Civics In A Year
What do you really know about American government, the Constitution, and your rights as a citizen?
Civics in a Year is a fast-paced podcast series that delivers essential civic knowledge in just 10 minutes per episode. Over the course of a year, we’ll explore 250 key questions—from the founding documents and branches of government to civil liberties, elections, and public participation.
Rooted in the Civic Literacy Curriculum from the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University, this series is a collaborative project supported by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Each episode is designed to spark curiosity, strengthen constitutional understanding, and encourage active citizenship.
Whether you're a student, educator, or lifelong learner, Civics in a Year will guide you through the building blocks of American democracy—one question at a time.
Civics In A Year
The Silent Architect: Washington's Crucial Role in Crafting the Constitution
George Washington's crucial role at the Constitutional Convention goes far beyond simply presiding over the meeting, serving as the vital legitimizing force that made radical constitutional reform possible. Washington championed constitutional reform as early as 1783, recognizing the Articles of Confederation's fatal weaknesses and advocating for stronger central government while maintaining his reputation as a defender of liberty.
• Washington's personal credibility was essential to the Convention's legitimacy, especially with Rhode Island refusing to participate
• His daily attendance and enforcement of the secrecy rule created conditions for honest, productive deliberation
• Washington rarely spoke during debates but influenced proceedings through his presence and private conversations
• His close relationship with James Madison was pivotal, encouraging Madison to develop the Virginia Plan
• Washington's support made a strong executive presidency politically viable by assuring Americans it wouldn't lead to tyranny
• On the final day, Washington broke his silence to successfully advocate for a more democratic House of Representatives
• His leadership style combined restraint with strategic influence, embodying the constitutional principles being established
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Welcome back everyone. Today I get to talk about somebody I really, really admire and love as a historical figure, and I get to do it with one of my favorite scholars, dr Grace. So, dr Grace, welcome back, thank you, Liz, Today we're talking about George Washington, so can you talk to us about the role that George Washington plays at the Constitutional Convention, the role that George Washington plays at the Constitutional Convention.
Speaker 2:Thank you, liz, another great question you've posed. Of course Washington is famous in a certain way not as famous and well-loved now, 250 years after the founding, as he was at the time and for much of the 19th century. But he does still have the title of the founding father for those of us who pay attention to him and admire him. But this is a role, his important role at the Constitutional Convention itself in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, that we don't pay much attention to, even those of us who are fond of George Washington and admire him. And there are good reasons for that.
Speaker 2:James Madison is known is given the sort of honorary title, the father of the Constitution. He's absolutely crucial at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. His notes, published long, long later because the deliberations were secret it was a rule of secrecy give us the most full account of what happened at the Constitutional Convention. So all praise to James Madison and he deserves the title of Father of the Constitution. And then, of course, there are other delegates we know from not just Madison's notes but other notes, who spoke a lot and played crucial roles. Even if they weren't in the open debates, they perform crucial committee roles Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson and Roger Sherman, et cetera. So we tend to overlook this because in the notes Washington doesn't say a lot, say a lot. So give me a moment here to explain why, and I'm going to cite a scholar from Yale University, akil Amar, constitutional law professor, who makes the argument Washington is as important as Madison for producing the 17th century 87 constitution and akil margaret this constitution, not madison.
Speaker 2:I think that goes a little too far. So my way of phrasing it is james madison is the father of the constitution, george washington is the father of our constitutionalism, because washington was thinking about the need for a new constitution and we know explicitly from his writings, at least from 1783, once the war for independence is won, once he can step down and retire. So in a way, washington's first farewell address is his circular letter to the state governors. This is a phrase that was used. Same letter sent to all the 13 state governors, his final one in 1783. And in that letter it's a kind of farewell. He's going to resign his commission, which is a hugely momentous thing. He's not going to become Cromwell, you know, the advocate of Republican liberty in England who then becomes Lord Dictator, right, he's not going to become a Julius Caesar Later. We would think he's not going to become a Napoleon right Just after.
