ShmoopTube

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constitution relief... we get the joke... [Pill falls into glass of water]

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.....okay here we go well a little birdie tells me you've got

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a bad case of Constitution... don't worry I'll add some bra to your

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intellectual diet here most of us have at least heard of the Constitution if

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you haven't run you probably just stepped off the spaceship from Mars [Spaceship crashes into field]

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welcome to Earth by the way... well the Constitution is the founding

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document of the United States it lays out all the principles that have guided

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the US government for the past quarter millennium and serves as a primary guide

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for the supreme laws of the land yet back in the 18th century people didn't [Woman baking cookies]

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just use parchment paper for baking cookies they used it to write some

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really important stuff so yes the Constitution is a big deal

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because it frames our entire system of government and it's helped to make

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America the superpower that it is today and isn't that the bomb... anyway the [TV screen of bomb exploding]

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Constitution is a hugely significant work of historical nonfiction,

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historical nonfiction that's a book that's been gathering cobwebs in an old [Person takes constitution book covered in cobwebs]

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library for hundreds of years right... nice try historical in that it was

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written in the past and you know was based on precepts widely held by the

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framers of the document at that time and nonfiction in that there are no elves or [Girl dressed as elf in a field]

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dwarves or space aliens or young boys training to be wizards or Jedi so in

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this respect it's definitely worth studying in an American literature class

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as any officer of the US Court system will tell you words are important the

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justices on our Supreme Court ie the highest court in the country which is in

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charge of making all sorts of major decision relied daily on the specific [Judge in court]

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wording in our Constitution to make determinations about whether someone or

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something is guilty of violating our most sacred national doctrine well [Dog speaking in court]

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sometimes it's just the difference of a single word here or there that will make

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the difference in a decision there have been some pretty nasty social

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media battles waged over just such a single word so the Constitution in

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addition to providing the nation's unassailable laws serves as an excellent

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illustration of the importance of language so that's why we're here [Magnifying glass inspecting language]

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studying it so carefully would be nice if it had some literal illustrations

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though people anyway let's get a bit of historical context before we begin to

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analyze the text itself how did the Constitution well come to be, who wrote

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it is it available on Kindle well for starters the Declaration of Independence [Jefferson sat with declaration of independence]

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didn't establish any laws at all...It just you know declared US independence

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from Britain who originally owned us it explains why the colonists wanted

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freedom so badly the first semblance of a constitution in

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the US was the Articles of Confederation which was ratified or

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approved in 1781 the same year the Revolutionary War ended..It had some good

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ideas many of which found their way into the current US Constitution but it was [Declaration of independence parts cut out with scissors]

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rough think of it as the first draft of an essay that the framers had to write

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the night before it was due what carried over into the Constitution hmmm this

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stuff limitation of the central government's power like before there was

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a president or a court system Congress could just come up with whatever bill [Men laughing in congress]

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they wanted and boom it was law the establishment of the idea that each

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colony was a sovereign state, the state that could create its own laws as long

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as it didn't violate any federal laws like you can open carry a loaded weapon

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in Pennsylvania but not in New York and of course there's you know Taco Tuesdays

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but with the war ended and everyone kind of settling into their new way of life [Woman with a baking tray]

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with all their newfound freedoms well some problems came to light and suddenly

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the Articles of Confederation seemed awfully shaky and in need of revision so [Paper airplane hits a wall]

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in 1787 a bunch of state delegates got together to powwow hoping for a good 2.0

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they knew they needed a stronger central government one with a system of checks

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and balances in other words they wanted to protect against any one person or

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group of people going power crazy and enforcing their will on everyone else so [North Korea leader holding a rocket]

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the delegates improved upon the Congress established by the Articles of

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Confederation by changing it to a bicameral

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Congress - A bicameral Congress is one with two chambers or houses, one checks

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in on the other to be sure it's behaving in the current US Congress there's both

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a Senate and a House of Representative one house or the other might totally

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love a particular bill but if the other house doesn't love it too well the bills [House of Representatives give thumbs down to bill]

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going to stall and not pass which is why free lifetime passes to Disney World for

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US senators has never become a thing the delegates also decided they needed an

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executive branch of their new government ultimately consisting of a president

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vice president and cabinet of appointed officers to the president that's the

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executive branch well they were over having one of those King thingies but as [Person takes crown off King]

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long as the system of checks and balances was in place they knew it would

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be helpful to have one fella more or less guiding the nation but with a whole

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lot of input from others but we're really just getting warmed up here all

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right we're only through article two well, the Constitution goes on to

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provide rules and regulations for just about every major facet of our [Shmoop-o-lax bottle talking about constitution]

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government a person could think of there's the establishment of the

