under a veil of secrecy. Because they believed that
their debates
might plunge the country into unnecessary turmoil, the delegates decided to impose an oath of silence upon themselves, and surpris- ingly, most of them upheld the oath while the convention lasted. Because of the closed-door nature of the Constitutional Conven- tion, what is known about what took place inside the Assembly Room during the summer and early fall of 1787 comes primarily from the writings of those who were present. Unfortunately, the notes kept by Major William Jackson, the convention’s official secretary, are rela- tively poor sources of information, but the notes and journals kept by some of the delegates have helped paint a more complete picture of what transpired at the convention. The most useful account of the Constitutional Convention comes from the notes kept by James Madison, whose writings are highly detailed and insightful. Other delegates, including Alexander Hamilton, Rufus King, James McHenry, William Pierce, and Robert Yates, also kept notes and journals that have provided historians with useful additional insights about what took place at the convention.
Conflict and Compromise One of the first orders of busi-
ness at the Constitutional Con- vention was to elect a president to oversee the gathering. By a unanimous vote of the seven state delegations that were present and voting on the first day of the con- vention, George Washington was elected to be the presiding of- ficer. Aside from Washington, there were a number of other im- portant men at the Constitutional Convention, but without a doubt, the
most important delegate
turned out to be James Madison. Because of his speeches and abil- ity to reconcile opposing factions at the convention, Madison would later come to be called the “Fa- ther of the Constitution.”
Because of the speeches he gave at the Constitutional Convention and his ability to reconcile the differences that arose between the delegates, James Madison would later come to be called the “Father of the Constitution.”
Madison had long been dissatisfied with the Articles of Confedera-
tion and had spent many years studying political philosophy in an effort to conceive a better form of government. His studies had led him to envision a government that consisted of three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) in which the power of each branch acted as a check on the powers of the other two branches. This separation of powers was the basis for the Virginia Plan, which was introduced by the Virginia delegation on May 29, the fifth day of the convention.
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