ABSTRACT
Oliver Ellsworth played an extraordinarily important role in the construction of the US Constitution, the US Congress, and the US federal court system. A gifted orator and a consummate practical politician, he moved in his political beliefs from a strong states-rights advocate, as a member of the Connecticut General Assembly, to a committed Federalist. An important founder of the republic, Ellsworth participated in the preparation in Philadelphia of the first draft of the Constitution. Ellsworth was cochairman of the Congressional Joint Committee of Conference, also formed in 1789, to resolve differences in the House and Senate versions of the Bill of Rights. He was the Senate floor leader for its passage, as well as the author of the final wording of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Privately, he was against a Bill of Rights, thinking it a delaying tactic against ratification of the Constitution designed by Antifederalists.