Speaker 1:Washington's lifetime.
Speaker 2:He's going to resign as the victorious general. He's going to resign from public affairs and not threaten liberty. He's just fought a revolution for liberty. So this is a big, big deal in 1783. But he says I owe it to you, you, the governors and your state legislatures to give you some parting advice. And the main theme is we need a real constitution. The Articles of Confederation is too weak, we don't really have a government in the center. And he's basically saying we nearly lost this war for independence because we had no real government in the middle. They couldn't tax, they couldn't coordinate and regulate, they couldn't organize public support, et cetera, et cetera. So that's the beginning of the constitutional reform movement that leads to the 1787 Constitution.
Speaker 2:Then there's a crucial role he plays in the middle. These two young guys, one named James Madison, the other named Alexander Hamilton, are in the Confederation Congress. There's only one body under the Confederate, it's just a single body, congress, and there's no president, there are no courts, there's no executive, et cetera, et cetera. These two young guys, madison and Hamilton, are really frustrated. They get to know each other. They and others start to propose meetings among different states to think about gee, we need to coordinate our tax policy and our commerce and other things. This is just crazy. We're at each other's throats, let alone disorganization regarding foreign affairs, right, so there's a meeting in Annapolis, the Annapolis Convention, annapolis, maryland, in 1785. Well, lo and behold, washington not only plays a role in bringing about even though he's in Virginia, because it's a meeting between Maryland and Virginia delegates okay, he not only knows it's happening, helps to bring it about. The meeting begins at Annapolis and ends at a place called Mount Vernon. You may have heard of it that Annapolis convention ends at Mount Vernon, washington giving his personal in-person seal of approval. We need constitutional reform.
Speaker 2:Then there's another meeting that happens in 1786. And it's at that meeting in 1786 of different states that there's the call made for a constitutional convention to meet in Philadelphia in 1787 to amend think about amending revising the Arts Confederation. So Washington is playing a role, kind of publicly, kind of behind the scenes, to bring about the 1787 convention. Okay, and then just a couple of crucial things. The fact that Washington shows up, he agrees to be a delegate from Virginia to this meeting to discuss revising the articles, is a huge boost to the credibility and legitimacy of this. Then, on the very first day of official business, benjamin Franklin, through another delegate who reads his address, nominates Washington as the president. These are the two most famous people on the continent and the fact that Franklin says Washington should be president, that puts aside any kind of dispute between the two and it means the most credible, somewhat younger political figure, george Washington, is now presiding over this constitutional convention. Okay, and then a third thing in in well, I'll mention this later about the particular relationship between Washington and and Madison.
Speaker 2:So just a general thing about the, the constitutional convention itself, a crucial thing about Washington being there, that the state of Rhode Island had sort of had used the rules of the game under the Articles of Confederation to block any reforms of the Articles of Confederation, because under the rules of the game in the Articles it took unanimous consent of all 13 states to revise the Articles. And tiny, tiny little Rhode Island kept saying nan, nan, boo, boo, we're taking the ball and going home. We don't agree with any of this right. So the credibility of the convention is at stake because Rhode Island refuses to send anybody. So now what's the point? You're going to meet and talk and propose articles, revisions to the articles, but Rhode Island's already saying we won't. You know, we're not playing along, we're not involved. It seems to undermine it.
Speaker 2:So some scholars refer to the 1787 Constitutional Convention as a constitutional revolution, legal, public, no guns. But what they end up doing? By the end of the summer, right from May to September, they argue for four months, they come up with a constitution Rhode Island is still not there and they have the guts to say Washington sends the final transmission of the constitution to the Articles Congress. These amendments, no, this completely new constitution, should be sent forward by the Articles Congress to all the states, even though Rhode Island was never even there. So the credibility of Washington presiding finally at the end of the four months, sending it out to Congress, was crucial to deal with any of these questions. That, hey, this is all legal, this is not following the rules for amending the article. So, and then I'll just say two more things. He was there every day. He was there from day one to day, final, after nearly four months, right, and he made sure. Therefore, other people were there. When George Washington says show up to work, you're not going to show up, who are you, you little moron, right? Just the message he sent by being there. And he kept them there at work and kept the process moving forward.
