 More than half of the delegates had trained as lawyers ( several had even been judges ) , although only about a quarter had practiced law as their principal means of business . There were also merchants , manufacturers , shippers , land speculators , bankers or financiers , two or three physicians , a minister , and several small farmers . Of the twenty @-@ five who owned slaves , sixteen depended on slave labor to run the plantations or other businesses that formed the mainstay of their income . Most of the delegates were landowners with substantial holdings , and most , with the possible exception of Roger Sherman and William Few , were very comfortably wealthy . George Washington and Robert Morris were among the wealthiest men in the entire country . 
