Thursday, May 15, 2014

What three reasons does Franklin give for agreeing to the constitution?

I'm not sure what you're reading in class which prompts
this question, but I'm answering from Ben Franklin's speech before the Constitutional
Convention in 1787.   He clearly had some reservations regarding this new Constitution,
but he does believe it should be ratified.  He says the
following:


"I agree to this Constitution with all its
faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for
us."


"I doubt...whether any other Convention...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....  Thus I consent to this Constitution because I expect no better, and
because I am not sure, that it is not the best."


"I hope
therefore that for our own sakes as part of the people, and for the sake of posterity,
we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this
Constitution."

From these statements we glean his
position--the Constitution should be ratified because America needed a governing
document, because nothing else was likely to better, and because it was necessary for
our posterity (future generations).

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