Existing comment:
A Fair Opportunity
Americans had, wrote John Adams in 1776, "a fair opportunity to form... the wisest and happiest government that human wisdom can contrive."
On Exhibit:
The rare, printed copies of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution of the United States displayed here, chronicle this struggle to express the essence of free government. Each document emerged from countless hours of debate that occurred, in large part, in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). Each exists as a practical, yet often elegant, expression of the Founders' emerging concepts of government.
The silver inkstand also on display boasts its own remarkable history. Crafted by Philip Syng for the Pennsylvania Assembly, this inkstand probably sat on the Speaker's table during the formal signing of both the Declaration and the Constitution. Into this inkstand, according to tradition, now legendary leaders dipped their pens and affixed their signatures to the official documents now displayed in governmental archives in Washington, DC.
Great Essentials:
They faced a revolutionary opportunity, an extraordinary chance to redefine government. Even as American armies battled to win independence in combat, political philosophers from Massachusetts to Georgia struggled to secure freedom via enlightened thought. In the words of John Adams, they sought to identify and apply the "great essentials of Society and Government."
Upon these basic principles, they intended to build nothing less than the "wisest and happiest" of nations. |