I wanted to share a little story with you from the life of Ben Franklin and the founding of our nation, because I believe it is Picture – Benjamin Franklininstructive for our time. In the summer of 1787, the newly independent United States of America sent delegates to Philadelphia for a constitutional convention. Government under the Articles of Confederation, adopted during the Revolutionary War, had already proven itself untenable. General George Washington, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, feared “ruin” unless the fledgling nation established a new constitution, “well-guarded and closely watched to prevent encroachments.”