July 4, 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the signing of one our nation’s founding documents. The Declaration of Independence:
1) Preamble notes basic principles of our founding. All are created equal w/certain unalienable Rights, w/Government by Consent of the Governed. 1/19

2) Main body cites facts “submitted to a candid World” to prove King George III’s absolute Tyranny and reads like a criminal indictment.
3) Formally declare the States independent and “absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.” [FN5] 2/19

While pivotal, the Declaration did not create a government. On 6/11/1776, Congress authorized “a committee” be appointed to “prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between the Colonies.” [FN6] Under the resulting Articles of Confederation: 3/19

“government consisted of Congress, with neither an executive branch nor courts” and Congress “frequently lacked a quorum to take official action and rarely had money to pay for any action it might take.” [FN7] The Articles were not easily amended. [FN8] In 1787, Congress 4/19

authorized “a convention of delegates” appointed by the States to meet in Philly “for the sole [FN9] and express [FN10] purpose [FN11] of revising [FN12] the Articles of Confederation” reporting to Congress & the legislatures “alterations [FN13] and provisions” [FN14] 5/19

as “agreed to in Congress, and confirmed by the states render the federal Constitution adequate ..” [FN15] No mention is made of scrapping the Articles of Confederation entirely. The language is explicit and was used as a way to limit the scope of the “convention of delegates.” 6/19

Before the delegates met, some people chosen as delegates refused to attend. Gov Patrick Henry of Virginia, though chosen as a delegate, refused to attend because he “smelt a rat.” [FN16]
Delegates met in “the largest room in the most prominent building in the nation’s 7/19

most populous city” [FN17] for four months “behind closed doors and sealed windows with armed sentinels stationed both inside and outside of the state house.” [FN18] Delegates adopted rules of secrecy of what was discussed and argued, although it was common for 8/19

proceedings of legislative bodies to not be open to the public. [FN19] The Constitution does not refer to the Articles of Confederation it was supposed to revise or alter. The 1787 convention is the only gathering that resembles a convention as provided in Article V. 9/19

When someone suggests a call for a convention can be limited to one or a few issues, a warning all should heed came from C.J. Warren Burger: “there is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention ... to one amendment or to one issue, 10/19

but [] after a Convention is convened it will be too late to stop...” [FN20] Burger was a Nixon nominee. Then there’s Judge Robert Bork: “..a federal constitutional convention could not be limited to a single issue [] the original Philadelphia Convention went 11/19

well beyond the purposes for which it was called.” [FN21] Dark money in a flood during selection of delegates to a convention would make the most recent political campaigns look cheap. After all, this would be a gathering to re-write our method of government. 12/19

Roberts, C.J. could be discarded as unnecessary overhead.
Watch “The Rinse,” Brad Sowinski’s podcast on FB. 7:30 EST/6:30 CST on Sundays. Drew Weingarten and I also are on the show. Topics 5/24: IN’s Sec’y of State race, “closed” primaries, and Brad’s “Profiles in Concepts.” 13/19

Footnotes:
FN5. The Declaration of Independence (1776).
FN6. 1 Elliott’s Debates, p. 55.
FN7. David O Stewart, “The Summer of 1787,”(2007), p. 6. 14/19

FN8. “nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made ... unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State.” Articles of Confederation, Art. XIII.
FN9. “sole”: “only; single.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1974), p. 654. 15/19

FN10. “explicit”: “clearly and concisely expressed.” Id., p. 253.
FN11. “purpose”: “an object or result aimed at.” Id., p. 565.
FN12. “revise”: “to look over something written in order to correct or improve ... to make a new version of.” Id., p. 600. 16/19

FN13. “alter”: “to make or become different.” Id., p. 38.
FN14. “provision”: “a measure taken beforehand.” Id., p. 560.
FN15. Report of Proceedings, Feb 17, 1787, 1 Elliott’s Debates, p. 120.
FN16. Stewart, p. 25. 17/19

FN17. Stewart, p. 50.
FN18. John P Kaminski, “Secrecy and the Constitutional Convention,” Center for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005), p. 7. 18/19

FN19. Id., pp. 7-8.
FN20. Earl DeGroot, “DeGroot: A Constitutional Convention is a bad idea,” Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 2/8/25, updated 3/15/26, accessed 5/24/26.
FN 21. Id. 19/19