After 16 weeks of unrelenting work, the U. S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. It was truly a miracle! Those who attended the Convention worked hard, studied hard, listened hard to others, and even prayed hard. They knew what they were doing was important for the centuries.

James Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution, had remarkable success in bringing together the most influential and wise men in the colonies, including George Washington, who didn’t want to be there at first.

Madison knew they must do something important very quickly to amend the Articles of Confederation, or it might make it too late to save the infant nation. In inviting the great men to attend this important conference, Madison expressed his feeling in his writings:

“The crisis is arrived at which the good people of America are to decide the solemn question, whether they will by wise and magnanimous efforts reap the just fruits of that independence which they have so gloriously acquired . . . or whether by giving way to unmanly jealousies and prejudices, or to partial and transitory interests, they will renounce the auspicious blessings prepared for them by the Revolution.”

It seems to me that we are at these crossroads again. We should now ask ourselves that same question. And if you need to look up some of those words in the dictionary, do it! Yes, this choice hangs over our nation again.