David McCullough Constitution Day Program: The Genius of the Founders

thank you so much dr. Griffin I remember when dr. Griffin came into my office earlier this year and he gave me this pitch for this idea to bring in mr. David McCullough and as he was sharing with me his idea I noticed my jaw was down to my bellybutton and I realized what a great opportunity this would be for the Utah Valley University Student Association to partner with a center for constitutional studies so I think the center for constitutional studies for making this happen and for being the backbone of this event we as the Utah Valley University Student Association are also pleased to have been able to partner and work with the center for constitutional studies in order to make this event a possibility we feel this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our fellow students and hope many of you are in attendance today now it is time for me to introduce to you mr. David McCullough mr. McCullough has been a widely acclaimed master of the art of narrative history a matchless writer he is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize twice winner of the National Book Award and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the nation's highest civilian award mr. McCullough is twice winner of the prestigious Francis Parkman Prize and for his work overall he has received the National Book Foundation distinguished contribution to American letters award and the National Humanities medal he has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has received 47 honorary degrees mr. McCullers book books include the Johnstown Flood the Great Bridge the path between the Seas mornings on horseback brave companions and Truman his work has been published in ten languages and in all more than nine million five hundred thousand copies are in print as may be said a few writers none of his books has ever been out of print mister McCullough's most recent book the greater journey Americans in Paris the number one New York Times bestseller has been called dazzling an epic of ideas history to be savored his previous work 1776 has been acclaimed a classic while John Adams published in 2001 remains one of the most praised and widely read American biographies of all time more than 3 million copies are in print and it is presently in its 82nd printing now it is my opportunity to introduce to you mr. David McCullough [Applause] thank you very much I am pleased I'm honored and I feel privileged to take part in this inauguration of the new Constitution Center at the University you know Utah Valley University and your University and I congratulate and express my gratitude as an American citizen to all of you who were here tonight who have made this possible and I particularly wish to thank with heartfelt admiration professor Griffin and president Holland and I think mr. workman for his fine introduction and I hope very much that what I had to say tonight will give you some sense of why I feel that this subject this crucial subject to which the new center is dedicated is of not just lasting import but a particular import now and also to emphasize that it didn't become what it was because the founding fathers were gods as they are often portrayed they weren't God's God's can do whatever they want they can accomplish whatever they want but these were human beings living real flesh-and-blood human beings and the fact that they did what they did despite their own personal failings despite adversity despite little or no seeming chance of success is one of the greatest stories in all of history and it is true now how anyone can profess to love their country and yet take no interest in three of our country is almost for me beyond imagining and how anyone could receive as we all do daily and in all aspects of our lives the benefits of what those who went before us made possible without any sense of gratitude or sense that maybe we ought to know who they were is also a mystery you obviously don't feel that way or you wouldn't be here tonight I want to begin with the quotation from Harry Truman he once said that the only new thing in the in history the only new thing in the world is the history you don't know his point being that history repeats itself and that we could see it all around us if we have only the appreciation and the understanding to see it and I want to do this by reading to you something written by John Adams to his wife Abigail back in Massachusetts as he attended the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774 he said but after a month of such acuteness in my newton us of every issue at hand irrespective of importance he was wearied to death the business of Congress had become tedious he said this assembly is like no other that ever existed every man in it is a great man an orator a critic a statesman and therefore every man upon every question must show his oratory his criticism and his political abilities the consequence is that the business is drawn and spun out to a measurable length I believe it was moved and seconded that we should come to a resolution that three and to make five we should be entertained with logic and rhetoric rhetoric law history politics and mathematics concerning the subject for two whole days and then we should pass the resolution unanimously in the affirmative some things don't end with the passage of time Abigail Adams is to my mind one of the looming of our American heroes one of the most admirable human beings in our history about whom as is true of so many of the people that I'm talking about this evening about whom we can never know enough she wrote to her husband as he was about to leave for Philadelphia for the first time you cannot be I know nor do I wish to see you an inactive spectator we have too many high-sounding words and too few actions to correspond with them that could be emphasized by every figure in public life or the spouses of those figures in public life every day in our own time I sometimes wonder if we're raising a nation of spectators who spend seven hours a day watching television who turn out that constantly when weekends to giant events of public entertainment of all kinds just to be spectators we can't do that we have to take part which is very obviously one of the larger lessons of history now among the most obvious lessons of history is that there's no such thing as the foreseeable future never was never will be those people who did what they did of more than 225 years ago who accomplished what they did didn't know how it was going to come out there's no foreseeable future and nothing was ever inevitable it's always in flux you know I can always go off in any number of different directions in any number of different ways for any number of different reasons and if you don't understand that because you have no knowledge of history then you're bound to run into serious trouble as an