From the NYT. Apparently there was a dispute regarding whether the original text should have been read -- including its references to slavery:
In consultation with the Congressional Research Service and others, the leaders of the House had decided to read a version of the Constitution that was edited to exclude those portions superseded by amendments — including amendments themselves — preventing lawmakers from having to make references to slaves, referred to in Article I, Section 2 as “three fifths of all other Persons” or to failed experiments like Prohibition. Members were not provided with the version before the reading began.
Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Democrat of Illinois, registered a complaint he expanded on later in a prepared statement, essentially arguing that the House was whitewashing history and ignoring the blood, sweat and tears paid to achieve the amendments.
The wrangling over parliamentary procedure went on for several minutes with the arguments of Democrats and Republicans perhaps presaging future partisan battles over the meaning, purpose and application of the Constitution.
The NYT has an annotated Constitution complete with liberal/conservative battle lines.
