Transcript

12.5.25 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. This is a radioi's history show and
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I'm your host and reader once again, Joseph Bolt. Happy
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to be with you today. And before we begin, we
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always got to tell you that RADIOI is a listener
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So if you have any of those thoughts about our programming,
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make it difficult to read printed material. I'll cite this
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horses for today's show as we go along, So let's
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get reading. Was there a curse of the Constitution? Alexander
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Hamilton was famously killed by Aaron Burr in eighteen oh four,
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but he wasn't even the first framer of the US
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Constitution to die. And a duel with a political rival
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in eighteen oh two, North Carolina Delegate Richard Spate was
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mortally wounded by a dueling pistol fired by sitting Congressman
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John Stanley, and four years later Virginian, George With died
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of arsenal poisoning. It seems that in eighteen o five,
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the now elderly With welcome his troubled great nephew, George
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with Sweeney, to come and live with him. The following year,
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With caught the seventeen year old trying to steal some
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of his books, probably to pay for some gambling debts.
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None the less, With continued to board his great nephew
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in his Richmond home. On May twenty fifth, eighteen o six, however,
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With fell gravely ill. Doctors believed the illness to be cholera,
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but they grew suspicious when Sweeney tried to cash one
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hundred dollars from with bank account two days later. The
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household cook, who also fell ill, swore she saw Sweeney
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poison their morning coffee one day. With died on June eighth,
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and officials quickly charged Sweeney with murder. A jury acquitted
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the boy for arsenic poisoning, but convicted him for check
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forgery in a separate trial. In a great irony, however,
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Virginia courts overruled Sweeney's conviction based on a forgery law
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drafted by George With years prior. Another framer of the Constitution,
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Pennsylvania delegate Governor Moore Rus, died in eighteen sixteen after
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a ghastly bit of self surgery in which he unsuccessfully
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attempted to dislodge a urinary track blockage with a piece
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of whalebone, while New York's John Lancing mysteriously vanished in
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December of eighteen twenty nine after leaving his Manhattan hotel
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room to mail a letter. A second thing about the
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Constitutional Convention you may not know is that America's littlest
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state had a big independence streak. Rhode Island. Distrustful of
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a powerful federal government, it was the only one of
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the thirteen original states to refuse to send delegates to
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the Constitutional Convention. It was a decision that wrinkled even
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the normally temperate George Washington, who wrote in July of
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eight rather seventeen eighty seven that quote Rhode Island still
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perseveres in that impolitic, unjust, and one might add, without
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much impropriety, scandalous conduct, which seems to have marked all
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her public councils of late end quote on the condition
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that a bill of rights be included, Rhode Island became
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the thirteenth state to ratify the Constitution on May twenty ninth,
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seventeen ninety, more than a year after Washington was sworn
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in as president. Another interesting fact about the Constitutional Convention
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when George or rather when Thomas Jefferson gushingly called the
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Constitutional Convention delegates quote an assembly of demi gods end quote,
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he wasn't being full of himself. Jefferson was not among
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the founding fathers who gathered in Philadelphia, for he was
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in Paris serving as Minister to France. John Adams was
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also abroad serving as Minister to Great Britain. Samuel Adams,
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John Hancock, and Patrick Henry, who turned down and in
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invitation because he quote smelt a rat in Philadelphia tending
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toward the monarchy end quote, also did not participate. When
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the Constitutional Convention opened on May fourteenth, seventeen eighty seven,
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only delegates from Pennsylvania and Virginia were present. It wasn't
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until May twenty fifth, eleven days later, that a quorum
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of seven states was achieved. Whether ever, the convenient excuse
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was blamed for the tardiness, but the convention was plagued
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throughout with attendance issues. While James Madison boasted that he
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never left the proceedings or more than quote a usual
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fraction of an hour, his fellow delegates were not as fastidious.
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Nineteen of the seventy four delegates to the convention never
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even attended a single session, and of the fifty five
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delegates who did show up in Philadelphia, no more than
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thirty stayed for the full four months. New Hampshire's delegation
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arrived two months late, by which time two of the
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New York's three delegates had left in opposition to the proceedings,
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leaving just Hamilton behind and depriving the state of a
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quorum to vote. Thus, Washington wrote that the constitution was
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signed by quote eleven states and Colonel Hamilton end quote.
