The following is a speech given by Benjamin Franklin to the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. The Convention was deciding whether to ratify the final version of the U.S. Constitution.
Dear 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”. . .
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
partizans 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 & 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 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 & confirmed by the Conventions)
wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future
thoughts & 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.
*In the Christian Bible, the people who built the Tower of Babel spoke multiple languages and could not understand each other well enough to complete the tower’s construction.
Dear 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”. . .
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
partizans 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 & 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 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 & confirmed by the Conventions)
wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future
thoughts & 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.
*In the Christian Bible, the people who built the Tower of Babel spoke multiple languages and could not understand each other well enough to complete the tower’s construction.