Conclusion
Towards the end of his life, James Madison wrote that since no government can be perfect, "that which is the least imperfect is therefore the best government." This brand of optimistic realism infused the bold and uncertain striving of the Constitutional Convention delegates. The educated men who gathered in Independence Hall in the spring of 1787 sought to improve upon their imperfect union, but they had to struggle with widely divergent agendas and compromises in order to forge a more perfect union. In the spring of 1787, the ardent revolutionary efforts to eliminate tyranny by denying the central government the power to tax had backfired, as the country suffered economic unrest and social tension. Diplomatic failures rose up, and a weakened government with a small and poorly equipped army proved incapable of protecting and supplying settlers on the western frontier. Congress could not reach an agreement because legislators were tired of showing up to work when they had no effective means of solving the problems that plagued the country. And the final blows came when the Confederation Congress's biggest achievement—the Northwest Ordinance, did not reap the financial windfall that had been expected, in part because the military was too understaffed and underfunded to effectively protect frontier settlers.Seeking to resolve these issues, representatives of all the states assembled to construct a more efficient, centralized, and effective government. The men who crafted this new blueprint were elites in their colonies; not all of them were tremendously wealthy, but they possessed formal schooling and privileges higher than most other Americans at the time. This made them suspect in many eyes; true American patriots like Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, and George Mason were cautious about where this powerful new governmental framework might lead the country to. The delegates were also suspicious of one another; of whether the larger or smaller states were trying to gain influence and unfair power with the new government.They debated many questions, such as the presence and future of slavery in American life, and whether to integrate that controversial system into the idea of a nominally republican government. They tried to create a stronger system, but one with checks and balances that would prevent the great power by any one person or branch of government. They wanted to build a representative government, but felt that it was necessary to make the electoral college and state legislatures as mediation between the people and the officials in the Senate and the White House. They succeeded because they were able to make compromises; because they were dedicated to making their experiment in republican government succeed; and because they were later willing to combine these changes with a guarantee of certain rights and freedoms to the American population through the Bill of Rights.