Quote · The Rest Is History
684. Franklin: Revenge of the American Genius (Part 2)
Where this was said
Return to Philadelphia: Constitution, Compromise, and Mulberry Tree Diplomacy
At 1:06:30 · chapter starts 1:05:40
When Franklin returned from France in 1785 after 9 years, cannon fire, church bells, and huzzahs greeted him in Philadelphia — a genuine popular hero. Two years later, aged 81, barely able to walk, he attended the Constitutional Convention as Pennsylvania's oldest delegate by 15 years and twice the average age of other members. He could do no heavy lifting, but his presence was a benediction, a living link to the Republic's earliest days [1] — Tom Holland "At 81, barely able to walk, Franklin delivered the Constitutional Convention's most memorable speech. He acknowledged the Constitution's fl…" 1:06:08 . His house, a short walk from the State House, provided a crucial pressure valve: delegates could retire to sit beneath the mulberry tree in his garden and negotiate the compromises that eluded them in the chamber. When the Constitution was finally endorsed on 17 September 1787, Franklin's closing address was characteristically measured: he acknowledged the document's imperfections but urged everyone to sign it, saying simply, 'I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better and because I am not sure that it is not the best.' Tom calls this the spirit in which revolutions should be attempted — pragmatic compromise rather than the white-hot certainty of a Cromwell, Robespierre, or Lenin.
At 81, barely able to walk, Franklin delivered the Constitutional Convention's most memorable speech. He acknowledged the Constitution's flaws, urged everyone to sign it anyway, and said simply: 'I expect no better.' In a century of ideological fanatics, Franklin chose the harder path — pragmatic compromise.
At 84, weeks before his death, Franklin published a satirical pamphlet under a Muslim pseudonym deploying pro-slavery arguments to condemn the Barbary States' enslavement of Europeans. It was the exact language used by American slaveholders — turned against them. A former slave owner's last act was a work of anti-slavery genius.
At age 84, just weeks before his death in April 1790, Franklin published a brilliant Swiftian satire using pro-slavery arguments to mock the enslavement of Europeans by Barbary States, his final published work.
