Philadelphia Convention Essay

Essay Number 3

I was the oldest delegate in the Philadelphia Convention. Other than George Washington I was the best man in America. I was born into a poor family and became an inventor, scientist, diplomat and publisher. My career in public service was long, I serviced as an ambassador to England and France and I was also a Governor of Pennsylvania. I was a compromiser, I brought delegates together. I favored the strong national government that the United States had, I was a firm believer that the framers should trust the judgment of the people. Although I didn’t agree with everything in the constitution, I believe that no other convention would come up with a better document.
When I was younger I was worked in a printing shop. I was later
The actual document was not signed until August, when I signed my name along with the fifty-five other representatives of the thirteen colonies.
Although I was eighty-one years old and in generally poor health, I participated as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding. Many of the delegates had widely different ideas about how the country should be organized and run. For instance, I believed that executive power was too great to be placed in the hands of one person and that a committee was a much better option. Alexander Hamilton, on the other end of the argument, wanted a single executive, appointed for life. The convention chose a single executive with a limited term.
As the representatives signed the Constitution, I watched. The president's chair was at the front of the hall, and a sun was painted on the back of the chair. I had told some of the members near me that it was always difficult for painters to show the difference between the rising sun and the setting sun. During the convention, I had often looked at the painted sun and wondered whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting