ABSTRACT
The process through which the multiple parties in attendance at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were able successfully to negotiate the United States' form of government is worthy of examination for at least two significant reasons. First, to elucidate the impact of process on the formation of the United States' Constitution; and second, to illustrate how process can be used to evoke deliberation and creative joint problem-solving in complex, multi-party negotiation contexts generally. The Constitutional Convention demonstrates that procedural rules can be thoughtfully crafted to foster deliberation and creativity. The Convention also illustrates that there are significant opportunities for process leadership by negotiation participants who do not have formal leadership roles. The Constitutional Convention is particularly well suited to a process-based analysis both because its end result — the United States' Constitution — matters, and because the process used to create it mattered. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 provides opportunities for understanding, and tools for more intelligently approaching, multiparty negotiations.
