America at 250: Miracle at Philadelphia
“It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States … should unite in forming a system of national Government…” –George Washington, Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, February 7, 1788
After the Revolutionary War was settled, many colonists thought their nearly decade-long struggle might be over. Far from it. The 13 colonies considered themselves independent entities, even though they were loosely bound together by the Articles of Confederation. Despite having won the war, enormous challenges lay ahead- namely, how the colonies would exist together in a cohesive governmental framework, how they would all act in case of attack, rules for conducting commerce between them and what laws would prevail if disputes arose between the states. Some historians now privately wonder whether spiritual intervention got them to agree on a national framework binding them all together.
In Miracle at Philadelphia, Catherine Drinker Bowen details the personalities involved in crafting the U.S. Constitution, including James Madison, scholarly expert on the history of governments, considered its ‘architect’, James Wilson, Madison’s equal whose knowledge of law helped shape the final document, Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, whose recommendations concerning revenue and the funding of the new government were hugely instrumental in the formation of the banking system and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, whose ‘Connecticut Compromise’ helped finalize states’ representation in the new system. The debates started on May 25, 1787, lasting nearly four months through the sweltering Philadelphia Summer.
Appointing General Washington to oversee the Convention was a stroke of genius, putting his stellar reputation behind the proceedings. Yet the dialogue was, at times brutal in attacks on the character of the attendees. Representatives of the smaller states believed they would be overruled by the more populous ones. At one point, Gunning Bedford, Jr. of Delaware shouted, “I do not, gentlemen, trust you!” Patrick Henry, whose “Give me liberty, or give me death!” helped spark the revolution, refused to attend the Convention, saying “I smelt a rat.” Samuel Adams – who many considered the ‘loudest voice’ for independence – also did not attend, distrusting centralized authority. John Hancock, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee were among those who were highly skeptical of a system which might take away their freedom. Getting men from different backgrounds and geographic regions to agree on such a document seemed a Herculean task.
It was. The delegates- deemed Federalists (who supported the Constitution) and anti-Federalists (who opposed it) debated every nuance for and against forming a centralized government. Later adversaries Alexander Hamilton and James Madison here argued together quite vehemently that the nation had no cohesive framework, states were fighting against each other over commerce, taxes and regulations, struggling to survive, we had no national currency, no banking system, the country was deeply in debt and couldn’t even pay its bills. In short, America in 1787 was a mess. How could it hope to come together and solve its many problems?
Historian Forrest McDonald, in The Economic Origins of the Constitution, states that adopting a moniker was a cunning move. As he wrote, “the choice of the name ‘Federalists’ by the friends of the Constitution was … a bit of political strategy. The Federalists were really nationalists on the issue of ratification. The real federalists were those who preferred the confederation existing under the Articles to the general government proposed by the Constitution. Nonetheless, the labels ‘Federalist’ and ‘anti-Federalist’ stuck…” It was brilliant. Calling those who were against the Constitution ‘anti-Federalists’ implied they were fighting against their own state authority, yet the debates raged on. Some were praying that Divine Providence would help.
Of the 55 men who had agreed to attend the Convention, only 39 signed it on September 17th and the outlook was quite uncertain, but in the Summer of 1788, God showed up. The Federalists finally won the day with approval by the 9th state – New Hampshire – on June 21st. Mid-Atlantic states had led the way: Delaware was first to ratify on December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania was not far behind on December 12th. Two out of the first three states to ratify (Delaware and New Jersey) did so unanimously, all three in the same year it was written – a much needed stamp of approval. As a whole, the Mid-Atlantic states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland) had by far the highest average approval percentage (87.9%) of all the states. Yet a review of the voting shows just how perilously close to failure we came. A total of 1,648 votes were cast at ratifying conventions or assemblies. A swing of just 23 votes or 1.4% of the total would have led to disapproval of the Constitution, leaving the nation in chaos. Perhaps ‘miracle’ is the best descriptor for what occurred.
Even with ratification, huge obstacles lay ahead. Anti-Federalists demanded the creation of a list of liberties guaranteed to citizens. This was accomplished with the Bill of Rights – the first ten Amendments to the Constitution – ratified on December 15th, 1791. It was 81-year old Benjamin Franklin who accurately voiced his continuing concerns after he and the other delegates signed the document in the Pennsylvania State House – in the same room where the Declaration of Independence had been signed. A woman came up to him as he was leaving the building and asked him what kind of government they had created. He said: “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
What the Founding Fathers achieved is truly extraordinary. British Prime Minister William Gladstone described it as “the most wonderful work ever struck off … by the brain and purpose of man.” James Madison was proud of what he and his colleagues had accomplished, saying: “Nothing has excited more admiration in the world than the manner in which free governments have been established in America…” Today, 238 years later, we can all be thankful for their efforts producing a document which has withstood the test of time so well.
