Melancton Smith was a New York merchant and lawyer who served as a delegate to the state’s ratifying convention in 1788. He had previously been a member of the Continental Congress.
Smith’s speeches at the convention centered on the structure of representation in the proposed House of Representatives. He argued that the small number of representatives would favor wealthy candidates over the middling class, and advocated for a larger legislative body to ensure broader representation.
Argues that true representation requires representatives chosen from small districts by local majorities, making the proposed 65 representatives for 3 million people inadequate and vulnerable to corruption.
Fears that the Constitution’s small House would be dominated by wealthy elites who lack sympathy for common people, requiring more representatives from the middling class to secure liberty.
