The Delegates

There were 55 original delegates to the Convention, but only 41 present on September 17, 1787, when the Constitution was signed. Three declined to sign a document they considered flawed; they were George Mason, who later drafted the Bill of Rights, and Edmund Randolph of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts). An ailing John Dickinson (Delaware) was signed in absentia by George Read, making a total of 39 signers.

© 2008 Stars and Stripes