an object with me. The subsequent Mischiefs of proposing them are what I
apprehend. And therefore it is that I move the Amendment. If it is not
seconded or accepted, I must be contented with the Satisfaction of
having delivered my Opinion frankly, and done my Duty.
MOTION FOR PRAYERS IN THE CONVENTION
[Motion made June 28, 1787]
MR. PRESIDENT,
The small Progress we have made, after 4 or 5 Weeks' close Attendance
and continual Reasonings with each other, our different Sentiments on
almost every Question, several of the last producing as many _Noes_ as
_Ayes_, is, methinks, a melancholy Proof of the Imperfection of the
Human Understanding. We indeed seem to _feel_ our own want of political
Wisdom, since we have been running all about in Search of it. We have
gone back to ancient History for Models of Government, and examin'd the
different Forms of those Republics, which, having been orig[i]nally
form'd with the Seeds of their own Dissolution, now no longer exist; and
we have view'd modern States all round Europe, but find none of their
Constitutions suitable to our Circumstances.
In this Situation of this Assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark to
find Political Truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented
to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought
of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our
Understandings? In the Beginning of the Contest with Britain, when we
were sensible of Danger, we had daily Prayers in this Room for the
Divine Protection. Our Prayers, Sir, were heard;--and they were
graciously answered. All of us, who were engag'd in the Struggle, must
have observed frequent Instances of a superintending Providence in our
Favour. To that kind Providence we owe this happy Opportunity of
Consulting in Peace on the Means of establishing our future national
Felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we
imagine we no longer need its assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long
time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this
Truth, _that_ GOD _governs in the Affairs of Men_. And if a Sparrow
cannot fall to the Ground without His Notice, is it probable that an
Empire can rise without His Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the
Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labour in
vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that,
without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building
no better than the Builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little,
partial, local Interests, our Projects will be confounded, and we
ourselves shall become a Reproach and a Bye-word down to future Ages.
And, what is worse, Mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate
Instance, despair of establishing Government by human Wisdom, and leave
it to Chance, War, and Conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move,
That henceforth Prayers, imploring the Assistance of Heaven and its
Blessing on our Deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning
before we proceed to Business; and that one or more of the Clergy of
this city be requested to officiate in that Service.[M]
[M] "The convention, except three or four persons, thought
prayers unnecessary!" [_Franklin's note._]
SPEECH IN THE CONVENTION
At the Conclusion of its Deliberations[130]
[September 17, 1787]
MR. PRESIDENT,
I confess, that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at
present; but, Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it; for, having
lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by
better information or fuller consideration, to change my 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 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 two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their
doctrine, is, the Romish Church 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 little
dispute with her sister, said, "But I meet with nobody but myself that
is _always_ in the right." "_Je ne trouve que moi qui aie 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 I 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 endeavour to gain Partisans in support
of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose
all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our
favour 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 that government,
as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope,
therefore, for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake
of our posterity, that we shall act heartily and unanimously in
recommending this Constitution, wherever our Influence may extend, and
turn our future thoughts and endeavours 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.
[Then the motion was made for adding the last formula, viz. "Done in
convention by the Unanimous Consent," &c.; which was agreed to and added
accordingly.]
TO THE EDITORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE
_On the Abuse of the Press_
[1788]
MESSRS. HALL AND SELLERS,
I lately heard a remark, that on examination of _The Pennsylvania
Gazette_ for fifty years, from its commencement, it appeared, that,
during that long period, scarce one libellous piece had ever appeared in
it. This generally chaste conduct of your paper is much to its
reputation; for it has long been the opinion of sober, judicious people,
that nothing is more likely to endanger the liberty of the press, than
the abuse of that liberty, by employing it in personal accusation,
detraction, and calumny. The excesses some of our papers have been
guilty of in this particular, have set this State in a bad light abroad,
as appears by the following letter, which I wish you to publish, not
merely to show your own disapprobation of the practice, but as a caution
to others of the profession throughout the United States. For I have
seen a European newspaper, in which the editor, who had been charged
with frequently calumniating the Americans, justifies himself by saying,
"that he had published nothing disgraceful to us, which he had not taken
from our own printed papers." I am, &c.
A. B.
"New York, March 30, 1788.
"DEAR FRIEND,
"My Gout has at length left me, after five Months' painful
Confinement. It afforded me, however, the Leisure to read, or
hear read, all the Packets of your various Newspapers, which
you so kindly sent for my Amusement.
