DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Decision in Philadelphia
Preface
1. Who are the authors of the book?
2. Of all he riches of human life, what is the most highly prized?
3. What have people done in the pursuit of freedom?
4. Why is freedom a perishable commodity?
5. What do the authors find dismaying about American liberty?
a. What are the particulars of this argument?
6. Why have the authors written the book?
7. What, in simplified terms, are the two basic ways of looking at the Constitution?
a. Be able to explain each approach!
8. What is the commentary on these interpretations?
9. According to the authors, what role did personality play in the creation of the
Constitution?
a. How, therefore, was the approach taken by the authors significantly different from
their predecessors?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Decision in Philadelphia
Part I: “Our Case May Become Desperate”
Chapter One: A Nation in Jeopardy
1. What was the “it” that was going all wrong?
2. What were the opinions of Washington, Grayson, Madison, and Hancock?
3. Discuss the optimism of Samuel Adams.
4. What happened to the colonies/states as a result of the signing of the Declaration of
Independence?
5. Why were the Articles of Confederation never amended?
6. What was the basic principle underlying the Articles?
a. What problems arose as a result?
7. What foreign threats confronted the Americans after the Treaty of Paris?
a. Britain, Spain, Natives, Mediterranean, etc.
b. What were the failings of the government in dealing with these threats?
8. How did Connecticut anger/betray the other New England states?
9. What was the British view on treating with the American states?
10. What impact did conflicts among the states have on domestic policy?
11. Explain the conflicting claims to the valuable frontier lands.
12. Explain the problem of debt and the problem surrounding notes and bonds.
13. Explain the role of currency in the onset of Shays’ Rebellion.
a. Be sure to understand the disappearance of hard currency and its impact.
14. How have historians described Shays’ Rebellion as a class struggle?
15. Why was Shays’ Rebellion horrifying to men of wealth?
16. Explain the concept of the rebellion as an imperative to men like Madison and
Washington.
Chapter Two: America in 1787
1. Why was change slow to come in regard to the government?
a. What conditions were working against change?
2. What do historians mean when they refer to America as a “deferential” society?
a. What was the mentality of the different classes of society?
3. What was life like for Americans in 1787?
4. What, in the context of land, made America significantly different than Europe?
5. What was the role of the American family in 1787?
6. Why did famers only put a small portion of their land to seed?
7. Why were Americans in 1787 able to eat so well?
8. What was there for their entertainment?
9. What was the comparative standard of living in America?
10. What was the cross-section of the population?
11. What did these early Americans think and feel?
12. Explain the role of “plainness” as an ideal.
13. What might be the psychological impact of a people living on relatively self-sufficient
farms?
a. Why was this a concern of individuals seeking to change the government?
Chapter Three: The Mind of James Madison
1. What was it that only few Americans recognized?
2. What was Madison’s home state?
3. Where did Madison go to school?
a. What philosophy was he taught there?
4. What role did Madison play in the aftermath of the signing of the Declaration?
5. Why do you think the Collier brothers discuss at length the shyness of Madison?
6. What is the significance of his relationship with Dolly Payne Todd?
7. What was Madison’s overarching fear in government?
8. What did Madison do in response to Shays’ Rebellion?
a. What is the name of this paper?
9. What did he do to ultimately enact the change he felt necessary?
Chapter Four: The Unbelievable George Washington
1. What group maneuvered the calling of the Convention?
2. Why did Washington want to build a canal system through the Allegheny Mountains?
3. How did the Mount Vernon Conference tie Washington to Madison?
4. What did Irving Brant call “the most precipitous step toward the drafting of the
Constitution”?
a. What was the second stage of the process?
5. What were the problems, according to Madison, with the Annapolis Convention?
a. Why didn’t Washington attend?
6. Who is Abraham Clark and how did he change the course of American history?
a. How did nationalists think to create opportunity from failure?
7. Why is Washington a conundrum?
8. How does Flexner characterize the likeability of Washington?
9. Describe the Newburgh Conspiracy and the role of Washington in quelling it.
10. Describe how the Collier brothers attempt to humanize Washington?
a. Why do you think they do this?
