The founding and its people
鉁掞笍 People of the Constitution
Short biographies of the people who wrote, fought over and ratified the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, including delegates who walked out, Anti-Federalists who forced the Bill of Rights, and two Black Massachusetts residents who used the new language of liberty against slavery.
- 1James Madison: The Man Who Kept the NotesJames Madison arrived in Philadelphia early with a plan, lost some of his biggest fights at the Constitutional Convention, wrote the best record of what was said there, and then forced a Bill of Rights through a reluctant Congress.8 min
- 2George Mason: The Delegate Who Would Not SignGeorge Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, spoke more often than almost anyone at the Convention, called for a bill of rights on September 12, 1787, and then refused to sign the Constitution because it did not have one.8 min
- 3Roger Sherman: The Cobbler Who Made the CompromiseRoger Sherman, a self-taught Connecticut shoemaker turned judge, proposed the plan of one house by population and one by equal state votes, argued against a bill of rights, and was a signer of the Continental Association, the Declaration, the Articles and the Constitution.8 min
- 4James Wilson: The Scot Who Wanted a Broad BaseJames Wilson, a Scottish-born Pennsylvania lawyer, argued at the Convention for direct election by the people and a single executive, defended the Constitution to a Philadelphia crowd on October 6, 1787, and later sat on the first Supreme Court.8 min
- 5Gouverneur Morris: The Pen of the ConstitutionGouverneur Morris spoke more than any other delegate at the Convention, attacked slavery as a curse on the states that had it, and as a member of the Committee of Style wrote the final text of the Constitution.8 min
- 6John Dickinson: The Penman Who Would Not Sign TwiceJohn Dickinson wrote the Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, refused to vote for independence in 1776, and in 1787 helped keep the small states in the Convention, spoke against the slave trade, and left early with Delaware's vote for the Constitution carried by a proxy signature.8 min
- 7Oliver Ellsworth: Partly National, Partly FederalOliver Ellsworth moved the proposal that put an equal vote for each state in the Senate, left Philadelphia before the Constitution was signed, co-wrote the Judiciary Act of 1789 as a senator, and served as the third Chief Justice.8 min
- 8William Paterson: The New Jersey PlanWilliam Paterson of New Jersey introduced the plan that defended the Articles of Confederation and the equal vote of the states, left the Convention once the small states were protected, returned to sign, and went on to help write the Judiciary Act of 1789 and sit on the Supreme Court.8 min
- 9Luther Martin: The Delegate Who Went HomeLuther Martin, Maryland's attorney general, argued for the states at the Convention, urged a ban or tax on the slave trade, left before the Constitution was signed, and then published an inside account that gave Anti-Federalists their best evidence.8 min
- 10Elbridge Gerry: The Skeptic From MarbleheadElbridge Gerry of Massachusetts distrusted both mobs and standing armies, moved for a committee on a bill of rights, listed his reasons for refusing to sign the Constitution on September 15, 1787, and later gave his name to the word gerrymander.8 min
- 11Charles Pinckney: The Young Delegate and His PlanCharles Pinckney of South Carolina, about thirty at the Convention, laid a plan before the delegates on May 29, 1787, moved the clause banning religious tests for office, defended slavery on the floor, and spent decades claiming more credit than historians will give him.8 min
- 12Melancton Smith: The Antifederalist Who Voted YesMelancton Smith, a Dutchess County merchant and Revolutionary officer, led the Antifederalist side at New York's ratifying convention in 1788, argued that a few dozen representatives could never know the people, and then voted for ratification.8 min
- 13Prince Hall: A Free Black Citizen Petitions the New RepublicPrince Hall, a Boston leather worker who had been enslaved, signed the 1777 petition that called freedom a natural right, founded the first Black Masonic lodge, and spent thirty years asking Massachusetts to make its own declaration of rights true for everyone.8 min
- 14Elizabeth Freeman: Mum Bett Takes the Constitution at Its WordElizabeth Freeman, called Mum Bett, was enslaved in Sheffield, Massachusetts. In 1781 she asked a lawyer to sue for her freedom on the plain words of the state's new constitution, and a jury agreed.8 min
- 15Benjamin Franklin at the Convention: Doubt, Prayer and CompromiseIn the summer of 1787 Benjamin Franklin, in his ninth decade and troubled by gout and stones, spoke rarely at the Constitutional Convention, but every speech counts: no salaries for the executive, a broad table with joined planks, a call to prayer, and a closing plea to doubt a little of one's own infallibility.9 min