A Meeting of Delegates Seventy-four men were se- lected to attend the Constitu- tional Convention by the twelve states that chose to send rep- resentatives (Rhode Island re- fused to send delegates to the convention), but on May 14, 1787, the day the convention was originally set to begin, only the delegations from Pennsyl- vania and Virginia were present. The rest of the members of the delegations that would eventu- ally attend the convention trick- led in so slowly that the con- vention did not actually get under way until May 25. In all, only fifty-five delegates ever ac- tually appeared in Philadelphia. The men who attended the Constitutional Convention came from many walks of life. Thirty- four of the delegates are thought to have studied law to some extent, and besides those who were actually lawyers, the group included military men, farmers, teachers, clergymen, doctors, bankers, and business- men. The average age of the delegates was forty-two. Ben- jamin Franklin, who was eighty- one years old and was at the convention on behalf of Penn- sylvania, was the oldest del- egate present; Jonathan Day- ton, who was twenty-six years old and was there to represent New Jersey, was the youngest. In addition to a wide variety of professional experience, the delegates to the Constitutional


Benjamin Franklin, portrayed here around the age of seventy-nine, was eighty-one years old at the time of the Constitutional Convention.


George Washington, depicted here in 1796 when he was sixty-four years old, was elected president of the Constitutional Convention during the first day of meetings.


Convention brought with them a great deal of political experience and a sense of political continuity. No fewer than forty of the delegates had served in the Continental Congress during the Revolu- tionary War, and in addition to George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, a number of highly accomplished men could be counted among their ranks. In terms of prestige, none of the delegates were more important than Washington and Franklin, whose presence gave


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PHOTO: © BROOKLYN MUSEUM/CORBIS


PHOTO: © CORBIS


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