To the delight of the members, Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Gen. George Washington paid a visit to the winter meeting of the Deep River Chapter of Colonial Dames XVII Century.

The luncheon meeting was held at the Pinehurst Members Club where Dr. Franklin (aka John Chappell of The Pilot) and Gen. Washington (aka Attorney Douglas Gill), in period costume, discussed the creation of the constitution of the United States from the perspective of original writers.

Chappell and Gill had clearly done a lot of research and were able to offer up a number of anecdotes as to how agreements were reached on the wording of the constitution. For instance, they presented Franklin’s concern about having two houses of Congress and the fear that they would be in danger of disagreeing and never achieve any results.

A second concern of Franklin’s was that offering pay to elected officials would only attract “the basest element.” In both cases, it was noted that Franklin was overruled. While Franklin was known for his frequent displays of wit, Washington was perceived as stiff and formal. He attributed this to age and training and not to pride. Washington was concerned about becoming America’s first president for fear of appearing too ambitious and thus losing the respect he had earned as a military leader. So great was his concern that the role of president not be confused with that of a king, he ordered a plain brown suit for his inauguration. It was also noted that all the meetings surrounding the writing of the constitution were done is secret due to concern that if it were to get into the newspapers the people would get upset prematurely.

To thank them for their entertaining and informative presentation, Chapter Vice President Barbara Reining presented both Chappell and Gill with copies of the Joseph Ellis book, “The Founding Brothers.”

A business meeting, chaired by President Sue Aceves, followed the luncheon presentation. Plans were made for representation at the State Conference in Rocky Mount in March and the 80th National Conference in April in Washington, DC.

It was announced that both Connie Tingley and Jan Fleska had been approved for membership.

Tish Lunney read a letter from the Moore County Library to the Colonial Dames XVII Century thanking them for the donation of a book on heraldry, edited and compiled by the former national chairman of heraldry, Diane Watts. A moment of silence was observed in respect to the memories of two members who had recently passed away, Gray Edman and Doris North.

Two national issues were brought to the members’ attention by Agnes Buckley, on behalf of the chair of the National Defense Committee. The first had to do with the proposed changes to the wording of the oath of citizenship. Simplifying the wording would make it more understandable but concern was expressed that none of the current meaning be removed. The second issue had to do with the proposed changes to the immigration law that would legalize the status of illegal immigrants and what impact this would have on the country in the future.