it is said of Washington that he “appears to have wavered for a moment in making up his mind upon the constitution”. I can testify from my personal knowledge, that no member of the Convention appeared to sign the Instrument with more cordiality than he did, nor to be more anxious for its ratification. I have indeed the most thorough conviction from the best evidence, that he never wavered in the part he took in giving it his sanction and support. The error may perhaps have arisen from his backwardness in accepting his appointment to the Convention, occasioned by peculiar considerations which may be seen in the 5th. volume of his Biographer (Marshall).
ⅭⅭⅭⅬⅩ. Timothy Pickering to William Jackson.[1]
Permit me also to urge your preparing those speeches in the General Convention which formed the Constitution of the U. States, of which you took abbreviated notes, and which yourself alone can write out at full length.
ⅭⅭⅭⅬⅩⅠ. James Madison to George Mason.[2]
The public situation in which I had the best opportunity of being acquainted with the genius, the opinions, and the public labours of Col. Mason, was that of our co-service in the Convention of 1787, which formed the Constitution of the United States. The objections which led him to withhold his name from it have been explained by himself. But none who differed from him on some points will deny that he sustained throughout the proceedings of the body the high character of a powerful reasoner, a profound statesmen, and a devoted Republican.
ⅭⅭⅭⅬⅩⅡ. Timothy Pitkin: on Signing the Constitution.[3]
Of the fifty-five members who attended this convention, thirty-nine signed the constitution: of the remaining sixteen, some in favor of it were obliged from particular business to leave the convention before it was ready for signing. (This, we are assured, was the case with Caleb Strong, of Massachusetts, Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, and Mr. Davie of North Carolina.)
