitutionally significant than the one in the national archives. this is the copy the delegates themselves debated and ultimately we the people debated and decided to ratify.

upstairs, we have a copy printed in the pennsylvania packet newspaper two days later. that draft, widely circulated among people, was the most dramatic expression of the people's ability to ratify. changes at the last minute. 25 through september 17, the entire constitution is drafted. it is important it is done in secret. the waiter look low. -- the windows are closed. there are no leaks. changes at thet last minute. three veto overrides. the number of people necessary to override is lower.

imagine how hard it would be to override with three quarters. two thirds of the state legislators can ask for mention. article five says an amendment can never deny a state equal representation in the senate without the state's consent. students love having -- law students love having debates about whether or not it is an un-amendable part of the constitution. let's inspire ourselves patriotically by returning to the text and seeing the final tweaks in the last draft of the constitution. here is the final raft. -- here is the final draft. here is a final change.

representation in congress. originally, it says there can be no more than one representative for every 40,000 people in the house. now it is less. to number was changed 30,000. the other delegates unanimously agreed. online, you will see the very first amendment to the constitution that was proposed by not adopted in what became the bill of rights said there should be one representative in congress for every 30,000 people. bethat ipass, there would 4000 congress people today. this is the framers final to appoint allow inferior officers without the senate's approval.

that is the source of the presidents power. without that, it would be very hard for presidents to get anyone appointed. another detail, a call for unity. very important on constitutional day. ben franklin, on the last day of the convention, encourages unanimous support of the constitution. he proposes the final text that says by the unanimous consent of the u.s. three delegates present refused to sign. you can see them by going upstairs. in the back of the room are the three who refused to sign. massachusetts.

edmund randolph of virginia, and george mason of virginia. he refused to sign the constitution because it did not contain a bill of rights. said a bill of rights would be unnecessary or dangerous. i necessary because the constitution itself is a bill of rights. since congress has no right to infringe states -- to infringe free speed. dangerous because people might assume if the right was not written down, it might not be protected. to try to reduce things to a single list would be folly. madison changed his mind. he was a practical politician. he came to support the adoption

of additional amendments to prevent further abuse of powers. we are now going to do in this we have been, seeing these rare drops of the constitution. we are now going to see the first public printings of the bill of rights. we will see how madison's original 19 amendments were whittled down to 10. let's go seals now. now.t's go see those we're about to see the first 19 amendments proposed. 10 were ratified, known as the bill of rights. the 19 appear in the gazette of the united states on october 3,

1789. you can find them online at the interactive constitution. this is a new online tool that has been launched. can click on any provision of the bill of rights and see the liberal and conservative disagreeing and agreeing. you can click on any parts of the bill of rights. when madison made this list of 19, he did not make it out of thin air. he had the state constitutions like george mason's virginia at declaration and the massachusetts declaration. all of them had bills of rights. those tout and paste create the original list of 19. there is one that madison thought was the most important. here it is.

no state shall violate the equal rights of congress -- of conscious or trial by jury in criminal cases. this is revolutionary. saysinal bill of rights congress should make no law. it does not say the states should make no law. madison thought these basic rights of conscience and freedom of press were so fundamental that states and congress should not be able to abridge them. madison lost that battle. war to passcivil the 14th amendment, which has been construed today as applying the bill of rights against the states. is federal government prevented from abridging human rights.

order thatted in the the provisions were supposed to be inserted into the constitution. first, a declaration that all power is originally driven from the people. andgovernment is instituted ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people. the enjoyment of life and property,nd acquiring and the pursuit of happiness. the people have an unalienable right to reform and change their government whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purposes of the institution. that is astonishing. that sounds like our declaration of independence. it sounds like the second sentence.

whenever government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the duty of the people to abolish it. it is so synchronistic. two of these documents were mobilezing wilson's on a rights that come from god. it did not pass, but the right was embodied in the constitution and article five. go online. check out the interactive constitution. check out the evolving texts of the five drops. come to the national constitution center. people can unite around this amazing document of human freedom. how exciting. what a privilege it is to share

with you the five rarest tracks of the constitution. thank you to the historical and theof pennsylvania friends. happy constitution day. you can watch this or other programs at any time by visiting our website. >> c-span is learning more about the area's history. up next, we take you inside the state house for a tour. >> we are standing in the new