The Grand Convention - Eleven Days Early

James Madison stepped off the New York stage on May 3rd, 1787 — 11 days before the Federal Convention was scheduled to open, and 22 days before it actually could. This is the story of those waiting weeks and the first days of business: the muddy roads that held the delegates back, the Virginia delegation caucusing every afternoon to shape a plan that would speak first, General Washington’s escort into the city, and his apology, from the president’s chair, for his own inexperience. It is also ...