September 17th Marks the 220th Anniversary of the Miracle in Philadelphia

In the midst of the brutally hot summer of 1787 a miracle took place in Philadelphia — the Constitution of the United States was drafted debated and adopted. In less than 100 days a confederation of states with diverse and often competing interests laid the foundation for a nation of united states.

September 17th marks the 220th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution a document that has been ranked as mankind’s greatest political achievement. William Gladstone the distinguished British Prime Minister of the 19th Century declared that “the American Constitution is so far as I can see the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”

Most Americans have a distorted somewhat romanticized idea of what took place that summer. Though America was independent from Great Britain the colonies still operated under the Articles of Confederation which made survival as an independent nation very tenuous. The fragmented powers appropriated to the national government by the Articles made it very difficult for individual states to work out issues that ranged from developing a common defense against foreign enemies to disputes over issues of commerce.

Consequently the stated purpose of the convention in the summer of 1787 was to correct the defects in the Articles not create a new government. However to statesmen such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton it was quite apparent that the Articles of Confederation had to be replaced with a national constitution or the new republic was headed toward failure.

Madison who became the chief framer of our Constitution set things in motion for the formation of a much stronger national government when he recommended convening delegates from all the states to work on a broader agenda to “render the constitution of the federal government adequate to exigencies (demands) of the Union.” However he set no limits on what the convention delegates could discuss thereby leaving the door open to replace rather than repair the Articles of Confederation.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about the idea of a convention to strengthen the federal government. Patrick Henry who famously declared his support for American independence with the words “give me liberty or give me death” refused to attend the convention saying later that he “smelt a rat.” However of the 13 states only Rhode Island with its own state currency and strong economic interests refused to send delegates.

Two of America’s greatest political thinkers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were not even in the country at the time of the convention. Of the 70 delegates sent by the other 12 former colonies only 55 actually showed up in Philadelphia and not all of them were there during the entire process. The convention was scheduled to begin on May 14th but it wasn’t until May 25th that enough delegates arrived for the necessary quorum. And at the time of the signing only 42 delegates remained and of those George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts refused to sign.

While all of the 55 delegates who attended the convention were well read and well informed only 25 were college graduates. Nine were Princeton graduates who had studied under John Witherspoon who was highly influenced by the leading scholars of the Scottish Enlightenment and in particular Thomas Reid who popularized Scottish Common Sense philosophy.

The influence of this on our founding fathers is very evident in the Declaration of Independence as it states “we hold these truths to be self-evident” i.e. these truths are common sense and that influence carried over to the constitutional convention.

The Constitution was an enormous intellectual and moral achievement. It is the product of men well versed in the history of nations well trained in political philosophy and well seasoned in understanding human nature with all its vices and virtues. The Constitution gave form and substance to the common sense proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence…that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights. Moreover the legitimate purpose of government is to protect these rights and it is granted the power to do so only by the consent of the people.

As the last delegates were signing their names to the Constitution Benjamin Franklin drew attention to a chair with a carved sun on the back. Franklin said "I have often looked at that sun without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now ... I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun."

In the hot summer of 1787 in Philadelphia there was a new dawn of freedom. There men from states with diverse and often competing interests put aside their differences to give us a “government of the people by the people and for the people” through a Constitution that appropriately begins with the words “We the people of the United States.”