Selling the Constitution

Stodgy critics of the California Bicentennial Commission’s flashy celebration of our Constitution’s 200th birthday would be surprised to learn how the Founding Fathers themselves commemorated its ratification in 1788. It was a boisterous display that would make David Wolper envious.

Philadelphia was the scene of a colorful day-long procession. The ships Federal Constitution and Union were actually mounted on wagons and drawn through the streets by horses bearing on their foreheads the names of the ratifying states. Cannons were fired; the First City Troop of Light Dragoons marched in red, white and blue uniforms; trumpets blared; delegate Thomas Fitzsimons appeared on horseback; a band played a grand march; and a red, white and blue wagon, shaped like an eagle, carried the Constitution itself in a frame crowned with the Cap of Liberty.

But the heart of the parade was an endless procession of citizens. Bowen’s “Miracle At Philadelphia” describes them as “brick makers and clock makers, fringe and ribbon weavers; saddlers and cordwainers; boat builders, sail makers, ship joiners, rope makers, carvers, gilders, coopers, blacksmiths and coach makers, skinners and glovers; goldsmiths and gunsmiths, the brewers and bakers dressed in spotless white; tailors, peruke-makers, barber-surgeons and stay makers.”

There will be ample opportunities to commemorate the Bicentennial in a “contemplative” fashion through books, seminars and conferences. But this is a people’s Constitution and this should be a people’s Bicentennial.

STEPHEN F. ROHDE

Los Angeles