Pennsylvania Government

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Pennsylvania Government

Pennsylvania Politics. In the 1770s the most troubling issue for Pennsylvanians was the control three counties—Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester—had over the rest of the province. Though home to only one-third of the population, these three counties elected twenty-six of the thirty-six members of the assembly. Westerners and German immigrants, who were subject to strict naturalization laws, were effectively disenfranchised. Residents of the city of Philadelphia had fewer representatives than did residents of Philadelphia County, living beyond the city boundaries. In 1776 resentment against this domination erupted, and on 10 May, when Congress called on the states to form new governments, Philadelphians responded enthusiastically, calling for a general conference to meet in Philadelphia on 18 June. This conference called for a state convention in which each county and the city of Philadelphia would have an equal number of delegates. On 15 July the convention met and almost immediately proclaimed itself the new government of Pennsylvania, drawing up a new state constitution to break the former assembly’s power.

Paine’s Influence. Influenced by Thomas Paine’s plan of government in Common Sense (1776), the Pennsylvania convention drew up one of the most radical constitutions ever to govern an American state. Because they believed it was unrepublican to have any check on the popular will, the convention created a single-house legislature that would be elected every year. Every man over twenty-one who paid a shilling in taxes could vote. This allowed virtually all adult men to vote, eliminating the kind of property qualifications that every other state considered necessary to protect property rights and political stability.

The Executive. Pennsylvania, along with New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Delaware, did not have a governor under its new constitution. These states instead gave executive power to a “president,” one who would preside rather than govern. Colonial governors had been representatives of the king. With the king no longer part of the political system, he did not need a representative.

It was not clear who the governor would represent, though, since Americans had not made up their minds about the proper role and structure of government. Pennsylvania’s constitution put executive power in the hands of a council elected by the people of the state. This twelve-man executive board, with a president and vice president chosen from among them by the legislature, would have limited functions: it would choose judges (who would serve for seven-year terms) but would not have a veto over the assembly.

Checks on the Majority. Pennsylvanians understood that sometimes even the majority could be wrong. Their constitution provided two checks on potential tyranny. First, no law would take effect until one year after it was passed. This would give the people a chance to elect a new legislature, which could affirm or reject the last legislature’s laws. The constitution also created an eighteen member Council of Censors (two representatives from each county and the city of Philadelphia) to be elected every seven years. This council would review all laws passed and all actions of the executive and determine if the constitution needed amending. If the council decided the constitution needed amending, it would call a state convention.

Critics. Though Pennsylvania promised to have the most direct democracy in America, not all thought this would be a good thing. John Adams exclaimed on reading the constitution, “Good God! The people of Penna will... fall upon their knees to the King of Great Britain to take them under his protection in order to deliver them from the tyranny of their government.” The constitution’s main flaw, as Adams saw it, was in giving too much power to the legislature and not leaving sufficient power anywhere else to check it. Adams believed that governments needed to balance the interests of various constituencies and that no branch of government should be able to overwhelm the others. This idea of separating the powers of government to prevent tyranny came from French writer Charles Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws (1748), a landmark work in political theory. Montesquieu praised the British constitution for its careful separation of executive and legislative functions, and colonists regarded the king’s interference with the legislature as one of their primary grievances. Executive authority had overstepped its bounds before 1776, and the colonists responded with revolution. Now, in setting up new governments, the Americans limited the executive severely; to Adams the legislature now seemed the likely source of tyranny.

Violations of the Constitution. Pennsylvania’s legislature did overstep its constitutional limits. Though the state Bill of Rights protected private property, the legislature had allowed property to be taken for military use and had set the price for the taking. The Bill of Rights protected citizens and their property from being searched or seized, yet the legislature permitted the military to search private property to determine how much a citizen owed in taxes and whether the property should be taken for military levies. The legislature also interfered with the judiciary: it voted to set aside fines imposed by judges; it settled civil cases despite the constitutional guarantee of jury trials; and it dissolved marriages.

Attacks on the Constitution. The constitution came under attack from the more conservative Pennsylvanians, who distrusted mass democracy. When the Council of Censors met for the first (and only) time in November 1783, the more conservative element had a small majority. Calling themselves “Republicans” (as they were opposed to the “democratic” constitution; its supporters called themselves “Constitutionalists”), this group tried to call for a state convention to change the constitution. They wanted to replace the executive council with a governor and add an upper house to the legislature as a check on the assembly. They wanted representation to be determined by taxable property rather than population. The Constitutionalists blocked the call for a convention in 1784, but the Pennsylvania constitution continued to be the state’s central political issue. In 1789 the Republicans succeeded in calling a convention, and in 1790 Pennsylvania adopted a new constitution, with a popularly elected governor able to veto acts of the legislature, which was divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives. Judges, appointed by the governor, would serve during good behavior.