Article

August 1, 1787: The Eyes of the World on Philadelphia

View of Philadelphia from New Jersey with several bell and clock towers.
An east view of the city of Philadelphia; taken by George Heap from the Jersey shore, under the direction of Nicholas Scull surveyor general of the Province of Pennsylvania

Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2004672470/

"As to America, we do not know what to make of her convention"

--George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham

Wednesday, August 1, 1787: The Convention Today
The Convention remained in recess while the Committee of Detail prepared a draft constitution.
Synopsis
  • The recess entered its sixth day.
Delegates Today
  • Johnson (CT) set out from Stratford in the stage to New York.
  • Having concluded a fishing expedition in Valley Forge, Washington (VA) returned to Philadelphia after 11:00 a.m. when the rain stopped. He later dined at Robert Morris’s (PA).
  • Pierce Butler (SC) wrote to Weeden Butler (no apparent relation), his son’s schoolmaster in London. Pierce Butler was visiting his family in New York City, where he had placed them during the Convention, “Philadelphia not being so healthy.” Describing his work in the Convention, he wrote, “No doubt You have heard of the purpose of the meeting—to form a Stronger Constitution on strictly Federal Principles, for the Government. of the whole—I hope We may succeed—Our Country expect much of Us.”
  • The Rev. James Madison, President of the College of William and Mary, wrote from Williamsburg, Virginia, to his cousin James Madison (VA) in Philadelphia: “We are here, & I believe every where, all Impatience to know something of your conventional Deliberations. If you cannot tell us what you are doing, you might at least give us some Information of what you are not doing. This wd. afford a Clue for political Conjecture, and perhaps be sufficient to satisfy present Impatience. I hope you have already discovered the Means of preserving the American Empire united-& that the Scheme of Disunion has been found pregnant with the greatest Evils.”
Philadelphia Today
  • Today was cloudy and cool.
  • The Gazette carried advice for merchants: “The complaints of the decay of trade are without foundation. It should rather be said there is a decay of traders. A few merchants are sufficient to import and sell all the goods America requires. Let those of them who complain of hard times betake themselves to the cultivation of the earth, or to the establishment of some useful manufacture. Until ninety-nine out of an hundred of the citizens of America are farmers, artificers or manufacturers, we can never be rich or happy."

Part of a series of articles titled The Constitutional Convention: A Day by Day Account for August 1 to 15, 1787.

Independence National Historical Park

Last updated: September 22, 2023