"The Framers' Coup: The Making of the US Constitution"-Fascinating History to Constructing the Constitution

Michael Klarman was at the NYHistoric Soc to disucss his new book which gives an interesting & indepth look at the clandestine Philadelphia Convention in 1786 that over threw the Articles of Confederation (AOC) drawn up in 1776 & ratified in 1781.  This is a major momumental revolution occuring a  mere decade after the Declaration of Independce & just 5 years after the Ratification of the (AOC.)  It was becoming apparent early on that our founding fathers were faltering with what the Continental Congress (CC) outlined for our nation.  It became self-evident, the follies that needed to be rectified in order for a unified system of laws to maintain a unification of the newly formed independent states.   Klarman was extremely erudite & gregarious.  Benno Schmidt the moderator did an excellent job posing direct questions to help clarify the major flaws were with the AOC.   Schmidt, former pres of Yale Univ & dean of Columbia Law school also steered Klarman to expound on the indiscretions, compromises & strategic negotiations that led to the US Constitution; our Founding Father's crowning achievement.  Succinctly, the flaws becoming problematic stemmed from the failures to establish a court system, powers to levy taxes, abilities to regulate trade; basically enforcing authority was futile.  It was very interesting to learn the Philadelphia Conv was held with a locked door policy.  No one other than state representatives were allowed into the hall and nothing was released publicly until the Constitution was signed by all 13 states.  Of course, therein lied the inherent problems - opposing views of those states wanting omnipotence and states leaning towards a necessity to form a strong federal govt.   Individual states had differeing needs, laws, populations & ideology.  A major compromised solution was the formation of the Senate with 2 representatives & the House of Congress with representatives determined by population.  As was counting slaves as 3/5 of the population of the southern states and refraining from restrictions of slavery or slave trade.   Our Constitution, the consumate construct of our founding fathers was in itself a major coup on the heels of the Revolutionary War.  Of course, there were serious contentions remaining that would lead to the succession of the south in the decades ahead and our nation's Civil War.  A covert convention in 1786 resulted in the brilliant construct of our pillar of government that was a stopgap solution up until the uncivil, devastating war between the north & south.