Delegates of the Continental Congress Who Signed the United States Constitution

One of the legacies of the Continental Congress was the convening of the Federal Convention of 1787. Six years after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, which established the first national government, a majority of Delegates to Congress agreed that the Articles needed significant revisions. On February 21, 1787, the Congress resolved that “a convention of delegates . . . appointed by the several states be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”¹

The Articles’ failure to empower the central government to carry out essential functions was their primary weakness. The Articles protected the sovereignty of the states at the expense of the central government, which lacked the power to raise revenue or conduct diplomatic relations. The central government also could not manage the western territories in an effective manner. After the Continental Congress decided to act on the problem, 12 of the 13 states (Rhode Island abstained) chose 70 delegates to represent them at the Federal Convention. Out of those appointees, only 55 attended. Forty of the 55 attendees had served in the Continental Congress at some point in their careers.²

When the delegates of the Federal Convention met in the Pennsylvania state house (now Independence Hall) in May 1787, Edmund Randolph of Virginia offered the most comprehensive plan, essentially bypassing revisions and suggesting an entirely new government. The “Virginia Plan” had been drafted by fellow delegate, James Madison. While some believed the Articles should be “corrected and enlarged as to accomplish the objects proposed by their institution,” the Virginia Plan called for completely replacing it with a strong central government based on popular consent and proportional representation.³ Its distinguishing features included a bicameral legislature, a separate executive, and judiciary branch with a national jurisdiction.

The Virginia Plan received support from states with large populations such as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and South Carolina. A number of smaller states, however, proposed the “New Jersey Plan,” drafted by William Paterson, which retained the essential features of the original Articles: a unicameral legislature where all states had equal representation, the appointment of a plural executive, and a supreme court of limited jurisdiction. The convention debated these competing proposals from May to July 1787, before turning over plans to a Grand Committee to hash out an agreement. The committee’s report, dubbed the Great Compromise, ironed out many contentious points. It resolved the delegates’ sharpest disagreement by prescribing a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the House and equal state representation in the Senate. After two more months of intense debates and revisions, the delegates produced the document we now know as the Constitution, which expanded the power of the central government while protecting the prerogatives of the states.⁴ A total of 39 delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787.⁵

Not all the convention delegates approved the final product; 16 chose not to sign the Constitution in September 1787. This group included Continental Congress Delegates Patrick Henry of Virginia and George Clinton of New York. Dubbed as “Anti-Federalists,” they preferred the decentralized nature of the Articles of Confederation as a check on the power of the central government. Others expressed reservations but still signed, anticipating vigorous debates within their states.⁶ By June 1788, the requisite 9 states had ratified the Constitution as the law of the land, and the Continental Congress announced that the new government would begin in March 1789.

Listed below are the 34 Continental Congress Delegates who signed the United States Constitution. The state listings reflect the states they represented during the Federal Convention: