Constitutional Deadlines

The media is breathlessly reporting that the Iraqis may not be able to get the Constitution hammered out before the deadline. Ouch. That's going to get messy? Right?

Not quite.

I, for one, would much rather see the Iraqis get the Constitution right than to put in place a flawed document that doesn't deliver the goods.

Oh, and then there's a small lesson to be learned from our own history on how our United States Constitution came about.

Here's the timeline for the United States Constitution:

1786

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The Virginia House of Burgesses passed a statute, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1779 and sponsored by James Madison, declaring that no person should be discriminated against because of religious belief, or compelled to join or support any church. This statute helped shape the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Attempts to Revise the Articles of Confederation. In Congress, Charles Pinckney proposed a revision of the Articles of Confederation. A committee debated the question, and recommended several changes, including granting Congress power over foreign and domestic commerce, and enabling Congress to collect money owed by the states. Under the Articles, unanimous approval from all thirteen states would be necessary to pass the suggested changes. Doubting that all the states would ever agree, Congress never acted.

Annapolis Convention. Nine states agreed to send delegates to Annapolis to discuss commerce, but only five state delegations arrived on time. Because of the poor attendance, the delegates decided to invite the states to another convention. Alexander Hamilton drafted an address to the states, inviting them to a convention to be held in Philadelphia in 1787, to discuss not only commerce, but all matters necessary to improve the federal government. After debate, on February 21, 1787, Congress endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation.

1787

The Constitutional Convention. Every state but Rhode Island sent delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The gathering included some of the most respected and talented men in America. George Washington was named president.
Edmund Randolph proposed the "Virginia Plan," drafted by James Madison -- a plan that recommended an entirely new form of government, including an executive, a judiciary, and a legislature composed of two houses and including a number of representatives from each state based on their population.

Opposition came from the small states, which feared domination by the more populous states in the legislature. William Paterson proposed the "New Jersey Plan," which essentially revised the Articles of Confederation, preserving equal representation of the states. After much debate, the Convention rejected the New Jersey Plan, deciding instead to work toward an entirely new form of government.

The issue of representation in the two houses of the new national legislature became a major sticking point for the Convention. Roger Sherman was helpful in framing the "Connecticut Compromise," a plan that suggested representation in the lower house (the House of Representatives) based on population, and equal representation in the upper house (the Senate). With this compromise, the Convention succeeded in completing a rough draft of a constitution.

A Committee of Style was appointed to create a final draft; Gouverneur Morris was chosen to write it. After carefully reviewing the draft, the Convention approved the Constitution on September 17. After signing it and sending it to Congress, the Convention adjourned.

Northwest Ordinance. While the Constitutional Convention debated a new government, Congress decided upon a plan for governing all western territories north of the Ohio River. The Northwest Ordinance provided for a plan of government, the creation of states, the acceptance of each new state as an equal of the original states, freedom of religion, right to a trial by jury, public support of education, and the prohibition of slavery. Arthur St. Clair was named first governor of the territory.

Congress Receives the Constitution. Although some congressmen were displeased at the Convention for doing far more than revising the Articles of Confederation, on September 28 Congress agreed to pass the Constitution on to the states, so each could debate it in separate ratifying conventions. Nine states had to agree to the new Constitution for it to go into effect.

"The Federalist." Supporters of the Constitution -- Federalists -- and opponents of the Constitution -- Antifederalists -- fought fiercely in the press. Seventy-seven essays, written anonymously by "Publius," appeared in New York newspapers, explaining and defending the new Constitution. These essays, published in book form with eight additional essays, were titled The Federalist. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist was the most organized, coherent effort to defend the Constitution.

1788

The Constitution Is Ratified by Nine States. On June 21, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the new Constitution, making its adoption official. Preceding New Hampshire were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina. Virginia and New York ratified shortly after New Hampshire, followed by North Carolina in November 1789. Rhode Island was last to ratify, not joining the Union until May 1790.
Congress Steps Aside for a New Government. On July 2, Congress announced that the Constitution had been adopted. By September, a committee had prepared for the change in government, naming New York City as the temporary official capital, and setting dates for elections and for the meeting of the first Congress under the new Constitution. Congress completed its business on October 10. Its last action was the granting of ten square miles of land to Congress for a federal town.

The Constitution came about because of numerous flaws in the Articles of Confederation. Instead of modifying the Articles, the framers of the Constitution prepared an entirely new document, the contents of which were highly debated and whose deliberations took place in secret until the entire document was unveiled because the task assigned the Framers was to revise the Articles, not replace it with an entirely new document.

Then, there's the not so inconsequential issue of the Bill of Rights, which were adopted after the Constitution was ratified. The Amendments required further work and no deadline was set for them either.

So, with this in mind, why are we forcing the Iraqis to stick to some artificial deadline to deal with these issues? Does someone think that setting a deadline will make the Constitution more likely to be a workable document worthy of being a central document to how the Iraqi government functions and provides for the rights of the people? There is a good argument that a deadline will force Sunnis and Shi'a to realize that compromises must be made to achieve a lasting government. However, I find this unpersuasive considering that posturing aside, the Shi'a and Kurds have the numbers to get their way without the Sunni assistance - as we saw when the first Iraqi government was formed without Sunni participation.

We are witnessing a game of brinksmanship over how the government and Constitution will be formed but we should not lose sight over the artificality of deadlines to that end.