Visiting Philadelphia

Constitution Hall stirs many thoughts in me.

It is stunning the history that occurred there. Delegates with many divergent agendas came together in just a short time and invented a government that we still enjoy. They avoided another monarchy. They devised a purposely divided three-part government that keep tabs on each other. They satisfied both big states and small states – both in size and in population. They prayed for divine guidance but avoided a state religion.

All that in such a small building. With no breakout rooms, no printers or copying machines, no way to communicate with the folks back home during the deliberations, no air conditioning. I suppose they took side meeting on the sidewalks and in the ale houses nearby.

The constitution is so short, I suppose, because they had to talk through every word. There were no staffers to draft reams of proposals, no way to distribute new drafts for review, no word processing to quickly capture amendments. They discussed every single item until they agreed.

The practical me wonders about other things, too.

I wonder how they rented that building. Were there other choices? Did they cater the meals? Or did they break for lunch at nearby restaurants? Where did they all stay? If they all stayed in the same hotel that would have made it easier to conduct meetings long in to the night.

Where did they stable all their horses? How did they get their laundry done?

These were all special men. But, still, just men. How did they get this monumental task done despite all the difficulties of living and meeting under those conditions?

And that is just one of the places I saw on my trip this week!