SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER is, 1787 GEORGE WASHINGTON: DIARY Saturday isth. Concluded the business of Convention, all to signing the proceedings; to effect which the House sat till 6 Oclock; and adjourned till Monday that the Constitution which it was proposed to offer to the People might be engrossed and a number of printed copies struck off. Dined at Mr. Morris's & spent the evening there. Mr. Gardoqui set off for his return to New York this forenoon. THOMAS FITZSIMONS TO NOAH WEBSTER Philadelphia, September 1 5 , 1 7 8 7 Dear Sir: I shall make you no apology, for addressing myself to you upon the present occasion, because you must be especially interested with me in the event, and having contributed my mite to the service of our common country, I have some right to call upon others for assistance. I consider the present moment as the crisis that will determine whether we are to benefit by the revolution we have obtained, or whether we shall become a prey to foreign influence and domestic violence. The business of the convention is nearly at an end and a few days will bring before the people of America the constitution prepared for their future government. That it is the best which human wisdom could devise, I mean not to assert; but I trust it will be found consistent with the principles of liberty and calculated to unite and bind together the members of a great country. It is already too evident that there are people prepared to oppose it, even before they are acquainted with the outline, and it is easy to see that if unreasonable jealousies are disseminated, its Adoption may be at least protracted. In my mind, to delay is to destroy. There are so many interests, foreign and domestic, opposed to order and good government in America, as to warrant an apprehension of their interfering, if time is given for cabal and intrigue.