individual or as a nation another very safe and obvious observation if you stop to think about it is that nothing ever happened in the past it happened in the future of the excuse me it happened in the present but it was their present not ours Adams Jefferson Washington Franklin they didn't walk around saying isn't this fascinating living in the past aren't we quaint in our funny clothes they were living in a present which was infinitely more uncertain even infinitely more dangerous and difficult where life was shorter and harder than we have any idea life in 18th century America even in peacetime was harder more precarious more subject to to disease and to I think the unexpected they vagaries of nature than we have any idea we are softies compared to those people we have been coddled and we have been comforted and we've made been made to feel secure in ways they never knew and I think it's fair to say that another very obvious lesson of history is that it isn't just about politics and the military it's about life it's about everything it's about medicine and science and art and music and architecture and money and love it's about human beings history is human so in that spirit I want to begin with two iconic works of American art the first is a building in Philadelphia just down the street from Independence Hall known as carpenters Hall it's often missed by many tourists who come to the city to take part in the history to be seen carpenters Hall is not large it's surprisingly small it's an exquisite small brick building with the cupola in perfect balance and it belonged to the Carpenters Union in 1774 and five as it still does and when you walk into that building and you realize that that was where the First Continental Congress met in a space about the size of where this orchestra sits less that that's where it all began it's inspiring it's humbling and a reminder that great things can spring from very small origins if we want the oak acorns there they are upstairs in carpenters Hall is a library the first lending library in started by Benjamin Franklin so there you have an expression of a free society governing itself attempting to but always with the idea that with it goes learning the library books the world the excitement of ideas we are a nation that has thrived on ideas Jefferson and said any nation that expects to be ignorant and free expects what never was and never will be and let us never ever forget it let us never ever forget it when we're talking and thinking about the role of our teachers in our country there is nobody doing more important work more work that will last longer and have greater influence than our teachers and I like to think of those founders as teachers they're teaching us they are there their story their accomplishments their example is there to teach us not just as students in school but all through life to take heart from to take inspiration from and to take their ideas to maybe encourage new ideas on our own parts now the second iconic work of art beside the architecture of carpenter saw is the most famous painting ever done by an American famous and has been seen by more more human beings more Americans than any painting ever done and it is a great scene of the signing of the Declaration by John Trumbull and one of the reasons it's seen by so many peoples it hangs in in from a prominent position and the in the in the Capitol in the grand below the Rotunda and the rotunda below the the Dome of the Capitol wears thousands of people go through every day seven days a week year after year throughout well over a hundred years it's been there now almost nothing in that painting is accurate first of all the Declaration of Independence wasn't signed on July 4th if you had to pick a date for the origin of the Declaration of Independence its July 2nd nothing really happened in Philadelphia in 1776 on July 4th that's the date on the document so it didn't happen that day nor did it all happen at once with everybody present to sign the signing didn't begin until August and then it stretched on when different members showed up back in Philadelphia at different times on through the rest of the year and into the year after the drapes are wrong the chairs are wrong there's a military banner hanging in the background on the main wall very decorative never existed never was it's a creation of the artist and the painting itself is an enlarged version and nowhere near as powerful a work of art as the original which hangs in the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven Connecticut which is only about 1 foot by 3 feet about that big small and small because John Trumbull had lost an eye as a child in an accident and he only had one eye and therefore his depth capacity is his vision did not have the depth capacity that comes with two eyes and so the smaller he worked the easier it was for him to handle things it's almost as if he's working with the jeweler's eye and so all the faces everything are very small now everything is inaccurate in the painting except for one very important thing the faces the individual faces 48 of them all accurate more than 30 of them painted from life he traveled up and down the country to find these people to do studies or to do the actual painting sketches of the real human being why is that so important because they were recognizable because they were each identifiable signing their names to this document which was signing a death notice you were committing treason against the crown they were identifiable and they were therefore accountable and we should take heart from that we are accountable we are accountable for what happens in the government and they and the direction of our country and our government and we are accountable for the education of our children and grandchildren that accountability is stated right there for us to remember and let us hope with all our hearts that we do remember now when that document was signed we were at war most people don't realize that they think they signed the document and then the war began we were at war the British had just landed 32,000 troops of the finest army in the world in New York a greater army than the size of all of Philadelphia at that time which was then the largest city in our country bravery courage courage character think of the courage it took it's not just their words that we should remember it's what was in their hearts and their devotion to the ideal nor did they have the gratifying realization that the whole country was behind them if they'd taken a poll in those days if they lived by polls in those days there would have been no declaration of independence there would have been no Revolutionary War at least one third of the country were absolutely against it another third were forint and the remaining third and the good old him in a way we're standing by to see which way it came out and then they joined them so