Section 2. Legislative findings and purpose.
(a) Findings.--The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania finds as follows:
(1) Pennsylvania, which on December 12, 1787, became the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, also was the first state to witness the historical and far-reaching confrontation between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists over amendments defining the rights of citizens.
(2) Pennsylvania's Anti-Federalists were minority members of the Pennsylvania ratifying convention who opposed ratification because they believed that the proposed centralized Federal system without the protection of a "national bill of rights" was intimidating and unacceptable.
(3) Pennsylvania's Federalists, who prevailed as majority members of the ratifying convention, argued persuasively that the Anti-Federalists had confused a republic with a direct democracy. They argued that size and numbers did not matter in a republic if elected representatives of citizens were able to meet in a central place. They believed also that America's diversity provided a natural system of "checks and balances" which insured liberty because no one interest or class could become too powerful.
(4) Pennsylvania's unique familiarity with the provisions of the new Constitution and its opposing issues stems from the fact that two of the convention's eight delegates were intimately involved with its framing. James Wilson wrote the first draft, and Gouverneur Morris wrote the final draft.
(5) Although Pennsylvania's Anti-Federalists lost their battle to add the ten amendments to the Constitution, their enthusiasm was instrumental, during the ratification debates in other states, in securing the attachment of the "Bill of Rights" to the ratified Constitution in 1791.
(6) Delegate Benjamin Franklin had authored a "Declaration of Rights" for Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution. This protection of the rights of Pennsylvania citizens served as a model for the Federal Constitution's "Bill of Rights."
(b) Purpose.--
(1) The controversy, aroused in 1787 by the debates over the purpose and need for the protection of citizens' rights to be included in our United States Constitution, continues to this day.
(2) Through the reenactment of Pennsylvania's ratification of the United States Constitution, Pennsylvania's General Assembly in the 1987 session intends to stimulate spirited discussions of the ideals expressed in the "Bill of Rights" within the community and among Pennsylvania school children. Such discussions and debates among all Pennsylvanians during the 200th Anniversary celebration can only lead to a deeper awareness and appreciation of the freedoms guaranteed by our United States Constitution.
(3) While the rights of all America's people were not fully recognized at the time of the initial ratification of the United States Constitution, it is now clear that the original Constitution was a living, pliable document. It was amendable to constructive, positive change which has resulted, through amendments to the document, in full recognition of previously unrecognized groups. In this connection, the commemoration of Pennsylvania's ratification of the United States Constitution should acknowledge the historical underpinnings of the Constitution, and its past inequities, as well as recognize the Constitution as a vehicle for real change in recognition of legal rights now enjoyed by previously disenfranchised groups.