Saturday, December 03, 2011

10 days of history review

A luckless trip to the library with the original motive of borrowing Tintin left me ended up with 2 children books - 10 days of history in the life of Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln.

It was definitely enjoyable to read Lincoln - it is a children book, with nice photographs - seeing how does Seward and Santon looked like.   It was great too because it gave me better understanding to the background  on top of what I read the last time in Abraham Lincoln by George McGovern - The American Presidents Series.  One example would be the Scott vs Emerson Case.

It was too pure coincidence that it was Benjamin and Lincoln that I borrowed. After all, it was the unfinished business of Benjamin that was left to Lincoln to finish up in Civil war.

And it was nice to read about benjamin's quote about the painting of the rising or setting sun in the closing session of the Founding Fathers to write the constitution.

Perhaps, the last takeaway that is most relevant to me right now and my character of being strong opinionated is this few lines by Benjamin Franklin that was read by James Wilson  on Monday, September 17, 1787, was the last day of the Constitutional Convention:

"I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others...."

The founding fathers didn't get the Constitution right the first time, it was a work in progress...

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