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judicial branch including the Supreme Court an explanation of the respective

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powers of the state and the federal government the guarantee of certain

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rights and freedoms of the American people provisions for amending or

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changing the Constitution down the road and well you know a whole lot more but

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will save it for you for Civics 101 What we're interested in here is [Person picks up framed copy of Constitution]

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how the framers of the Constitution did their framing who created this

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awe-inspiring enduring, beautifully written text and what was their

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background who was the intended audience what is the Constitution's purpose and

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what was this sense of urgency in writing it did the writers have any

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potential biases or prejudices like journalists do today what was happening

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in the US at the time the Constitution was written but why is the Constitution

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significant and what can we learn about literature by examining it in detail

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okay so let's take these questions one at a time and do our best to answer first

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if you haven't already go ahead and read this sucker it's a bit too long for us [Constitution on paper]

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to slap onto the screen so find a nice quiet nook somewhere come back when

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you're ready.... alrighty first up who created this text

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and what was their background... while the writing of the

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Constitution was truly a joint effort if it was up for an award it would win best [Person holding best ensemble award]

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ensemble hands down there were 55 delegates who attended the Philadelphia

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Convention representing 12 states, a little-known guy you've probably never

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heard of named what was his name oh yes George Washington presided over the

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drafting of the document after politely declining an offer to become the new [Person puts crown on Washington's head]

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king while a few other political superstars including James Madison,

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future 4th US pres and Alexander Hamilton, future duel loser but Tony Award

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winner did their part to steer the delegates [Delegates driving with Madison and Hamilton]

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toward drafting a brand new government rather than merely making a few tweaks

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to be old no kingly oriented one well the framers of the Constitution

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came from a variety of backgrounds but most were serious and highly [Resumes appear on desk]

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intellectual political minds a lot of state governors members of the

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Continental Congress and them likes... right well Thomas Jefferson referred to the

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men gathered yeah sorry ladies, it was men only....

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Most of the writers had taken part in the

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revolution directly so they weren't just a bunch of stuffy guys in suits who were [Man firing rifle]

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afraid to get their hands dirty they've gotten down in the muck and fought quite

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literally for their freedom so yeah they had plenty of skin in the game okay well

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who was the intended audience European soccer fans, socialites in Russia, the

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cast of stranger things no it was the American people the Declaration of

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Independence may have been written as an official view to England and that's a

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fare-thee-well you but by the time the Constitution was written the war was [US flag hoisted]

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long over and freedom for Americans was pretty much in the bag what the country

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still needed though was a solid system of government that would be built to

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stand the test of time and not crumble or fall back into the hands of a monarch [Person plants British flag]

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or dictator years later when times got tough

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well depending on whom you ask we're doing okay so far....

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what's the Constitution's purpose and what was the sense of urgency in writing

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it well the Constitution was written to clearly outline the government's role in

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civilian affairs like saying that it can collect taxes, regulate commerce and

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clean money establish the relationship between the

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federal government and the states like if a criminal flees [Car driving between states]

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from one state to another that state has a responsibility to apprehend and return

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the criminal kind of stuff and Institute all kinds of checks on those in power to

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make sure nobody goes absolutely bonkers with power....well what was the

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sense of urgency though, well there wasn't exactly a you'd better have this

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thing on my desk by Monday sort of vibe to it but the delegates who assembled at [Man demanding constitution on his desk by Monday]

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the convention thought it was awfully urgent they felt that the longer they

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waited to fix the problems they saw in the Articles of Confederation the more [Articles of Confederation wall leaking with water]

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weakened the nation would be and the tougher time it would have finding it

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sea legs.... well you want to do all that you

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can as soon as you can give it the best chance of survival right give her plenty [Baby crying and person gives baby a bottle of milk]

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of milk, keep her warm, check her vitals, wipe that crusty stuff out of her eyes

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shield her from the gangster rap you know, all the usual well you don't want to

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just say put all that stuff on the back burner so you can paint her nails and [Baby's nails painted]

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read her the latest issue of Good Housekeeping which in a roundabout way

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is how our founding fathers felt they knew the US was still nursing and could [Uncle Sam drinking bottle of milk]

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stand to wait a few decades before getting its nails done they knew that

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there were myriad conflicts coming which they couldn't possibly predict they

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wanted a system to be in place give smart flexibility to those who govern so [Walls paved over and leak stops]

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they could adjust on the fly.... next, did the writers have any potential

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biases or prejudices well good question yeah probably I mean everyone has

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certain biases or prejudices don't they yeah well bias isn't always a bad thing [Pete's Pizza store]

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maybe you have a bias toward helping small business owners because well your

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dad owns a pizza parlor or maybe you're prejudiced against someone who demonizes

