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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.


Wednesday, May 23, 1787

May 23, 2020 - 4 minute read


Swatara Falls

General Washington’s diary is always helpful:

“Wednesday 23d. No more States being represented I rid to Genl. Mifflins to breakfast – after which in Company with him, Mr. Madison, Mr. Rutledge, and others I crossed the Schuylkill above the Falls.  Visited Mr. Peters – Mr. Penns Seat, and Mr. Wm. Hamiltons. Dined at Mr. Chews – with the Wedding guests (Colo. Howard of Baltimore having married his daughter Peggy). Drank tea in a very large Circle of Ladies.”

General George Washington is revered as “the greatest man in America.”  He has earned his reputation the hard way, through years of leading thirteen disparate States in a war against one of the most powerful nations in the world. Against all odds, including an unreliable Congress and an unending shortage of rations and equipment, his Army prevailed.

He possesses that elusive quality which inspires men and charms women. He is dignified and, to many, aloof. He is brave, reserved, serious, and disciplined. He has a strong sense of loyalty and moral duty.  He is so well-known that the myth and the man have become the same.  As early as 1778 the sobriquet “Father of his country” was applied to him, albeit in German. The cover of a Pennsylvania almanac published in Lancaster declared he was  “Des Landes Vater” or “Father of the Country.”  In January 1776, Levi Allen, younger brother of Ethan Allen, wrote to Washington, saluting him as “Our political father and head of a Great People.” 

As late as March 1, in a letter imploring Washington to attend the Federal Convention, General Henry Knox wrote that his attendance at a successful convention would “doubly entitle you to the glorious republican epithet – the Father of Your Country.” But such fawning does not move Washington. He carefully guards his reputation, but that reputation is not susceptible to flattery.

He is fully aware that his presence, and Dr. Franklin’s, have enhanced the importance and dignity of the convention. However, he is not here as a symbol. His presence and purposes are to strengthen the Union and establish an enduring foundation. In a recent letter to James Madison, he lamented America’s decline, writing that “No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did – and no day was ever more clouded than the present.”

Each day Washington attends the informal meetings at the State House as delegates gather to greet new arrivals, hoping for a quorum.  These unofficial meetings usually last for one or two hours and cover such topics as convention rules and how delegates are to address one another in debate. Washington is reserved and seldom leads in discussions of this nature, but it was during one of these sessions that he reminded them of the gravity of the situation in which the country finds itself and the solemn task before them.

“It is too probable,” he began, “that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God.”

As Washington’s diary reveals, there are numerous distractions to occupy the delegates’ time as they wait for the convention to begin.  For Washington, reuniting with old friends is a satisfying diversion.  General Mifflin, with whom he had breakfast this morning, is the only delegate representing Pennsylvania who does not live in Philadelphia. Rather, he lives in a grand mansion overlooking the Falls of the Schuylkill River, as well as a farm in Berks County and a townhouse in Philadelphia. 

When hostilities broke out between the Americans and the British, Mifflin left his seat in the Continental Congress to join the Continental Army. He accepted a commission as major and served principally as Washington’s quartermaster. However, he saw his share of action at Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton. Like many others, he served in the colonial legislature and the Continental Congress and became the first governor of Pennsylvania. 

But Washington and Mifflin have a checkered history. The low point of Washington’s leadership was during the dismal autumn of 1777 when an ambitious foreign officer, Thomas Conway, wrote a letter to General Horatio Gates criticizing Washington’s handling of the war. Conway was not alone – General Thomas Mifflin was with him. Washington had his detractors in Congress as well, including Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee. Learning of Conway’s letter and the machinations going on behind his back, Washington addressed Gates and Lee directly, hoping to keep the incident quiet. But he was outraged when he learned that Gates had informed Congress of what has become known as the Conway Cabal, leaving Washington with the “disagreeable necessity of returning my answer through the same channels.”  The intrigue endured through January 1778 while Washington remained calm and collected outwardly but was livid on the inside.

For Washington to respond to spurious complaints was difficult, because to do so would require disclosing confidential military information. Pained at the incident, Washington sent a letter to his friend Rev. William Gordon. In part, it read, “I did not solicit the command, but accepted it after much entreaty…So soon then as the public get dissatisfied with my services, or a person is found better qualified to answer her expectation, I shall quit the helm with as much satisfaction, and retire to a private station with as much content as ever the wearied pilgrim felt upon his safe arrival in the Holy-land or have of hope.”

When the letter became public, all opposition ceased, never to be raised again.

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