Delaware was first to ratify the Constitution [FN1] & is among several States whose ratification conventions [FN2] left few records. Elliot’s Debates [FN3] has few entries for Delaware. [FN4] In no record does anyone declare Delaware is part of a Christian nation. [FN5] 1/19

Another collection of documents for this period is relatively recent in publication. [FN6] Edited by Prof Merrill Jensen, [FN7] relevant history of Delaware is noted [FN8] and descriptions of sources are detailed. [FN9] In regard to “Convention Records,” it is noted: 2/19

“There are no Journals or records of debates for the [DE Ratification] Convention. The Journals [] for 11 January 1788 indicate” the Convention’s “proceedings” were laid before the House, but “apparently have been lost except for a fragment.” [FN10] Only 1 newspaper 3/19

appears to have been published in DE after 9/17/1787, [FN11] but neither issues available nor items fr DE newspapers published in other States’ newspapers, have “essays by Delawareans.” [FN12] Other items related to ratification are included. [FN13] It is noted: 4/19

“Since the ‘proceedings’ of the Convention have been lost, what little is known [] is based on a few meager sources.” [FN14] DE reported vote to ratify Const’n “proposed and agreed upon on the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven 5/19

hundred and eighty-seven.” [FN15] This copies language from doc signed 9/17/1787 that is not considered part of the text. [FN16] Prof Jensen documents local elections for delegates to the DE convention & the DE General Assembly. [FN17] Someone writing under a 6/19

pseudonym “Timoleon,” a “Presbyterian, stated that the Tories were opposed to Presbyterians” and “during one election campaign in [Kent] county, ‘ignorant pimps and bullies would roar out in the streets against Presbyterians and Calvinists.” [FN18] 7/19

This country was not founded as a Christian nation. Europe was roiled by wars between the sides of The Reformation. The Framers who were not deists wanted to separate church & State because they had learned from history. A State officeholder has made an absurd & 8/19

unfounded claim: “America was absolutely founded on Christian values. You have to be ignorant to think otherwise. The writings of our Framers and the founding documents are very clear on that.” [FN18] Ppl in media, even podcasts, have a duty to call out ... pecan log rolls. 9/19

Telling the truth can be risky. One side touts “2A solutions.” Not surprisingly, that side has done a lot of target practice on live targets. Violence is the last resort of the incompetent. I’m a pacifist. I’ll still call out ... pecan log rolls when I detect them. Gotta. 10/19

Footnotes:
FN1. By a 30-0 vote on 12/7/87, Delaware’s ratification convention voted “Yes,” five days before PA voted to ratify.
FN2. Const. Art. VII. 11/19

FN3. 5-vol set, contains docs related to how Const came about, including docts related to, & proceedings of some of, State ratification conventions.
FN4. 1 Elliot’s Debates p. 38 (Ante-Revolutionary History); pp. 130-31 (Credentials of delegates to Phila convention); p. 319 (Notice of ratification, 12/7/87). 12/19

FN5. “Jesus Christ” appears in Delaware’s ratification records as frequently as predictions either that “First State” will look good on “license plates” for cars, not invented for another century or as frequently as “Stuckey’s Pecan Log Rolls.” 13/19

FN6. “The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution,” 1978, Merrill Jensen., ed., State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Vol. III, Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut. 14/19

FN7. Professor Jensen taught American History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1944-76.
FN8. See, Jensen, footnote 6, pp. 37-41.
FN9. These include “Delaware Legislative Records,” “Executive and Administrative Records,” County Records,” Newspapers and Pamphlets,” “Convention Records,” and “Secondary Accounts.” Id., pp. 42-45. 15/19

FN10. Id., pp. 44-45.
FN11. Id., p. 44 (date Const was signed in Philadelphia).
FN12. Id.
FN13. Note on Microfiche Supplement, Id., p. 46; Delaware Chronology, Id., pp. 47-48; Delaware Officeholders, Id., p. 49; The Constitution in Delaware To 24 October 1787, Id., pp. 50-55; The General Assembly on the Constitution 24-25 1787, Id., pp. 56-61. 16/19

FN14. Id., pp. 105-13, including Biographical Gazetteer, Id., 114-15.
FN15. 1 Elliot’s Debates p. 318. 17/19

FN16. See, Akhil Reed Amar, professor, Yale Sch of Law, “The Constitution and the Candidates,” The Daily Beast, 8/19/12. Also, Seidel, Andrew L., “Dating God: What Is ‘Year of Our Lord’ Doing in the U.S. Constitution?” 3 Constitutional Studies 129 (2018). 18/19

FN17. See, Jensen, footnote 6, pp. 61-91.
FN18. Id., p. 78, n. 2. 19/19