11. How was Washington the product of his parents?
12. What was his education?
13. What do you suppose is the importance of his stature?
14. Why was Washington chosen to lead the Continental Army?
15. Who did Washington choose as his officers during the war?
a. Why did he choose these men?
16. Who was the George Washington that nature created?
17. Who was the George Washington that George Washington created?
18. What was the connection to the Classical Era for the men of this generation?
a. What correlation did Adair point out?
19. Explain the significance to the tale of the “Rules of Civility”?
20. Why was, as the Collier Brothers describe, Washington a great man?
21. Describe Flexner’s portrayal of a Washington literally jumping for joy.
Chapter 5: Madison Plans a Government
1. Why was the presence of Washington vital?
2. What convinced Washington that he needed to attend?
3. Why was RI truculent?
4. Why Philadelphia?
5. What was the significance of the Indian Queen?
6. When was the Convention scheduled to begin?
7. Why was Madison early?
8. What did Madison put forth in his “Vices”?
9. How did Madison view the social contract?
10. What did he accept about human nature?
a. How is this evidenced in the Federalist Papers?
11. What did Hume argue was “a great check upon mankind”?
12. How did Madison use the term “property”?
13. What is the great conundrum at the center of the Convention?
14. Why did Madison believe a republic could work in a large territory?
a. What were the two virtues?
15. What were Madison’s three basic principles of government?
16. Why was Madison a nationalist?
17. Why should, according to Madison, government operate directly on the people?
18. Thoroughly explain the concept of proportion as it applies here.
a. Fairness? Constituents? Geography?
19. How did Madison conclude the necessity for a new constitution?
20. What power should the national government have over the states?
21. How did Bailyn characterize Madison’s vision of society?
22. Why was Virginia viewed as a leader?
23. What was the Virginia Plan?
a. Be detailed here!
Chapter Six: Alexander Hamilton and the British Model
1. What was Hamilton’s nickname? Why?
2. Why was his impact at the Convention negligible?
a. What would eventually be his greatest contribution?
3. What impact does Hamilton’s childhood have on the man he would become?
4. How and why did Hamilton rise so quickly?
5. Who was “the financier of the Revolution”?
6. What was the spat between Washington and Hamilton?
a. Who gave in at the end?
7. Explain Adams’ Defenses of the Constitutions of the United States.
8. What did the delegates believe to be the best system of government? Why?
a. What checks existed within this government?
9. What is a “mixed” government?
10. Why did Hamilton admire the British government?
a. What were its virtues?
11. What is Hamilton’s plan of government?
12. How did William Samuel Johnson characterize Hamilton’s plan?
Chapter Seven: The Puzzle of Charles Pinckney
1. The Pinckney Plan is the centerpiece of a scholarly what? Explain
2. How is Pinckney characterized?
3. What did Brant call Pinckney? Why?
4. What did Madison’s notes end with on May 29?
5. Who “uncovered” Pinckney’s plan from history?
6. What did Sparks say that Madison had to say?
7. What information was unveiled in 1908?
8. What do Jameson and McLaughlin contribute to historiography?
9. Why was Pinckney so rudely handled by history?
10. How did Pinckney characterize the Convention?
11. Who were the so-called “place men”?
12. How does Singer characterize Pinckney?
13. Why do the Colliers state that Madison suppressed the Pinckney Plan?
a. What evidence do they provide to support this claim?
b. Do you think their argument holds water?
14. What do scholars believe were the details of the Pinckney Plan?
a. What terms of the plan seemingly ended up in the final document?
b. How many contributions does he make, according to Ulmer?
15. What may have been Pinckney’s greatest contribution to the Convention? (June 25)
a. What does Warren argue?
16. How does Pinckney address “every member of society”?
a. How was his speech a leap into the future?
17. What is the concluding characterization of Pinckney by the Colliers?
Chapter Eight: Men, Manners, and Rules: The Convention Begins
1. When was the Convention supposed to begin? When does it? Why?
2. Where did the delegates meet?
3. How many delegates were chosen? How many showed up?
4. Why were they not “typical” Americans?
5. Who was noticeably absent?
6. Although they were similar in background, how were they different in temperament?
7. What was the one trait that they all held in common?
8. Why did they say that the eyes of the world were upon them?
9. What role does Franklin play at the Convention?
10. What was the role of Washington?
a. Why did he rarely intervene in debates on the floor?