Speaker 2:And secondly, a rule of secrecy. There was one day when someone left some draft documents around and you know the cleaning staff or anybody could have picked them up and he comes up the next day and says these documents were left. This violates our rule of secrecy. I assume whoever left these documents will come collect them at the end of the day. No one ever came to collect those documents, but no documents were ever left again in the session, right? So the rule and the rule of secrecy was crucial because we know this from life and from committee meetings. You know, if you can talk discreetly to somebody else, you can test out something, you can say something that maybe really needs to be said, but it's dangerous for you to say it, or you might look bad or someone might not understand. It's dangerous for you to say it, or you might look bad or someone might not understand. So they had these really very full, candid debates for four months because of this rule of secrecy.
Speaker 1:And this is the crucial background role that George Washington was playing.
Speaker 2:I am like and we'll probably never know, but I want to know who left those papers.
Speaker 1:That's right. You know they were sitting there, going, I am not. So you brought up James Madison and you know James Madison's role in shaping the Constitution is huge. So both Washington and Madison were delegates from Virginia in 1787 at the Constitution or the convention in Philadelphia. Or the convention in Philadelphia did their relationship kind of shape the work of the overall convention and again that final product which ends up being the Constitution.
Speaker 2:Yes, and there are a few scholars who are great on this. In fact, much of what I'm saying is drawn from one scholar in particular, richard Brookhiser. Wonderful biography of Washington, called Founding Father, and the subtitle is Rediscovering George Washington. So, but he's not the only scholar who notices this. That again, this is kind of background role. Washington stays in the background here Once he agrees to be a delegate.
Speaker 2:This is March of 1787, he writes to James Madison, his younger friend, and the letter is extraordinary and I'll just summarize it by saying dear Mr Madison, I'm going to this convention. It better do something, not just be a sit around talk shop. We need I'm summarizing here, we need a new constitution. This will take some thought. Hint, you, madison, are a scholar. In fact I'm just General Washington. I never went to college. I read a lot, I have a lot of books, I spend money on books. I'm not dumb, but you are a scholar. You know the kind of thinking and work that needs to be done to write a whole new constitution. And he says in the letter this will take radical cures. That's a quote, right? He basically is giving Madison permission to come up with the Virginia plan to write a whole new. Don't think about just amending, revising, write a whole new document. This is George Washington, the most famous guy, the most credible guy on the whole political scene, right, and now we know privately that Madison was already thinking this way. He's ordering books, he's writing to Thomas Jefferson, right, but this is like the big guy who has all the credibility, says to me, the less known guy go for it, jimmy, go for it. That's the seed of the Virginia plan. And then Washington is very supportive of elements of the Virginia plan. Now, there's a way in which Washington could have gone too far with his influence. So one reason we don't pay attention to Washington's constitutional convention is, as I mentioned I think I may have mentioned in the notes, he doesn't say a lot and that might suggest he's not really important. And or, or you know, these are big brains. You know, madison, and Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson and Roger Sherman and Luther Martin and and Alexander Hamilton, you know. And Washington is not a scholar like no, no, no, he's like there every day he's in the taverns at night, at dinner, talking about all these points and he believes in the principles of the Virginia plan Separation of powers, a single executive, a single person elected as under the title, president holding a four-year term and not democratically elected.
Speaker 2:I mean this is extraordinary and there's no way it would have happened unless Washington was alive and standing and sitting there in the room as a model of a powerful executive who you could trust, who wouldn't become a Caesar or a Cromwell or a Napoleon. So it's a tricky relationship but Washington plays this crucial role. It's by staying behind the scenes and by not abusing his power that he has more influence, right, because he's already resigned from near. You know very strong executive powers in 1983 that he has such influence. You know very strong executive powers in 1983, that he has such influence. That gives credibility to this plan for a much stronger government in the center with an executive with a long-term and a lot of power commander-in-chief of military forces. So the relationship between the two of them has this paradoxical role. Very few of them know that Washington has played this role to push Madison forward and then by Washington not saying too much, it helps the argument that that Madison is is trying to make Okay.
