Pennsylvania’s
Constitution of 1776
This is an outline of John
Smilie’s political activity from 1776 to 1790.
This time period covers the life of Pennsylvania’s first Constitution,
the Constitution of 1776.
In 1776, Pennsylvania adopted a new constitution that
has been described as the most democratic in America. …the authors crafted a document that
proclaimed in detail the rights of citizens and expanded the voting franchise
to all tax paying free men. Power resided in a unicameral legislature whose
members were elected to one-year terms. Government was to be administered by a
twelve-member Supreme Executive Council. The Assembly and Council together
would elect one of these men to be President (a position largely controlled by
the Council). A Council of Censors was created whose members were to be elected
every seven years to conduct, for a year, an evaluation of the activities of
the government and to "censure" those actions that were deemed to
have violated the new constitution. Any changes to the constitution could only
be made through this Council of Censors.[i]
The Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission website, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/pa_constitution_of_1776/998585
presents a concise overview of the context and content of the Constitution. I would point out a feature of the Constitution
that they fail to emphasize. The Constitution of 1776 begins by
enumerating the rights of the citizens … and then creates a government
to protect those rights. This sets the
context for John’s future opposition in 1787 to the proposed Federal Constitution
which lacked any statement on the rights of citizens and subsequently had to
be amended to contain a Bill of Rights.
1776
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A delegate from Lancaster
County to the Provincial Conference of Committees of the Province of
Pennsylvania, 18 June 1776 to 25 June 1776, Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, British America[ii]
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1777
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1778
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19 October 1778 Lancaster
County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[iii]
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1779
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14 October 1779 Lancaster
County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[iv]
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1780
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1781
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1782
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1783
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14 October 1783
Westmoreland County elects John Smilie to the Council of Censors[v]
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1784
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12 October 1784 Fayette
County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[vi]
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1785
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* Oct 1785 Fayette County
elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[vii]
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1786
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1787
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John Smilie was a
delegate to Pennsylvania's Ratifying Convention of the Federal Constitution
between 21 Nov and 12 Dec 1787
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2nd Tue Oct 1786 Fayette County elects John Smilie to the
Supreme Executive Council for a three year term 2 Nov 1786–19 Nov 1789[ix]
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1788
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1789
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John Smilie was a
delegate to Pennsylvania's Constitutional Convention 24 Nov 1789 to 2 Sep
1790[x]
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1790
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The Constitution of 1776
was birthed as a result of the June 1776 conference at Carpenter’s Hall. The Pennsylvania Constitution had three
elected bodies, the Assembly, the Supreme Executive Council, and the Council of
Censors. John was elected to each of
these deliberative bodies.
The Radicals that
fermented the Revolution and formed the 1776 Constitution became known as the ‘Contitutionalists’.
The waning years of the Revolution tempered the radical enthusiasm of the populace
and the weak national government under the Articles of Confederation brought
political energy for change in national and state governments. The Contitutionalists struggled to maintain
support while the ‘Republicans’ made electoral gains.
Political labels were
fluid, but generally John would have been identified with the Constitutionalists,
Anti-Federalist, and Jeffersonian Republicans, depending on the era.
Early in John’s political
career he moved from Drumore Township in Lancaster County to Tyrone
Township. When John moved to Tyrone
Township it was in Westmoreland County, but Tyrone Township became part of
Fayette County in February of 1784.
All the while Philadelphia
was Pennsylvania’s capital city, and other than the period that Philadelphia
was occupied by British forces during the war, John would have traveled to and
lived in Philadelphia while serving in his several capacities. The Pennsylvania State House was the seat of
government for the state and the Continental Congress. The state government moved upstairs to host
the Continental Congress until the Articles of Confederation moved the national
government to New York.
John Smilie traveled almost the full length of Pennsylvania to attend sessions.
Travel from Tyrone
Township to Philadelphia would have taken three to four weeks.
[i]
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Constitution
September 28, 1776 http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/pa_constitution_of_1776/998585
[ii] Pennsylvania,
Conventions, Provincial Conference of
Committees of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1776, transcribed proceedings,
UShistory.org, (http://www.ushistory.org/pennsylvania/birth3.html#page4)
original Historical Society of Pennsylvania
[iii] Pennsylvania,
Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1778 October 19
Lancaster County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 219
[iv] Pennsylvania,
Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1779 October 14
Lancaster County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 220
[v] Pennsylvania,
Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1783 October 14 Westmoreland
County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 406
[vi] Pennsylvania,
Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1784 October 12
Fayette County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 193
[vii] Oct
1785 election returns from Fayette County to the Supreme Executive Council do
not report who was elected to the Assembly, but 1785-86 Assembly proceedings
indicate John Smilie was a member
[viii]
Pennsylvania, Conventions, The Debates in
the Convention of the State of Pennsylvania, Thomas Lloyd, recorder, 1788,
retrieved 21 April 2015, archive.org (https://archive.org/stream/debatesofconvent01penn#page/n1/mode/2up),
p.24
[ix] Pennsylvania,
Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, John Smilie
elected Councilor, Fayette, 2nd Tue 1786, Series 6, Vol 11, p 194
[x] Pennsylvania,
Conventions, Minutes of the Grand
Committee of the Whole Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, images,
archive.org
(https://archive.org/stream/minutesofgrandco00penn#page/n5/mode/2up), John
Smilie, p5
