For nearly five months, the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention debated the provisions in the U.S. Constitution.  In fact, several of the Senate-related clauses were especially controversial.  Had they been decided in another way, the Senate would have been a different institution.

The U.S. Senate Commission on Art unveiled a new mural depicting the authors of the Connecticut Compromise--Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth.  The mural, painted by Bradley Stevens, is affixed to the wall of the Senate Reception Room.

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When the Constitutional Convention adjourned on September 17, 1787, the work of supporters of the new federal Constitution had only begun. The document had to be ratified by at least nine of the thirteen states, as stipulated in the agreed-upon ratification process. Within days of the convention’s end, anti-Federalist editorials began appearing in newspapers, opposing ratification of the Constitution. To gain the necessary support for ratification in New York, and to influence the debate nationally, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote a series of eighty-five articles in favor of the proposed Constitution. More