Therefore, in order that the action of the convention would appear to be
unanimous, Gouverneur Morris devised the formula "Done in Convention, by
the unanimous consent of the States present the 17th of September * * *
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names." Thirty-nine
of the forty-two delegates present thereupon "subscribed" to the
document.[m]

The Convention had been called to revise the Articles of Confederation.
Instead, it reported to the Continental Congress a new Constitution.
Furthermore, while the Articles specified that no amendments should be
effective until approved by the legislatures of all the States, the
Philadelphia Convention suggested that the new Constitution should
supplant the Articles of Confederation when ratified by conventions in
nine States. For these reasons, it was feared that the new Constitution
might arouse opposition in Congress.

Three members of the Convention--Madison, Gorham, and King--were also
Members of Congress. They proceeded at once to New York, where Congress
was in session, to placate the expected opposition. Aware of their
vanishing authority, Congress on September 28, after some debate,
decided to submit the Constitution to the States for action. It made no
recommendation for or against adoption.

Two parties soon developed, one in opposition and one in support of the
Constitution, and the Constitution was debated, criticized, and
expounded clause by clause. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote a series of
commentaries, now known as the Federalist Papers, in support of the new
instrument of government.[n] The closeness and bitterness of the
struggle over ratification and the conferring of additional powers on
the central government can scarcely be exaggerated. In some States