The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

146 Chapter 5 The Federalist Era: Nationalism Triumphant

proceedings at the State House in Philadelphia and
unanimously elected George Washington its presi-
dent. When it adjourned four months later, it had
drafted the Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton-Portraitatmyhistorylab.com

The Great Convention

As the decades have passed and the Constitution has
grown more and more tradition-encrusted without
losing any of its flexibility, each generation has tried
to explain how a people so young and inexperienced,
so free-swinging and unruly, could have produced it.
At the time of the hundredth anniversary of its sign-
ing, the British statesman William E. Gladstone called
it “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given
time by the brain of man.” One reason for its durabil-
ity was the ability of those who drafted it. The
founders were remarkable men. Although he later
had reason to quarrel with certain aspects of their
handiwork, Jefferson, who was on a foreign assign-
ment and did not attend the convention, called them
“demigods.” A presumably more impartial French
diplomat said that “even in Europe,” he had never
seen “an assembly more respectable for the talents,
knowledge, disinterestedness, and patriotism.”
Collectively the delegates possessed a rare combi-
nation of talents. Most of them had considerable expe-
rience in politics, and the many lawyers among them
were skilled in logic and debate. Furthermore, the
times made them acutely aware of their opportunities.

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It was “a time when the greatest law-

givers of antiquity would have wished to

live,” an opportunity to “establish the

wisest and happiest government that

human wisdom can contrive,” John

Adams wrote. “We... decide for ever the

fate of republican government,” James

Madison said during the deliberations.

If these remarks overstated the

importance of their deliberations, they

nonetheless represented the opinion of

most of those present. They were boldly

optimistic about their country. “We are

laying the foundation of a great empire,”

Madison predicted. At the same time the

delegates recognized the difficulties they

faced. The ancient Roman republic was

one model, and all knew that it had been

overthrown by tyrants and eventually

overrun by barbarians. The framers were

also familiar with Enlightenment thinkers

such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes,

and Montesquieu, and also with the ideas

that swirled around the great disputes

between Parliament and the Stuart monarchs during

the seventeenth century.

James Madison was a key figure at the Great Convention of 1787. He

not only influenced the shaping of the Constitution but also kept

the most complete record of the proceedings. “Every person,” wrote

one delegate, “seems to acknowledge his greatness.”

This engraving by William Russell Birch shows Congress Hall (left) which was occupied
by Congress from 1790 to 1800, when Philadelphia was capital of the nation. Here, too,
was the site of President Washington’s second inauguration in 1793 and President John
Adams’s inauguration in 1797.