Gunning Bedford Jr.
Gunning Bedford Jr. moved from Delaware law and Confederation service into the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he defended small-state interests before joining the early federal judiciary.
Born April 13, 1747 / Died March 30, 1812
On April 13, 1747, in Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania, Gunning Bedford Jr. was born into a family that soon moved within Delaware's political world. He graduated from the College of New Jersey and trained in law before the Revolution placed legal talent at a premium. By the 1780s he was attorney general of Delaware and a delegate to the Confederation Congress.
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Bedford became one of the sharpest defenders of small-state equality against the Virginia delegation's proportional plans. He warned that Delaware and its allies would not accept a national system that swallowed their political standing. George Washington later appointed him judge of the United States District Court for Delaware under the Judiciary Act of 1789.
Bedford's Convention stance survived in the equal representation of states in the Senate, one of the Constitution's most entrenched arrangements. His later judgeship tied Delaware's ratification politics to the earliest operations of the federal judiciary.
Key Contributions
- Gunning Bedford Jr. died on March 30, 1812.
- On September 17, 1787, Gunning Bedford Jr. signed the United States Constitution in Philadelphia after representing Delaware in the federal convention.
- Gunning Bedford Jr.'s public record is closely tied to Constitutional Convention convenes, a named event that defined the period in which Gunning Bedford Jr. served.
Related Events
Constitutional Convention convenes
From May to September 1787, delegates in Philadelphia abandoned revision of the Articles of Confederation and drafted a new Constitution under George Washington's presidency.
United States Constitution signed
On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution in Philadelphia and sent the proposed frame of government to the states for ratification.
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