they were against the tide they were up against the greatest army in the world they had no money and let us not forget that if it weren't for France we couldn't possibly have fought the war not just because of the French army they came over and because of people like laughing at but because of French financing and Dutch financing so we therefore already immediately of necessity had to be dealing with the rest of the world this wasn't an isolated example and before it was over our revolution as most Americans unfortunately don't realize became a world war the most important war in our history by far because it's what gave us birth as a people and as a as an idea at an ideal nor should we think that the Constitution was something that was just kind of out came out of the blue in in Philadelphia 225 years ago it was all nurturing cooking brewing if you will for a very long time and not just here it's it's in the language it's in the poetry and the powers political philosophy that we inherited from principally the mother country of England act well your part there all the honor lies all of them quoted that line loved that line lived that line it was their Creed ideally act well your part there all the honor lies is from alexander pope's essay on man was it telling us actually your part play your part do you do what you have to do because you are involved they felt at that moment here you were involved in one of the greatest human dramas in all of history and fate or God or the throw of the dice or the stars and formation whatever one chose to see it as the determining influence has cast you in a critical role so you must act to the best of your ability just as it says in the oath of office for the presidency why for money no fame no power no honor we pledged Our Lives our Fortunes our sacred honor we don't talk much about honor anymore and we fed forget very quickly those in positions of public responsibility who behave dishonorably to be dishonorable to have no sense of honor in that day and age disqualified you not just from taking part in the eyes of those working with you but in your own self esteem your own valuation of yourself these are ultimately important to understand because we too should be taking heart taking our our belief in our way of life from those sources it's why it's so very important that history be seen also through the literature of history what was the power of the best scenes in Shakespeare the influence on people like George Washington Thomas Jefferson what does Cicero really convey to Adams to Adams Cicero was his hero as much as anybody alive and it was Cicero who said among other things to go through life without with no sense of history is to go through life with the outlook of a child all of them read history all of the new history and interestingly it wasn't the history of the British Empire or of Europe it was the classical history the history of Greece and Rome and thank goodness for that because that the model of what we are and became goes back that far now well before the war ended well before the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia after the war John Adams wrote the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and just to show that there are precedents for all of these marvelous developments I want to just read a little bit to you from that Constitution which is still the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts first of all he set up a three-part government whether jus legislature executive and an independent judiciary and his emphasis on the independent judiciary it was one of the most important contributions he made to our country ever but he also added a third ingredient which unfortunately did not get into the constitution of our country though eventually we would come to understand that this was as essential as some of these other freedoms and that's was included in one memorable paragraph that I would like very much for you to listen closely to wisdom and knowledge as well as virtue diffuse generally among the bottoming a body of the people is necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in various parts of the country and among the different orders of the people in other words everybody it shall be the duty not shall be something that the legislators and executives will do it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates in all future periods of this Commonwealth and this is the choice of word I dearly love to cherish cherish the interests of literature and the sciences and all the seminaries of them especially the University of Cambridge public schools and grammar schools in all towns to encourage private societies and public institutions rewards and immunities for the promotion now what does education mean listen to what what he sees it this is no limited view of Education with blinders on this is everything for the promotion of agriculture arts sciences commerce trades manufacturers and a natural history of the country to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence benevolence public and private charity industry frugality frugality honesty we will teach honesty and punctuality in their dealings sincerity good humor there will be good humor and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people Adams was quite sure that the 225 delegates who were gathered in the first church in Cambridge to create a constitution for Massachusetts he was sure they would vote that down not only did they vote for it they voted for it unanimously but that has become in the real life of our country what we all believe in we look at the great civilization of the Middle Ages in Europe especially great cathedrals in France and and and we we're taking they were taken into a new realm of what humanity can accomplish these magnificent creations and we wonder in our hearts what are we building what are our cathedrals our great cathedrals what is going to come out of this civilization in the long run what will people be remembering us for I think we are building great cathedrals but the strange thing is we don't seem to realize it we don't see them we don't understand what an amazing thing we have done and are doing and that is that we have created in this country the greatest universities in the world yes they have problems yes our system of education needs much improvement much revision much more attention but there is no question that the reason all these gifted people from all over the world are coming to our country to go to college than to go to the universities is because they are the greatest universities in the world and we have spent generously for it we don't think of that we think where we're spending it for our beloved sons daughters grandchildren but we are in the process we have all in been United in this theme of education which began because of the genius of the founders it began with people like Benjamin Rush the