‘Great Compromise’ Bicentennial : 200 Members of Congress Meet at Independence Hall

On a sunny afternoon rich in pomp and pageantry, but overshadowed by a continuing Washington scandal, more than 200 members of Congress traveled here by train from Washington Thursday to celebrate the bicentennial of the “great compromise” that led to the creation of the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The festive afternoon gathering celebrated a plan ratified by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that led to the creation of a bicameral national legislature. More than 5,000 people witnessed the event, which marked the largest bipartisan assembly of members of Congress ever held outside Washington.

Amid fife and drum, marching bands and a profusion of onlookers dressed in Revolutionary era costumes, members of Congress gathered in historic Independence Hall, a brick building where the Constitutional Convention held its many debates. They paid tribute to the 55 convention delegates with speeches and ceremonial resolutions.

Escaping Washington Grind

Many of the senators and House members said they had come with their families to enjoy the colorful spectacle and escape the grind of Washington politics for a four-day weekend. But it quickly became clear that the Iran- contra hearings were very much on their minds.

Asked about the significance of their gathering, 200 years after the Constitution’s ratification, most referred to lessons that had been learned from the scandal and its impact on the nation’s political life.

“If we have learned anything from the last seven months, it is that no one man in this country is above the law,” said House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) “If there is a bottom line to our Constitution, it is that we are a nation of laws, not a small circle of men with a cause.”

Wright stressed that the “genius” of the Founding Fathers was their ability to hammer out compromise and overcome differences “without breaking apart, without trying to take the law into their own hands.”

‘Overcame Their Differences’

In the great compromise, he noted, delegates representing the 13 original states resolved a longstanding dispute over political representation between the heavilypopulated states and those with smaller populations. By creating the Senate, with equal representation for each state, and the House, with representation based on population, the Founding Fathers “averted a crisis that threatened to tear apart the young nation. They sat down as honest men and overcame their differences,” Wright said.

Now, as the Iran arms controversy “raises the specter of those who would deliberately flout the law,” he added, the “wisdom” of that compromise and “the respect for law it symbolizes” is more relevant than ever.

As the congressional train rolled toward Philadelphia, Democrats and Republicans alike expressed concern that the fundamental principles of the Constitution had been challenged in recent weeks, particularly in light of the testimony of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North that he had not told congressional committees the truth about secret aid to the contras.

Points to Recent Events

“What an appropriate time it is for us to redirect our attention to the Constitution, based on what we’ve heard in the hearings,” said Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.). “We’ve heard people testify who sometimes feel that their cause is greater than the limits of the Constitution itself.”

The notion that someone “however patriotic” can lie to Congress or conceal information about foreign policy “is a very troublesome thing, a real challenge to the reality of our Constitution and the need to understand what it means,” he said.

Some members engaged in a spirited exchange over the Constitution’s fine points as the train chugged through the Maryland and Delaware countryside.

Rep. Edward P. Boland (D-Mass.), whose amendment banning federal aid to the Nicaraguan contras sparked much of the current Iran-contra dispute, said the “clear violation” of that law “raises the most fundamental question of all. Do we have laws in this country or a secret government that does what it wants?”

However, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who along with other congressmen filed a lawsuit this week alleging that the Boland amendment is unconstitutional, said Congress had “tied the President’s hands with this law and has no right to do so.”

Sees Celebration as Reminder

Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) said the bicentennial celebration was significant because it is a reminder that democracy, unlike other forms of government, “is very difficult to perfect, and requires vigilance from Congress, from everybody.

“I think we’ve learned in the last few months that, when it comes to protecting the Constitution, all of our enemies are not external. Some of them are right here at home.”

Later in the afternoon, the senators and House members moved across the street to hold separate ceremonial meetings in Congress Hall. As he addressed his colleagues, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), recalled that the Constitutional Convention struggled through many weeks of a long, hot summer 200 years ago to reach consensus but finally brought forth a “birth certificate” for the new nation.

“It was a radical solution,” he said, but it was “based firmly on the rule of law and respect for the law. It is a lesson we must not forget.”