Upon exiting the Constitutional Convent of 1787 in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was asked by an anxious inquisitor, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin is said to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it?”
In spite of their differences, personal and political, the delegates at the Constitutional Convention were driven by an overarching concern that our nascent nation was in significant disorder and heading to dissolution. The convention delegates worked to implement principles of popular majority rule and develop protections for the rights and liberties of their fellow Americans.
Addressing their concerns, the delegates’ goal was to create a unified nation out of a collection of independent republics, diverse in their economic interests, regional loyalties, and ethnic and religious attachments.