"Mrs. W. has partaken of it; she likes to read the
Advertisements; but she remarks some kind of Inconsistency in
the announcing so many Diversions for almost every Evening of
the Week, and such Quantities to be sold of expensive
Superfluities, Fineries, and Luxuries _just imported_, in a
Country, that at the same time fills its Papers with
Complaints of _Hard Times_, and Want of Money. I tell her,
that such Complaints are common to all Times and all
Countries, and were made even in Solomon's Time; when, as we
are told, Silver was as plenty in Jerusalem as the Stones in
the Street; and yet, even then, there were People who
grumbled, so as to incur this Censure from that knowing
Prince. '_Say not thou that the former Times were better than
these; for thou dost not enquire rightly concerning that
matter._'
"But the Inconsistence that strikes me the most is, that
between the Name of your City, Philadelphia, (_Brotherly
Love_,) and the Spirit of Rancour, Malice, and _Hatred_ that
breathes in its Newspapers. For I learn from those Papers,
that your State is divided into Parties, that each Party
ascribes all the public Operations of the other to vicious
Motives; that they do not even suspect one another of the
smallest Degree of Honesty; that the anti-federalists are
such, merely from the Fear of losing Power, Places, or
Emoluments, which they have in Possession or in Expectation;
that the Federalists are a set of _Conspirators_, who aim at
establishing a Tyranny over the Persons and Property of their
Countrymen, and to live in Splendor on the Plunder of the
People. I learn, too, that your Justices of the Peace, tho'
chosen by their Neighbours, make a villainous Trade of their
Office, and promote Discord to augment Fees, and fleece their
Electors; and that this would not be mended by placing the
Choice in the Executive Council, who, with interested or
party Views, are continually making as improper Appointments;
witness a '_petty Fidler, Sycophant, and Scoundrel_,'
appointed Judge of the Admiralty; '_an old Woman and
Fomenter of Sedition_' to be another of the Judges, and '_a
Jeffries_' Chief Justice, &c., &c.; with '_two Harpies_' the
Comptroller and Naval Officers, to prey upon the Merchants
and deprive them of their Property by Force of Arms, &c.
"I am inform'd also by these Papers, that your General
Assembly, tho' the annual choice of the People, shows no
Regard to their Rights, but from sinister Views or Ignorance
makes Laws in direct Violation of the Constitution, to divest
the Inhabitants of their Property and give it to Strangers
and Intruders; and that the Council, either fearing the
Resentment of their Constituents, or plotting to enslave
them, had projected to disarm them, and given Orders for that
purpose; and finally, that your President, the unanimous
joint choice of the Council and Assembly, is '_an old
Rogue_,' who gave his Assent to the federal Constitution
merely to avoid refunding Money he had purloin'd from the
United States.
"There is, indeed, a good deal of manifest _Inconsistency_ in
all this, and yet a Stranger, seeing it in your own Prints,
tho' he does not believe it all, may probably believe enough
of it to conclude, that Pennsylvania is peopled by a Set of
the most unprincipled, wicked, rascally, and quarrelsome
Scoundrels upon the Face of the Globe. I have sometimes,
indeed, suspected, that those Papers are the Manufacture of
foreign Enemies among you, who write with a view of
disgracing your Country, and making you appear contemptible
and detestable all the World over; but then I wonder at the
Indiscretion of your Printers in publishing such Writings!
There is, however, one of your _Inconsistencies_ that
consoles me a little, which is, that tho' _living_, you give
one another the characters of Devils; _dead_, you are all
Angels! It is delightful, when any of you die, to read what
good Husbands, good Fathers, good Friends, good Citizens, and
good Christians you were, concluding with a Scrap of Poetry
that places you, with certainty, every one in Heaven. So that
I think Pennsylvania a good country _to dye in_, though a
very bad one to _live in_."
TO REV. JOHN LATHROP[131]
Philad^a, May 31, 1788.
REVEREND SIR,
... I have been long impressed with the same sentiments you so well
express, of the growing felicity of mankind, from the improvements in
philosophy, morals, politics, and even the conveniences of common
living, by the invention and acquisition of new and useful utensils and
instruments, that I have sometimes almost wished it had been my destiny
to be born two or three centuries hence. For invention and improvement
are prolific, and beget more of their kind. The present progress is
rapid. Many of great importance, now unthought of, will before that
period be produced; and then I might not only enjoy their advantages,
but have my curiosity gratified in knowing what they are to be. I see a
little absurdity in what I have just written, but it is to a friend, who
will wink and let it pass, while I mention one reason more for such a
wish, which is, that, if the art of physic shall be improved in
proportion with other arts, we may then be able to avoid diseases, and
live as long as the patriarchs in Genesis; to which I suppose we should
make little objection....
