What is a miracle? Some may consider a miracle to be an improbable or extraordinary event through supernatural or unusual efforts. However, colonists of the 18th century developed a miracle that eventually changed the world. It all began with a wish, a wish for a great interference in the lives of colonists -- a wish for a new form of government, separation from Europe and great wealth. New institutions had to be created, new habits of thought cultivated. Overall, Philadelphia, as well as all cities of the 13 colonies, needed a pursuit of equality. Today, this legendary miracle is now considered the constitutional convention. This convention took place in Philadelphia from May 14 – September 17, 1787. .
The city of Philadelphia in 1787 was a hot and humid city. Throughout the convention, the climate became an inconvenience to all. The delegates had difficulty working while some were getting sick of the overheated temperature, yet the greatest governmental system in all of history was created in such unfavorable and imperfect circumstances. Catherine Bowden describes this event in great detail as she accounts for nearly every single action in the process, giving her point of view, and creating a fascinating story out of the founding of our Constitution.
Miss Bowen's purpose in this book is not to engage in academic controversy, nor to present fresh documentation, but rather she seeks to recreate the drama of the invention of the Constitution. Although her predilections are admittedly "Old Whig" and "Bancroftian," the author's view is her own. Miss Bowen argues that the colonies, which had no pretensions to independent sovereignty before the Declaration of Independence and were not mentioned in that document by name, flaunted their state sovereignty after the 1783 peace was signed. This unwarranted behavior, contends the author, precipitated a crisis for the congenitally feeble Confederation that resulted in the calling of the Philadelphia Convention.
