I confess that I do not entirely approve this Constitution at present; but sir, 
I am not sure I shall never approve it: For, having lived long, I have
experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller
consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once
thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I
grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgement and pay more respect to the
judgement of others.

Most men, indeed as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in
possession of all truth, and that whatever others differ from them, it is so
far in error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that the
only difference in our two churches in their opinions of the certainity of
their doctrine is, the Romish Church is infallible, and the Church of England
is never in the wrong. But, though many private persons think almost as highly
of their own infallibility, as of that of their sect, few express it as
certainly as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister
said: "I don't know how it happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself
that is always in the right."

In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults --
if they are such -- because I think a general government necessary for us...
I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to 
make a better Constitution; for, when you assemble a number of men, to have
the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men
all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local
interests and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect 
production be expected?

It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near
to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who
are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like 
those of the builders of Babel, and that our States are on the point of 
separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one 
another's throats. Thus, I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I 
expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.