The Republic was not Saved: Benjamin Franklin’s Structure Day Prediction
“A republic … if you can keep it”
September 17, 1787 – the day the constitution was signed. We all know Benjamin Franklin’s famous line.
But he wasn’t warning us about the government. He wasn’t even warning about the constitution. He was warning us – about ourselves.
THE PREDICTION
Franklin took things even further with a really dire prediction of how things would end.
Picture this. It’s the final day of the Philadelphia convention, September 17, 1787. The constitution is completed. The wise old sage didn’t offer a 5-star review. Instead, he began with a tough concession and some honesty that few seem to have today. His speech, written and prepared in advance, was read by fellow Pennsylvania delegate, James Wilson.
“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such”
Franklin’s objections, especially on issues like executive power, were no secret. For him, it wasn’t about achieving the impossible goal of perfection. So he was still optimistic, but only for the short run.
“And there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years,”
That phrase – “for a course of years” said it all. This would end in a total tyranny – no matter what they wrote on paper in 1787 or who they had in office in the early years of the Republic.
“and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
So Franklin understood that every system eventually slides to tyranny – even if you can find good people to administer it for “course of years.”
PARCHMENT BARRIERS
Thomas Paine zeroed in on the modern take and ripped apart the idea that merely having the ability to vote for people in government is somehow a real defense against tyranny.
“It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it less a despotism, if the persons so elected possess afterwards, as a parliament, unlimited powers.”
Paine understood that when power isn’t actively checked, that power would always grow – and merely choosing new people to wield that power would never stem the tide.
“Election, in this case, becomes separated from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism.”
But it doesn’t just stop with the ballot box. James Madison applied the same harsh truth to the constitution itself, even while advocating for its ratification.
He understood – like so many others in the founding generation – that words on paper don’t enforce themselves. Never did. And never will:
“A mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments, is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands.”
John Dickinson – who was the lead author of the Articles of Confederation – hammered this same kind of point home. Even the best constitution can’t guarantee a good government (if there truly is such a thing).
“A good constitution promotes, but not always produces a good administration.”
With that understanding, Dickinson asked the essential question – what do you do about it when it doesn’t?
“But, notwithstanding, it must be granted, that a bad administration may take place. What is then to be done?”
To answer Dickinson’s question, you first have to know who’s actually in charge. First Chief Justice John Jay made it clear that government is merely the AGENT of the people, and only exists to handle what they’ve delegated to it.
“The Constitution only serves to point out that part of the people’s business, which they think proper by it to refer to the management of the persons therein designated – those persons are to receive that business to manage, not for themselves and as their own, but as agents and overseers for the people to whom they are constantly responsible”
With that kind of understanding, there was no hesitation from Dickinson – the answer to bad government and bad politicians doesn’t come from within the government at all.
“The answer is instantly found … before the supreme sovereignty of the people.”
He understood what almost no one learns today. It’s up to the people themselves to protect and defend their own constitution, whether the government likes it, or not.
“IT IS THEIR DUTY TO WATCH, AND THEIR RIGHT TO TAKE CARE, THAT THE CONSTITUTION BE PRESERVED; or in the Roman phrase on perilous occasions—To PROVIDE, THAT THE REPUBLIC RECEIVE NO DAMAGE.” (CAPS in original)
In short, the Founders’ enforcement system for the Constitution wasn’t the document itself – it was the people.
DUTY
Franklin, Dickinson and the others didn’t invent these views. They were the default setting for the American Revolution. Like here, from James Otis Jr in 1767:
“It is our duty in the best of times to watch over our constitution with a jealous eye.”
The key word there is duty. It’s not just a good idea for the people to watch over their own constitution – even in the best of times. Samuel Adams built on this moral duty in 1771.
“The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”
Adams understood that freedom depended on the virtue of the people. And if they refused to get the job done? Well, they’re pathetic.
“If therefore a people will not be free; if they have not virtue enough to maintain their liberty against a presumptuous invader, they deserve no pity, and are to be treated with contempt and ignominy.”
Going back centuries, even Machiavelli understood that tyranny doesn’t really depend on the tyrant. It depends on the people themselves.
“It must be assumed as a well-demonstrated truth, that a corrupt people that lives under the government of a prince can never become free, even though the prince and his whole line should be extinguished”
Paine understood the flip side of that equation. Tyrants aren’t powerful because they’re inherently strong. They gain power when the people are weak.
“The strength and powers of despotism consist wholly in the fear of resisting it”
Thomas Jefferson understood the real threat. Any people without the moral strength and fortitude to stand up to government – that’s a degeneracy which acts like a hidden rot eating away from the inside out until the entire system breaks down.
“It is the manners and spirit of the people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.”
IT WASN’T KEPT
This focus on duty and the “manners and spirit of the people” brings us back full circle to Franklin’s ultimate warning.
He knew the bottom line. Five months to the day before his “constitution day” speech in 1787, Franklin explained that freedom isn’t a gift from politicians or a guarantee on paper – it’s a status that has to be earned in order to be kept.
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters”
This leads us, of course, to the famous story.
The ink was barely dry on the constitution when the highly influential salonnière Elizabeth William Powel asked Franklin the big question: What did you give us?
This was recorded in the diary of James McHenry on September 18, 1787.
“A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it”
Here’s the truth, and it should be obvious.
The Republic was not kept.
But it’s not because the constitution “failed” in some way – because words on paper don’t enforce themselves. Never did. Never will.
What has happened in the years since is the true diagnosis.
When the people trust their constitutional education to government – when the people surrender constitutional enforcement to government – it should be no surprise that we ended up living under the largest government in history.
Benjamin Franklin wasn’t just issuing a warning. He was prophetic.
But there is a path forward – “We the People” need to learn how to protect and defend our own constitution and our own liberty – whether the government likes it, or not.
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