physician of one of the youngest signers of the Declaration a Pro Declaration of Independence who initiated the elective system to college education who was the first to stress that we must teach modern European languages not just Latin and Greek this is part of us and we should recognize it and we should be proud as can be of it and we should not let our focus stray from that why the pursuit of happiness that's what they meant they didn't mean longer vacations the word vacation was unknown the idea of a vacation was unknown they didn't mean more stuff they meant the life of the mind the love of learning that's the happiness accomplishment worthy accomplishment valuable accomplishment now they were flawed often John Adams was a cranky often peevish sometimes self-pitying sometimes rude man honest to a fault but he was also one of the most brilliant minds of that era that age of brilliant minds a young man who was he said went to college and discovered books and read forever when he was in his 80s he was launching into a 16 volume history of France in French which he had taught himself George Washington was an avid architect interior decorator landscape architect gardener farmer a man of many interests and talents go to Mount Vernon take a look at it every single aspect of that magnificent house and his setting he designed he chose the color of the painted the draperies of the windows he chose the bedspreads he was avidly interested in in what a beautiful surrounding will do to the spirit Jefferson of course was one of the greatest American architects ever as well we hope stand forever as an emblem at Charlottesville not just Monticello but at the University of Virginia which he prizes is one of his greatest accomplishments on his gravestone as many of you know he didn't even listen didn't he want a list of the US President United States but is one of the founders of the University of Virginia and Virginia's law which provides freedom of religion which is why when Monticello was in ruins it was a Jewish Admiral from Philadelphia who saved it because neither the government of Virginia or the government of Washington wanted to do anything to save it and later when the levy as they pronounced the name spelled as levy when the levy family could no longer afford to maintain the house a Jewish group in New York founded the Jefferson Memorial Foundation because they did would not stand by and let the house go to ruins not how the house there wasn't only the home but was the design and the creation of one of the greatest leaders in our history and the one who is who demanded freedom of religion and that foundation still maintains that house today and that's why we can all go there and visit and learn from it we should take our children and take our grandchildren to these places take them to the to the what was the old Statehouse Independence Hall in Philadelphia we're both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed and not just signed debated and agonized and argued and and thought about over and over through intensely hot summers before the at the early part of the war and then after the war in in secrecy they had to keep all the windows closed because their their their deliberations had to be secret in order they could all speak their minds honestly candidly imagine being cooped up in Philadelphia in the summertime with no air-conditioning with the flies and mosquitos active in the extreme knowing that nothing you said could possibly be allowed to get out I've had the great privilege of getting to know many of these people very well because I've spent days months years with them a major part of my life with them reading what they wrote reading what was said about them reading their public pronouncements and their private correspondents in many ways I've come to know them better than I know people in my own real life for one thing in your own real life you don't get to read other people's mail the way you do as Nestorian and often they're working their thoughts out on paper the fact that they wrote what they said wrote and what they believed wrote it and worked it out themselves is a key not just to them but the age in which they live they didn't have other people writing what they were going to say for them or scanning it through it's possible me the effectiveness and so forth and in their private correspondence they're struggling to find out what they think working your thoughts out on paper it used to be called it's why we must emphasize writing in our system of education and particularly in our universities and colleges students should be required to write far more than they have to write in order to find out the excitement of suddenly discovering an idea a thought because you're writing that you would never would have had if you hadn't been writing hasn't been forced to think about it and write about it it's been said I don't know what I think until I write I understand that perfectly I'm office passed at the beginning of a project a new book well what's your theme and I make something up there just to pacify them I have no idea what my theme is more often than not that's one of the reasons I'm writing the book to find out I write to find out and that's the adventure of learning that's the excitement of learning your honor - you're on the hunt you're a detective case you're making discoveries it's an adventure and they eat men and women all understood that I hope very much that universities and colleges all over the country will soon know about the new constitution center here at Utah Valley University and I hope they'll realize the degree to which this has come about because of Professor rip Rick Griffin and president Holland it didn't just happen any more than the constitution of the Declaration of Independence of the success of Revolutionary War just happened it happened because of leadership leadership here at this university and the community of ideas and shared objectives that a great university can become I took a walk through the campus today saw the cranes and the bulldozers and all the building going on I thought how exciting here at the beginning here in the at the time of creation present of the creation as it were and isn't that the way it should be building anew with noble noble intent and how what an example is sets for the community for the state and for our country so on you go all of you and may all that you hope will be achieved here come to pass and may none of us ever forget how blessed how lucky how ik how fortunate in the extreme we are to live in this very great country and to have the example of so many who have been there at the very creation at the time of our founding that's my talk [Applause] you [Applause]

Channel: Center for Constitutional Studies UVU

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Length: 43min 12sec (2592 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 06 2019