Constitution Signer

Bedford Gunning Jr.

            Gunning Bedford, Jr. was born in 1747 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  After studying law with Joseph Read in Philadelphia, he was admitted to the bar and moved to Dover, Delaware.

Bedford served in the Revolutionary War, possibly as an aide to General Washington.  After the

war he sat briefly in the Delaware legislature during the early post war period and represented his state in the Continental Congress (1783-1785).  He served as Attorney General of Delaware (1784-1785).

        At the Constitutional Convention he was primarily concerned with the fate of small states in a federal union.  When the idea of drafting a new Constitution was accepted, he supported the New Jersey Plan which provided for equal representation for the states in the national legislature.  He called for strong limitations on the powers of the executive branch and recommended measures by which the states could maintain close control over the national legislature and judiciary, including appointment of federal judges by the state legislatures.  He sat on the committee for the Great Compromise which settled the thorny question of state representation.  He voted for ratification of the Constitution and was instrumental in Delaware's becoming the first state to ratify it.

        After final ratification of the Constitution, Bedford served as presidential elector for George

Washington in 1789 and 1793, reviewed system which became the Judiciary Act of 1789, and was selected by Washington to be the federal district judge for Delaware in 1789.  He held this position until his death March 30, 1812.  Gunning Bedford, Jr. was the quintessential champion for the rights of the small states.