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The Ratification of the
Constitution
Newspapers everywhere
published a copy
of the
Constitution. Debates and
discussions over the document
dominated all other news.
Reaction was mixed among the
population. Some were angry
and others approved, but all
were shocked and startled by
what had emerged from the
convention. This was far from
what they expected. This was
no mere amendment of the
Articles of Confederation
t
appeared to be
far
beyond what
had
been requested by the
states and was, for that reason,
quite controversial.
Opponents quickly pub
lished their critiques and the
friends of the Constitution
answered. Aseries of articleS
Anti position. The latter
protested that they were in fact
the federalists and those who
supported the Constitution
should properly be termed
Consolidationists
or
Nationalists, but to no avaiL
The
opponents
of
the
Constitution would from
thenceforth be known
as
the
Anti-Federalists and open to
the charge
of
being disgruntled
patriots while the Federalists
were hailed for
being
affirmative
and
daring .
(Bowen, p. 271) .
The battle over ratification
was fierce . Anti-Federalists
feared the absence ofa Bill of
defending the Constitution Rights, the federal power to
was begun in the papers of tax, the office of Vice
New
York
signed by Publius-- PreSident, the absence of
these would becqme known religious qualification for
as The
Federalist
Papers
They government
officers
no stand
were widely read and hotly against slavery and the power
debated not only by the of the federal courts. There
leaders of communities butby .was even some criticism of the
farmers and milkmaids aswell. proposal for a Federal City.
The Federalistswere answered
But
most of all they feared the
by the Anti- Federalists who vague language and the
sought to show their potential for the abuse of the
arguments wrong-headed and powers granted to the central
dangerous. The entire country government. Their arguments
was in an uproar. were considered and struck
t is important in any debate deep cords in the people North
to have the pOSitive side to and South. The suspicion
be the affirmative. This little againstanypowerful,far-away
fact
was not forgotten by the govern-ment was high.
proponents of the Delaware was the first state
Constitution. Those in
favor
to ratify on December 7, 1787.
of the new government took Pennsylvania, who had been
the title Federalists which left rushing
to be the first ratified
opponents with the unhappy amidst a storm of controversy
12 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon OctoberlNovember, 1997
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on December
12.
On
December 27 a rally was held
in Carlisle to celebrate the new
Constitution. A mob
of
Antifeds attacked the guest of
honor, James Wilson, and, it
was said, would have killed
him had not an old soldier
thrown himself over his body
to protect him. Bowen, p. 277)
New jersey followed
Pennsylvania ratifying the
Constitution unanimously on
December 18 and Georgia did
the same on january 2, 1788.
Connecticut
ratified on
january 9. But things would
not go so smoothly in
Massachusetts.
Massachusetts
was
considered to be predom
inantly Antifederalist. Three
hundred
and fifty-five
delegates met in the Brattle
Street Church, Boston, with a
crowded gallery of spectators.
When the debates began the
Antifederalists had a majority
of arollnd
fifty
votes. A defeat
of he Constitution here would
have probably brought
]1
an
Antifederalist triumph in the
ratification conflict.
Yet
because
of
their
lack of
organization and a general lack
of skill in rhetoric,
law,
and
political theory, they could not
hold their own against the
gifted Federalist spokesmen.
Their greatest blow perhaps
was the loss of Sam Adams
who was grief stricken over
the recent death of his son and
did
not
participate in the
debates. Their cause also
suffered by the change of heart
that overtook Governor john
Hancock who went over to the
Federalists in exchange for
their
political
support.
Elbridge Gerry, the leading
Antifederalist of the state was
not elected as a delegate, since
he was from Boston, a leading
Federalist district. He was
allowed to be on
th
e floor,
however, to answer questions
ex-officio. This gave
the
Federalists an overwhelming
advantage even though the
final vote
gave
them a majority
of only 19 votes.
In a move that would
become very important for the
future debates, Massachusetts
recommended that there be
suggested amendments passed
along \\ . its official approval
.
of
the Constitution. . This
strategy made it easier for the
Federalists to succeed in other
1) The Framers, said
Pinckney, thought it improper
to mention specific
rights
guaranteed under state law
for,
as we might perhaps have
omitted the enumeration
of
some of our rights, it might
hereafter
be said we
had
delegated
to the
general
government a power to take
away such of our rights as we
had not enumerated
2) Silence on the subject
of
rights would keep the general
government away from that
potentially explosive subject.