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Another interesting fact, although fifty five delegates participated in the
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Constitutional Convention, there are only thirty nine signatures on the
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constitution itself. Fourteen men, having already left Philadelphia, were not
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present for the signing, and only Delaware Delegate John Dickinson
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had a proxy signed for him. Three delegates, Elbridge Jerry
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of Massachusetts and Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia
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were dissatisfied with the final document and refused to ink
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their signatures. The Constitution's iconic opening line was not included
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in the early drafts of the document. Instead, the preamble
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started with a much less pithy litany of individual states
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listed from north to south. Quote we the people of
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the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, et cetera, et cetera,
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and so on in quote. Credit for the late alteration
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goes to a five person committee of style. The committee
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was comprised of Hamilton Madison Morris, William Samuel Johnson, and
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Rufus King, and Morris is considered to have been responsible
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for composing much of the final text, including the revised preamble.
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And Lastly, while Morris had been nicknamed the penman of
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the Constitution, the real hand wielding the quill that scrawled
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the final copy of the Constitution belonged to Jacob Shallice,
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the assistant Clerk of the Pennsylvania State Assembly, was paid
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thirty dollars and given just two days to write most
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of the documents four thousand, five hundred and forty three
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words on four sheets of vellum parchment. While his script
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was exquisite, Shallice wasn't totally flawless. Between the final article
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and the delegate signature on the Constitution's final pages is
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an errata paragraph. Listen some of the minor eras he
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had made, along with their corrections. That article came from
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history dot com Seven Things You May Not Know about
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the Constitutional Convention, and it was written by Christopher Klein
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in May of twenty twenty five. This next article is
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entitled how did the Liberty Bell Crack? Inside the Incredible
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history of America's most famous relic. It's written by Colleena Fraga,
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edited by Matt Crabtree, and it's from the website All
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That's Interesting dot com and it was written on July fifth,
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twenty twenty three. How and why the Liberty Bell cracked?
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It's difficult to determine, but there are many theories that
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explain the origin of the iconic symbol beloved flaw. Though
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the Liberty Bell came to symbolize American independence, it came
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from England. Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Isaac Norris, ordered
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the bell from the Whitechapel Foundry in London in seventeen
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fifty one for the Pennsylvania State House. The future location
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of debates over the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
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and called Independence Hall today. But when the bell was tested,
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it immediately cracked, according to the Independence Hall Association. The
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bell was then melted down by metal workers John Pass
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and John Stowe, who added copper to make the bell
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less frittle, but they apparently added too much and ruined
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the bell's toll. Upon trial, it seemed that they have
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added too much copper. Norris complained in a seventeen fifty
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three letter, they were so teased with the witticisms of
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the town that they will very soon be ready to
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make a second essay end quote. The bell was recast again,
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and though its toll still didn't satisfy Norris, it was
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hung in at the Pennsylvania State House, inscribed with Pass
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and Stoves names, as well as the biblical quote proclaim
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liberty throughout all land unto all the inhabitants thereof. Norris
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apparently chose this quote to mark the fiftieth anniversary of
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William penn seventeen oh one Charter of Privileges, which guaranteed
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religious freedom and self governance in Pennsylvania. The ringing of
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the bell, which announced the time, called lawmakers to meetings
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and marked the readings the reading of news, which would
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have been a familiar sound for Philadelphians, including Benjamin Franklin.
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The National Park Service reports that Franklin ended a seventeen
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fifty five letter with the line quote adieu, the bell rings,
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and I must go among the grave ones and talk
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politics end quote. In the tumultuous final decades of the
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eighteenth century, the bell rang more frequently than ever. It
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marked important occasions, like the meeting of a first Continental
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Congress in seventeen seventy four and the Battle of Lexington
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and Concord in seventeen seventy five. However, the bell likely
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did not ring in July of seventeen seventy six to
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mark the reading of the Declaration of Independence, as suggested
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by George Lippard's eighteen forty seven story Ring Grandfather Ring,
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because the steeple was in poor condition. In fact, the
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bell didn't ring at all during the Revolutionary War. Weeks
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before the British March to Philadelphia. The bell was hidden
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beneath the floorboards of a church in Allentown. So how
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did the Liberty bell crack? Though it's unknown when the
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Liberty Bell first started cracking, its final crack appeared in
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the eighteen forties as a city prepared to mark the
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one hundred and fifteenth anniversary of George Washington's birth. In
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February of eighteen forty six, metal workers widened the hairline
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crack on the bell to stop it from vibrating against
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itself and cracking further, but this repair job failed to
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prevent other cracks from forming. The old Independence Bell rang
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its last clear note on Monday last in honor of
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the birthday of Washington, and now hangs in the Great
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City steeple irreparably cracked and dumb, says the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
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How the bell cracked originally, however, is up to debate.
