practically bankrupt. The long struggle for independence had made the union of the colonies a necessity, but the coming of peace relaxed the bond, and the confederation threatened to break up in anarchic confusion and civil war. The States had no proper head. There was neither president, senate, nor supreme court. Congress consisted of a single house, which was conspicuous mainly, if not solely, for its weakness. It could enact laws, but could not enforce them; it could apportion taxes, but could not levy them; it could ask for soldiers, but could not draft them. In short, as an eminent statesman 1 said, "Congress could declare everything, but could do nothing." The States were jealous of each other and jealous of the central government, though that government was a name rather than a fact. They quarreled about boundary lines; they refused to pay debts; they denied each other freedom of trade; they had even begun to split up into independent and hostile fragments. Appalled by the discord, some conservative men despaired of the Republic, and wished to make Washington king. Washington himself beheld the wrangling with dismay. He said, "We are one nation to-day and thirteen to-morrow." He saw that the only hope lay in the action of the convention, which had been called to find a remedy for these evils. Franklin shared that feeling, and next to Washington, who presided over its deliberations, no delegate had greater influence than he. But the difficulties which the body had to overcome were no trifling ones. More than a month was spent in fruitless discussion, and the convention seemed to be as far from any agreement as when they first met.

1 John Jay.

At the end of that time Franklin thus addressed the presiding officer:

"How has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard; and they were graciously answered. All of us, who were engaged in the struggle, must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that GOD governs in the affairs of men. And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"1

With the exception of a short recess, the convention sat during the entire summer, forging and testing each link of the new chain that was to bind all opposing individual interests into one solid and symmetrical union.2 Sometimes the little States held out and refused to agree to an article, at other times the great ones resisted; but

1 Though the convention did not adopt the recommendation, yet it is probable that it had considerable effect in securing more efficient and united action, and hence was not wholly lost.

2 The opening paragraph of the Constitution clearly sets forth the purpose for which it was framed:

“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common

at last a compromise was reached which practically satisfied them all. A copy of the Constitution was now printed and submitted to the convention for reconsideration and amendment. That consumed another month, and on Monday, September 17, the completed work was ready to be signed. Franklin had prepared the following speech for the occasion, but he was too feeble to deliver it, and it was read for him. He said:

"MR. PRESIDENT:

"I confess, that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present; but, Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it; 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 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. . . . . 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 little dispute with her sister, said, 'But I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.'

"1

Still many hesitated to sign. Some thought the convention would have to break up without finishing their

defense, 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."

1 For the whole speech see Bigelow's edition of Franklin's Works.

work. One member, says McMaster, "feared a civil war." Washington was the first to come forward to the table and affix his name to the Constitution. Then, one by one, the others did likewise. As the last were signing, Franklin, looking at the President's seat, back of which a sun was painted, said: "I have often and often in the course of the session... looked at that sun behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”1 Thus was formed that Constitution of government which, in the words of an eminent English historian,2 has for more than a hundred years secured to the people of the United States "a greater amount of combined peace and freedom than was ever before enjoyed by so large a portion of the earth's inhabitants."

§ 20. "The Last of Earth."

1787-April 17, 1790.

Franklin continued in public life for about a year longer, during which time he kept up his correspondence with his friends in England and France, as well as at home. To one of them he wrote in 1788, that he intended employing the remnant of his days in completing his autobiography, which he believed would be of especial "use to young readers, exemplifying strongly the effects of prudent and

1 The same year in which the convention framed the Constitution, the copper coin commonly called "the Franklin penny" was issued. It had upon its face a sun rising above a sun-dial, and beneath, the words "MIND YOUR On the other side was an endless chain of thirteen links, and in the centre, "WE ARE ONE."

BUSINESS."

2 Edward Freeman, The History of Federal Government.

imprudent conduct in the commencement of a life of business."

To another, he wrote, the same year: "We have no philosophical news here at present, except that a boat moved by a steam-engine rows itself against tide in our river, and it is apprehended the construction may be so simplified and improved as to become generally useful." 1 Franklin soon after this withdrew from public affairs, though he continued to take an interest in both politics and science, and had the Philosophical Society meet at his house.

He often suffered long-continued pain, which unfitted him for any work, but consoled himself with the thought that " 'as we draw near the conclusion of life, nature furnishes us with more helps to wean us from it." He declared that the hardest cross old age imposed upon him was his loss of the friends he had outlived; that, said he, "is the tax we pay for long living; and it is indeed a heavy one." His last public act was to sign a memorial to Congress, praying for the abolition of slavery in the United States; and the last paper which he wrote, which was finished the day before his death, was on the same subject. Not long before this he rose and had his bed made, so that, as he said, "he might die in a decent manner." On April 17th the end came. He left a will which began with these characteristic words :

"I, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, of Philadelphia, printer, late

1 This was John Fitch's steamboat, the first ever launched in America. Poor Fitch struggled hard to make it a success, but failed to get sufficient money to carry out his plans. He became utterly disheartened at last, and in 1798 committed suicide. In his journal he had written: "The day will come when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from my invention." Not long after, Fulton accomplished what Fitch had begun.