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women and thinks they shouldn't have equal rights or maybe you're biased [Steam comes out of woman's head]

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against DC Comics because Marvel kicks their patootie....Point being

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everyone has their own stuff they're passionate about or that they value

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above other issues and that diversity of thought and opinion is part of what

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makes democracy work so yeah we weren't in the room but it's safe bet those [Delegate holding the constitution]

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delegates fought and argued and scraped and clawed their way to the Constitution

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that achieved the ideal compromise between everyone's interests by doing so

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they ensured that the founding document would cover and represent a wide swath

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of people and not just the opinions and personality of a single individual

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looking at you there King George the third [King George stood in Britain]

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...next what was happening in the US at the time the Constitution

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was written well a lot but considering the war had ended a half dozen years

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earlier it seemed relatively quiet one major thing that happened however was

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that Congress under the Articles of Confederation enacted to the Northwest

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Ordinance which enabled the government to form new states further out west in

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addition to the 13 original states, so maybe that had something to do with the [Men on horses travelling west]

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urgency the framers of the Constitution felt with regard to getting their new

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federal government up and running what do you think well if the country was

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getting bigger it was only going to get more complex to manage and more [US states entering a machine]

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confusing now it's the time to create the nation they wanted so any new states

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that came along would have to adhere to the already established laws of the

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federal government yeah I can see how that might get the digestive juices

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pumping you're sure I can't interest you in a spoonful and I'm also available

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in tablet form all right suit yourself last question why is the Constitution [Shmoop-o-lax bottle with bowl of bran flakes]

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significant and what can we learn about literature by examining it in detail...

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Since you're taking a literature class after all we should

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probably talk about the Constitution's contribution to American literature and

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not just to American government well here are a few things that might jump

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out at us check out the organization notice how the entire document isn't one

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big block of text if it was it'd be a pain in the derriere to read understand [A censored image appears]

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but framers of the Constitution recognize that human

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brains don't work that way everything is sectioned off in clear easy to

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comprehend bite-sized nuggets each is labeled with its own article or section [Articles and sections highlighted on constitution]

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number which makes it much easier on a legislator or member of the court when

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they have to reference some aspects of our Constitution you know article 1 [Dog in court with judge]

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section 2 boom you're there another thing we notice is the large

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number of capitalized words we wouldn't usually capitalize words like power or

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office or person but the Constitution uses capitalization like it's going out

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of style the fact is to capitalizing non proper nouns was in style back then

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but it's really a way to draw attention to concepts the framers viewed is

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especially important like normally you might blow right past a phrase like "journal[Phrase highlighted in textbook]

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of its proceedings" but when you see the

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phrase each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings it causes you to you

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know sit up and take notice maybe this journal thing is something [Woman reading journal]

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worth my attention it's what it says well not to mention that it makes the

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house feel really good about themselves who wants to have a lowercase Journal of

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proceedings... but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the preamble

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to the Constitution as well well the preamble is this short

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paragraph here that leads into the rest of the document rather than laying out [Preamble of constitution]

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any specific laws or rules the preamble is intended to serve as an introduction

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to all that follows and as the framers way of expressly stating the purpose of

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their Constitution it's super short so let's give it a read...

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It starts right out of the gate with we the people not we the

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politicians or we the statesmen or we the folks with the fancy pens.. the

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writers wanted it to be immediately clear that America was to be a country [Delegates standing together]

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for everyone not just for the rich and powerful like it was when England held

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the reins from there the preamble touches briefly on all the stuff the

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framers of the Constitution thought were most important to establish justice well

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sure there needs to be fairness and equality in all matters to ensure

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domestic tranquility if you want to keep peace and not have your home be a

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continual battlefield to provide for the common defense ie create, maintain a

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military that will keep everyone safe from foreign threats....Thank You NRA to

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promote the general welfare yeah because you don't want your fellow countrymen to

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be sick or dying or starving in the streets and to secure the blessings of [Examples of the framer constitution beliefs]

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liberty at liberty freedom all that good stuff you just got done fighting a war

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over so it should be clear that we're reading a piece of writing that wasn't

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thrown together overnight the framers took four long months to get this puppy

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exactly right every word in terms of the phrase had to be perfect the entire

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document had to be perfect and as any big fan of the US Constitution will tell

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you it is... so now you know more about the [Man celebrating US Constitution wearing a foam finger]

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historical context of the Constitution and should have a better idea about how

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it is contributed so greatly to American literature the drafting the Constitution

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wasn't just a writing project it was a movement on that subject, if you're ever

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having trouble starting a movement of your own well you can give me a call I'm

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always here if you need to you know clear your mind or anything else [Tablet dropped into glass of water and dissolves]

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