{"id":4140,"date":"2026-07-02T14:35:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/?p=4140"},"modified":"2026-07-02T14:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T19:35:32","slug":"stuff-to-know-about-our-foundational-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capertongillett.com\/blog\/stuff-to-know-about-our-foundational-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuff you really should know about our foundational documents, just in time for July 4th"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alexander Hamilton: Co-author of the Federalist Papers, ridiculous flow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

July 4th is coming up, and while every July 4th is a party, this one celebrates a particularly special anniversary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tenth anniversary of my freelance career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s right, my Independence Day, when I left agency life and ventured out on my own, was July 4th, 2016. I want to say up front I don\u2019t need y\u2019all to make a big deal about it<\/em>. I\u2019d just be happy if you took some time to be with loved ones, maybe grill out if the weather\u2019s nice. I\u2019m not asking for, like, fireworks, or anything (not that I wouldn\u2019t be honored).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it\u2019s also the very, very special celebration of the semiquincentennial of our nation\u2019s founding, which is exciting because \u201csemiquincentennial\u201d is fun to say and because a 250th anniversary is, obviously, a big one. And in honor of such, I wanted to look at some of the foundational documents that got us here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, your girl isn\u2019t just a writing nerd \u2014 she\u2019s also a bit of a history dork, which you can blame on my dad\u2019s History Channel proclivities and my early years in too-close proximity to Colonial Williamsburg. So on this joyous occasion of our nation\u2019s big birthday, I thought I\u2019d drop some context and nuance that could deepen your understanding of our Founders and founding, plus an absolute banger of a gingerbread recipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We almost didn\u2019t have a Bill of Rights.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And we got one because people didn\u2019t trust the U.S. government before there was even a government to not trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitutional Convention wasn\u2019t just a bunch of bros coming together and co-writing a nice foundational document. There was discussion, debate, and disagreement. And five days before the end of the convention, George Mason spoke up and said the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights. This was shot down for reasons, among them that a specific list of protected rights might imply any rights not<\/em> on the list weren\u2019t<\/em> protected (valid), and thus the version of the Constitution sent to the states for ratification was Bill-of-Rightsless.<\/p>\n\n\n

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James Madison: Author of the Bill of Rights, sonorous baritone (could get it)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is where two factions arose. The Anti-Federalists (Mason, Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, others) believed a strong central government would be a threat to individual rights and a president would become as a king, making a BoR necessary to protect us. On the other side, the Federalists (James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, others) argued a BoR was unnecessary for a variety of reasons, chiefly that the Constitution was strong enough as it was and protected all the rights (har) and a list of rights would imply a lack of other rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all this was happening, the states were convening ratifying conventions. Some voted to ratify it as-was, others ratified it with amendments attached, and still others refused to ratify it at all. Even after the Constitution finally passed and came into force, enough states continued pushing back to the point that Madison agreed to write a Bill of Rights to be presented to Congress, including a clause specifying rights not specifically granted to the government were to be retained by the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, yeah, the Bill of Rights exists not because the Founders were so thorough and dedicated they wanted to cover every contingency, but because a bunch of guys said the Constitution was enough to protect us and could never be weaponized against us, and another bunch said, \u201cSorry, you talk a good game, but if you want us to move forward with the founding of this nation, we\u2019re gonna need it in writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We weren\u2019t supposed to get a new Constitution at all, actually.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The delegates were sent by Congress in spring of 1787 with instructions to revise<\/em> the Articles of Confederation, not scrap them and start over. So our nation was founded under a tradition of asking forgiveness rather than permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drafting itself took place in near-total secrecy \u2014 delegates were sworn to silence, guards were posted outside the doors, windows were nailed shut throughout a non-air-conditioned Philadelphia summer, and if you didn\u2019t know those powdered wigs were often made of goat hair, now you know. The idea was to be able to horse-trade and change minds during the drafting process without having to deal with pressure from the people and the press. So, railing against transparency and accountability is also a fine American tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the thought of 55 dudes\u2019 worth of wool coats and sweaty goat hair in an unvented room in July might change your mind about wanting to be in The Room Where It Happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original Declaration of Independence condemned slavery.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his first draft of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson included among the grievances a 168-word passage accusing King George<\/a> of \u201cwag[ing] cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passage was sanded down to its current language during editing, which change Jefferson would later attribute to delegates from South Carolina and Georgia, as well as northern delegates with shipping interests in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which tracks. (I\u2019ll also note, though, that while Britain did forbid the colonists from abolishing slave importation for themselves, I\u2019m pretty sure the king didn\u2019t force you to enslave the 83 people in your household at the time of that writing<\/em>, TJ.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church and state, \u201cThomas Jefferson was a deist,\u201d \u201cEndowed by our Creator,\u201d blah blah blah.<\/h2>\n\n\n
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George Washington: Set example for peaceful transfer of presidential power, way hotter in person<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Oh, I\u2019m going there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on who you talk to, you might be told the Founders were devout Christians all, or, alternately, determined deists. The truth? We had a ton of Founders (55+!), and beliefs varied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n