The Grand Convention - One Vote

American Political History · Oct 6, 2026 · 34m · transcript

On June 11th, 1787, Roger Sherman proposed the settlement — population in the House, one vote per state in the Senate — and the Constitutional Convention voted it down without a debate. This is the story of the 5 weeks it cost to walk back: Luther Martin’s 2-day endurance speech; Benjamin Franklin, 81 and unchurched, asking a deadlocked room why it had never once prayed — and the convention adjourning without a vote because it couldn’t afford a chaplain; Gunning Bedford telling the large states “I do not, gentlemen, trust you” and threatening a foreign ally; the July 2nd tie, 5–5–1, decided…