Word: conventioners
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Some of the notables invited to the convention in that summer of 1787 simply refused to come. One, Virginia's Patrick Henry, said of the gathering in Philadelphia that he "smelt a rat." Others came and found the impassioned arguments profoundly dispiriting. "I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue...
That was one reason why the group decided at the start to confer in total secrecy, with the windows of the Pennsylvania statehouse shut tight and sentries stationed at the doors. When one delegate carelessly dropped a copy of a convention document, Washington began scolding, "I must entreat the gentlemen...
There was very little public repose to be disturbed. Seven years of war had nearly bankrupted the colonies, and both credit and currency were almost worthless. The supposedly united states quarreled fiercely over economic resources, like oyster-harvesting rights in Chesapeake Bay, and Congress had no real power to keep...
When the convention finally opened in the high-ceilinged, gray-walled East Room of the statehouse on a rainy Friday, May 25, the first action was to name Washington presiding officer, a responsibility that led him to remain all but silent in the ensuing debates. He took up his position...
It was typical of Madison that he had come to Philadelphia eleven days early, the first outsider there. As the opening was delayed, Madison met daily with the other Virginia delegates to work out what came to be known as the Virginia plan, a blueprint for the Constitution and thus...