1997 issue 9 - the ratification of the constitution - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1997 Issue 9 - The Ratification of the Constitution - Counsel of Chalcedon

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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


2/5

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

TIlE COUNSEL

ofCbalcedon

3


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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


4/5

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

15


5/5

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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Chalcedon ' OctoberlNovember, 1997

1997 issue 9 - the ratification of the constitution - counsel of chalcedon

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