A Failed Nation - Sole and Express Purpose

American Political History · Sep 17, 2026 · 27m

This is the finale of A Failed Nation. In February of 1787, the Confederation Congress faced the most awkward decision in its short and unhappy life: whether to bless a convention summoned, however politely, to replace it. Six states had already sent delegates to Philadelphia without waiting for permission. John Jay thought the whole thing legally “questionable.” Madison found Congress “much divided and embarrassed.” And on February 21st, by a vote of eight states to one, the dying government did the strangest thing a government can do — it authorized the meeting that would end it, leashing…