1776-May 24, 1787 A lively city in ordinary times, Philadelphia was touched by a special aura of suspense that May of 1787. Even the rain clouds that darkened the skies for much of the month did nothing to dampen a sense of expectancy that was almost pal- pable. For once again, as so often in the recent past, this at- tractive, well-ordered city seemed to its citizens to be at the absolute center of things. Critical decisions were again to be made here, decisions that would surely affect the lives of Americans still unborn. And if there was hope in the general air of anticipation, it was a hope tinged with fear. That all event of such moment should be taking place in Philadelphia, however, seemed only natural. It had, after all, been here that the First Continental Congress had met in 1774, just thirteen years earlier, in the crisis that followed the British closing of the port of Boston. It was here that the Second Con- tinental Congress, meeting in 1775 after the fighting at Lexing- ton and Concord, had named George Washington commander of a new Continental Army. And it was most emphatically
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