2. Absentees. The delegates to the Philadelphia Convention were appointed by the state legislatures or governors. The convention thus included scarcely any representatives of over 90 percent of the country's population: small farmers, city workers, and frontier dwellers. Also, several leaders of the Revolutionary period were absent: Patrick Henry, who opposed a strong central government, refused to attend, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were abroad as our ministers in London and Paris.

3. Delegates. The Philadelphia Convention consisted of 55 delegates from all the states except Rhode Island. They were mainly lawyers, large landowners, bankers, and merchants; they reflected pr

1. Representation. The more populous states supported the Virginia Plan, that representation in the national legislature be based on population. The less populous states supported the New Jersey Plan, that each state have equal representation. This issue, the most serious one dividing the delegates, was settled by the Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise. The legislature was to consist of two houses: (a) a House of Representatives, where representation was to be based on by population, and (b) a Senate, where each state was to have equal representation.

Several outstanding leaders exercised great influence over the convention. (a) George Washington presided with dignity and fairness. (b) James Madison, a scholar of government, took detailed notes of the proceedings. Since the delegates conferred in secret to facilitate agreement, Madison's notes are our chief source of information about the convention. Madison played a

Some common words found in the essay are:
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