George Washington wrote several letters. To James Madison he wrote: "No day was ever more clouded than the present.... We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion .... How melancholy is the reflection ... What stronger evidence can be given of the want of energy in our government than these disorders? ... A liberal and energetic constitution, well guarded and closely watched to prevent encroachments might restore us." To General Henry Knox he wrote: " I feel, my dear General Knox, infinitely more than I can express to you, for the disorders, which have arisen in these states. Good God! Who ... could have foreseen, or predicted them?"

Washington had recently negotiated a settlement between Virginia and Maryland over fishing rights. After this dispute was settled these two states requested that Congress have the various states send representatives to a general trade conference in Annapolis. Only 5 of the 13 states sent delegates. After this failure Alexander Hamilton urged the Congress to call a convocation of delegates from all states as soon as possible.

Answer: The Congress, on February 21, 1787 officially extended an invitation for all states to send special delegates to Philadelphia on May 14, 1787. On May 14, 1787 only two states, Virginia and Philadelphia, the host state, had arrived for the called Convention. James Madison used the next two weeks to draft ideas he and Virginia’s other delegates felt should be included in a new Constitution. But the delegates had been specifically instructed not to abandon the Articles, only to strengthen the Articles so they would become an effective and workable Constitution. But James Madison proposed scraping the Articles of Confederation and start over. This is what the Convention finally did.

By May 25, 1787 the Convention opened and George Washington was unanimously elected president. The first order of business was to establish the rules the Convention of 55 delegates would work under. There were five rules. Dr. W. Cleon Skousen, a noted Constitutional historian, in his book 'The Majesty of God’s Law,' outlined those five rules as....

1. The proceedings were to be conducted in secret. (Could such a Convention be held in today’s political climate?)

2. Each state was to be allowed only one vote, and the majority of the delegation from a state had to be present and in agreement in order to have its vote counted.

3. Many times during the proceedings a poll was taken of the individual delegates to see how they stood, but the rule was adopted that none of these votes were to be recorded lest delegates be embarrassed if they later changed their minds after hearing the debate.

4. Each delegate could speak only twice on each issue until after everyone else had been given the opportunity to speak. And no one could speak more than twice without special permission from the Convention members.

5. All remarks were to be addressed to the president of the Convention and not to any particular delegate or group of delegates. This was to avoid heated polemics between individuals engaging in direct confrontation.

On May 29 Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia introduced "Fifteen Resolves" (41 propositions) which had been prepared by the Virginia Delegation. These 15 Resolves provided the beginning of discussion and debate. The Founders were anxious to obtain general agreement whenever possible, rather than proceeding with only a majority vote.

Three plans for a Constitution were introduced: (1) The Virginia Plan; the (2) New Jersey Plan, and (3) Alexander Hamilton’s Plan. Hamilton’s Plan called for a single executive elected for life; Senators were to be chosen for life; Governors of states were to be named by the federal government. When his plan was rejected Hamilton left the Convention. He returned but never voted for or signed the Constitution because his fellow New York delegates had also left the Convention.

There were sixty ballots taken on the issue of how to elect the president and vice president. Delegates began to leave the Convention on July 10. Washington felt as grim as he had been at Valley Forge during the darkest days of the Revolutionary War.

Of the many compromises made during these four months, the Connecticut Compromise, provided a major breakthrough on July 16, only a few days after several delegates had left, never to return. This compromise established how the small states would be given equal representation with two Senators for each state. The House of Representatives would represent the people: one man, one vote. The debates continued, and as the delegates settled down, progress was made. On July 26, 1787 the material adopted was handed over to "A Committee on Detail." On August 6 the "Committee on Style" received it and on September 17, 1787 38 of the original 55 delegates signed America’s new Constitution.

A Meaningful Quote: Words of Washington to Benjamin Lincoln: "No one can rejoice more than I do at every step the people of this great country take to preserve the Union... The great Governor of the Universe has led us too long and too far on the road to happiness and glory to forsake us in the midst of it."