After Thomas Jefferson completed his draft of the Declaration of Independence, he submitted it to the committee ordained for that purpose. They made only a few changes or suggestions. Then it was placed before the whole Congress for its adoption.
Thomas squirmed as members of Congress made their own remarks and suggestions. John Adams defended it. Benjamin Franklin turned to Thomas Jefferson and told this tale from his days as a printer:
“One of my friends, an apprentice hatter, had decided to open a shop for himself. His first concern was to have a handsome signboard with a proper inscription. He composed it in these words: ‘John Thompson, hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money,’ with a figure of a hat subjoined.’ But he thought he would submit it to his friends for their amendments.
John Adams who had spoken fervently in Congress that such a proposition should definitely be approved, was excited. He was so proud of this accomplishment that on July 3, he wrote home to Abigail:
Those Founding Fathers who were against the U.S. Constitution included Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. Both of them thought that the Constitution did not protect the average citizen enough.
In all the political turmoil of late, the conservative editorial writer, George Will, has just declared that he will withdraw from the Republican Party. He says they have left him.
Abraham Lincoln, of course, was a lawyer and a politician. I think he lived by the above instructions, if unknowingly. He was also a great storyteller.
And James Madison, known as “The Father of the Constitution” also had no children of his own. He married Dolley Madison, who had children from a prior marriage, and who, like Martha Washington, was a widow when she married James Madison. He helped raise her children, but again they had no children together.
When the U.S. Constitution was ratified and George Washington was elected as the first President of the United States of America, not only was a new nation created, but also a new culture.