After the speech, Benjamin Franklin urged the convention to ask for God's help. He said each meeting should begin with a prayer.

Hugh Williamson of North Carolina quickly ended any discussion of Franklin's idea. The convention, he said, had no money to pay a minister to lead the delegates in prayer.

On July fifth, the Grand Committee presented a two-part compromise. It provided something for large states and something for small states. It called for representation based on population in the House and for equal representation in the Senate. The committee said both parts of the compromise must be accepted or both rejected.

Delegates debated the compromise for many days. They knew if they did not reach agreement, the convention would fail. Those were dark days in Philadelphia.

Later, Luther Martin of Maryland noted that the newspapers reported on how much the delegates agreed. But that was not the truth. "We were on the edge of breaking up," Martin said. "We were held together only by the strength of a hair."

Delegates Robert Yates and John Lansing of New York had left the convention in protest. But George Mason of Virginia declared he would bury his bones in Philadelphia before he would leave without an agreement.

Even General George Washington was depressed. He wrote to Alexander Hamilton, who had returned to New York temporarily.

"I am sorry you went away," Washington said. "Our discussions are now, if possible, worse than ever. There is little agreement on which a good government can be formed. I have lost almost all hope of seeing a successful end to the convention. And so I regret that I agreed to take part."