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Convention: A Daily Journal

Center for Civics Education

Convention: A Daily Journal

Convention: A Daily Journal is a day-by-day journal of the 1787 Constitutional Convention convened by twelve of the original thirteen states to amend the Articles of Confederation and create a “more perfect union.” It chronicles the daily activities of the Convention, profiles the delegates and their interactions with each other, and looks back to life in America in the 1780s. Writing in the first person, the story is told from an “observer” hearing events as told in contemporary newspaper accounts and delegates’ personal notes and letters.


Friday, May 25, 1787

May 25, 2020 - 4 minute read


Independence Hall

This morning, twenty-nine delegates made their way through a drenching downpour to the State House from the City Tavern, the Indian Queen, Robert Morris’s home, and nearby inns. Another delegate from New Jersey has arrived, providing a majority of delegates of seven States, sufficient for a quorum to open the Federal Convention.

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia and North and South Carolina are represented. From the entire New England region, Rufus King of Massachusetts still is the only delegate. Georgia’s William Few has arrived, but Maryland is not yet represented.

Daniel Carroll, writing from Annapolis to Michael Morgan O’Brien, a close friend and Philadelphia merchant, reported that only yesterday had he and four others been appointed by the Maryland General Assembly. The four are James McHenry, Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin. Carroll has been in ill health, but through “moderate (but constant daily) exercise, temperance and attention, have in great measure conquered my nervous complaints without the aid of Medicine.” It remains uncertain when he or any of the Maryland delegates will arrive. 

When Thomas Jefferson, serving as United States Minister to France, received the list of elected delegates, he wrote to John Adams, serving in the same capacity to Great Britain, “It is really an assembly of demigods.”  Benjamin Franklin agreed.  Looking over the same roster, he said, “We have here at present what the French call ‘an assembly of notables,’ a convention composed of some of the principal people from the several states of our Confederation.”

Today, as the delegates gathered in the East Room, George Washington surveyed the group of notable men milling around him, seeing half a dozen who had voted to appoint him Commander-in-Chief in 1775. Another dozen had been with him at Trenton, Yorktown, Saratoga, or other battlefield.  Many are close friends, others are neighbors. It is not his wish to be drawn back into public life, but, as he wrote to John Jay, “it is necessary to amend the Articles of Confederation…Something must be done, or the fabric must fall – for it certainly is tottering.” That is why he is here.

At the appointed hour, the delegates took their seats at the square tables covered with green baize, most of them sitting with delegates from their own State.  The first order of business was to elect a presiding officer.  

Robert Morris arose in his place, stood erectly, and proposed that a President of the convention be elected by ballot. Making it clear that he was speaking on behalf of the entire Pennsylvania delegation, he placed in nomination the name of George Washington.  This came as a surprise to no one. However, the honor of nominating Washington as President of the convention had originally fallen to Benjamin Franklin as Governor of the host State. Unfortunately, Franklin was unable to attend due to the heavy storm raging outside.

John Rutledge seconded the nomination, urging that the vote be unanimous. It was.  Morris and Rutledge then escorted Washington, dressed in his old military uniform, to the dais where he was seated in the presiding officer’s chair behind a drape-covered desk.

From his desk, Washington made a short acceptance speech. In “a very emphatic manner, he thanked the Convention for the honor they had conferred on him, reminded them of the novelty of the scene of business in which he was to act, lamented his want of better qualifications, and claimed the indulgence of the House towards the involuntary errors which his inexperience might occasion.” He closed by declaring, “that as he never had been in such a situation, he felt himself embarrassed” and “he hoped his errors, as they would be unintentional, would be excused.” 

A foreign observer once noted that Washington “speaks with great diffidence” and “sometimes hesitates for a word.” But “his language is manly and expressive,” as is the man himself. Today, his modest and unassuming words reinforced his already formidable presence, reassuring the delegates that a firm hand is at the helm.

The convention then proceeded to elect a Secretary.  Virginia’s James Wilson nominated Temple Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s grandson. New York’s Alexander Hamilton nominated Major William Jackson, a former aide to Washington who had lobbied heavily for the position. Jackson was elected. 

Next, one member from each State presented the credentials for his delegation. Most were brief but incorporated a familiar phrase - that Congress had called the convention “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.” Delaware’s instructions struck an ominous note; it clearly forbade its delegates from departing from the “one State, one vote” provision of the Articles. This did not go unnoticed. James Madison duly noted it in the copious notes he is taking. George Mason promptly drafted a letter to his son, reporting; “the State of Delaware has tied up the hands of her deputies by an express direction to retain the principle in the present Confederation of each State having the same vote; no other State, so far as we have seen yet, hath restrained in deputies on any subject.” 

Before adjourning, the convention appointed a messenger, a door keeper, and a committee to prepare standing rules. The committee is composed of George Wythe, Alexander Hamilton, and Charles Pinckney.  “The House adjourned to Monday, the 28th day of May, at ten o’clock.”

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