Ten steps from Disaster

We live in the greatest country in world history. Most people can agree on that. And even the ones that don't still stay in the U.S. instead of moving to a "superior country."

    One of the most miraculous things that makes our country the greatest of all time is our Constitution. But did you know that we were ten steps away from all speaking in British accents?

    In the Constitutional Convention, there were several very important votes that caused very intense situations and sparked anger between the states.

    There were several arguments that had a united source. The large states, Virginia (which included what is now West Virginia), Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts, wanted the number of votes from each state to be dependent on the population of the state. This would mean that those states would be the most influential in choosing political leaders.

    The smaller states, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (which didn't participate in the Constitutional Convention but was still a smaller state), all wanted the number of votes to be the same for all of the states. This would allow all of the states to have the exact same influence even if Georgia had a thousand-person population and Virginia had a million. That on its own would have been a disaster.

    In a huge vote during the Constitutional Convention, the states were deciding whether the amount of votes would vary or would stay the same.

    The way the voting was arranged, if there was a tie between the delegates on a state, for example, if South Carolina's four delegates disagreed on a vote, then their vote got cancelled out completely.

    Here is when one of my favorite miracles from the Constitutional Convention comes in.

    Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer is a founding father who we are fairly unfamiliar with. He is rarely mentioned, and a limited number of people remember who he is, if they've even heard of him at all. But without him, we wouldn't be here today.

    In the Constitutional Convention, Maryland had five representatives. James McHenry, John Francis Mercer, Daniel Carroll, Luther Martin, and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.

    During an extremely important vote, Maryland was split, three to two. The majority of the representatives preferred the idea of states voting depending on their population, and the other two delegates were against it. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer was in the majority.

    During this vote, the convention was very tense. Mere seconds from most of the states walking out of the convention entirely. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer knew what would happen if he voted how he believed was right, and he knew what would happen if he voted for what he didn't believe in. So instead, during this deciding vote, he stood up, walked ten steps to the door, and walked out of the convention. Nobody knows where he went, but he came back half an hour later when the vote was done and saved the constitution.

    Now, you might be thinking, "Wow, that's cool, Watson. I've listened to Michael Medved too. Why do I care?" Well, let me ask you something. Has there ever been a time in your life when you wished you had just walked away from something? I have. Every day my mom has to tell me and my siblings to drop a subject that we've been fighting about. That is when we have to walk away.

    But what about on a bigger scale? Maybe you're at a party and someone pulls out alcohol. Are you going to risk an addiction and drink it, or are you going to be like Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer and take those ten steps to away and find something else to do? Because he didn't walk out, think again, and walk back in to vote. He went to find something better to do. And because of that, we have this incredible country that we live in today.

    So, next time you know that you should walk away from a bad situation, what are you going to do?