Spring, 1787, the American Revolution had been won, but there was no peace, because there

was essentially no government. There were states, but they weren't united, not even close.

There was no mechanism to collect taxes. No way to provide for the national defense.

The nation was living on the edge of anarchy.

George Washington understood this, so did James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, so did

many others. Something clearly had to be done and fast.

The word went out across the land. A new constitutional convention was called for. When Washington

announced he would be there, the meeting gained instant credibility.

55 men from 12 states arrived in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft the framework of a national

government. There was no guarantee that they would succeed. And even if they did, there

was no guarantee that the American people would accept their plan. Failure was a real

possibility, and everybody knew it. The different interests of the states were just two

pronounced, over trade, taxes, and slavery, to name just three of a dozen points of conflict.

Yet they all knew that they had to succeed, or there would be no country, just a loose

collection of individual territories sharing the same continent, easy prey for the European

powers. Not only was America's future on the line,

so was the glorious principle of self-government, as stated in the Declaration of Independence,

the reason for the Revolutionary War. So these 55 men locked themselves in a room for four

months, working six days a week through the middle of a hot Philadelphia summer to get

it done. They all agreed they would say nothing to the press about their deliberations.

They even closed the window shutters so that no one could look in, making a very hot

room even hotter. As the temperature rose outside, tempers rose inside. Still, they persevered.

...