The Constitution is signed at Independence Hall; the convention adjourns
After four months behind closed doors in Philadelphia, the argument was over. On September 17, 1787, the delegates still at the Constitutional Convention gathered at Independence Hall for their final session and signed the document they had spent all summer negotiating. George Washington signed first, Benjamin Franklin at 81 the oldest to do so, Jonathan Dayton at 26 the youngest. Three delegates present refused to add their names, and the convention adjourned that same afternoon.
The Constitution signed that day became the charter every American institution still answers to, amended 27 times but never replaced, the oldest written national constitution still in force anywhere in the world. The ambiguous closing language, "unanimous consent of the States present" rather than of the delegates, was a deliberate fudge to get dissenters to sign. It set an American precedent for papering over disagreement to keep the union moving.
QWhy does George Read's signature appear twice in effect on the Constitution?
Delaware delegate John Dickinson, indisposed by illness, was absent from the closing session on September 17, so fellow Delaware delegate George Read signed Dickinson's name on his behalf in addition to his own. That proxy signature is what brings the official count to 39 signatures even though only 38 delegates were physically present to sign, since Dickinson himself never picked up a pen that day. The convention treated it as a valid endorsement rather than a formality to be challenged later. That is how Dickinson's assent was recorded even though he never signed himself.
QWhat two rival blueprints did the delegates argue over before reaching the final draft?
Before any committee began drafting language, the convention split over two competing frameworks: the Virginia Plan, which favored proportional representation benefiting larger states, and the New Jersey Plan, which called for equal representation regardless of size. Neither proposal survived intact. The eventual document blended pieces of both alongside separate compromises on slavery and the structure of Congress, work that a Committee of Detail, formed on July 24, then organized into 23 articles before the Committee of Style pared it down further. That standoff shaped the compromises that followed, including the structure of Congress.
QHow many of the 74 appointed delegates actually showed up to the convention?
States appointed 74 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, but only 55 ever attended a session in Philadelphia, and by September 17 the number in the room was smaller still. Rhode Island appointed no delegates at all, boycotting the convention entirely, while other states saw appointees skip sessions or leave early once the debates turned contentious. Twelve of the thirteen states, all but Rhode Island, ended up represented at some point during the convention. The gap between 74 names on paper and the handful who stayed through the final vote shows how thin the room actually was by the time the vote is remembered as unanimous.
