The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

“Fugio” penny, 1787

I confess, that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present; but Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it…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,
Speech in the Convention at the Conclusion of its
Deliberations, September 17, 1787

Franklin returned to America in 1785 and within two years was once again at the center of the effort to define and shape the new nation. In 1787 he was the oldest member of the Constitutional Convention, suffering from poor health and often excruciating pain. Nonetheless, Franklin’s experience as a seasoned diplomat and negotiator, combined with his keen observation of human nature, made him an ideal delegate to the Convention. His most important contributions were his spirit of pragmatic compromise and strong desire for unity. He drew on both to play a significant role in brokering the “Great Compromise”—a legislature of two houses, one elected in proportion to population and one in which each state would have equal representation.

Franklin opposed using landownership as a prerequisite for the right to vote; refused to grant unlimited veto power to the president; and recommended impeachment as a remedy for improper conduct. He believed that the major achievement of the Constitutional Convention was the unification of the states. Although the new Constitution did not have the anti-slavery clause he had hoped for, he signed it nonetheless, “recognizing the greater goal of unity.”

WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

—Constitution of the United States of America, September 17, 1787

The first three words of the Constitution—We the People—embody its most striking feature: ultimate political authority resides not in the government or in any single government official, but rather in the people.

The new system of government established by the Framers of the Constitution was based on republican principles. Power was to be distributed among three separate but interdependent branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Under an elaborate system of checks and balances, each branch has the power to control and check the powers of the other two branches. The Framers further divided power between the federal government and the states.

In 1791 Americans added a list of individual rights to the Constitution. These first ten amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.

Constitution of the United States, 1787

Am I Not a Man and a Brother?, ca. 1790

Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature.

—Benjamin Franklin, An Address To the Public, from the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, 1789

Franklin was a slave owner for much of his adult life. However, he always allowed his opinions and beliefs to be changed by observation and reflection. Over time Franklin grew to detest the practice of slavery and, eventually, to argue for abolition. Franklin’s public transformation into an anti-slavery advocate culminated in 1787, when he became the first president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Franklin waited until after the Constitution had been ratified before presenting a formal abolition petition to Congress, but the legislators did not act on his recommendation.