Editing Constitutional Convention (section)

== Delegates and Organization ==

The Annapolis Convention of 1786, called to address interstate commerce issues, produced a report recommending a broader convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. Congress endorsed this recommendation in February 1787, calling for a convention to meet in Philadelphia in May "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." Twelve states appointed delegates; Rhode Island, suspicious of any plan to strengthen the national government, refused to participate. The seventy-four appointed delegates included governors, congressmen, judges, and veterans of the Revolutionary War; fifty-five actually attended at various points, though the daily attendance averaged only about thirty.<ref name="bowen">{{cite book |last=Bowen |first=Catherine Drinker |title=Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787 |year=1966 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=Boston}}</ref>

The delegates elected George Washington as president of the convention, a choice that lent credibility to the proceedings and ensured that Washington's prestige would be associated with any resulting document. The convention adopted rules of secrecy, closing its proceedings to the public and forbidding delegates from discussing debates outside the chamber. This secrecy—windows remained shuttered despite the Philadelphia summer heat—allowed delegates to speak freely, change their minds, and compromise without fear of public reaction. The decision proved controversial but essential; the frank debates and shifting positions that produced the Constitution would have been impossible under public scrutiny.<ref name="beeman"/>