Gunning Bedford, Jr.

(1747-1812)

Bedford was born in Philadelphia, the son of a respectable master-craftsman, and cousin to Colonel Gunning Bedford, who served as governor of Delaware. He attended Princeton and received an A.B. in 1771 and A.M. in 1774 (making him a contemporary of such students as New Jersey's William Paterson and Virginia's James Madison). He read for the law in Philadelphia, entered the bar in Chester County, Pennsylvania; and was admitted to the Delaware bar as well. He eventually moved to Delaware, probably because he anticipated a political reward, which in fact he received in 1784, when he was appointed state's attorney general.

He had been elected to several state offices before the Constitutional Convention, but seldom actually attended. Bedford was probably the least "Federalist" of the Delaware delegates, and initially favored nothing more than amending the articles of Confederation, but once debate began, he rapidly came round to the views of his fellow Delaware delegates in favor of a strong national government. At the convention he would play a crucial role as an advocate for the small states, speaking frequently against various aspects of the Virginia Plan. For that reason, he was placed on the committee that drew up the famous Connecticut Compromise. Bedford also supported a motion that would have allowed a majority of the state legislatures to remove the national executive, and spoke forcefully for an unchecked legislative power. He returned to Delaware, however, satisfied with the Constitution and defended it in the state ratifying convention.

George Washington appointed Bedford in 1789 a federal district judge, a position he held for the remainder of his life.