11. What three important things occurred on the first day?
a. Why was the Delaware incident so dangerous and threatening to the Convention?
12. Explain the rule of secrecy.
a. Why was it vital?
b. How did Washington convey the seriousness of this rule?
13. What other procedure was vital to the success of the Convention?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Decision in Philadelphia
Part II: The Large States and the Small
Chapter Nine: Roger Sherman and the Art of Compromise
1. Why was James Madison wrong about the “big states, small states” conflict?
2. Why did the Deep South form an alliance with the Big Three?
3. Who was James Wilson and what did he believe?
4. What was Roger Sherman’s contribution to the Convention?
5. Why did Connecticut vote with the big states instead of the small states?
6. What were the views on how slaves should be counted in the population?
7. How did Sherman see politics and what does that mean?
8. What does John Adams say about Sherman?
9. What did the people of Connecticut call themselves?
10. What was Benjamin Franklin’s view on proportional representation?
Chapter Ten: William Paterson Picks a Fight
1. Describe Paterson’s work ethic.
2. How did Paterson act in offices of power?
3. What events of 1775 were significant to the advancement of his career?
4. What were Paterson’s beliefs in regards to the government?
5. How was Paterson viewed by his colleagues?
6. Why did Paterson refuse to serve at the Continental Congress?
7. Why did William Paterson support a strong central government even though he was
representing a small state?
8. Why did Paterson call to adjourn the Convention on June 14th?
9. How did the childhoods of the small states’ leaders affect their views at the Convention?
10. Explain the New Jersey Plan.
Chapter Eleven: The Battle Joined
1. On what day did Paterson present the New Jersey plan to the convention?
2. What is a bicameral congress?
3. Why have two houses of congress at all?
4. Who was the upper house reserved for and why?
5. Who is Gouverneur Morris? How is he involved?
6. Why did Roger Sherman oppose Morris’s plan?
7. What was the result of the vote on June 7?
8. Why was Madison against the New Jersey Plan?
9. What was Roger Sherman’s argument against a bicameral legislature?
10. What did the small states need at this point in time? What did they get instead?
Chapter Twelve: Luther Martin and a Lost Opportunity
1. Describe Luther Martin’s background.
2. Why did Martin come to Philadelphia?
3. Why did Martin leave the Convention?
4. What were Martin’s views on the states’ rights?
5. How did Madison describe Martin’s speech?
6. Describe the argument Martin presented in his speech.
7. How did Martin view state power?
8. What did Martin say in his brief speech?
9. Who made strong speeches for proportional representation?
10. Which branch of Congress would be based on proportional representation?
Chapter Thirteen: “The Most Serious and Threatening Excitement”
1. What was the crucial issue?
2. What was Wilson’s proposal and what was the problem with it?
3. Why did Jenifer decide to be absent on this critical day?
4. What was Baldwin’s contribution to the Convention?
5. What was the problem with the Spanish in the South?
6. What was the single most critical point of the Convention?
7. What was the report read by Elbridge Gerry and for what did it call?
8. What was the crucial vote? What was its result?
9. For what did the North Carolina delegation vote?
10. What was the most important reason for voting on voting laws the way they did?
11. Why was it important that James Madison came to Philadelphia with a strong plan and
allies to push it through?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Decision in Philadelphia
Part III: North and South
Chapter Fourteen: A New Alliance
1. What question has troubled the country the most?
2. Madison claimed that the major differences in the country were North and South.
Explain why.
3. What was slavery in America like?
4. Which states maintained an interest in the slave trade and why?
5. Describe the background of C.C. Pinckney.
6. What was the basis for northern opposition to slavery?
a. Why did many believe that slavery would simply disappear?
7. Why did the slavery question run into everything?
8. How was the question of whether slaves were people or property dealt with prior to this
convention?
