James Madison's records of debates in the federal convention of 1787 in Philadelphia are a priceless historical treasure of copious first-person notes.
They stretch to nearly 750 pages in my edition, which is a facsimile reproduction of the volume commissioned for publication by Congress in 1926 as part of the sesquicentennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence.
Madison details the daily goings-on with amazing acuity, and his account is immeasurably insightful to all the discussions and heated arguments, the voluminous motions and seconds and very close votes, between the delegates; the convention was months of real work.
Saturday marked the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. It's also the same anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's speech, which he had James Wilson read aloud. Madison summarized most of the speeches in the course of the convention. But he included Franklin's closing-day remarks verbatim.
There may not be a more articulate admonition against letting perfect be the enemy of the good. Or a more sage expression of humility's vital role in balancing the natural human tendency toward pride and self-aggrandizement.
Or, most pertinent today, a more eloquent example of the power of unity to triumph, even amid partisan discontent and disagreement, in collective enterprise for the public interest.
Remembering our current president's "battle speech" before the same Independence Hall on Sept. 1: what a contrast in content. Obviously, Joe Biden is no Benjamin Franklin, but it might have been nice if one of his advisers had handed him a copy of Franklin's convention speech prior as a masterpiece model for what the country might need to hear.
Franklin, who was a couple of years older in 1787 than Biden is now, began his speech by declaring his disapproval of several parts of the Constitution -- but he also admitted he wasn't sure that he might come to approve of them later. Looking back over his long life, he recalled many instances where he changed his opinions after getting better information or fuller consideration.
"The older I grow," he said, "the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others," even those with whom he didn't see eye to eye.
Any assembly of men to gain advantage of their joint wisdom, he noted, would also assemble "all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views," he said. "From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near perfection as it does."
He consented to its approval "because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best." Franklin said he had "never whispered a syllable" of his opinions of its errors outside the walls of Independence Hall, and there they would die. He warned delegates that to go back to their constituents and each "report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them" would only weaken the proposed Constitution -- and likely also weaken the nation as a whole abroad.
In conclusion, he wished that any member still harboring objections to the Constitution would join him and "on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility" and put their name to the document.
Viewers saw very little doubt of his own infallibility in President Biden's fist-shaking rant. The opposite was on full display, as when he spoke of his duty to "tell the truth," which he then qualified in the next breath as being true "in my view."
The inability to discern truth from personal opinion, or worse, a penchant for equating the two, discredits not only the substance of the speech, but also the speaker.
How refreshing it might have been had Biden sought a truly presidential moment, and invited extremists on both sides to doubt a little of their own infallibility for the greater good. Independence Hall also would have been a good place for Biden to try and positively reset his own party's constitutional compass.
Instead, he claimed MAGA Republicans don't respect the Constitution.
"This is a nation that honors our Constitution," he said. "We do not reject it."
He didn't explain how to square that statement with overt, published rejections from staunch Democrats like LA Times columnist Nicholas Goldberg who call it archaic and out of date.
The Constitution is "too inflexible, insufficiently democratic, and even in some ways dysfunctional," Goldberg wrote.
It's hard to find much honoring of the Constitution happening in "progressive" circles, where critics can't get past the race/gender homogeneity of the convention delegates. They openly reject the idea that tenets for self-government engrossed on parchment should still be considered binding for the smartphone era.
Timeless principles are just that, however. And that's why our Constitution is a unique achievement among nations.
A well-administered constitutional government is a blessing to the people, Franklin said. But it is threatened "when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other."
On Constitution Day, remember that We the People includes you. Heed Franklin's words, and behave accordingly.
Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.