Associated Locations:
- Philadelphia, printed
Associated Dates:
- September 17, 1787 – Created
Divine Inspiration
James Madison
“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty Hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the Revolution.”1
Alexander Hamilton
For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which without the finger of God never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.
Benjamin Franklin
I beg I may not be understood to infer that our general Convention was Divinely inspired when it formed the new federal Constitution . . . yet I must own [admit] I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance . . . should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in Whom all inferior spirits “live and move and have their being” 2.
Benjamin Rush
I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as perfectly satisfied that the Union of the States in its form and adoption is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament.
