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Letter to the Editor

A Republic, If You Can Keep It

Posted 11/7/23

“A republic, if you can keep it” was the response Ben Franklin gave to Elizabeth Willing Powell of Philadelphia when asked, “Do we have a republic or a monarchy?” It was the last day of the Constitutional Convention, 1787, and Franklin had finished addressing the members with the warning that “when you assemble men with the advantage of joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions and the local interest and selfish views.”

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