9. Who raised the issue on June 11?
10. Who proposed the inclusion of other persons in the proportion?
11. Describe the background of Ellsworth.
12. Describe the background of Johnson.
13. Why South Carolina?
14. Who is John Rutledge?
15. Why did Mason refuse to sign the final document?
16. In what two ways did Connecticut abandon its former allies?
17. What made Morris uneasy?
18. Why was there such contention in deciding the number of representatives in the lower
house?
19. What happened on July 12?
Chapter 15: The Western Lands
1. What was the significant problem with the European land grants?
2. According to the Treaty of Paris, what was the western border of the U.S.?
3. Who were the “landlocked” states?
4. Why were the western lands the country’s greatest asset?
5. Explain the dispute between the North and South over the Mississippi.
6. Why did three southerners leave the Convention just before the critical vote on the upper
house representation?
7. Describe the background and character of William Blount.
a. Why was he involved in politics?
8. What was the business that could be accomplished back in New York?
9. What did G. Morris rise and offer on the morning of July 12?
10. What did William Johnson have to say on the matter of counting blacks?
11. Describe all the elements of the compromise reached at the end of the day.
12. Why does Staughton Lynd believe the compromise to be more complex?
a. What does he believe the North got?
13. Explain the impact of the NW Ordinance.
14. Why didn’t the northerners want a plethora of states to emerge in the NW territory?
15. What did the South get?
16. Is there any proof that the actions of the Convention in Philly acted in concert with the
actions of Congress in NY?
Chapter 16: Another Trade-off
1. Explain the different interests held by the major importing states and their views on
taxation.
2. What was necessary to secure trading privileges from foreign nations?
3. What kind of government do the major trading states want?
4. How did the southern states view trade and the role of the national government in that
trade?
5. For which side is this issue more critical?
6. What did the Committee of detail do? Why was this a more significant task than thought
at first glance?
7. Why was the Committee of Detail’s report seen as a Southern victory?
8. Who brought the issue of the admission of slaves to the forefront? What was his
argument?
9. What was Morris’s argument against slavery?
10. How did the prohibition of the export taxes carry?
11. Why did the seemingly resolute South give in a little on the issue of the slave trade?
a. How did they give in?
12. For how long would the slave trade continue?
13. How would imported slaves be taxed?
14. Explain the connection between the navigation acts deal and the fugitive slave clause.
15. Do the Colliers think that the constitution could have resolved to abolish slavery? Why
or why not?
16. Do the Colliers believe that the North could have dealt with slavery in a stricter manner?
Why or why not?
17. Explain the final lesson of the chapter.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Decision in Philadelphia
Part IV: The Question of Power
Chapter Seventeen: Balancing Act
1. What issue did the delegates believe would be the most significant point of contention?
2. What is the basic question that any democracy must answer?
3. Briefly summarize the central idea of Federalist 51.
4. Explain the difference between a general grant of power and a specific list.
a. What are the benefits and drawbacks of each?
b. Which did they settle on?
5. Who voted against this? Why? What was his argument?
6. What did Bedford contribute?
a. How did Randolph counter him?
7. What role did the Committee of Detail play in this question of a general grant or
enumerated powers?
8. Which part of the language would prove to be a keg of dynamite?
a. How did this pass when it came to the moment?
9. How did this clause come to impact the history of the U.S.?
10. How did Hamilton interpret the word necessary?
a. How did the Supreme Court affirm this interpretation?
11. Explain Corwin’s concept of the “second dimension”.
12. How was the commerce clause wide open?
13. Why would most delegates have objected to the broad interpretation in 1787, but did not
object as the nation grew?
Chapter Eighteen: Curing the Republican Disease
1. Why was the Constitutional Convention called?
a. And the root cause is?
2. Explain the most extreme example of what troubled Madison.
3. What did Hobson say was the most important reform proposal?
4. What was Pinckney’s motion?
a. Who supported it and how?
5. Explain the argument of John Lansing.
a. Who supported him?
6. How did Luther Martin surprise everyone?
a. What was he attempting to do?
7. Explain the debate over the organization of the court system.
a. What is the intent of the wording suggested by Madison?
