Bedford, Gunning, Jr.

Related Category: U.S. History: Biographies

1747–1812, American political leader, b. Philadelphia. Settling in Delaware, Bedford became a member of the local legislature, attorney general (1784–89), and a delegate to the Continental Congress (1783–85). At the Federal Constitutional Convention (1787) he opposed a strong central government and was a vigorous champion of the rights of small states.