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<br />clslUS that I hear in present daJ's about Geort:e Wnsllington.
<br />A friend of mille saId to me a few dR:\'S ago thnt be was talkillg
<br />to ll. Indy of culture and ef111cation, and slJe said to hinD, .. Do
<br />yon not think George Wn!:llllngtoll was greatly overrated 7" I-Ie
<br />snid. .. I do not know. Have YOll tuken any pains to look into
<br />bls character or his history or the biographies of hlm?tt She
<br />saW, "I never read a word nbout 111m, but 1 have beard people
<br />SR)' .nutt he waf,; not so gren.t a liaD as some think," That
<br />probnbly is qu1te common. .
<br />I welllt to call nttentlon to who were in the convention.
<br />Washington WHS president of tile conveutioll. He had been
<br />thl'ollgb the war. He bad done tor bis country wllat n.o other
<br />lllUll conld Imvl} done, ill my opinion, and I want just briefly to
<br />suy a word on that point,
<br />BenjamIn Frnnld1n, tl1en 81 yenrs old, was tbere. He bad
<br />mnde n wOl'ld.wide reputation for himself. Nearly all those
<br />WllO IHl.d been prominent in tbe affairs of tbe country betweell
<br />1775 find 1787, except John Adnms and Thomus Jefferson, botl1
<br />being abroad, were present, Of the fifty.five members in attend-
<br />Rnce forty hnd hem, Members of Congress; e1ght were signers of
<br />the Declaration of Independence; six of tbe Articles of Con-
<br />federation; five were goverllors of theIr respective States and
<br />two or them became PI'e!:ildents, one Vlce-Presideut (Gerry),
<br />Lang-don llafl been n Senator; Randolpb, Attorne:y-General: Ham-
<br />ilton the first Secretary of tile Treasury; Dayton was ill
<br />COn~l'eHS eight years and wns Speaker of the I-loLl!;e and nfter-
<br />wards Senator; Ellsworth and Johnson. of COllnectlcut, were
<br />the 1I1'st Senators 11'om thnt State, and Ellswortb subsequently
<br />Chief Jnstice of tbe United States. I J)Ui'y say in passing what
<br />I IH\VC not added here, that lIe left a record scarcely exceeded
<br />by rlllybody D.ud by nobody, unless It was Marshall himflelf,
<br />Johnson, to whom probably must be given the credit of haviug
<br />sll~gested the crention of a Senute, with the Dumber, to be
<br />s(!lccLed by the leglslatmes of the States, became president of
<br />COhlll1bla College. I believe that Johnson, of Connecticut, ls
<br />entilJetl to that credit, bnt it .is disputed, and I put it as
<br />prohable.
<br />Hntledge became assocIate justice of the UniteO States Su-
<br />preme Court; Rufus King a Senator from New York and mill-
<br />Jster to Englnllrl. Sberman, of Connecticut, went to the Hou~e
<br />of Hepreselltntlvcs llnd then Into the Senate, Yates was chief
<br />justice of New York. Gerry, Strong, Paterson, Bassett,
<br />Spnight, Davie, Martin, and Charles Pinckney nil became gov-
<br />erllOl'S of their J'cspectIve States, fiud sowe of them occupied
<br />t.hnt POSitlOIl more than once. Bassett, Dickenson, Martin,
<br />Bloil1lt, Buller, Few, nil became Seno.torf:l. Gerry, Fitzsim-
<br />mons, Carroll, Spnight, and Williamson were Members of the
<br />House of Representatives under the Constitution, EdnlUll(\
<br />Randolph, delegate to. the Continental Congres~, who became
<br />R lJlcmber of the Convention afterwards, served in the capacity
<br />of g-ovel'Oor of Vil'gin1a, Attorney-General, und Secretary of
<br />State of the United Stntes,
<br />Ii will be seen from this hasty review that this was no ordi-
<br />nary convention. It has never been equaled in the character
<br />of Hs membersblp In the world's history. .
<br />I clll.illl Lo be something of a student of thc world's history.
<br />No mllll can put into a body of equa.l size an equal number of
<br />men of the sume character and reputation.
<br />44406--7810 .
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