3)
It would
not
appear
appropriate for
South
Carolinians
t make
declarations of
human
rights
when
a large part of our
property consists in men who
are
actually born slaves.
Bradford,
Original
Intentions
p.62)
The decisior:JS
of
Maryland
and South Carolina meant that
New Hampshire would
be
the
crocial ninth state needed to
more difficult states.
make the Constitution the law
Maryland
and South of the land. The New
Carolina .followed with
relatively easy victories for the
Federalists nboth states easier
in Maryland than
South
Carolina). The South Carolina
convention did not vote to add
a Bill of Rights because of the
persuasive argument
of
General Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney. His objections are
noteworthy:
Hampshire q:mvention had
convened
on
February
22,
1788. The delegates and the
populace)
werepredom-
inately Anti-Federalist yet they
were out-maneuvered by a
Federalist parliamentary
procedure. The Federalists
made a motion to adjourn the
convention on the basis that
many delegates were uriwilling
OctoberlNovember,
997
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to follow their electorates Mason, Benjamin Harrison,
instructions to reject the Theodorick Bland, John Tyler
Constitution
Had
the
(father of the President),
Anti-Federalists called the Edmund Ruffin, James
qUC $tion before the President Monroe, Richard Grayson,
JameS, Sullivan accepted the Richard Henry Lee, and most
motion,
the
Constitution
of all Patrick lienry.
It
was
a
would have been defeated and classic struggle.
that would
have
given .Henrys strategy to defeat
momentum to the n t i ~ the Constitution was two-fold:
Federalist opposition. When 1) to portray it as a practical
the convention reconvened, threat to Virginia and 2) to set
however, on June 21, the it forth as a contradiction of
Federalists won by 11 votes. the Old Dominions highest
Of
the first nine states to . values, the English version of
ratify only three could be liberty. (Bradford,
Against
the
considered
strong
states
Barbarians
p. 76)
(Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Henrys oratory was never
and N ~ w Hampshire). Even more powerful, There willbe
though the Constitution
Was
no checks, no real balances, in
nowapproved,everyoneknew this government. What can
that all would be lost ifVirginia avail your specious, imaginary
did not enter the union.
f
balances, your rope-dancing,
Virginia refused, NewYork and chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal
North
Carolina
would checks
and
b;dances and
doubtless
. reject
the
contrivances?
At
this point
we
Constitution as well. Even at are told, a delegate
So late a date, if Virginia had involuntarily checked his
refused ratification, it may still wrists to assure himself that
have defeated the FederalistS the fetters were not already
and forced a new convention. pressing his flesh. It was
Virginia was the most hotly overwhelming. Even Madison
contested of
all
the ratification confessed that Patrick Henry
conventions. could with a pause, a shake of
.
The
Antifederalists Were the head, Or a striking gesture,
stronger in Virginia than any undo an hours work before
other state. The leading men uttering a word.
(Bowen,
op.
in the
state
(excepting
cit., p. 198)
Washington,
Pendleton; On June 24, George Wythe
Lighthorse Harry Lee, and
moved
a resolution for
Madison) aligned themse1ves ratification with a
Bill
of
Rights
against ratification: George attached along with other
1+ TH
O U N S E ~
of
Chalcedon OctoberlNovember 997
subsequent amendments to
remedy the
flaws
observed by
the Antifederalists. The next
day the motion came to a vote
and the Constitution was
ratified by a scant 10 votes.
The news
ofVrrginias
action
reached the
New
York
convention which had been in
session
for
two weeks, onJuly
2. t was a crushing blow to
the Antifederalists. Yet when
thevotecame twenty-four days
later
Ouly
26), they only lost
by 3 votes. n Albany there
was rioting by Antifederalists
supporters
with
a
public
burning of Constitution. In
New York Oty there was a
parade with ten horses pulling
a float in. he shape of a ship (
the goo
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1.
They had no network of
communicating their views
between
the states or
sometimes even throughout a
single state. Patrick Henry
organized opposition
in
Virginia, as did Governor
Clinton in New York, and
Williejones in North Carolina,
but
elsewhere opposition
was
haphazard.
2.
They suffered from a lack
of spokesmen
and reliable
leadership. This was not the
case in New
York
and
Virginia
but it was plairlly the case in
the important Massachusetts
debates. In Maryland and
South Carolina
the
Antifederalists lacked both
organization and spokesmen.
Bradford observes that if South
Carolina had delayed its vote
after Virginia and had Virginia
voted no there would have
to obliterate every opportunity
for
construction by legislature,
Congress, or Supreme Court.
Against the Barbarians, p.
72)
Delaware, New jersey, and
Connecticut were compelled
by geographical and economic
circumstances
to ratify.
Pennsylvania ratified
for
economic reasons and Georgia
for fear of being left out of the
union and being forced to
defend itself against hostile
foreign and Indian forces.
These were not victories based
upon principled Federalism,
but
they were victories
nonetheless and they set the
tone
for
the remainder of
ratification process and made
the prospects
for
ratification
seem hopeful. These early
victories
gave
strength to the
Federalist argument that union
was inevitable and that the
been no vote on ratification in Constitution was the best
South Carolina. means available to affect that
3. Their timing was bad . union. And when Virginia
Had North Carolina and ratified the rest of the state
Virginia voted early, and voted
no, especially if either New
Hampshire or Massachusetts
had joined them, then
as
all
serious scholars recognize, the
victories of the Federalists in
Delaware, New ersey;Georgia
Connecticut, and Pennsylvania
would
have had no
importance. Everyone would
have gone back to Philadelphia
to remove offensive language
and correct vague implications;
conventions were
mere
formalities.
4.
They never made clear
their
own
vision
for a
government which would
preserve the liberties of the
people. Federalism was not
victorious
l;>ecause
it hurried
the busine?s in Pennsylvania,
or because it knew how to
explOit the lack of leadership
among the Antifederalists in
Massachusetts but rather by
reason of the failure
of
the
Antifederalists to bring forward
an
altemativeview of he Union
that would better preserve and
perfect it. (Ibid. , p. 71)
To concede a Federalist
victory;
however,
is
not to grant
anything like the revolution
ary
o n q u e ~ t
that the modern
radicals envision. There
is
a
way in which we can say that
the Federalists, such as they
were, lost. In the minds of
those who
adopted the
Constitution,
they were
adopting
a document
understood
in
a
strictly
Anti-Federalist
way.
In order
to persuade the fearful and
mistrusting Anti-Federalists,
the Federalists were politically
compelled to promise that the
Constitution by it very nature
could not create or sustain
anything more than a very
limited power, one able to be
whatever modest instrument
the electorate wanted,
but
no
more than that. (Ibid., p. 63)
Bradford states, In these
ratification conventions the
friends of the Constitution
minimized its scope, and its
enemies
exaggerated
its
usefulness to putative tyrants.
.. What both strategies suggest
is
that implied powers are
not
tolerable, that the narrowest
views of what was achieved n
Philadelphia are politically the
most acceptable,
and that
future judges or even
O c t ~ b e r l N o v e m b e r 1997 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon
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legislators)wouldonlyatgreat Delaware -- 12/7/1787
peril discover them in a vague Unanimous
but
growing Constitution. Pennsylvania 12/1211787
(Ibid., p. 64)
46 --
23
Sadly,
this understanding of New Jersey -- 12118/1787
the limitations
upon the Unanimous
authority of the new Federal ,Georgia - 112/1788
Government would quickly be-- Unanimous
forgotten. Co=ecticut -- 1/9/1788
Here is a table of the states 128 -- 40
in the order in which they Massachusetts --
2/6/1788
ratified, with the votes at their 187 - 168
conventions: Maryland --
4128/1788
63 --11
State -- DateJRatified
For -- Against
South Carolina --5/23/1788
149
--73
MERIC
The First
35
Years
New
Hampshire 6121/1788
57
--46
Virginia --
6126/1 788
89
79
New York -- 712611788
30 -- 27
I
North Carolina 11121/1789
197
77
llliode Island --
5129/1790
34 -- 32
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