B. FRANKLIN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FEDERAL GAZETTE
A COMPARISON OF THE CONDUCT OF THE ANCIENT JEWS AND OF THE
ANTI-FEDERALISTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
[1788?]
A zealous Advocate for the propos'd Federal Constitution, in a certain
public Assembly, said, that "the Repugnance of a great part of Mankind
to good Government was such, that he believed, that, if an angel from
Heaven was to bring down a Constitution form'd there for our Use, it
would nevertheless meet with violent Opposition." He was reprov'd for
the suppos'd Extravagance of the Sentiment; and he did not justify it.
Probably it might not have immediately occur'd to him, that the
Experiment had been try'd, and that the Event was recorded in the most
faithful of all Histories, the Holy Bible; otherwise he might, as it
seems to me, have supported his Opinion by that unexceptionable
Authority.
The Supreme Being had been pleased to nourish up a single Family, by
continued Acts of his attentive Providence, till it became a great
People; and, having rescued them from Bondage by many Miracles,
performed by his Servant Moses, he personally deliver'd to that chosen
Servant, in the presence of the whole Nation, a Constitution and Code of
Laws for their Observance; accompanied and sanction'd with Promises of
great Rewards, and Threats of severe Punishments, as the Consequence of
their Obedience or Disobedience.
This Constitution, tho' the Deity himself was to be at its Head (and it
is therefore call'd by Political Writers a _Theocracy_), could not be
carried into Execution but by the Means of his Ministers; Aaron and his
Sons were therefore commission'd to be, with Moses, the first
establish'd Ministry of the new Government.
One would have thought, that this Appointment of Men, who had
distinguish'd themselves in procuring the Liberty of their Nation, and
had hazarded their Lives in openly opposing the Will of a powerful
Monarch, who would have retain'd that Nation in Slavery, might have been
an Appointment acceptable to a grateful People; and that a Constitution
fram'd for them by the Deity himself might, on that Account, have been
secure of a universal welcome Reception. Yet there were in every one of
the _thirteen Tribes_ some discontented, restless Spirits, who were
continually exciting them to reject the propos'd new Government, and
this from various Motives.
Many still retained an Affection for Egypt, the Land of their Nativity;
and these, whenever they felt any Inconvenience or Hardship, tho' the
natural and unavoidable Effect of their Change of Situation, exclaim'd
against their Leaders as the Authors of their Trouble; and were not only
for returning into Egypt, but for stoning their deliverers.[N] Those
inclin'd to idolatry were displeas'd that their _Golden Calf_ was
destroy'd. Many of the Chiefs thought the new Constitution might be
injurious to their particular Interests, that the _profitable Places_
would be _engrossed by the Families and Friends of Moses and Aaron_, and
others equally well-born excluded.[O] In Josephus and the Talmud, we
learn some Particulars, not so fully narrated in the Scripture. We are
there told, "That Corah was ambitious of the Priesthood, and offended
that it was conferred on Aaron; and this, as he said, by the Authority
of Moses only, _without the Consent of the People_. He accus'd Moses of
having, by various Artifices, fraudulently obtain'd the Government, and
depriv'd the People of their Liberties; and of _conspiring_ with Aaron
to perpetuate the Tyranny in their Family. Thus, tho' Corah's real
Motive was the Supplanting of Aaron, he persuaded the People that he
meant only the _Public Good_, and they, moved by his Insinuations, began
to cry out, 'Let us maintain the Common Liberty of our _respective
Tribes_; we have freed ourselves from the Slavery impos'd on us by the
Egyptians, and shall we now suffer ourselves to be made Slaves by Moses?
If we must have a Master, it were better to return to Pharaoh, who at
least fed us with Bread and Onions, than to serve this new Tyrant, who
by his Operations has brought us into Danger of Famine.' Then they
called in question the _Reality of his Conference_ with God; and
objected the _Privacy of the Meetings_, and the _preventing any of the
People from being present_ at the Colloquies, or even approaching the
Place, as Grounds of great Suspicion. They accused Moses also of
_Peculation_; as embezzling part of the Golden Spoons and the Silver
Chargers, that the Princes had offer'd at the Dedication of the
Altar,[P] and the Offerings of Gold by the common People,[Q] as well as
most of the Poll-Tax;[R] and Aaron they accus'd of pocketing much of the
Gold of which he pretended to have made a molten Calf. Besides
_Peculation_, they charg'd Moses with _Ambition_; to gratify which
Passion he had, they said, deceiv'd the People, by promising to bring
them _to_ a land flowing with Milk and Honey; instead of doing which, he
had brought them _from_ such a Land; and that he thought light of all
this mischief, provided he could make himself an _absolute Prince_.[S]
That, to support the new Dignity with Splendor in his Family, the
partial Poll-Tax already levied and given to Aaron[T] was to be follow'd
by a general one,[U] which would probably be augmented from time to
time, if he were suffered to go on promulgating new Laws, on pretence of
new occasional Revelations of the divine Will, till their whole Fortunes
were devour'd by that Aristocracy."
