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were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partizans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects & great advantages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign Nations as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength & efficiency of any Government in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends, on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of the Government, as well as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its Governors. I hope therefore that for our own sakes as a part of the people, and for the sake of posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution (if approved by Congress & confirmed by the Conventions) wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts & endeavors to the means of having it well administred.

On the whole, Sir, I can not help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument".

With tears streaming down his cheeks, Benjamin Franklin signed the Constitution. With this act, Franklin became the only person to sign five separate documents that assured the future of his new country. Upon being carried from the convention, he was asked by a woman in the waiting crowd of what sort government they had been given. His famous reply was, "A republic, madam, if you can keep it!"

Franklin died in 1790 having been bedridden for a couple of years and cared for by his daughter, Sally. Twenty thousand people attended the funeral services at Christ Church in Philadelphia-the largest crowd the city had ever seen. True to form, Franklin had composed his own death announcement. His simple tombstone reads: Benjamin and Deborah Franklin, 1790.

But his legacy lives on, in the founding documents of the new country, the inventions and innovations that have benefitted us all and the famous sayings he was so often quoted for, such as:"A penny saved is a penny earned", "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid" and most prophetically, "The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."

http://www.usconstit ution.net/franklin.html
http:// www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_cit izen_founding.html
http://berry streetbeacon.wordpress.com/200 6/12/30/berry-street-beacon/
ht tp://www.constitutioncenter.or g/explore/ThreePerspectivesont heConstitution/ARepublic,IfYou CanKeepIt.shtml
http://press-pu bs.uchicago.edu/founders/docum ents/v1ch12s25.html
http://www. franklinbusybody.com/facts.asp
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/c reatingtheus/Constitution/Road totheConstitution/Pages/defaul t.aspx
http://www.csustan.edu/e nglish/reuben/pal/chap1/1intro .html
http://www2.pitnet.net/pr imarysources/puritan.html

Learn more about this author, Linda Sunkle-Pierucki.
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