Today we visited the National Constitution Center which opened on July 4, 2003. The highlight of the day was the morning when we listened to Carol Berkin. This lady is a joy to listen to, and I dare say one of the funniest little ladies I have ever met. She also discussed the people who participated in the convention and she explained that there were only 5 or 6 men who could really be considered brilliant. Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Gouvenor Morris, James Wilson, and maybe James Madison. I like her comment about not thinking of these men as supermen because if you do you are saying what they did was not that incredible, because they were supermen.
These men were all wealthy, which in those days meant that you were educated well. There were also only five colleges in those days that could be attended here in New England: William and Mary, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, and Yale.
Berkin also stated that it is important to remenber that the United States was not a Democracy until after the civil rights movement. It was a Republic! The founding fathers were terrified of Democracy because it was mob rule, they still wanted the hierarchical structure that was in place. I remember reading about this in John Adams by David McCullough.
I thought that she gave one of the best examples on how we should not judge these men on owning slaves because we do not undesrstand the ideology of the times. She said that it would be like people saying in a hundred years that clothes were evil and should not be worn. To us that would not make sense, and that is how we need to look at the idea of owning slaves in those days.
I also liked her statement about not saying that the Articles of Confederation were not weak, they were restrictive and they did exactly what they were after during the Revolution, but now the war was over so there were other problems. Over all it was a good day, but it would have been better if I could have heard anything that was said on the exhibit tour.
I didn’t want you to feel left out, Dave.
Carol Berkin was a witty, little lady! Wonderful to listen to and full of great information. The ideology of the time was very different, obviously, from our time. She made a powerful point at pointing that out. I feel it is very important for us to remember this before we start condemning people for what they did in the past.
Carol Berkin struck a chord with me as well when she pointed out the fact that the Article of Conferation were not weak just retrictive and actually were written to address specific issues.
It’s true the Articles were restrictive, but the trictiveness wore out its welcome, they knew they had to give the national government more power – I loved her presentation as well!