“Shays’ Rebellion had been in the public mind when Congress, after debating the Annapolis report, had voted in favor of a convention in Philadelphia. Even so, Congress proceeded cautiously. The Annapolis report had hinted that not only trade and commerce but the entire federal system might need adjusting. Congress resolved that the Convention was to meet ‘for the sole and express purpose’—the phrase was soon to become a byword and a strength to anti-Constitutionalists—‘the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.’”

The Constitutional Convention was a major event in American intellectual history, where various strands of Enlightenment thinking came together to form the first-ever republic. But as important as the ideas were, historical context made a large difference as well. An armed uprising in western Massachusetts, Shays’ Rebellion, revealed that the government was not capable of enforcing public order. Even those fearful of excessive federal power could accept the need for a government capable of putting down an insurrection. Such context gave the philosophical debates of the Convention a degree of political immediacy.

“Yet in spite of the General’s almost glacial reserve and dignity, one sensed that he would never be overbearing, power would never turn his head. One knew it by the troubled lines in his brow, a quality of melancholy when his face was in repose.”

Even in his own time, George Washington was a legendary figure, the victorious general who then ceded power to a civilian government to return to private life. Very tall for his era and with a statuesque bearing, Washington could establish the tone of a room without even speaking, and clearly this is what the Convention was hoping for by having him preside over its deliberations. Despite the fierce disagreements among them, each delegate was technically addressing Washington, and so had to uphold the spirit of unity that Washington embodied.