Delegate Voting at the Constitutional Convention

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PI and Co-PI: Keith L. Dougherty and Jac C. HeckelmanTitle: Delegate Voting at the Constitutional Convention 0752098Project AbstractThis research project will use primary source information to recover delegate votes from the Constitutional Convention. The goal of the project is to infer the positions of delegates on more than 400 substantive votes using the statements they made in debate and the formal rule that a majority of the delegates from a state determined the state's vote. The investigators will then estimate ideal points for each delegate using a procedure that is robust to missing data. These estimates will be used to test three hypotheses. First, the estimates will be used to test the validity of the Beard thesis to determine whether delegates were influenced by their economic interests or whether they were more impartial participants. Second, the estimates will be used to determine whether the Great Compromise altered delegate preferences. Testing for stability of preferences will help to determine the importance of this historical event for the strengthening of the national government. Finally, the spatial estimates will be used to test questions about the stability of preferences of a few key delegates, who allegedly changed their positions because they were persuaded by others. The results have important implications for theories of representation (principle-agent theories), economic theories about the formation of institutions, and legal interpretations of original intent. The project will introduce several undergraduates to the methods of professional research. It also will be used as a springboard for research supported by the Student Undergraduate Research Program, which brings gifted minority students to the University of Georgia. Inferred votes will be archived for use by other scholars. Results will be presented at several conferences and published in a series of academic journals. They will also be used to develop a course on the methods of American political development at the University of Georgia and to supplement a new course on the Theory of Social Choice at Wake Forest University.