[N] Numbers, ch. xiv. [_Franklin's note._]
[O] Numbers, ch. xiv, verse 3. "And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, 'Ye
take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
_every one of them_; wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves
above the congregation?'"
[P] Numbers, ch. vii.
[Q] Exodus, ch. xxxv, verse 22.
[R] Numbers, ch. iii, and Exodus, ch. xxx. [_Franklin's notes._]
[S] Numbers, ch. xvi, verse 13. "Is it a small thing that thou
hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and
honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself
altogether a prince over us?"
[T] Numbers, ch. iii.
[U] Exodus, ch. xxx.
Moses deny'd the Charge of Peculation; and his Accusers were destitute
of Proofs to support it; tho' _Facts_, if real, are in their Nature
capable of Proof. "I have not," said he (with holy Confidence in the
Presence of his God), "I have not taken from this People the value of an
Ass, nor done them any other Injury." But his Enemies had made the
Charge, and with some Success among the Populace; for no kind of
Accusation is so readily made, or easily believ'd, by Knaves as the
Accusation of Knavery.
In fine, no less than two hundred and fifty of the principal Men,
"famous in the Congregation, Men of Renown,"[V] heading and exciting the
Mob, worked them up to such a pitch of Frenzy, that they called out,
"Stone 'em, stone 'em, and thereby _secure our Liberties_; and let us
chuse other Captains, that may lead us back into Egypt, in case we do
not succeed in reducing the Canaanites!"
[V] Numbers, ch. xvi. [_Franklin's notes._]
On the whole, it appears, that the Israelites were a People jealous of
their newly-acquired Liberty, which Jealousy was in itself no Fault;
but, when they suffer'd it to be work'd upon by artful Men, pretending
Public Good, with nothing really in view but private Interest, they were
led to oppose the Establishment of the _New Constitution_, whereby they
brought upon themselves much Inconvenience and Misfortune. It appears
further, from the same inestimable History, that, when after many Ages
that Constitution was become old and much abus'd, and an Amendment of it
was propos'd, the populace, as they had accus'd Moses of the Ambition of
making himself a _Prince_, and cried out, "Stone him, stone him;" so,
excited by their High Priests and SCRIBES, they exclaim'd against the
Messiah, that he aim'd at becoming King of the Jews, and cry'd out,
"_Crucify him, _Crucify him_." From all which we may gather, that
popular Opposition to a public Measure is no Proof of its Impropriety,
even tho' the Opposition be excited and headed by Men of Distinction.
To conclude, I beg I may not be understood to infer, that our General
Convention was divinely inspired, when it form'd the new federal
Constitution, merely because that Constitution has been unreasonably and
vehemently opposed; yet I must own I have so much Faith in the general
Government of the world by _Providence_, that I can hardly conceive a
Transaction of such momentous Importance to the Welfare of Millions now
existing, and to exist in the Posterity of a great Nation, should be
suffered to pass without being in some degree influenc'd, guided, and
governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler, in whom
all inferior Spirits live, and move, and have their Being.
B. F.
TO CHARLES CARROLL[132]
Philadelphia, May 25, 1789.
DEAR FRIEND,
I am glad to see by the papers, that our grand machine has at length
begun to work. I pray God to bless and guide its operations. If any form
of government is capable of making a nation happy, ours I think bids
fair now for producing that effect. But, after all, much depends upon
the people who are to be governed. We have been guarding against an evil
that old States are most liable to, _excess of power_ in the rulers; but
our present danger seems to be _defect of obedience_ in the
subjects.[133] There is hope, however, from the enlightened state of
this age and country, we may guard effectually against that evil as well
as the rest.
My grandson, William Temple Franklin, will have the honour of presenting
this line. He accompanied me to France, and remained with me during my
mission. I beg leave to recommend him to your notice, and that you would
believe me, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE SUPREMEST COURT OF JUDICATURE IN PENNSYLVANIA, VIZ.
THE COURT OF THE PRESS
[From the _Federal Gazette_, September 12, 1789.]
_Power of this Court._