Constitution Week spotlight

Sept. 23, 2024

On this final day of Constitution Week, we highlight Roger Sherman, a Connecticut delegate best known as the architect of the Connecticut or Great Comprise.

The convention delegates were deadlocked over the issue of large and small state representation. Sherman drew upon a system he had previously advocated as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776 that provided for representation according to population in the House of Representatives and equal numbers for each state in the Senate. Sherman’s compromise was adopted by a vote of five states to four. This compromise served to save a declining convention.

Sherman is the only person to sign all four of the important documents of the American Revolution: The Articles of Association in 1774, the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Articles of Confederation in 1781 and the Constitution of the United States in 1787.

After ratification of the Constitution, Sherman served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, where he had a reputation for espousing his Federalist cause. Sherman died in 1793 at the age of 72 while serving as a senator.

Who said it? “I own I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”

a) Olliver Ellsworth

b) Thomas Jefferson

c) Thomas Fitzsimons

This Constitution Week Spotlight was provided by Lieutenant George Farragut Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. For more information about DAR, please visit the chapter’s website at lgfdar.com.

Answer: b) Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison, 1787