Don’t expect perfection

OIiver Ellsworth in 1785.

“Let us, my fellow citizens, take up this constitution with the same spirit of candour and liberality; consider it in all its parts; consider the important and advantages which may be derived from it, and the fatal consequences which will probably follow from rejecting it. If any objections are made against it, let us obtain full information on the subject, and then weigh these objections in the balance of cool impartial reason. Let us see, if they be not wholly groundless; But if upon the whole they appear to have some weight, let us consider well, whether they be so important, that we ought on account of them to reject the whole constitution. Perfection is not the lot of human institutions; that which has the most excellencies and the fewest faults, is the best that we can expect.’’

— Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807), whose hometown was Windsor, Conn., was a Founding Father of the United States, lawyer, judge, politician and diplomat. He was a framer of the U.S. Constitution, senator from Connecticut, and the third chief justice of the United States. His remarks here came on Dec. 17, 1787, during the campaign to ratify the Constitution.

Oliver Ellsworth Homestead, in Windsor. It’s now a historical museum.