Background
Gunning Bedford was born on April 13, 1747, in Philadelphia, the son of Gunning and Susannah (Jacquett) Bedford.
Gunning Bedford was born on April 13, 1747, in Philadelphia, the son of Gunning and Susannah (Jacquett) Bedford.
Gunning graduated at Princeton in 1771 in the class with James Madison. In Philadelphia he studied law with Joseph Read, and was admitted to the bar.
Bedford settled in Dover, Delaware, removing thence to Wilmington, Delaware, and much later to a farm called "Lombardy" on the Brandywine. That he served in the war as aide to Washington cannot be confirmed in the records, though it is so stated by his daughter in her will. His active life was closely associated with the history of his adopted state. He was a member of the legislature, of the state council, delegate to the Continental Congress, 1785-86, to the Annapolis Convention, 1786, to the Federal Convention, 1787, and to the Delaware Convention which ratified the United States Constitution in December of that year. During part of this period he was attorney-general of the state, having been appointed in 1784, and serving until 1789.
Bedford played a considerable part in the Federal Convention. Delaware, in commissioning its delegates, restrained them from assenting to any change in the "rule of suffrage" and Bedford was a champion of the small states in general and of Delaware in particular. At first he supported the project of amending the Articles. Later, he favored equal representation of the states, and removal of the president on request of the state legislatures; he favored a short term of three years for the president, who was to be reeligible only after nine years. He opposed a strong central government and opposed every check upon the legislative branch. When the debates reached their most dangerous point, he made the "most intemperate speech uttered in the Convention"; he "challenged the large States to do their worst, " and hinted that the small states might seek foreign alliances. He was a member of the grand committee to consider representation.
On July 17, Bredford moved to confer on Congress the power "to legislate in all cases for the general interests of the Union, and also in those in which the States are severally incompetent. " After this he apparently took little part in the Convention. In his last year as attorney-general, the draft of the new judiciary bill was sent to him for criticism. Washington appointed him a judge for the Delaware district in 1789, and he held this office until his death. He was a presidential elector in 1789 and in 1793, and president of the trustees of Wilmington Academy and of the college which developed from the Academy.
Gunning Bedford was a member of the Delaware General Assembly; the Continental Congress (1783-1786); the Annapolis Convention (1786); the U. S. Constitutional Convention (1787).
Gunning Bedford was a fluent speaker, debated often and with emphasis, and was "impetuous" and "irrepressible. " He was also tall and stout, handsome, and sociable.
Gunning Bedford was married to Jane Ballareau Parker, the daughter of James Parker, a printer who had learned his trade from Benjamin Franklin. They had 5 children.
