On October 17, 1781 after having been beseiged by the French and American forces for several weeks, Cornwallis could resist no longer and raised a white flag in token of surrender. "October 19, the surrender was signed, the land forces becoming prisoners to the United States and the naval forces prisoners to France. The total number of surrendered, including seamen, was 8000, and 580 of the British had been killed or wounded in the seige. The combined French and American loss was 274. At the moment of surrender Cornwallis pleaded illness and sent his sword by General O'Hara. By Washington's direction it was received by General Lincoln, who had been forced to surrender Charleston, and was by him handed back to O'Hara."
The delegates did not know what they would do when they met, and the people did not know what they wanted. They knew that a better government was needed, but how it could be brought about was the unsolved problem. Some of the delegates wished to temporize, to produce something that would please everybody. Others favored doing thorough work. Among these was Washington, who said in a brief speech, "If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."
