Constitutional Convention Concludes with Proposed New Constitution

The Evening Chronicle, September 18, 1787. Philadelphia: Robert Smith. 4 pp. 8? x 15? in. The only known copy of this issue of an important Philadelphia newspaper features a report on the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, the day the delegates signed the U.S. Constitution. Excerpts"Yesterday afternoon, about 4 o'clock the federal convention, after having concluded the important task of framing a federal system of government, broke up: and many of the delegates, we are informed, are already on their way to communicate to their constituents the result of their deliberations. And we trust every friend to the peace and prosperity of America, is prepared to receive with respect, and to consider with candor the propositions which will soon be divulged." (p2/c3)Historical BackgroundDelegates from seven states assembled in convention in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787, to consider modifications to the government of the Articles of Confederation, which had governed the new nation since 1781. From the beginning, several delegates, including especially James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York, hoped to create a new framework of government rather than revising the old one. Delegates from five more states joined the original group, and ultimately fifty-five delegates from twelve states attended some of the meetings. Rhode Island sent no delegates.Over the next four months, the delegates drafted an entirely new Constitution. The Committee of Style produced the final version in early September, and on September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates signed the document. Thirteen others left before the final ceremony, and three who remained refused to sign it.In a short speech on the final day, Pennsylvania delegate Benjamin Franklin said, "I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies."In 1970, Leonard Rapport speculated that The Evening Chronicle may have printed the text of the Constitution in this September 18, 1787, issue. If it did not appear in the then-missing issue, Rapport concluded, "theChronicle would have the distinction of being the only Philadelphia newspaper not to have published the Constitution."[1] In 2006, Christie's sold a four-page broadsheet printing of the text of the Constitution, printed by Robert Smith, and speculated that it was issued on September 17, or 18, 1787.[2] Smith evidently chose the broadsheet as the best mode of disseminating the Constitution, rather than publishing it in The Evening Chronicle.The Evening Chronicle was established by Robert Smith in Philadelphia in February 1787 as a tri-weekly newspaper, but it became a semi-weekly on August 7, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Smith was among the first printers of the complete Constitution, but he did not print it in his newspaper. On November 1, he took on James Prange as a partner, but the publication of The Evening Chronicle ceased soon thereafter.Condition: Very Good; professionally mended.[1]"Printing the Constitution: The Convention and Newspaper Imprints, August-November 1787," Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives 2 (Fall 1970).[2]Broadsheet of Constitution, issued by Robert Smith, sold by Christie's on June 13, 2006.…