DE, USA
Delaware Sends Delegates to Constitutional Convention
May 25, 1787
Delaware sent five delegates to the Constitutional Convention — Read, Bedford, Dickinson, Bassett, and Broom — explicitly instructed not to agree to any changes diminishing Delaware's equal vote in the national government. This position contributed to the Connecticut Compromise establishing equal Senate representation.
People Involved
Delaware lawyer who initially voted against independence but signed the Declaration when finalized. Principal drafter of Delaware's 1776 state constitution and leading delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Present at Dover's ratification convention.
Author of "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" (1767–68), one of the most influential pre-Revolutionary texts. A Delaware landowner who initially resisted independence but served the Patriot cause after the Declaration. Chaired the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation.
Dover-area lawyer and planter, Delaware delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and one of Delaware's first U.S. Senators. Active in Dover's ratification convention of December 1787. A devout Methodist associated with Francis Asbury's circuit-riding ministry.