Luther Martin was a Founding Father of the United States, framer of the U.S. Constitution, politician, lawyer, and slave owner. Martin was a delegate from Maryland to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but did not sign the Constitution, having left the convention early because he felt the document as proposed violated states' rights. In the months following the convention, he was a leading Anti-Federalist, along with Patrick Henry and George Mason, whose collective efforts led to the passage of the Bill of Rights.

The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York, was to create a new frame of government rather than fix the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington of Virginia, former commanding general of the Continental Army in the late American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and proponent of a stronger national government, to become President of the convention. The result of the convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States, placing the Convention among the most significant events in American history.