Looking at the past can be an eye to the future.

   It's the middle of March. The weather has been extremely unpredictable for this time of the year. The trees and flowers have yet to break the muddy surface.. Families with young children are out in the streets hoping for warmer weather. Small gatherings of men are at almost every street corner, voices raised, arms waving in the air. It is March 1787 and the talk is of the meeting in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, the document governing the early American colonies. The war with England  is over and for most of the region, life has returned to normal.

   At that moment, Patrick Henry turns the corner, making his way to the Charlton Coffee House in Williamsburg. Quickly, others follow him. Serving in the Virginia legislature and having been Governor several times,  he is an important figure in the political landscape of the area and  many seek his opinions and ideas.

   Patrick Henry is one of the more vocal opponents to the ratification to the Constitution and will not attend the Federal Convention in 1787, his fears being founded in the loss of state's rights and individual freedoms as well as a general suspicion  about those from the North, a belief quite common among many Southerners.
   You may have figures out by now that I am visiting Williamsburg this week, away from the snow and cold of northern New England.( I love history)

     Life was very different for those who lived in the South, dominated by farming and slaves while those in the North would soon become part of an 'industrial revolution.'

   During the summer of 1787, behind closed doors, the delegates worked to craft a document that outlined the roles and responsibilities of a new central government, the election of representatives and the limits that would be placed upon the various branches of the government.

   The work, in the minds of many, would be seen as a model for “cooperative statesmanship and compromise.” (One today needs to asked what has happened over the years.)

  Still  concerned, Patrick Henry would continue to voice his opposition until the Bill of Rights was eventually added. 

   Over three hundred years later, the debates and issues surrounding Federal powers, states rights and individual freedoms still continue. The world has changed  since 1787, but the concerns of the people have not. But perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from the early leaders was the understanding of the need for civil discussion, cooperative statesmanship and an ability to seek compromise and work together for the 'common good'.