another plan, edmund randolph of virginia says how about having three presidents at once?three regional presidents. then? you have alexander hamilton of new york who wants a very strong executive so he says how about president for lifetime? which needless to say having gotten rid of king a few years ago was not overly popular to these men. so eventually they settle on the president for four years at a time. but then they have the level of electoral college. and we get a lot of questions about that. why would they do that electoral college? there's probably several wr reasons. one is simple distance. the idea of having states that are days and days and weeks apart from georgia to new hampshire with not a lot of great roads and travel can be difficult so having this notion of sending people together to vote makes sense mechanically then also you have this idea that with the electoral college you're making sure smaller states have a certain amount of stay so you're trying to balance a lot of different things and talking about that, you know, again, one of the things that will

edmund randolph of virginia along with george mason, was not happy about the rights that were proposed. randolph and mason originally supported the strong central government and were supportive of the constitution, but during the course of the debates over the constitution, they both became concerned that it did not include a bill of rights and that a radical central -- tyrannical central government might come to menace the in a noble -- the inalienable natural rights retained by the people. mason was the author of the virginia declaration of rights which was so inspiring to thomas jefferson that he had a copy of it beside him when he wrote the declaration of independence. and the virginia declaration, which looks quite a lot likeour bill of rights, because james madison would also come to rely on it, set out the basic natural and in england will -- in alienable rights governments were created to protect. you can check it out on light. go to our rights interactive at national constitution center.org. can compare it with the ultimate bill of rights. you will see how madison cut and past

two of the virginians, edmund randolph won't sign it but he's one of those guys that always likes tois bets. he supports it when virginia votes on it but he wouldn't sign in the this room because he's afraid like that guys at home like patrick henry will go against him because he knows patrick henry is one of those guys that doesn't think this is a great idea the other one, george mason is looking that the idea of a bill of rights that he wants to see that so he's not crazy about parts of it. a lot of the guys from the big states like massachusetts or virginia don't like the senate. so there's all kientds of issues but most men will put aside their doubts as franklin hoped and sign their names. september 17, 1787. at that point, franklin looks at the chair where washington sits and he says look behind washington's head at this carving of a half sun on the back of the chair. he says all summer i've been trying to decide whether that half sun is supposed to be rising or setting and i could not make up my mind until now. he says now at length i have the happiness to know that is a risin

eldridge gerry, response and for gerrymandering, edmund randolph and george mason of virginia, and becauseir opposition to the lack of the bill of rights, james madison came to support a bill of rights and it was adopted. host: would the gentleman in that room recognize the political convention that is fourning for miles -- miles south of here? guest: they were not because they do not or they did not support the rise of political parties. it is amazing how all of the main framers did not support. john adams said "there is nothing that i dread so much as the division of the republican to two great parties." thomas jefferson says "if i cannot go to heaven but with a political party, i would not go there at all." they warned about a group of citizens, group or annuity, emanated -- animated by the same interest. parties rise pretty quickly, mostly as a result of the debate over the national bank. anyone who has listened to the hamilton musical will know that great song about whether or not the bank is constitutional. alexander hamilton wants to chart at the national bank. thomas jefferson thin

we have george mason, edmund randolph and eldridge gerry.ed to sign the document. they felt it did not do enough to protect the interests they had for the country's future and their personal faith. we have other famous people in this room you might recognize. we have alexander hamilton, who was the only delegate from new york after his two delegates with him left in protest earlier in the convention. he was still here at the end and help with the final crafting and signing of the document. we also had james madison right here. he is the shortest delegate in the room, only but 5'4". these are all life-size, very accurate depictions. he is considered the father of the constitution. he is the guy who came in with a plan and set the agenda for the rest of the summer. he was really the super influential and chasing with the final product was. he also took all the notes because he was the person that lets us know what happened during the convention. finally we have george washington. he is of course the father of our country but he was also electe