John Jay also was lacking, because, as it appears, the Anti-Federalists did not wish him to represent them in the Convention; but his influence permeated it and the wider public, who later read his unsigned articles in "The Federalist." Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee stayed at home.

General Nathanael Greene, the favorite son of Rhode Island, would have been at the Convention but for his untimely death a few weeks before the preceding Christmas.
Owing to delays the active business of the Convention halted, although for at least a fortnight the members who had come promptly carried on unofficial discussions.

Washington, being chosen President without a competitor, presided, with perhaps more than his habitual gravity and punctilio.

The members took their work very seriously.

The debates lasted five or six hours a day, and, as they were continued consecutively until the autumn, there was ample time to discuss many subjects.