INTRODUCTION
The official authorization of the Federal Convention was a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation, adopted February 21, 1787:
“Resolved, That in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient, that on the second Monday in May next, a convention of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, …”[1] The second Monday in May, 1787, fell on the fourteenth, and on that day delegates from several of the states gathered in the “long room” of the State House in Philadelphia.[2] It was not until the twenty-fifth, however, that a sufficient number of delegates appeared to constitute a representation of a majority of the states. On May 25, the Convention organized and remained in continuous session until September 17, with the execption of one adjournment of two days over the Fourth of July and another of ten days, from July 26 to August 6, to allow the Committee of Detail to prepare its report.
The Journal
The sessions of the Convention were secret; before the final adjournment the secretary was directed to deposit “the Journals and other papers of the Convention in the hands of the President”, and in answer to an inquiry of Washington’s, the Convention resolved “that he retain the Journal and other papers subject to the order of Congress, if ever formed under the Constitution.” Accordingly the secretary, William Jackson, after destroying “all the loose scraps of paper”, which he evidently thought unimportant, formally delivered the papers to the president.[3] Washington in turn deposited these papers with the Department of State in 1796,[4] where they remained untouched until Congress by a joint resolution in 1818 ordered
- ↑ Appendix A, I.
- ↑ Appendix A, LXII.
- ↑ Records of September 17, and Appendix A, CX, CXI, CCCXX.
- ↑ Appendix A, CCLXXIII.
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