May 25, 1787: Quorum

Assembly Room of Independence Hall

NPS photo

"…a quorum… present … by a unanimous vote I was called up to the Chair as President of the body."

--George Washington's Diary, May 25, 1787

Friday, May 25, 1787: The Convention Today

Seven states achieved quorum: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The delegates presented their credentials to a president pro tempore (possibly Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia) and the Convention officially opened. Delegates present included:

• Rufus King (MA)
• Robert Yates and Alexander Hamilton (NY)
• David Brearley, William Churchill Houston, and William Paterson (NJ)
• Robert Morris,Thomas Fitzsimons, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris (PA)
• George Read, Richard Bassett, and Jacob Broom (DE)
• George Washington, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, George Mason, George Wythe, and James McClurg (VA)
• Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Hugh Williamson (NC)
• John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, and Pierce Butler (SC)
• William Few (GA)

Robert Morris, acting for Dr. Franklin who was too ill to attend, nominated George Washington as chairman. John Rutledge seconded and Washington was unanimously elected to the post. Robert Morris and John Rutledge escorted the General to the chair.

Nominations for secretary included both William Jackson and Temple Franklin (grandson of Benjamin Franklin). The Convention elected Jackson to the position of secretary, and named George Wythe, Alexander Hamilton, and Charles Pinckney to a Rules Committee. Wythe, the Virginia lawyer and law professor, chaired this committee that Washington said had been "…chosen… to prepare rules and regulations for conducting the business." The Convention adjourned till Monday to allow the committee time to prepare the rules.

Synopsis

• Convened and elected officers (Washington as President of the Convention, William Jackson as Secretary)
• Chose a committee to prepare rules (Wythe, Hamilton, and C. Pinckney)

Delegates Today

• General Washington invited himself to breakfast with the Meredith family, returned many visits in the forenoon, dined at Mr. Thomas Willings, and spent the evening "at my quarters" in the Robert Morris residence.
• George Read wrote to John Dickinson in Wilmington about possible lodgings for Dickinson in Philadelphia. Read closed his letter with the admonition, "you should be here at the first opening of the Budget."

Philadelphia Today

• The day was cool and overcast with occasional light rain and variable winds.
• The City Street Commissioners met, all six present. They paid Nicholas and George Kitts twenty-one pounds eight shillings and sixpence for a cask of spirits (102 gallons) for the workmen on the Fourth Street sewer.