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History notes that the bell could have been damaged in
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eighteen twenty four, either while celebrating the arrival of the
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Marquis de Lafayette, a Revolutionary War hero, or founding the
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alarm about a fire. The bell could also have been
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damaged a decade later, during the funeral of Chief Justice
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John Marshall in eighteen thirty five. However, newspaper accounts of
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his funeral don't mention damage to the bell. In any case,
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The Liberty Bell apparently started cracking in the nineteenth century. Concurrently,
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it started to become an important American symbol. The Liberty
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Bell wasn't even called the Liberty Bell until the eighteen thirties,
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when its cracks were probably already forming. In eighteen thirty seven,
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an abolitionists publication called The Anti Slavery Record tied the
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bell to the abolition movement for the first time by
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referencing its famous inscription. Two years later, abolitionist newspaper publisher
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William Lloyd Garrison published a poem called the Liberty Bell,
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first documented use of the term. It read, Ring Ring
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the Mighty Bell, and the storm and the storm brothers.
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It shall herald well fair, Freedom's form, Ring it southward,
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till its voice for slavery, toll for slavery, toll in
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Freedom's awakening, touch rejoice both limb and soul. After the
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Civil War, the Liberty Bell went on a national tour
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that cemented its place in American history. It was also
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later used by other groups, including female suffragists, as a
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powerful symbol of liberty. Today, the Liberty Bell crack and
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all is displayed in Philadelphia. Question of how the Liberty
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Bell cracked may be somewhat difficult to answer, but there's
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no question about the bell's importance a symbol of unity
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and freedom. The Liberty Bell embodies the American story and
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perhaps the ongoing American desire to form a more perfect union.
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My final article for this show is from readerdigest dot
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com entitled twenty reasons the American Flag is even cooler
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than you thought, written by Brandon Specter in May of
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twenty twenty four. In nineteen fifty eight, seventeen year old
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Robert G. Heft was living with his grandparents in Ohio
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when he was given a school project to design a
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fifty star flag reflecting the addition of Alaska and Hawaii
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to the nation. HEF got a B minus on his project,
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later upgraded to an A after President Eisenhower picked HEF's
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flag design as the new banner of the nation. Another
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little interesting fact about the flag, it's hard to plan
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a vacation on the Moon with alternating fourteen day spans
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of scorching one hundred centigrade heat followed by fourteen days
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of pitch black minus one hundred and fifty degree centigrade
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brother cold. There's just no high season. Suppose now you
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are a five dollars and fifty cent nylon American flag.
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Faced with this cruel climate plus a constant bath of
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intense v radiation every day for some forty some years,
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what do you think you would look like? Bleach white?
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According to lunar scientists, who say the six US flags
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planting on the Moon during the Apollo program would be
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unrecognizably faded today. Philadelphia born upholsterer Betsy Ross has given
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credit for sewing and designing the very first American flag,
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but there's no evidence that she had anything to do
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with it. Strangely, the first account of Ross's flag sewing
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legacy didn't air until eighteen seventy, nearly a century after
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the flag debuted, and long after Ross herself had died.
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The first person to tell the tale Ross's grandson. It's
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still not known whether her legend is true. And how
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about this one. According to the United States Flag Code,
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burning a flag is actually the preferred and most dignified
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method of retiring an older, damaged flag. The veterans of
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Foreign Wars and American Legion conduct regular flag retirement ceremonies,
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but the world's number one flag burners probably the Boy
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Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. Whose more than four
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million members conduct frequent flag retirement ceremonies that are considered
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paragons of honor. Another little fact. In the opening sequence
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of the first season of Gilligan's Island, you'll notice a
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flag flying and half staff as the minnow leaves the
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harbor about twenty two seconds in. Why is this because
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these shots from the pilot episode were filmed on November
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twenty second, nineteen sixty three, the day President John F.
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Kennedy was assassinated. There is no official reason for why red, white,
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and blue are the colors of the American flag. That said,
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it is believed the Great Seal of the United States
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has something to do with it. According to the American Legion,
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custom and tradition dictate, white represents purity, red represents valor,
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and blue represents justice and perseverance. Because of Charles Thompson's words, Thompson,
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the Secretary of the Continental Congress, was key to the
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design of the Great Seal of the United States, which
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includes the same colors as the American flag. And finally,
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did you know that you could order a flag that
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has flown over the capital? Yes, you can own a
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flag that has actually flown over United States Capitpital in Washington, DC.
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The website for one of your senators or representatives has
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a form you can fill out under constituent services, according
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to the American Flag Foundation, Well that about does it
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for today's RADIOI History show. I guess I better close out,
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and I sure hope that you enjoyed today's program. I
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thank you for listening and giving me your time today.
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I'm your host, Joseph Bolt, and I'll be back next
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time with another chapter of RADIOI History. And until then,
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happy trails to you.