Today there are many in the world who have little respect for the founders of our nation. Their ideas, character, morality, religion, dress – you name it, and it has been derided and slandered. Our world, in a futile attempt to remove God from all things, has attacked their own founding, in which God’s hand was prevalent and obvious. This great quote from a great man, one whom even the detractors can say little against, helps us to recognize the founder’s purity and commitment.
“But whatever may be the judgment pronounced on the competency of the architects of the Constitution, or whatever may be their destiny, of the edifice prepared by them, I feel it a duty to express my profound and solemn conviction, derived from my intimate opportunity of observing and appreciating the views of the Convention, collectively and individually, that there never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or more exclusively or anxiously [devoted to the object committed to them, than were the members of the Federal Convention of 1787, to the object of devising and proposing a constitutional system which would best supply the defects of that which it was to replace, and best secure the permanent liberty and happiness of their country.]”
James Madison begins by stating that regardless of what the future Americans thought of them, he felt it his duty to share his personal testimony of the character of the men who founded our nation. Who better to testify of the character of those men than one who lived among them? Madison shares his personal conviction that there was never an assembly of men who were purer in their motives or more anxiously devoted to their cause than the founders. It is powerful to me that this statement comes from a man who many disagreed with; it shows that even though they disagreed, they had respect for the motives and wisdom of each other. Contrast this plain truth with the modern secular lie that the founders never got along well, were constantly arguing, and held lifelong grudges. Madison’s firsthand statement testifies of their unity in the cause and their pure motives.
Madison concludes by saying that never was a group of men so committed to secure the permanent liberty and security of their country. Many today would say that these men cared only for their own careers, prestige, and spread of influence. Instead, Madison teaches us that these men did what they did for us. Their motives, character, and devotion were pure and untainted as they built a government by the direction of God.