# Constitution of the United States of America/Annotated/Introduction/Constitutional Convention

Online at https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/intro.6-3/ALDE_00000050/
Virginia, recognizing the need for an agreement with Maryland respecting the navigation and jurisdiction of the Potomac River, appointed in June 1784, four commissioners to “frame such liberal and equitable regulations concerning the said river as may be mutually advantageous to the two States.” Maryland in January 1785 responded to the Virginia resolution by appointing a like number of commissioners “for the purpose of settling the navigation and jurisdiction over that part of the bay of Chesapeake which lies within the limits of Virginia, and over the rivers Potomac and Pocomoke” with full power on behalf of Maryland to adjudge and settle the jurisdiction to be exercised by the said State, respectively, over the waters and navigations of the same.
At the invitation of George Washington the commissioners met at Mount Vernon, in March 1785, and drafted a compact which, in many of its details relative to the navigation and jurisdiction of the Potomac, is still in force. What is more important, the commissioners submitted to their respective states a report in favor of a convention of all the states “to take into consideration the trade and commerce” of the Confederation. Virginia, in January 1786, advocated such a convention, authorizing its commissioners to meet with those of other states, at a time and place to be agreed on, “to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situations and trade of the said State; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several States, such an act relative to this great object, as when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress, effectually to provide for the same.”
This proposal for a general trade convention seemingly met with general approval; nine states appointed commissioners. Under the leadership of the Virginia delegation, which included Edmund Randolph and James Madison, Annapolis was accepted as the place and the first Monday in September 1786 as the time for the convention. The attendance at Annapolis proved disappointing. Only five states—Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York—were represented; delegates from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island failed to attend. Because of the small representation, the Annapolis convention did not deem “it advisable to proceed on the business of their mission.” After an exchange of views, the Annapolis delegates unanimously submitted to their respective states a report in which they suggested that a convention of representatives from all the states meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May 1787 to examine the defects in the existing system of government and formulate “a plan for supplying such defects as may be discovered.”
The Virginia legislature acted promptly upon this recommendation and appointed a delegation to go to Philadelphia. Within a few weeks New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, and Georgia also made appointments. New York and several other states hesitated on the ground that, without the consent of the Continental Congress, the work of the convention would be extra-legal; that Congress alone could propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Washington was quite unwilling to attend an irregular convention. Congressional approval of the proposed convention became, therefore, highly important. After some hesitancy Congress approved the suggestion for a convention at Philadelphia “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union.”
Thereupon, the remaining states, Rhode Island alone excepted, appointed in due course delegates to the Convention, and Washington accepted membership on the Virginia delegation.
Although scheduled to convene on May 14, 1787, it was not until May 25 that enough delegates were present to proceed with the organization of the Convention. Washington was elected as presiding officer. It was agreed that the sessions were to be strictly secret.
On May 29 Randolph, on behalf of the Virginia delegation, submitted to the convention fifteen propositions as a plan of government. Despite the fact that the delegates were limited by their instructions to a revision of the Articles, Virginia had really recommended a new instrument of government. For example, provision was made in the Virginia Plan for the separation of the three branches of government; under the Articles executive, legislative, and judicial powers were vested in the Congress. Furthermore the legislature was to consist of two houses rather than one.
On May 30 the Convention went into a committee of the whole to consider the fifteen propositions of the Virginia Plan seriatim. These discussions continued until June 13, when the Virginia resolutions in amended form were reported out of committee. They provided for proportional representation in both houses. The small states were dissatisfied. Therefore, on June 14 when the Convention was ready to consider the report on the Virginia Plan, William Paterson of New Jersey requested an adjournment to allow certain delegations more time to prepare a substitute plan. The request was granted, and on the next day Paterson submitted nine resolutions embodying important changes in the Articles of Confederation, but strictly amendatory in nature. Vigorous debate followed. On June 19 the states rejected the New Jersey Plan and voted to proceed with a discussion of the Virginia Plan. The small states became more and more discontented; there were threats of withdrawal. On July 2, the Convention was deadlocked over giving each state an equal vote in the upper house–five states in the affirmative, five in the negative, one divided.
The problem was referred to a committee of eleven, there being one delegate from each state, to effect a compromise. On July 5 the committee submitted its report, which became the basis for the “great compromise” of the Convention. It was recommended that in the upper house each state should have an equal vote, that in the lower branch each state should have one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, counting three-fifths of the slaves, that money bills should originate in the lower house (not subject to amendment by the upper chamber). When on July 12 the motion of Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania that direct taxation should also be in proportion to representation was adopted, a crisis had been successfully surmounted. A compromise spirit began to prevail. The small states were not willing to support a strong national government.
Debates on the Virginia resolutions continued. The fifteen original resolutions had been expanded into twenty-three. Since these resolutions were largely declarations of principles, on July 24 a committee of five was elected to draft a detailed constitution embodying the fundamental principles which had thus far been approved. The Convention adjourned from July 26 to August 6 to await the report of its Committee of Detail. This Committee, in preparing its draft of a Constitution, turned for assistance to the state constitutions, to the Articles of Confederation, to the various plans which had been submitted to the Convention and other available material. On the whole the report of the Committee conformed to the resolutions adopted by the Convention, though on many clauses the members of the Committee left the imprint of their individual and collective judgments. In a few instances the Committee avowedly exercised considerable discretion.
From August 6 to September 10 the report of the Committee of Detail was discussed, section by section, clause by clause. Details were attended to, further compromises were effected. Toward the close of these discussions, on September 8, another committee of five was appointed “to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed to by the house.”
On Wednesday, September 12, the report of the Committee of Style was ordered printed for the convenience of the delegates. The Convention for three days compared this report with the proceedings of the Convention. The Constitution was ordered engrossed on Saturday, September 15.
The Convention met on Monday, September 17, for its final session. Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result. A few deemed the new Constitution a mere makeshift, a series of unfortunate compromises. The advocates of the Constitution, realizing the impending difficulty of obtaining the consent of the states to the new instrument of Government, were anxious to obtain the unanimous support of the delegations from each state. It was feared that many of the delegates would refuse to give their individual assent to the Constitution. Therefore, in order that the action of the Convention would appear to be unanimous, Gouverneur Morris devised the formula “Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present the 17th of September . . . In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.” Thirty-nine of the forty-two delegates present thereupon subscribed to the document.
The convention had been called to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it reported to the Continental Congress a new Constitution. Furthermore, while the Articles specified that no amendments should be effective until approved by the legislatures of all the states, the Philadelphia Convention suggested that the new Constitution should supplant the Articles of Confederation when ratified by conventions in nine states. For these reasons, it was feared that the new Constitution might arouse opposition in Congress.
Three members of the Convention—Madison, Nathaniel Gorham, and Rufus King—were also Members of Congress. They proceeded at once to New York, where Congress was in session, to placate the expected opposition. Aware of their vanishing authority, Congress on September 28, after some debate, decided to submit the Constitution to the states for action. It made no recommendation for or against adoption.
Two parties soon developed, one in opposition and one in support of the Constitution, and the Constitution was debated, criticized, and expounded clause by clause. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of commentaries, now known as the Federalist Papers, in support of the new instrument of government. The closeness and bitterness of the struggle over ratification and the conferring of additional powers on the central government can scarcely be exaggerated. In some states ratification was effected only after a bitter struggle in the state convention itself.
Delaware, on December 7, 1787, became the first state to ratify the new Constitution, the vote being unanimous. Pennsylvania ratified on December 12, 1787, by a vote of 46-23, a vote scarcely indicative of the struggle which had taken place in that state. New Jersey ratified on December 19, 1787, and Georgia on January 2, 1788, the vote in both states being unanimous. Connecticut ratified on January 9, 1788; yeas 128, nays 40. On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts, by a narrow margin of nineteen votes in a convention with a membership of 355, endorsed the new Constitution, but recommended that a bill of rights be added to protect the states from federal encroachment on individual liberties. Maryland ratified on April 28, 1788; yeas 63, nays 11. South Carolina ratified on May 23, 1788; yeas 149, nays 73. On June 21, 1788, by a vote of 57-46, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify, but like Massachusetts she suggested a bill of rights.
By the terms of the Constitution nine states were sufficient for its establishment among the states so ratifying. The advocates of the new Constitution realized, however, that the new Government could not succeed without the addition of New York and Virginia, neither of which had ratified. Madison, Marshall, and Randolph led the struggle for ratification in Virginia. On June 25, 1788, by a narrow margin of ten votes in a convention of 168 members, that state ratified over the objection of such delegates as George Mason and Patrick Henry. In New York an attempt to attach conditions to ratification almost succeeded. But on July 26, 1788, New York ratified, with a recommendation that a bill of rights be appended. The vote was close—yeas 30, nays 27.
Eleven states having thus ratified the Constitution, the Continental Congress—which still functioned at irregular intervals—passed a resolution on September 13, 1788, to put the new Constitution into operation. The first Wednesday of January 1789 was fixed as the day for choosing presidential electors, the first Wednesday of February for the meeting of electors, and the first Wednesday of March (i.e., March 4, 1789) for the opening session of the new Congress. Owing to various delays, Congress was late in assembling, and it was not until April 30, 1789, that George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States.

