ich had been agreed to by the House." The
committee was chosen by ballot and was made up exclusively of friends of
the new Constitution: Doctor Johnson of Connecticut, Alexander Hamilton,
who had returned to Philadelphia to help in finishing the work,
Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, and Rufus King. On Wednesday the
twelfth, the Committee made its report, the greatest credit for which
is probably to be given to Morris, whose powers of expression were so
greatly admired. Another day was spent in waiting for the report to be
printed. But on Thursday this was ready, and three days were devoted to
going over carefully each article and section and giving the finishing
touches. By Saturday the work of the Convention was brought to a close,
and the Constitution was then ordered to be engrossed. On Monday, the
17th of September, the Convention met for the last time. A few of
those present being unwilling to sign, Gouverneur Morris again cleverly
devised a form which would make the action appear to be unanimous:
"Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the states present...
in witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names." Thirty-nine
delegates, representing twelve States, then signed the Constitution.

When Charles Biddle of Philadelphia, who was acquainted with most of
the members of the Convention, wrote his "Autobiography," which was
published in 1802, he declared that for his part he considered the
government established by the Constitution to be "the best in the world,
and as perfect as any human form of government can be." But he prefaced
that declaration with a statement that some of the best informed members
of the Federal Convention had told him "they did not believe a single
member was perfectly satisfied with the Constitution, but they believed
it was the best they could ever agree upon, and that it was infinitely
better to have such a one than break up without fixing on some form of
government, which I believe at one time it was expected they would have
done."

One of the outstanding characteristics of the members of the Federal
Convention was their practical sagacity. They had a very definite object
before them. No matter how much the members might talk about democracy
in theory or about ancient confederacies, when it came to action they
did not go outside of their own experience. The Constitution was devised
to correct well-known defects and it contained few provisions which had
not been tested b