You Are There: The Framing of the U.S. Constitution
H&G12-10-Mon3
Stephen Messinger
This course will take place virtually on Zoom. Participationrequires a device (ideally a computer or tablet, rather than a cell phone) with a camera and microphone in good working order and basic familiarity with using Zoom and accessing email.
September 9 - November 18
(No Class October 14)
The United States is governed by a constitution that has seen only 27 changes in over 220 years. The document when written was as revolutionary as the war we fought for independence. A small group of highly educated men from twelve newly independent states differed greatly on what this new document should say but agreed on the country’s need for one.
The course will set the stage for these men to meet during a hot, humid Philadelphia summer. We will put ourselves back 220 years to comprehend the pressures, issues and concerns they faced. We will relive the months of debates, arguments, near break-up and the ultimate emergence of a miracle. Though passed in Philadelphia, the constitution had to overcome heated disagreement among the States to get ratified. We will review both the 27 amendments that have been ratified and the six that were submitted to the states but not approved. The class will also have the opportunity to choose by voting what they believe should be the 28th Amendment.
More lecture than facilitated discussion.
Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787 by Catherine Drinker Bowen.
Weekly preparation should be 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Steve Messinger has degrees in chemical engineering from Columbia University and spent his career in technical marketing of membrane processes to the pharmaceutical, dairy, and water industries. During his travels, plane time gave him the opportunity to read, become interested in, and finally passionate about history. While he has read widely on all Western history, he has had an ever-growing fascination with the formation of this country. He has read extensively and hopes to transmit some of the passion he has developed. This will be his twentieth opportunity to be an SGL.