Prior to the Philadelphia Convention, delegates met twice­—at Mount
Vernon and Annapolis—to discuss changes to the Confederation.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Examine how the Mount Vernon Conference pushed states further away from the Articles and
closer to the Constitution
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
Delegates from Virginia and Maryland met at George Washington's home at Mount Vernon in
1785 to discusscommerce, fishing, and navigation in the waters of the Potomac and Pocomoke
Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. These issues were not addressed directly by the Articles of
Confederation.
The success of the Mount Vernon Conference led to the 1786Annapolis Convention, when Virginia
invited all the states to attend a meeting on commercial issues that led the twelve attending
delegates from five states to unanimously call for a constitutional convention.
The Annapolis Convention produced a report that asked support for a meeting to be held the next
May inPhiladelphia. The direct result of the report was thePhiladelphia Convention of 1787,
which produced the United States Constitution.
TERMS [ edit ]
Mount Vernon Conference
A meeting of delegates from Virginia and Maryland at George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon, Virginia in March 1785.
Annapolis Convention
The Annapolis Convention was an Assembly of the Counties of Maryland that functioned as the
colony's revolutionary government from 1774 to 1776.
Philadelphia Convention of 1787
The Constitutional Convention (also known as the Philadelphia Convention, the Federal
Convention, or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia) took place from May 14 to September 17,
1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of
America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence
from Great Britain.
Give us feedback on this content: FULL TEXT [ edit ]
Prior to the Annapolis Convention and the 1787 Philadelphia convention that saw the
drafting of the United States Constitution, delegates from Virginia and Maryland met at
George Washington's home at Mount Vernon, Virginia in March 1785. They were charged
with dealing with issues of commerce, fishing, and navigation in the waters of the Potomac
and Pocomoke Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. These issues were not addressed directly by
the Articles of Confederation, which regulated the thirteen largely independent American
states at the time, nor by the authorization of the Potomac Company a year earlier which was
to regulate the Potomac above the Great Falls.
Annapolis Statehouse
Annapolis, Maryland was the location of the Annapolis Convention
The conference was a success, and a report was prepared for the two state legislatures on 18
March 1785. The report contained thirteen proposals known as the Mount Vernon Compact,
ratified by both Maryland and Virginia. It declared the Potomac, which was under
Maryland's sole jurisdiction, to be a common waterway for use by Virginia as well. It also
provided for reciprocal fishing rights, dividing the costs of constructing navigation aids, and
cooperation on defense and cases of piracy. It also called for commissioners to deal with any
future problems that might arise. The Mount Vernon delegates encouraged Pennsylvania and
Delaware to join the agreement as well.
The conference was significant as a model of interstate cooperation outside the framework of
the weak Articles of Confederation. Its success encouraged James Madison to advocate
further discussion of constitutional issues facing the states. He had little to show for efforts
to get Virginia's delegates in the Continental Congress to seek expanded powers to deal with
trade issues. Instead, he introduced a proposal in the Virginia General Assembly to act on the
suggestion of the Compact commissioners for further debate of interstate issues.
In January 1786, Virginia invited all the states to attend a meeting on commercial issues that
would be the ground­breaking Annapolis Convention, where twelve delegates from five states
unanimously called for a constitutional convention. Long dissatisfied with the weak Articles
of Confederation, Alexander Hamilton of New York played a major role in the Annapolis
Convention. He drafted its resolution for a constitutional convention, and in doing so
brought his longtime desire to have a more powerful, more financially
independent federal government one step closer to reality.
The convention met in September 1786. The commissioners felt that there were not enough
states represented to make any substantive agreement. New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and North Carolina had appointed commissioners who failed to arrive in
Annapolis in time to attend the meeting, while Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina and
Georgia had taken no action at all. They produced a report which was sent to the Congress
and to the states. The report asked support for a broader meeting to be held the next May in
Philadelphia. It expressed the hope that more states would be represented and that their
delegates or deputies would be authorized to examine areas broader than simply commercial
trade. The direct result of the report was the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which
produced the United States Constitution.
Mount Vernon
Washington's home, site of the Mount Vernon Convention