Eight of the men who signed the Constitution were of foreign birth. They were Alexander Hamilton, William Patterson, James Wilson, Robert Morris, James McHenry, Thomas Fitzsimons, William R. Davie, and Pierce Butler. You will notice that Hamilton, Wilson, Patterson, and Morris were among the most influential men in the convention. Many of America's greatest men have been of foreign birth.
The oldest man in the convention was Benjamin Franklin who was eighty-one years of age. The youngest man was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey who was only twenty-seven. Charles Pinckney was twenty-nine years old, and Alexander Hamilton was thirty. The average age of the entire membership in the convention was 43-2/5 years.
The membership in the convention included a remarkable group of men--in fact the most remarkable group of statesmen that ever assembled for the making of a constitution. They had gained their experience in five different ways: colonial legislatures, State legislatures, State conventions, Continental Congresses, and in the Congress of the Confederation. Six of them had the honor of having signed the Declaration of Independence--Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Robert Morris, Roger Sherman, George Read, and George Clymer. Thirty delegates were college men and twenty-six had degrees.
46 A careful study of the debates in the Federal convention will reveal the following allusions to the government and institutions of other countries. A total of two hundred and twenty-three allusions were made to the governments of Europe, the most important of which were the following: one hundred and thirty allusions were made to England, of which fifty were commendatory, and twenty-four were warnings; nineteen allusions were made to France, of which five were commendatory and three were warnings; Germany, or rather the German States, had seventeen allusions; Holland had twenty allusions; Greece had twenty-five; Rome had twenty-six. The two hundred and twenty-three allusions were made in such way as to indicate that the delegates were widely read in both government and history.
47 The Constitution in Article VII says, "The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same."