No doubt his asides (and part of his conversation) frankly gave his opinion as to each measure, because he never disguised his thoughts and he seems to have voted when the ballots were taken--a practice unusual to modern presiding officers except in case of a tie.

His summing-up of the Constitution, which he wrote on the day after the adjournment in a hurried letter to Lafayette, is given briefly in these lines: It is the result of four months' deliberation.

It is now a child of fortune, to be fostered by some and buffeted by others.

What will be the general opinion, or the reception of it, is not for me to decide; nor shall I say anything for or against it.

If it be good, I suppose it will work its way; if bad, it will recoil on the framers.
A month later, in the seclusion of Mount Vernon, he spread the same news before his friend General Knox: ...