For four months in the sweltering summer of 1787, delegates from the then-13 states sat in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall, see below) in Philadelphia and wrote the blueprint and rule book for our federal government. They included such founding superstars as George Washington (who was unanimously elected president of the convention), Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. Two giants of the period missed out on the convocation because they were our first ministers to two of the greatest world powers at the time -- Thomas Jefferson in France and John Adams in Great Britain. The members of the convention signed the final draft of their work on September 17th. Ironically, they were sent to Philadelphia only to try to improve the ineffectual Articles of Confederation, but once they got there, they decided the Articles were fatally flawed and decided to start from scratch.
Here's what Franklin had to say when their work was done:
Here's what Franklin had to say when their work was done:
“I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present, but Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it: For having lived long, I have experienced many Instances of being oblig'd, by better Information or fuller Consideration, to change Opinions even on important Subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”
. . . .
It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this System approaching so near to Perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our Enemies, who are waiting with Confidence to hear that our Councils are confounded, like those of the Builders of Babel, and that our States are on the Point of Separation, only to meet hereafter for the Purpose of cutting one another’s Throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.
. . . .
On the whole, Sir, I cannot help expressing a Wish, that every Member of the Convention, who may still have Objections to it, would with me on this Occasion doubt a little of his own Infallibility, and to make manifest our Unanimity, put his Name to this Instrument.”
And one of my favorite stories about the Constitutional Convention is this one, also about Franklin, on that same September 17th -- 234 years ago today:On the final day, as the last delegates were signing the document, Franklin pointed toward the [carved] sun on the back of the Convention president's [Washington's] chair. Observing that painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising sun from a setting sun, he went on to say: "I have often ... in the course of the session ... looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun."
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, well worth a visit:
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