Thread by @DavidPriess

OTD 1787: The US Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, after Benjamin Franklin offers some of the wisest words in American political history.

A few excerpts from his inspiring expression of realism, humility, and compromise, with a dash of optimism, that’s too rare today:

1/8

“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:”

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

2/8

“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.”

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

3/8

“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.“

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

4/8

“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us,... I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution.”

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

5/8

“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.”

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

6/8

“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 ...”

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

7/8

“Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.”

— Benjamin Franklin, OTD 1787

/end