A Rising Sun for our Democracy
Rep. Bruce Westerman (AR-04)
Partisan disagreements are not new to our country. From the very beginning, our nation has wrestled with compromising ideas or priorities, differing regional interests, and deeply held beliefs. Even in 1787, when our Constitution was drafted and signed, representatives from every colony were present, advocating for what they believed best served their states.
During the tense debating at this historic gathering, Benjamin Franklin reflected on the uncertainty of the moment. Would they be successful in drafting a Constitution?
As he let his eyes wander the room, they landed on the ornate chair President George Washington had settled into. A beautiful, stately chair with carved details drawing the eye upward to its crowning feature: a half sun with its beams stretching outward with strength and confidence. With the tension in the room, one thought came to his mind: was this a rising or setting sun? Was this a beginning or an end?
At the end of the convention, Franklin acknowledged the imperfections of the proposed Constitution but urged his fellow delegates to move forward with humility, compromise, and ultimately unity. He appealed to his fellow delegates, “I cannot help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention, who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion, doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.”
He reminded them that when a number of men come together to govern, they also bring with them their own biases, opinions, passions, and interests. But progress always heavily depends on the willingness to rise above them.
The next 250 years would be marked by legislators continuing that work of creating a more perfect Union, passing laws and advocating for priorities that best benefited their states – all with ultimately the same goal in mind.
As the final delegates’ names were being signed to our nation’s founding document, Franklin determined that this was not a setting sun that was depicted in Washington’s ornate chair; it was rising. It was a symbol of hope for the future of our nation, our democracy, and our self-governing system.