Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow XLIX.: William Samuel Johnson to his Son. 3 - The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3

Return to Title Page for The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: History
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

XLIX.: William Samuel Johnson to his Son. 3 - Max Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 3 [1911]

Edition used:

The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911). Vol. 3.

Part of: The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 3 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


XLIX.

William Samuel Johnson to his Son.3

Philadelphia, 27 June, 1787.

I am here attending with Mr. Shearman and Mr. Elsworth as delegates, on the part of Connecticut, a grand convention of the United States, for the purpose of strengthening and consolidating the union and proposing a more efficient mode of government than that contained in the articles of confederation. We have delegates from eleven states actually assembled, consisting of many of the most able men in America, with General Washington at our head, whom we have appointed president of the convention. It is agreed that for the present our deliberations shall be kept secret, so that I can only tell you that much information and eloquence has been displayed in the introductory speeches, and that we have hitherto preserved great temperance, candor, and moderation in debate, and evinced much solicitude for the public weal. Yet, as was to be expected, there is great diversity of sentiment, which renders it impossible to determine what will be the result of our deliberations.

[3 ]Bancroft, History of the Constitution of the United States, II, 430.