Decision in Philadelphia
The book Decision in Philadelphia the Constitutional Convention if 1787 by Christopher and James Collier offers a unique look at the scribing of the Constitution and the events that not only surrounded it but led up to its creation. The authors take on the events and their creative writing style make the book and enjoyable and fact filled read on one of the country’s most important events. They begin with a historical look at the events that led up to the signing and a brief synopsis of the events that were occurring in the country at the time. The background that they give provides a good base for the information and allows the reader to see things through the eyes of someone living in the time. One of the more interesting parts of the book comes early in which the author tells the reader of how there were many states that were using militias to control the events occurring in the states. In many of my previous reading there had been mention of the states controlling their own laws and being able to enforce them but I was unaware of the extent. I was also unaware that in Massachusetts that the government and the proceedings were being controlled by the merchants and the upper class. It was interesting to read about how there could be such a diverse set of governments ruling different parts of the country with virtually no centralization. When the congress was first formed and the laws were laid out there was only a requirement for the states to meet once a year in November and that put an unnecessary burden of the delegates to try and align their thinking with other states. This theme would play itself out as the constitutional convention evolved and wore on. There were many challenges facing the country at the time that would impact the constitutional convention and the outcomes that would shape the country. One of them being that there was very poor transportation routes and that adversely affected communications. “The few interstate roads that