Miracle at Philadelphia

Chief Justice Warren E Berger once said:

“Our Constitution has had as great an impact on humanity as the splitting of the atom… I applaud the republication of this extraordinary work (“Miracle at Philadelphia”) and recommend it to anyone who want to know about the creation of the oldest existing national constitution, and who enjoys the excitement of the world-historic drama told by a master storyteller.”

Need I say more about the power of this outstanding work?

Please share your reflections, comments, curriculum ideas and respectful responses to other’s comments regarding Catherine Drinker Bowen’s “Miracle at Philadelphia” below

Reflections on 1776

Joshua Micha Marshall of “The New Yorker” said regarding David McCullough’s “1776”

“This is history at the ground level, sometimes even a few inches below. There is squishing mud for soldiers to trudge through, letters about absent loved ones and heartbreaking deaths, driving snow, and battlefields tipped with sun-gleaming bayonets like so many teeth grasping for prey. The prose is vibrant, and there is a telling insight into each character.”

For myself “1776” is my favorite of McCullough works. What do you each think?

Please share your reflections, comments, curriculum ideas and respectful responses to other’s comments regarding McCullough’s “1776” below.

Reflections on John Adams

It is said of McCullough's John Adams

"175 years after his death, we can at last give Adams the esteem he deserves" .... "with no disrespect for the monumental tasks with which they were faced, his finely honed perspective of our founding fathers steps away from their larger-than-life images and makes them very human and accessible. Lavish and abundant in documentation, readers will be delighted with the fascinating, colorful narrative in JOHN ADAMS" (Ann Bruin as qtd in Book Report & Pauline Maier in the New York Times)

Please feel free to share your reflections, comments, curriculum ideas and respectful responses to McCullough's "John Adams" below

Text Blogging

The first time I read "Miracle at Philadelphia" was as a college student, I raced my way through the book, occasionally scribbling my highlighter in the side margins so it looked as if I had read far more than I actually had. My sole purpose for reading the book was to receive credit for the course, knowledge was way down on my list of motivators. I remember very little from that first read. Go figure?!!? I read it sometime later when researching for a class- this time I was the teacher and I needed information to augment my own teaching. Wow what a difference a decade and being invested in the readings makes


My experience with "Miracle at Philadelphia" reminds me of the quote by Walt Whitman, who wrote "The process of reading is not a half sleep, but in the highest sense, an exercise, a gymnast's struggle: that the reader is to do something for him or herself, must be on the alert, just construct indeed the poem, argument, history, metaphysical essay--the text furnishing the hints, the clue, the start, the framework." Why didn't I think like this in college? When I think of all the time I wasted reading books because I had to rather than because I wanted to I could slap myself upside the head!

The purpose of this blog BEFORE the travel seminar will be to help us collectively construct, argue, debate and build a framework for understanding the American Revolution from the Boston Massacre to the Constitutional Convention through our assigned texts -“Miracle at Philadelphia”, “John Adams”, & “1776”. Please post your insights regarding the texts while reading.


I look forward to hearing from you all.

Cindy