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The major people at the Convention were George Washington, James Madison, and many other delegates. Washington was elected the president of Convention and Madison helped keep secrecy and wrote extensive notes that were later published.

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The plan that was formed gave the national government the power to legislate "in all cases in which the separate States are incompetent" and even gave a proposed national Council of Revision a veto power over state legislatures. In smaller states, many delegates were opposed to some of the provisions created within the Virginia Plan.

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What did other members think about this?

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What did other members think about this?

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However, several members of the Convention held dissent towards the meeting. As Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison while serving abroad, “I am sorry [the Convention Delegates] began their deliberations by so abominable a precedent as that of tying the tongues of their members.  Nothing can justify this example but the innocence of their intentions, and ignorance of the value of public discussion.” (Even though this same Jefferson also upheld the belief that the Convention was “an assembly of demigods”.)

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Cloth, usually blankest and rags, were draped over closed windows in the Independence Halls in order for the convention to keep the commonplace outside from seeing in. William Jackson, who also attended the meeting, took very few notes in scarce detail to avoid information being leaked to the populace in physical means. As James Madison wrote to Thomas Jefferson, “[the rule] was thought expedient in order to secure unbiased [sic] discussion within doors, and to prevent misconceptions & misconstructions without … .  The whole Community is big with expectation. And there can be no doubt but that the result will in some way or other have a powerful effect on our destiny.”

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The Founding Fathers initially justified their secrecy by claiming that they, unlike leaders in recent history, could attempt to create a new form of government free of ‘diseases’. Avoiding the input of the country’s people, who they deemed less adequate for the job, they took from the examples of governments such as Alexander the Great’s Persian empire. They accepted the policies of government that had worked best and rejected the worst, free of the individual opinions and wants of the common people. Should the common populace try to suggest their individual and possibly conflicting 'ideas', the initial purpose of the Constitution could possibly be compromised.

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Constitutional Convention - also known as Federal Convention or Grand Convention at Philadelphia, attended by 12 of the 13 new states. Though it was meant to officially occur on May 14, lack of efficient travel postponed it to May 25.

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The convention was necessary to amend the Articles of Confederation, given that said Articles were too weak and quickly created to uphold a stable government for a new, large country like America. With problems arising in the states at drastic rate and an unequipped, ill-funded government to attempt to fix them, a genuine and strong Constitution was definitely needed.

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Why did the Constitution require complete secrecy during the convention?

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Why did the Constitution require complete secrecy during the convention?

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The reasons for secrecy were to the fact that people would pressure different ideas and try to change little aspects of the Constitution, rather than just keeping it the way it was. Although secrecy is deemed upon in democratic societies, the convention needed to create the document without other input.