Massachusetts Delegation | Quill

U.S. Constitutional Convention 1787 (2021 Edition)

Grand Convention at Philadelphia, May to September, 1787, Quill Project 2021 Edition.

Massachusetts Delegation

This is one of the 13 delegations in the convention, accounting for 4 of 59 people who took part.

Members (4):

Name	Visualize	Details	Delegations
Elbridge Gerry	Visualize	(17 July 1744 – 23 November 1814) Governor of Massachusetts, Congressman, and delegate to the Continental Congress. After completing his studies, Gerry settled his family business trading fish to Spain and Portugal. He signed the Declaration of Independence and attended the Constitutional Convention. During his assignment as Governor of Massachusetts, he helped to enact an electoral law that came to be known as the “Gerrymander Bill.” Massachusetts was subdivided into new senatorial districts in such a way as to consolidate the Federalist vote into a few districts, thus giving Gerry’s Democratic-Republicans an undue advantage. The shape of one electoral district on the map resembled a salamander, and one wit promptly dubbed it a “Gerrymander.” While serving as a U.S. Senator, he introduced the motion in Congress to name Washington D.C. the site of the nation’s capital.	Massachusetts Delegation (United States Bill of Rights 1789 (2021 Edition)) , Massachusetts Delegation (This negotiation)
Nathaniel Gorham	Visualize	(27 May 1738 – 11 June 1796) Merchant and state legislator. He was a member of the Massachusetts General Court and part of the state constitutional convention. He went on to join the Congress of the Confederation, and was for a short time its President. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and frequently sat as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole. He later became involved in large-scale land speculation.	Massachusetts Delegation (This negotiation)
Rufus King	Visualize	(24 March 1755–29 April 1827) Lawyer, militia officer, abolitionist and diplomat. He broke off his studies at Harvard to enter the militia after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He ended the war as a Major and return to finish his education. He was later elected to the Massachusetts state legislature and then the Confederation Congress. Having attended the Constitutional Convention, and then acted as ambassador to Great Britain under both Washington and Jefferson. He was a New York US Senator for several years and ran unsuccessfully for Vice-President.	Massachusetts Delegation (This negotiation)
Caleb Strong	Visualize	(9 January 1746 – 7 November 1819) Lawyer, abolitionist and legislator. During the Revolution he was attorney of Hampshire County, and a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, though he refused to attend the Continental Congress. He attended the US Constitutional Convention and afterwards became a US Senator and then Governor of Massachusetts.	Massachusetts Delegation (This negotiation)