Compromise and the Constitution of the United States | Benjamin Franklin | PBS | A Film by Ken Burns | PBS | YouTubeToText
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- [Narrator] One of the thorniest issues was how Congress
would be apportioned.
Under the articles of Confederation each state
had an equal vote and delegates from smaller states
demanded that it stay that way.
Larger states, which would be contributing more in taxes,
wanted Congress to be based on population.
Franklin was placed on a committee
to find a workable compromise.
- [Walter] And finally Franklin gets up and he says
when we were young tradesmen here in Philadelphia
and we had a joint of wood that didn't quite fit
we'd take a little from one side and shave from the other
until we had a joint that would hold together for centuries.
And his point was that compromisers may not
make great heroes but they do make great democracies.
- [Narrator] As the impase over apportionment threatened
to derail the convention, Franklin began inviting
important delegates to his home where they could socialize
in the late afternoon under the branches
of his Mulberry tree and try to find common ground.
- [Walter] They discuss science, they discuss the things
they're talking about, that they have to compromise on
and he helps cool the passions of that hot summer
under the shade of his Mulberry tree.
- [Narrator] In the end, a compromise was reached.
Each state would have the same number of senators,
two, chosen by their legislatures.
The members of the house of representatives would be elected
by voters, white men only.
And each state's share would be based on its population.
To mollify the Southern states their populations
would include their number of enslaved people,
but each of those human beings would be counted
as only three fifths of a person.
- [Joseph] They can't talk about slavery directly
and the word slavery is never mentioned
in the document itself.
The difficult fact to accept is that the Union
is only possible if it includes the South.
And the states south of the Chesapeake, are it committed
to slavery, especially Virginia and South Carolina.
If you did the moral thing
in the summer of 1787 and took a clear stand
and insisted on it, the constitution would've never passed.
- [Joyce] It was a tragic compromise obviously
for many populations in the United States
who had no party to this agreement.
They had never agreed that they would be represented
in this way.
And so the compromise looks especially compromised
in those terms.
- This is America's original sin, and they know it.
Nobody in the convention or at that moment talks
about slavery as anything other than a necessary evil.
- The original sin of slavery was more
than just simply compromising.
The original sin of slavery began, at least
for these colonists, years before.
For Franklin, unity and compromise was the only thing
that could make this new nation move forward.
Without it, it would be a failed journey.
American democracy would not develop without it.
And for that reason, Franklin as well as others
side stepped the issue of slavery.
- [Narrator] On September 17th, 1787
the delegates gathered to vote on the proposed constitution.
Benjamin Franklin made the motion for its adoption.
- [Benjamin] I agree to this constitution
with all its faults, if they are such,
because I think a general government necessary for us.
I doubt too, whether any other convention we can obtain
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.
From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?
It therefore astonishes me, sir,
to find this system approaching so near to perfection
as it does.
And I think it will astonish our enemies
who are waiting with confidence to hear
that our councils are confounded
like those of the builders of Babel and that our states
are on the point of separation only to meet here after
for the purpose of cutting one another's throats.
Thus, I consent, sir, to this constitution
because I expect no better and because I am not sure
that it is not the best.
- [Narrator] Franklin's motion was approved.
One by one the delegate signed the new constitution
so it could be sent to the states for ratification.
- [Sheila] He signed it and I think he was relieved
that it brought Americans together.
And that was something that he had wanted
ever since the Albany conference, he had wanted Americans
to be a part of one, grand whole.
This might not be the best but it was the best
that you could get and he recognized that.
- The constitution is the framework for an ongoing argument
about who we are as a people and where power resides.
And it's presumed that each generation will be engaged
in an argument and take it in new directions.
What do we mean by we the people?
And certainly we mean a lot more people now
than we did then.
- [Narrator] With the work done, the doors
to Independence Hall were thrown open.
Franklin was approached by one of the city's
most prominent citizens, Elizabeth Willing Powell,
whose own rights had not been considered.
She asked him, "Well doctor, what have we got a republic
or a monarchy?"
- "A republic", he answered, "if you can keep it."
- Hi, this is Ken Burns.
I hope you enjoyed that excerpt from the film David Schmidt
and I made exploring the extraordinary life
of Benjamin Franklin.
Here are some more clips you might like
and you can watch the entire "Benjamin Franklin" series
on the PBS Video App or at pbs.org.
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
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