The Philadelphia Convention: What It Was in 175 Words
by A brief description of the Philadelphia Convention for anyone who needs to know it.
Philadelphia Convention
The Constitutional convention in Philadelphia consisted of 55 delegates who were appointed by their individual state legislatures. While Jefferson referred to the caliber of the delegates as “demigods” many of the influential persons of the Revolution (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Sam Adams, John Hancock) were either not elected to the convention, or were not present at the convention. Washington was elected to preside over the convention. The purpose of the convention was to create an entirely new “Law of the Land”, under the Congressional pretense of “revising the Articles of Confederation”. All of the delegates agreed that the Articles were woefully inadequate and were all interested in strengthening the union. Many things led to the Convention, the idea that the Articles were inadequate (in that they did not regulate trade correctly), the desire to protect the newly established Union from foreign attackers (The Dey of Algiers) and a desire to unify the country. The convention was held in complete secrecy, and Congress believed that the convention was only aiming to revise the Articles, not create an entirely new set of laws.
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