Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776
The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 has been described as the most democratic in America and was authored primarily by George Bryan, James Cannon, and Benjamin Franklin.
Innovations of the 1776 Constitution
The 1776 Constitution contained five of the six points of the People's Charter over 50 years before it was written. Some of the radical innovations included:
- Voting franchise for all tax paying free men.
- A unicameral legislature with members elected to one-year terms.
- A thirteen-member Supreme Executive Council to administer the government.
- A judiciary appointed by the legislature for seven-year terms, and removable at any time.
- The provision that all legislation should be held until the next session of Assembly, so that the people of the state could assess the utility of the proposed law.
- A President elected by the Assembly and Council together
- A Council of Censors (elected every seven years) to conduct an evaluation of the activities. They could "censure" actions by the government deemed to have violated the constitution. The Council of Censors was the only body with the authority to call a convention to amend the constitution.
The constitution also made Pennsylvania's official title the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania". This style is used by only four states - Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kentucky.
It is notable that the revolutionaries in Vermont directly copied many of the provisions of the Pennsylvania constitution.
Opposition to the Constitution
The constitution of 1776 met with strong opposition immediately upon publication. In 1777, 1778, 1779 and 1784, opponents of the constitution made unsuccessful attempts to call a new convention to amend the document. Before the sitting of the General Assembly in 1778, opponents of the constitution refused to take the oath to sit as a member, as it prohibited them from seeking amendments to the constitution. They considered this contradictory to another part of the oath, in which they declared they would do everything they could to work for the best interests of their constituents. This withdrawal would have made the Assembly inquorate; to resolve the impasse, the Assembly agreed to hold a referendum on the calling of a new convention. These plans were shelved, however, when a large number of petitioners wrote to complain vociferously about this course of action.
In 1789, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania unconstitutionally called for a new convention, amid fears that the Council of Censors would not provide the two-thirds majority necessary to call the convention.
The convention sat in winter 1789 to deliberate on a new frame of government. Supporters of change were led by James Wilson; the opposing faction was led by William Findley. Those who defended the 1776 constitution agreed not to oppose a new constitution on the proviso that the party supporting change made no public attacks on the old document. The new constitution was adopted in September 1790, and the first elections took place in October 1790. Thomas Mifflin was elected the first Governor of Pennsylvania.