Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen

First published: 1966

Subjects: Politics and law

Type of work: History

Time of work: 1787

Recommended Ages: 15-18

Locale: Philadelphia and its environs and other locales in the original thirteen states

Principal Personages:

• James Madison, a delegate from Virginia and the meticulous unofficial note taker during the Constitutional Convention
• George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, the former commander of the Continental Army, the president of the Constitutional Convention, and the future first president of the United States under the Constitution
• Alexander Hamilton, a delegate from New York, the Continental treasurer under the Articles of Confederation, and an ardent supporter of a strong national government
• Edmund Randolph, a delegate from and governor of Virginia and the author of the original Virginia Resolves, and an eventual opponent of the final Constitution
• Benjamin Franklin, a delegate from and governor of Pennsylvania, a well-known patriot, inventor, statesman, thinker, and supporter of strong national government
• James Wilson, an outspoken Pennsylvania delegate who supported strong government
• Gouverneur Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate and erstwhile playboy who spoke strongly and eloquently at the convention in favor of the consolidation of national government
• Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts delegate and the leader of the opposition to strong government and the final Constitution
• Luther Martin, a long-winded delegate from Maryland and an outspoken opponent of the Constitution

Form and Content

Catherine Drinker Bowen provides, in Miracle at Philadelphia, an entertaining, exhaustive, and historically accurate record of the events of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The narrative is drawn from many sources, the most important of which is James Madison’s personal record of convention proceedings, which according to Bowen is far more colorful and detailed than the official record of Robert Yates of New York, the convention reporter. She also uses many letters from convention delegates to their friends abroad (such as the letters of George Washington to Thomas Jefferson) and their wives and children at home. In addition, Bowen uses biographical accounts of all important convention delegates to illuminate their character at various points in the narrative. For example, in introducing Alexander Hamilton, she explains his unusual rapport with General Washington: “Alexander Hamilton during the war had acted as Washington’s aide-de-camp. It was an extraordinary friendship between the young lawyer, foreign-born, impatient, quick, and his Commander in Chief, infinitely steady, with a slow prescience of his own.” Numerous descriptive asides are included about assorted personages, locales, and events when they come up in the course of the story. At various points, Bowen may describe the scene at the State House, the weather on one afternoon in Philadelphia, or the contemporary personal life of a delegate preparing to speak.

Miracle at Philadelphia is divided into two main sections. The first is entitled “The Constitutional Convention” and covers not only the action of the convention itself but also contemporary events in Philadelphia and the other cities of the thirteen States, with some insights into contemporary world events, particularly in England and France. The account begins with a brief description of the circumstances leading up to the Constitutional Convention. The actual coverage of the convention and its delegates is interspersed with personal stories and other background information, but these chapters are also offset with a two-chapter interlude entitled “Journey Through the American States.” This section provides a broad cultural, sociological, and historical background of the states from which the delegates came and examines the expectations of common citizens concerning the convention and their attitudes toward the formation of a national government.

The tension at the Constitutional Convention begins to mount with the introduction of the original Virginia Resolves and reaches a fever pitch at the Committee of Style’s final presentation of the document now known as the Constitution. At every point, advocates of a strong system of national government are assailed by states-rights advocates. In the beginning, the Virginia Plan is criticized for going against what Congress had expressly requested when it called the convention— merely revision of the Articles of Confederation. Proponents of strong national government push their viewpoint until the convention begins to accept the idea that an entirely new document (if not expressly called a “constitution”) and form of government is needed. The “strong-government men” at length persuade the convention to base this document on Edmund Randolph’s Virginia Plan. Then, the members of the convention debate for the rest of the summer over what parts of the plan to adopt, what parts to revise, and what parts to throw out altogether.

The convention is afterward constantly in danger of dissolution. The main divisions in American society of that time—North versus South, seaboard versus back country, small states versus large ones—are revealed in the tumultuous debates that ensue over slavery and legislative representation. One by one, the delegates come to a shaky agreement over each of these various contentious issues through vehicles such as the Great Compromise. When the Committee of Style finally presents its final package, the tension comes to a head in the question of whether the delegates will actually approve and sign it. They do, and this section of Bowen’s work ends.

Bowen’s attention then turns to the arena in which the Constitution once again was in peril of fading into oblivion: its ratification by the various states. The second section of the book is entitled “The Fight for Ratification,” and a fight it was indeed. The small states and Pennsylvania immediately approve the document, but the Constitution faces its first real threat in the Massachusetts ratification convention. Elbridge Gerry mounts a formidable opposition to the document’s plan for a strong national government, but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ratifies the Constitution. This sets the stage for the last major battlegrounds: New York and Virginia, whose ratification conventions meet simultaneously. Virginia’s meeting proves to be even stormier than that of Massachusetts. The Antifederalists there are led by Patrick Henry, the indomitable and eloquent libertarian firebrand and patriot of the American Revolution. In spite of his fervent arguments against it, however, Virginia narrowly ratifies the Constitution a few days before New York’s final vote. Virginia’s decision sways its northern sister and the smaller Southern states (with the exception of Georgia, which had ratified the document at the beginning). The tale of the convention ends with descriptions of the grand celebrations across the country in honor of the new Constitution.

Critical Context

Miracle at Philadelphia has long been a favorite text of high school and college American history and constitutional history instructors. It provides an extremely easy-to-read account of one of the most revolutionary events in history. Perhaps the book’s greatest accomplishment is providing an overall context, conceived in unusually intimate human terms, of the often-vaunted characters involved in this historic convention—their lives, their society, and their nation.

Miracle at Philadelphia was Catherine Drinker Bowen’s culminating work in a career as writer of numerous critically acclaimed biographies and other historical writings, such as Beloved Friend (1937), a story of the intimate relationship between the composer Peter Tchaikovsky and Nadejda von Meck (cowritten with Barbara von Meck), and Yankee from Olympus: Justice Holmes and His Family (1944), the story of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and his family. In short, Bowen brought the grandeur of history to the level of the average high school student’s knowledge and ability. In Miracle at Philadelphia, she does so without diminishing the awe-inspiring significance of the framing of what is today the oldest surviving national constitution.