Cord Byrd: “Mr. President, when the delegates gathered in Philadelphia in May of 1787, much was riding on their deliberations. No…”

“Mr. President, when the delegates gathered in Philadelphia in May of 1787, much was riding on their deliberations. No one can read the speeches and notes from the Constitutional Convention and miss the tenseness in the air as the men who gathered in May contemplated the sheer magnitude of their task. The situation in the states was critical. These men were charged with nothing less than breathing life into the promise of the beautiful prose crafted by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. They would be held accountable if they failed. What happened in that room in Philadelphia was extraordinary. What emerged was a near perfect balance of order and liberty, and a careful equanimity between individual freedom and the need for the security of all. George Washington described the result as, ``little short of a miracle.'' Indeed, one cannot read the Constitution without marveling at the genius of its sparsely worded Articles. I have often felt that surely the spirit of the Creator himself was present in the sultry air during that season in Philadelphia.”