Events are not being booked at this time due to the pandemic but a reevaluation will occur later this spring. Post-pandemic event packages will be available that include Matthies Hall rental as well as use of the grounds. Some packages include guided tours of the adjacent homestead. Oliver Ellsworth and the Constitutional Convention Oliver Ellsworth was born in Windsor, Connecticut. He attended Yale College and then transferred to the College of New Jersey, later renamed Princeton, and after his graduation in 1766 began to study the law. Ellsworth was admitted to the bar in 1771. Ellsworth built up a prosperous law practice and became Connecticut's State Attorney for Hartford County and as one of Connecticut's representatives to the Continental Congress. He participated in the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia as a delegate along with Roger Sherman and William Samuel Johnson. At the convention, Ellsworth played a major role in the adoption of the Connecticut Compromise. The Convention was deadlocked over the question of representation in Congress with larger states wanting proportional representation and smaller states demanding equal representation for each state. Ellsworth argued twice to abolish slavery, stating that he himself did not own slaves. The debate was ended, the Connecticut Compromise adopted, as a foreshadowing of the coming of the American Civil War when the debate would rage once again. The Oliver Ellsworth Homestead, "Elmwood", is located in Windsor, Connecticut and is currently closed for tours and events due to the pandemic. |
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