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It's Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. Four months of arguing behind closed windows in the summer heat. Franklin is 81 years old, sick, being carried in and out of the State House on a chair. On the last day, they sign. He walks out. A woman named Elizabeth Powel stops him and asks, "Well, Doctor, what have we got - a republic or a monarchy?" He says, "A republic, if you can keep it."

In this first episode of If We Can Keep It, Aaron Evans walks through what really happened in that room, what Franklin was actually warning her about, and why that one sentence has outlasted almost every other line from the Founding.

Also in this episode:

• Why Franklin's "rising sun" chair moment on the last day matters
• What Elizabeth Powel was really asking (she wasn't a random bystander)
• The three specific things Franklin thought would make or break the republic
• What owners, executives, and officeholders can pull out of it for the work they're doing right now

New episodes weekly. Subscribe or follow so you don't miss Episode 2 - Valley Forge, and the eight thousand men who stood in the snow.

A republic. If we can keep it.