https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/09/17/the-republic-was-not-kept-benjamin-franklins-constitution-day-prediction/

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By: Michael Boldin|Published on: Sep 17, 2025

Benjamin Franklin, Constitution, Founding Principles, History

“A republic … if you can keep it”

September 17, 1787 – the day the constitution was signed. We all know Benjamin Franklin’s famous line.

But he wasn’t warning us about the government. He wasn’t even warning about the constitution. He was warning us – about ourselves.

THE PREDICTION

Franklin took things even further with a really dire prediction of how things would end.

Picture this. It’s the final day of the Philadelphia convention, September 17, 1787. The constitution is completed. The wise old sage didn’t offer a 5-star review. Instead, he began with a tough concession and some honesty that few seem to have today. His speech, written and prepared in advance, was read by fellow Pennsylvania delegate, James Wilson.

“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such”

Franklin’s objections, especially on issues like executive power, were no secret. For him, it wasn’t about achieving the impossible goal of perfection. So he was still optimistic, but only for the short run.

“And there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years,”

That phrase – “for a course of years” said it all. This would end in a total tyranny – no matter what they wrote on paper in 1787 or who they had in office in the early years of the Republic.

“and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”

So Franklin understood that every system eventually slides to tyranny – even if you can find good people to administer it for “course of years.”

PARCHMENT BARRIERS

Thomas Paine zeroed in on the modern take and ripped apart the idea that merely having the ability to vote for people in government is somehow a real defense against tyranny.

“It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it less a despotism, if the persons so elected possess afterwards, as a parliament, unlimited powers.”

Paine understood that when power isn’t actively checked, that power would always grow – and merely choosing new people to wield that power would never stem the tide.

“Election, in this case, becomes separated from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism.”

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