In honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States, a rare collection of founding-era documents recently offered Coloradans a glimpse into how legal authority itself was constructed.
At the History Colorado Center in Denver, the Freedom Plane National Tour — a traveling exhibit organized by the National Archives — displayed draft versions of the U.S. Constitution, early printings of the Declaration of Independence and edits to the Bill of Rights.
Disagreement Revealed in Drafts
The drafts and ledger on display suggested a nuanced Independence Day story.
“The draft Constitution was distributed just four days before the final vote,” said Jason Hanson, chief creative officer at History Colorado and a commissioner with the Colorado 150 Commission. “On it you can see that up to the final days, delegates debated the best way to organize the new government and made changes.”
Handwritten edits by New Jersey delegate David Brearley capture a document in flux, and a voting ledger on display underscored that agreement was far from unanimous.
“As one looks at the voting ledger, one sees the record of a moment of transition, when legitimacy no longer relied on unanimous agreement, as it had under the Articles of Confederation, but instead on the recorded consent of a specified majority resulting from an agreed-upon procedure,” Hanson explained.
The shift from unanimity to majority rule revealed what’s missing from the documents, too. Rhode Island did not send delegates, and after New York’s delegation fractured, two of its representatives left the convention in protest, never signing the document.
Law of the People
The exhibit emphasized that amidst the frantic drafting and intense disagreement, delegates forged a radical departure from the past.
“The founders were primarily lawyers, or legally trained,” said Jay Seaton, a commissioner with the Colorado 150 Commission. “They were steeped in English common law, but what they created was something fundamentally different.”
That difference began with a reconsideration of where power originates. While only drafts of the Constitution, and not a finalized copy, were included in the traveling exhibit, the display celebrated the Constitution’s foundational premise: Authority flowing from “We the People” is the basis for the legal chain of command, Seaton said.
The Declaration of Independence, included in the exhibit, introduced the framer’s first articulation of where power comes from, appealing both to “the Supreme Judge of the World” and to the collective will of the people, he noted.
The Bill of Rights: A Work in Progress
The exhibit also highlighted the framers’ concept of their work as incomplete.
Draft versions of the Bill of Rights show extensive revisions, from James Madison’s original 17 proposed amendments to the 12 approved by Congress to the 10 ratified by the states.
“What you see is a remarkable process of refinement, bringing ideas together in a way that’s both economical and enduring,” Seaton said.
While courts rarely cite draft language directly, Seaton said drafts like those that passed through the History Colorado Center can illuminate the framers’ intent, similar to how the Federalist Papers are often used today.
Seeing the Documents, Rebuilding Trust
In an era marked by political division and declining institutional trust, the exhibit’s impact may extend beyond legal history.
“There’s something about seeing these documents in person that gives them more heft,” Seaton said. “The judiciary doesn’t have an army. Its power rests on credibility.”
Seeing the documents, he continued, can reinforce that credibility and the shared foundation it represents.
Seaton likens the experience to a moment of collective unity: “It’s like being at a Broncos game when they score: You’re high-fiving everyone around you. You don’t ask who they voted for.”
Bringing people together around shared civic foundations is central to Colorado’s role in the anniversary programming of America 250. “History Colorado is deeply honored to be one of only eight cultural institutions across the country selected,” said Dawn DiPrince, the organization’s president and CEO.