The United States of Compromise

The great American experiment was about to fail. On the eve of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 – where the U.S. Constitution began – the French minister to America wrote home to his superiors in Paris, "What part of the United States would you like to take when it falls apart?" Disunity between states, a faltering economy, active rebellions, the threat of European interference – all were contributing factors. The Articles of Confederation — the original post-independence document – weren't working. The fledgling country needed an overhaul of its core principles. In this episode of Teamistry, host Gabriela Cowperthwaite revisits that summer of 1787 when a monumental collaboration ultimately delivered the U.S. Constitution. Within the muggy chambers of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, some of the country's brightest lawmakers and thought-leading eccentrics came together to hash out a new government system unlike any other in the world. Carol Berkin, presidential professor of American history at The City University of New York and Constitutional author Jeff Broadwater describe the action: state delegates debating and bickering about topics that would chart the course of the country's future. Learn the real story of an unlikely team of delegates forced to give up their personal egos and the interests of their individual states to build a collective – The United States of America – through compromise. Teamistry is an original podcast from Atlassian. For more on the series, go to www.atlassian.com/podcast.