The Summer of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which the founding fathers struggled for four months to produce the Constitution: the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation - then and now. George Washington presided, James Madison kept the notes, Benjamin Franklin offered wisdom and humour at crucial times. The Summer of 1787 traces the struggles within the Philadelphia Convention as the delegates hammered out the charter for the world’s first constitutional democracy.   It was a desperate balancing act. Revolutionary principles required that the people have power, but could the people be trusted? Would a stronger central government leave room for the states? And what of slavery?    In a country continually arguing over the document’s original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus - often reluctantly - to write a flawed but living and breathing document that could evolve with the nation.