Delegates to the Constitutional Convention

[Online Professor]

 

THE FOUNDING FATHERS

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention

On February 21, 1787, the Continental Congress resolved that:

... it is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philladelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation...

 The original states, except Rhode Island, collectively appointed 70 individuals to the Constitutional Convention, but a number did not accept or could not attend. Those who did not attend included Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams and, John Hancock. 

In all, 55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention sessions, but only 39 actually signed the Constitution. The delegates ranged in age from Jonathan Dayton, aged 26, to Benjamin Franklin, aged 81, who was so infirm that he had to be carried to sessions in a sedan chair. 

 

Connecticut http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_connecticut.html

• William Samuel Johnson
• Roger Sherman
• Oliver Ellsworth (Elsworth)*

Delaware http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_delaware.html

• George Read
• Gunning Bedford, Jr.
• John Dickinson
• Richard Bassett
• Jacob Broom

Georgia http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_georgia.html

• William Few
• Abraham Baldwin
• William Houston*
• William L. Pierce*

Maryland http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_maryland.html

• James McHenry
• Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
• Daniel Carroll
• Luther Martin*
• John F. Mercer*

Massachusetts http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_massachusetts.html

• Nathaniel Gorham
• Rufus King
• Elbridge Gerry*
• Caleb Strong*

New Hampshire http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_new_hampshire.html

• John Langdon
• Nicholas Gilman

New Jersey http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_new_jersey.html

• William Livingston
• David Brearley (Brearly)
• William Paterson (Patterson)
• Jonathan Dayton
• William C. Houston*

New York http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_new_york.html

• Alexander Hamilton
• John Lansing, Jr.*
• Robert Yates*

North Carolina http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_north_carolina.html

• William Blount
• Richard Dobbs Spaight
• Hugh Williamson
• William R. Davie*
• Alexander Martin*

Pennsylvania http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_pennsylvania.html

• Benjamin Franklin
• Thomas Mifflin
• Robert Morris
• George Clymer
• Thomas Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons)
• Jared Ingersoll
• James Wilson
• Gouverneur Morris

South Carolina http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_south_carolina.html

• John Rutledge
• Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
• Pierce Butler

Rhode Island

Rhode Island did not send any delegates to the Constitutional Convention

Virginia http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_founding_fathers_virginia.html

• John Blair
• James Madison Jr.
• George Washington
• George Mason*
• James McClurg*
• Edmund J. Randolph*
• George Wythe*