The Philadelphia Convention, 1787
Wednesday 31 August 2005 21:00-21:45 (Radio 3)
Meetings of Minds is a series looking at meetings during three moments in history which have had enormous impact beyond their four walls.
In 1787 a meeting that was to last three months was called in Philadelphia. Its president had one tooth, its elder statesman arrived each day in a sedan chair carried by prisoners and its opening had to be delayed by a week when only two of the 13 delegations turned up. From such inauspicious beginnings the American Constitution was born.
Frances Stonor Saunders examines the Philadelphia Convention which drew up this unique and contested document and how the decisions made there have had consequences for both America and the world today.
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