## Notes

* $^{[A]}$↑ Seventy-four delegates in total were chosen, with 55 attending. Those who either left mid-way or stayed until the finished document, but refused to sign it include:
* William Davie (North Carolina, left early)
* Oliver Ellsworth (Connecticut, left early)
* Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts, refused to sign)
* William Houston (New Jersey, left early)
* William Houstoun (Georgia, left early)
* John Lansing (New York, left in protest)
* Alexander Martin (North Carolina, left early)
* Luther Martin (Maryland, left in protest)
* George Mason (Virginia, refused to sign)
* James McClurg (Virginia,left early)
* John Mercer (Maryland, left in protest)
* William Pierce (Georgia, left early)
* Edmund Randolph (Virginia, refused to sign)
* Caleb Strong (Massachusetts, left early)
* George Wythe (Virginia, left early)
* Robert Yates (New York, left in protest)
Those who were chosen but did not attend include:
* Charles Caroll (Maryland)
* Richard Caswell (North Carolina)
* Abraham Clark (New Jersey)
* Francis Dana (Massachusetts)
* Gabriel Duvall (Maryland)
* Robert Hanson Harrison (Maryland)
* Patrick Henry (Virginia)
* Richard Henry Lee (Virginia)
* Willie Jones (North Carolina)
* Henry Laurens (South Carolina)
* Thomas Sire Lee (Maryland)
* Nathaniel Pendleton (Georgia)
* John Neilson (New Jersey)
* Thomas Nelson (Virginia)
* John Pickering (New Hampshire)
* Thomas Stone (Maryland)
* George Walton (Georgia)
* Benjamin West (New Hampshire)
* Erastus Wolcott (Connecticut)