8. How did the supremacy of the Supreme Court emerge?
9. Explain the correlation between judicial review and congressional or executive veto.
10. How was Article VI a defeat, yet ultimately a victory for the nationalists?
Chapter Nineteen: James Wilson, Democratic Nationalist
1. What do the Collier brothers argue was the most difficult problem to solve? Why?
2. Explain the power of the colonial governors.
a. What event allowed the legislatures to gain more power? How?
3. In what body did protection from tyranny lay? Why?
a. How did Wood describe the executive in post-Declaration state constitutions?
4. What did most of the men believe about the concentration of power in the state
legislatures?
a. And their view of King George?
b. What did Wood say defined the character of the American political system?
5. Who, more than anyone else, was the inspiration for the separation of powers?
6. Who was a critic of the separation of powers? Why?
a. In his estimation, what was the role of the executive?
7. Describe the background of Wilson.
8. How was Wilson an anomaly at the Convention?
a. What is the source of this faith?
b. Which Scottish humanist influenced him most significantly? How?
i. What is the connection to democracy?
9. Why was law so important in the growing America?
10. Why did Wilson tend to think nationally?
11. How did he see “the people”?
12. What did Wilson say in defense of the document at a ratifying convention in PA?
13. What was the source of Wilson’s ruin?
a. Why did he never receive his due from history?
14. What do the Collier brothers think of him?
Chapter Twenty: In the Shadow of Washington
1. What did James Wilson see?
2. What were the three questions facing the delegates in creating the executive?
3. How did Madison view the executive?
4. Discuss the debate over a single executive versus a committee.
5. What argument about the judiciary did Gerry and King espouse?
6. Explain the clockwork metaphor as it applies to the debates over the executive.
7. What problems lay in the direct election of the president by the people?
8. What was the view of the executive from each of the following?
a. James Wilson
b. James Madison
c. Roger Sherman
d. George Mason
9. What role did the Committee of Detail play in the debate?
10. What new committee was formed to handle this issue?
a. What bargain did they strike?
11. Why was Washington a key figure in the minds of the delegates on this issue?
12. How did the elector system compromise between the big and small states?
13. What role did the doctrine of the separation of powers play here?
14. What was the debate over the powers of the presidency?
Chapter Twenty-one: Elbridge Gerry’s War against the Army
1. How did the British disregard the Treaty of Paris?
2. What seemed to be the Spanish threat?
3.
4.
5.
6.
What seemed to be the Indian threat?
What seemed to be the internal threats?
What is the military status in 1787?
What did Kohn write about a standing army?
a. And Madison?
7. Discuss the differing perspectives on Gerry.
8. According to Billias, what, more than anything, formed Gerry’s thought?
9. Discuss Gerry’s ‘free state.’
10. Discuss Mason’s and Gerry’s concerns about the language put forth by the Committee of
Detail in regard to a standing army in peacetime.
a. What is the debate that emerged? Result?
11. Who is Langdon and what does he argue?
12. What did the Committee of Eleven propose on August 23?
13. How did Sherman weigh in on the issue?
14. How did the founders envision the army? How were they wrong?
15. How is it that the President can make war?
Chapter Twenty-two: George Mason and the Rights of Man
1. Why is the Bill of Rights the most important part of the Constitution (from a certain point
of view)?
2. How did the delegates of the convention make an error in failing to create a Bill of
Rights?
3. What is the importance of the Virginia Bill of Rights?
4. What is the background of Mason?
5. What did Sherman say about the states’ bill of rights?
6. Why did the delegates reject a Bill of Rights?
7. What was at the core of the Franklin/Wilson speech?
8. What did Kenyon contribute to the historiography of the subject?
9. What were the turning points in the battle for ratification?
a. Why did the nationalists triumph?
10. What was the thesis of Smith’s response to Singletary?
11. What was surprising about the climate under the new government?
Chapter Twenty-three: “The Most Remarkable Work”
1. Why is democracy fragile?
2. How do the Colliers say that the nation has fallen short?
3. What are the several reasons that the Constitution works?
a. First?
b. Second?
c. Third?
d. Fourth?
e. And Finally?
4. What are the four areas where the delegates failed to think their way through the best
solution?
a. One?
b. Two?
c. Three?
d. Four?
5. What made this group an astonishing group of men?
6. Do the Colliers believe that the Constitution is a “remarkable work”?