Key ideas from the Constitutional Convention of 1787

1. Have a good reason for the meeting. After winning the revolution the founding fathers put in place the Articles of Confederation as the basis for governing the new country. Having just suffered under a strong monarchy, the creators of the articles expressly constructed them to have a weak central government. However, it was soon realized that this approach would not work, as the states each sought to go their own way to the detriment of the whole. The fledgling nation was in peril. Recognizing the problem, respected leaders such as Washington, Madison, and Hamilton proposed a meeting to fix the articles and so remedy the untenable situation.If, in our careers, each of us hadn't been invited to so many meetings that were unnecessary we would easily agree this is an obvious point. But the fact that we have been means that, if you are calling a meeting, make sure there's a really good reason to do so. And then...