"The truth was that Franklin's character had always been puzzling. America was proud of the Doctor, proud that he had 'tamed the lightning' and that he was everywhere received as a citizen of the world. Yet a citizen of the world is inevitably suspect at home." - Chapter II, p. 17

"On May thirtieth, debate in the Convention opened by Randolph's suggesting an amended version of his first three resolves. Plainly, the Virginia members had been at work out-of-doors. A union of the states 'merely federal,' said Randolph, would not accomplish the object for which they were met. He therefore proposed ' a national government, consisting of a supreme legislative, executive and judicial.' Silence followed, complete and ominous." Chapter IV, p. 41

"The Convention of '87 discussed America not in terms of social philosophy but in relation to the country as they saw it around them. In the...