George Read was elected its President[2] and Thomas McKean was a major contributor to the content of the finished product.
[1] It was never submitted for popular approval and was the first state constitution written by a convention elected for that purpose subsequent to the Declaration of Independence.
[2] The members of the convention were generally moderates or conservatives[citation needed] who sought to keep the government as close to the existing one as possible.
The major change was the replacement of the Proprietary Governor with an Executive Privy Council, chaired by a President.
Each House was given rights to organize itself by choosing its Speaker and officers, judging qualifications and elections of its members, establishing its own procedures and rules for filling vacancies.
Delegates to the Congress of the Confederation were chosen annually by joint ballot of both Houses of the General Assembly, meaning a majority of thirty persons would win the election.
The President was to be paid and had authority, with the concurrence of the Privy Council, to lay embargoes, grant pardons in certain circumstances, and exercise other unspecified executive powers of government.
He was also Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the state and had the authority to call the General Assembly into session, but could not prorogue, adjourn or dissolve it.
Each year each House of the General Assembly filled vacancies, replacing at least one of the Privy Counsellors they had selected.
The House of Assembly nominated twenty-four persons from each county as Justice of the Peace, with the President and Privy Council appointing twelve of these for a term of seven years.
The President and Privy Council appointed persons to fill vacancies in all these offices until a new election could be held.
Provision was made for the impeachment and prosecution of the President and other officials by the House of Assembly before The Legislative Council.