Speaker 1:So are you suggesting then because, again, like you said, there's not a lot of Washington in the discussions because he just doesn't do it we should be paying attention to what he allowed or encouraged other framers to do, but also making sure we pay attention to what he himself did not do, in order to see how important he was in bringing about this convention, but also our constitution.
Speaker 2:Yes. So again, when the Virginia plan is put forward, there's a single person as a president with these extraordinary domestic and foreign powers, it, immediately, on the floor of the convention, is referred to as the fetus of monarchy. You know, we just had a revolution against monarchy. What are we doing? But because Washington is there, but not dominating, not overbearing, it gives, it shows them. Ok, you're right, we are very lucky to have Washington. He could be the first president, but there might even be others. Now we're going to structure the relationship between the branches and structure the presidency Article 2, so that when you don't have a Washington, it'll still work right, but his quiet, neutral, presiding role gives a boost of confidence to this idea. And then there's one more crucial episode and Brookhiser makes a lot of it, and I think he does rightly so the very last day. So you have to imagine it's Philadelphia, it's 1787, it's the summer, it's hot, it's muggy, all the air conditioning machines are down, they're having a terrible time, you know, but they're there day after day. And then it's nearing the four month point, it's September, they're getting tired, they want to go home, and but they're close, right. So Washington, and the final day, they've got a draft that they've been working on. It's refined.
Speaker 2:He steps up and says I propose an amendment and it's an amendment that we would think of a small d, democratic To make the House of Representatives in the legislative branch larger Right. So the electoral districts would be smaller, fewer people in the district. We should have more districts Right To make it more democratic, more representative. Now this doesn't seem like a big deal, but that resolution had been put forward like three times in the preceding three weeks and had been voted down each time. Here he is on the last day bringing up again.
Speaker 2:And why so? The first thing he says is I have not spoken on points of substance during this convention because I thought it was my role as the neutral, as the presiding officer, to not be seen as kind of a player, right, but this is important. And then why is it important? Because he wants as many delegates present to be able to vote for the Constitution and he can see across the weeks. This is a real sore point, right, this is too aristocratic a Constitution. It's got the Senate and the single executive and the judges and the judiciary. They're not elected, right. So you know, the concern was we need a little more democratic, multi-democratic ballast in that House of Representatives. It was a sore point.
Speaker 1:Because at this time the Senate was chosen by state legislature. Yes, Right.
Speaker 2:So Washington is listening to this dissenting minority view and saying to the whole body can you give these guys a break? Can we compromise on this point so we get more people to vote for it? And he makes this statement, he sits down, there's no discussion, there's a vote, it passes unanimously. Now you could say, well, look, it's the final day. They still don't have air conditioning, they're tired, they're exhausted, get out of there. But the background three times in three weeks they debated this Three times. It gets voted down Now.
Speaker 2:So Brookhiser says okay, yes, it's the end of the convention, they're tired. But also, what's he standing for? Minority viewpoint Consensus Compromise or minority viewpoint, consensus, compromise? And it shows that if he wanted to use his authority more frequently, he could have and he didn't. And again, it's this whole crucial background character role that he's playing in getting the convention going, getting the Virginia plan going, keeping them working, not being overbearing, being a good model and then trying to speak for the spirit of compromise. So there's more to talk about with George Washington, his extraordinary farewell address. But I will say this when he dies in 1799, a member of Congress gives a eulogy before many members of Congress in 1799. And this phrase from the eulogy that's widely remembered. Washington uses his extraordinary power, ambition, prestige, credibility to bring about a constitutional order that can fulfill the principles of the Declaration.
Speaker 1:Dr Harris, thank you for shedding a. I feel like a new light for our listeners on leadership, especially during our founding and especially with Washington. We appreciate your expertise.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
