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The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history.

When a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves.

And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over turned into a struggle

to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans.

I'm Tracy.

And I'm Rich.

And we want to invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at this pivotal era in American history.

Look for the Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts.

Music the Civil War and Reconstruction, wherever you find your podcasts. Hello, and thank you for joining the American Revolution. This week, episode

352, the first states to ratify.

Last week, we covered the end of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia,

and the decision by the Confederation Congress to express no opinion on the final product.

Instead, they simply forwarded the Constitution without comment to the states for their consideration.

The decision to ratify or not was left up to the people of each state.

The first state to receive the proposed constitution was Pennsylvania.

After the convention wrapped up its business on September 17th, printed copies of the document

were available on the morning of

September 18th. It was formally presented to the state legislature at 11 a.m. that morning.

Delivery was not difficult. The Pennsylvania legislature had been meeting on the second floor of

the State House, while the convention was meeting on the first floor. The day after the

convention disbanded, the legislature moved back downstairs into the room that had been used by the

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