Sep 15, 2018 3 min read

This week (Sept. 17) in 1787, delegates from the 12 states that had participated in the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia – Rhode Island had said no – affixed their signatures to the Constitution, making it official, pending ratification from nine of the 13 states (which occurred in late June 1788).

It had been a tumultuous four months since the day in late May when the convention began, but as the delegates signed the document they must have felt a sense of immense pride, both for what they had achieved – a then one-of-a-kind government in which sovereign power truly was vested in “the people” – and for what they had endured. The latter included endless hours of debate in a building, Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), in which the windows were closed, thereby exacerbating the stifling heat and humidity, to keep out the noise of loud horseshoes on the nearby cobblestone streets and to keep out the press.

They also may have felt as if they were on hallowed ground. In this same building, Congress had appointed George Washington commander of the Continental Army prior to the American Revolution, and that same Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Now – one by one – delegates from the 12 states arose from their desks to sign what would be, together with the Declaration and later the Bill of Rights, the three foundations on which our country is built.

George Washington, the convention’s president, was the first to sign the document, and he may have felt the most pride, because even though he contributed little to the convention’s actual debates, he was indispensable to its success. Without Washington’s presence, the Constitution the convention produced – which called for a powerful national government that would compete with the state and local governments most Americans preferred – would never have been accepted by his skeptical countrymen. Only because they trusted – nay, revered, Washington – did they agree to consider it and eventually approve it. “Be assured,” James Monroe said of Washington, “his influence carried this government.”

Or perhaps James Madison felt the most pride, having been the chief author of the blueprint, the Virginia Plan, on which the Constitution was based. Madison also spoke more than any other delegate; he helped fashion the key political compromises, and he took such extensive notes during the convention that our understanding of the Constitution’s language and intent largely is based on those notes.

And, perhaps, mixed with pride was a slight sadness that all the delegates felt. Never again, they thought, would such a distinguished collection of Americans come together for an undertaking so historic that it literally changed the world.

And never again has that happened.

Bruce G. Kauffmann’s email address is bruce@historylessons.net.