A lady asked Franklin: "Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?". Franklin replied: "A Republic, if you can keep it."
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From a note of uncertain date by Dr. James McHenry. In a footnote he added that "The lady here aluded to was Mrs. Powel of Philada." Published in The American Historical Review, v. 11, p. 618. At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787