In Memoriam: Benjamin Franklin Speaking of the Builders of Babel - Abridgment Series

In memory of Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, at the signing of the United States Constitution:

[S]ir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered.

I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, 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.

I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?

It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does.

And I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting, one another’s throats.

Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.

~ Benjamin Franklin, The Federalist Papers, Signing of the Constitution, Sept. 17, 1787

From the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland s delegates, it was written that, at the close of the Constitutional Convention, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited outside for the results. As Benjamin Franklin emerged, she asked him directly: “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic, if you can keep it,” responded Franklin.

1776 – [MUID278X] – The Vote [Ed. Note: The primary objective, the logical sequence of events. What must precede what…]

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Please interpret: “I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, 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.”

ChatGPT:

In this statement, Benjamin Franklin is expressing both optimism and warning about republican government. He is saying that the American constitutional system will probably function well “for a course of years,” meaning that the structure itself is sound and capable of preserving liberty for a considerable time.

But Franklin immediately adds that no constitution, however well designed, can permanently save a people who lose their moral character. His central argument is that free government ultimately depends not merely on laws or institutions, but on the virtue and discipline of the citizens themselves.

When he says the system can “only end in Despotism” once the people become “so corrupted as to need despotic Government,” he means that tyranny does not usually arise solely because rulers seize power; rather, it emerges when citizens become incapable of self-restraint, civic responsibility, rational judgment, or sacrifice for the common good.

At that point, the population can no longer sustain liberty because liberty requires internal self-government.

A corrupt, impulsive, divided, or morally undisciplined people eventually demands stronger external control simply to maintain order. Franklin therefore sees despotism not merely as the fault of tyrants, but as the natural political consequence of civic decay. The quote reflects a foundational republican belief shared by many founders: constitutions preserve freedom only so long as the people possess sufficient virtue to govern themselves.

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“Omne systema politicum utopianum fit, semel populo virtuoso factus.” (“Every political system is made utopian once the people are made virtuous.”) ~ grz

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In Memoriam: Benjamin Franklin Speaking of the Builders of Babel – Abridgment Series

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