Excerpt from The Summer of 1787 by David O. Stewart, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Born to great wealth (his family's estate is remembered as the Morrisania area of the Bronx), Morris would speak more often during the Convention than anyone else. One delegate observed that Morris "throws around him such a glare that he charms, captivates, and leads away the senses of all who hear him," yet he also could be "fickle and inconstant." He emerged as a passionate goad, a brilliant floater of trial balloons, some incisive and some ill considered. When debate blazed over slavery, the aristocratic Morris would distinguish himself beyond any other delegate.

For that first day's encounter at the State House, after polite conversation about journeys and sedan chairs, there was little to do but retire and hope for better attendance on the morrow. A quorum of seven state delegations would not be present for another eleven days.

The Virginia delegation reached full strength quickly. Governor Randolph, heir to a leading family, arrived the next day, May 15, and joined Madison and McClurg at Mrs. House's. Though younger than Madison, Randolph already had served as a delegate to his state's constitutional convention, as a member of the Continental Congress during the Revolution, and as Virginia's attorney general. Two days later, George Mason completed the state's complement when he and his son settled at the nearby Indian Queen, which also was owned by the enterprising Mrs. House.

The Virginians personified the plantation aristocracy of the South and its professional class. They knew each other well, beginning with Mason and Washington, lifelong neighbors and friends. Wythe and Blair were judicial colleagues. Three had attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, where Wythe and McClurg were on the faculty, while four lived in and around that town of only a few thousand. Madison's Montpelier estate was relatively distant in the state's western hills, but it closely resembled in organization both Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall, while various Randolphs owned plantations throughout Virginia. All seven of them owned slaves.

The Virginians put to good use the delay in the Convention's opening. Every morning they convened for several hours at Mrs. House's, then met again at the State House at 3 P.M. to greet arriving delegates. Mason wrote to another son that the morning sessions were intended "to form a proper correspondence of sentiments" among the Virginians. Madison later gave the more forthright explanation that "it occurred to [the Virginia delegates] that from the early and prominent part taken by that State in bringing about the Convention some initiative step might be expected from them." The Virginians' deliberations benefited from afternoon conversations at the State House with delegates from other states. Though there is no record of those early discussions, it was a perfect opportunity to share hopes and ideas while staking out positions on points of special importance.

Those informal exchanges cheered George Mason. He wrote to a son that "the principal states" agreed that there should be a "total alteration of the present federal system." In a prescient addition, he noted that the general concurrence did not include "the little states." Mason also foresaw "much difficulty" in establishing a strong national government and "at the same time reserving to the state legislatures a sufficient portion of power." He was surprised to find that the New Englanders, despite their reputation for democratic views, were almost "anti-republican," which he attributed to "the unexpected evils they have experienced" with Daniel Shays and his men.

The Virginia-only sessions at Mrs. House's marked the true beginning of the Convention. With the benefit of Madison's preparation, as well as the General's eloquent presence, the Virginians assembled the skeleton of a national charter. Preparing to lead when the Convention started, the seven Virginians little suspected that only three of them would sign the final Constitution.

Copyright © 2007 by David O. Stewart