THE LOCKED ROOM

Synopsis

Philadelphia, summer of 1787. Fifty-five men sit in a room with the windows shut, every one of them sworn to say nothing about what happens inside. They have four months to replace a government that is failing. James Madison is thirty-six. He came better prepared than anyone there, and he carries less weight in the room than most of them. The small states and the large states each arrived ready to walk out, and the question of how the states are represented has no answer either side can live with. Every night he writes the day down. Every week the whole thing could fall apart, and if it does, the Revolution will have produced thirteen small countries instead of one.

Who this is about

James Madison is thirty-six, the best-prepared man in the room and one of the least powerful.

What goes wrong

The small states and the large states each walk in ready to walk out, and the one question that will decide everything, how the states are represented, has no answer both sides can live with.

What's at stake

If the Convention breaks up, the states go their separate ways, and the Revolution will have produced thirteen small countries instead of one.

Why it keeps going

Each episode is a day of the Convention: a vote that fails, a delegate who threatens to leave, a deal made at a boarding house after dark, and Madison writing it all down every night.

Takeaway

A constitution is a compromise that both sides can defend in public.

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Story, in the creator's words

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