June 9, 1787: Debate Over Proportional Representation

Jonathan Dayton by Henry Harrison, oil on canvas, 1911.  Collections of the U.S. House of Representatives

"We have been in a Committee of the Whole for some time, and have under consideration a number of very important propositions…[We] are very desirous that you should join us immediately. The importance of the business really demands it."

--David Brearley to Jonathan Dayton, June 9, 1787

Saturday, June 9, 1787: The Convention Today

Elbridge Gerry (MA) moved to reconsider the method of electing the Executive, and to have the Executive elected by the governors of the states with their votes weighed in proportion to the vote of their state in the Senate (this was before the decision for an equal vote in this body). Edmund Randolph (VA) argued strongly against this motion and it lost, ten states no, Delaware divided.

Mr. Paterson (NJ) then moved to resume consideration of the clause concerning suffrage in the national legislature. David Brearly (NJ) seconded in a speech which bristled with arguments as to the injustice of proportional representation. Paterson followed Brearly with still more argument. James Wilson (PA) and Hugh Williamson (NC) then spoke in favor of proportional representation. At that point, at Paterson's request, the vote was postponed until the next day.

Synopsis

• Defeated (10 – 1) a motion by Gerry (MA) that state governors elect the national executive

Delegates Today

• Luther Martin (MD) appeared and took his seat today, on the day when the small states launched their attack on proportional representation. In the Convention, Martin stood with the most ardent supporters of state's rights. The few who recognize his name do so because of his extreme state's rights stand and the two-day speech on the subject which exhausted his fellow delegates and their patience. He was more constructive than that, serving on the Committee of Representation, and putting forth the motion for the Supremacy clause.
• Dr. Johnson (CT) paid Edward Moyston, the proprietor of City Tavern, 3 pounds, 7 shillings and 6 pence for his room for the week and dined with William White, recently returned from England and his consecration as a Bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church.
• Benjamin Franklin (PA) wrote the English anti-slavery leader Granville Sharp, enclosing the constitution of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes.

Philadelphia Today

• The Fishing Company of the State in Schuylkill [a social club] held a special meeting to plan an entertainment for General Washington and "such of the gentlemen as the company might chose to invite" on June 14 at the company's "Castle."