Consult, Don’t Contend

In Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson recounts reasons why Franklin played a critical role in the creation of the US Constitution. And there’s one that stands out among the others as the most relevant for us today.

Franklin shaped the American mind. Turning to Franklin again in our day gives us a way forward.

“He embodied a spirit of Enlightenment tolerance and pragmatic compromise,” Isaacson writes (p. 447).

At the constitutional convention in 1787, he reminded those gathered of their purpose: “We are sent hither to consult, not to contend, with each other.”

He spoke with wisdom gained through his “instrumental” role including time abroad in Paris “in shaping the three great documents of the war: the Declaration of Independence, the alliance with France, and the treaty with England” (p. 417).

What’s critical for us to remember today is that it wasn’t—and isn’t—a given that the American states would—or will continue—to form a union.

When we campaign and govern as if we would be stronger when we beat and then refuse to consult with each other, we put ourselves on both a story arc and a path of disunion.

The mission to inspire American unity is about both the structural union and the relational union where we consult with each other to find new solutions.

Collaboration has become a platitude we talk about after assassination attempts, terrorist attacks, or on the Fourth of July.

But Franklin gives us the mindset to make it become part of our day-to-day lives, in the same way that collaboration and teamwork so often define the Olympics—or advances in human exploration like the creation of the hot air balloon.

“Declarations of a fixed opinion, and of determined resolution never to change it, neither enlighten nor convince us,” Franklin noted during the debate over proportional and equal representation (p. 449).

In Washington today, and across the country, we can have opinions—but when we move past them, and beyond the scorecards and the press releases and the go-nowhere storylines that declare them, we can create the solutions we all need.

When we do, we can make the country stronger for the next generation.

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Mission: Inspire American Unity

Liberatus is a political organization and publication exploring how we make our country more just and free for the next generation. We create inspiration for American unity in beautiful, well-researched and faith-rooted illustrated journals, written by professionals across the spectrum, to inspire lifestyles where we collaborate, build trust, and build endurance—because nothing changes if nothing changes.

Journal Entry #150

ISSUE 022: FOUNDATIONAL ETHOS — PART 1