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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - SEPTEMBER 17,
1787
Address to the Federal Convention
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It follows the full text transcript of
Benjamin Franklin's Address to the Federal
Convention, delivered by James Wilson before the
Constitutional Convention assembled at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania - September 17, 1787.
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Mr. President, |
I confess that
there are several parts of this constitution
which I do not at present approve, but I am not
sure I shall never approve them: For having
lived long, I have experienced many instances of
being obliged by better information or fuller
consideration, to change opinions even on
important subjects, which I once thought right,
but found to be otherwise.
It is therefore
that the older I grow, the more apt I am to
doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect
to the judgment of others. Most men indeed as
well as most sects in Religion, think themselves
in possession of all truth, and that wherever
others differ from them it is so far error.
Steele, a
Protestant in a Dedication tells the Pope, that
the only difference between our Churches in
their opinions of the certainty of their
doctrines is, the Church of Rome is infallible
and the Church of England is never in the wrong.
But though many private persons think almost as
highly of their own infallibility as of that of
their sect, few express it so naturally as a
certain French lady, who in a dispute with her
sister, said "I don't know how it happens,
Sister but I meet with no body but myself,
that's always in the right"-- Il n'y a que
moi qui a toujours raison."
In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this
Constitution with all its faults, if they are
such; because I think a general Government
necessary for us, and there is no form of
Government but what may be a blessing to the
people if well administered, and believe farther
that this is likely to be well administered for
a course of years, and can only end in
Despotism, as other forms have done before it,
when the people shall become so corrupted as to
need despotic Government, being incapable of any
other.
I doubt too
whether any other Convention we can obtain may
be able to make a better Constitution. For when
you assemble a number of men to have the
advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably
assemble with those men, all their prejudices,
their passions, their errors of opinion, their
local interests, and their selfish views. From
such an Assembly can a perfect production be
expected? 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. The opinions I have had of its
errors, I sacrifice to the public good--I have
never whispered a syllable of them
abroad--Within these walls they were born, and
here they shall die--If every one of us in
returning to our Constituents were to report the
objections he has had to it, and endeavor to
gain partisans in support of them, we might
prevent its being generally received, and
thereby lose all the salutary effects & great
advantages resulting naturally in our favor
among foreign Nations as well as among
ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity.
Much of the
strength and efficiency of any Government in
procuring and securing happiness to the people,
depends. on opinion, on the general opinion of
the goodness of the Government, as well as well
as of the wisdom and integrity of its Governors.
I hope therefore that for our own sakes as a
part of the people, and for the sake of
posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously
in recommending this Constitution (if approved
by Congress and confirmed by the Conventions)
wherever our influence may extend, and turn our
future thoughts and endeavors to the means of
having it well administered.
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.
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