The First Class on the Constitution
The modern headlines of today never fails to be haunted by the US Constitution
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The House had voted to impeach President Trump.
This is not about the politics of that moment but rather about the first class ever held on the Constitution.
One of the Defense lawyers
in the Senate Trial
on the day of 12 Feb 2021,
mentioned the first class
ever held
on the Constitution.
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I don't know
if they were right or wrong
to bring it up,
but I wanted to know more
about this first class
on the Constitution.
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Imagine such a lecture?
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What could
possibly be taught
to these founders
and writers of the
constitution?
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And who taught this first class?
James Wilson. conducted this first class.
He was a founder himself in the Pennsylvania delegation.
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What could be taught by this James Wilson
who helped craft this constitution too, notably with his proposal about the electoral college?
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James Wilson had already been appointed by President George Washington as a Justice of the Supreme Court in September 1789 and accepted by James Wilson in Oct 1789.
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This class lecture on the Constitution is held in Philadelphia.
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We discuss whether it was held in 1789 as stated by some websites or if it was held in 1790.
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This class has some stellar students in it.
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President George Washington is a student in this class. He has been President for about a year.
Include in this class are some of his cabinet and members of Congress.
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This blog authored and compiled by Jim Moyer 2/12/2021, 9/18/2021
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The First Class on the Constitution:
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James Wilson ,one of the first Supreme Court justices appointed by President George Washington, conducted this class either in 1789 or 1790.
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I had to look that up.
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The Mount Vernon website mentions it was held 15 Dec 1789.
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But was the class held on that date?
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And did the first President
and his cabinet
and some members of the first Congress
attend it?
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Quote from the Mt Vernon website:
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Vice President John Adams,
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson,
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton,
and numerous members of Congress
attended Wilson’s first lecture on December 15, 1789."
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The Mount Vernon website claims this class happened but cites no footnote to confirm. See link 1.
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So does Founders Online corroborate?
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This letter shows Thomas Jefferson was in no such class on that date.
He was in Chesterfield VA (see link 2)
and another letter datelined Eppington which is a Chesterfield plantation (see link 5). confirms this.
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George Washington was in no such class either. He was in New York City. See Link 3.
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George Washington's diary mentions no such class. But diaries are never complete and exhaustive. See link 4.
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However the correct date looks to be 15 Dec 1790.
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According to this website:
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The December 15th lecture was quite the occasion. It was attended by the President, Vice-President, members of Congress, members of the state senate and house, and local dignitaries in the community—in short, by everybody who was anybody.
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So that December 15th date was 1790, not 1789.
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This website states:
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LAW LECTURES. College of Philadelphia, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1790.
The Honorable Judge Wilson’s Introductory Lecture will be delivered this Evening, at 6 o’Clock, in the College Hall; after which there will be a Commencement for conferring Degrees in Medicine. Those Citizens who have received Tickets of Admission from Mr. Wilson are requested to take their Seats in the Gallery, it being necessary to appropriate the lower Part of the HALL to the Accommodation of Congress and other Public Bodies, who are invited. 2
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The "2" footnote refers to its source: Pennsylvania Gazette, December 15, 1790.
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Another website notes this:
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On December 15, 1790, James Wilson stood before “the President of the United States, with his lady—also the Vice-President, and both houses of Congress, the President and both houses of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, together with a great number of ladies and gentlemen . . . the whole comprising a most brilliant and respectable audience,” to present the first in a series of lectures on American law.7 This lecture, which was published as a pamphlet (the only part of the lectures to be published in Wilson’s lifetime), made it clear that Wilson had a grand vision for his lectures.8 Simply put, he hoped to codify American law, thus gaining a place in history as the American Blackstone.
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Do Letters from Founders Online corroborate?
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Founders Online shows GW was in Philly.
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This letter is datelined Philadelphia which puts George Washington at the place the lecture was held on that date, 15 Dec 1790
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This letter puts James Monroe in Philadelphia 15 Dec 1790
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This letter puts John Adams in Philly 16 Dec 1790
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This letter puts Thomas Jefferson in Philly 16 Dec 1790
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SOURCES AND LINKS
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See a collection of the word of James Wilson
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Links on 15 Dec 1790
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This dateline puts GW in Phila.
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This dateline puts James Monroe in Phila.
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This dateline confirms Thomas Jefferson is in Phila. at least the next day 16 Dec 1790
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This letter puts Thomas Jefferson in Philly 16 Dec 1790
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5 links on 15 Dec 1789
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Link 1
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Link 2
Thomas Jefferson thanking GW for appt to Sec of State
datelined Chesterfield
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Link 3
Thomas Jefferson
at Eppington plantation in Chesterfield
Link 4
Link 5
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A different issue - The Electoral College:
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From this source:
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Did James Wilson support the Electoral College?
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Wilson considered both direct and indirect election as forms of “election by the people.” As he phrased it in remarks on July 19, “he perceived with pleasure that the idea was gaining ground, of an election mediately [indirectly] or immediately [directly] by the people.”
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Many writers have missed this point because they don’t know the significance of Wilson’s background. He was born, raised, and educated in Scotland. In England qualified voters chose members of the British House of Commons directly. But Scotland employed a system of indirect election: voters and popularly-elected local councils chose electors (called “commissioners”) who in turn designated their representatives in Parliament. To the Scottish way of thinking, this was a form of “election by the people.”
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Source of above
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See more on the James Wilson and the Electoral College
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