Constitution Thursday

Of all the states that - even for a fleeting moment - thought that they might be able to go their own way and reject the Constitution, Virginia is probably the only one that really had a chance of success. But Virginia is also the center of The Enlightenment in America; and it is her leaders who have the confidence of the nation. So much so, that Madison almost won't make it home in time to be elected to the Virginia Convention, because he is busy conducting the Nations business which is entrusted to Virginia.

It is here that the most eloquent Anti-federalist of all, Patrick Henry, will probably join forces with George Mason, a man who attended the Philadelphia Convention but refused to sign the final document. Together, they look to face down the Federalists. If they succeed, Virginia will not ratify and it will be likely that other States remaining to consider the Constitution will follow her example.

Patrick Henry will take the lead. He has a long history of being a defender of individual, particularly religious conscience, and States rights. He has opposed Madison and Jefferson before; this time he means to pull out all of the stops to prevent what he sees as a usurpation of power from the people. Mason has become surprisingly (one might say, Samuel Adamsish) passive. Madison, having just made the convention, faces the most important task of his life...

As the ratification process turns to South Carolina, it is clear that the Federalists who run the State favor ratification. It was South Carolina, after all, that teamed up with James Wilson to cement the 3/5th's compromise and stuck to the deal as the tides of anti-slavery climbed against it.

But it won't be as simple as that. First, the State Legislature will do something that no other legislature has done - it will openly debate the Constitution "for the sake of informing the country's members" of the reasons why the Constitution should be ratified.

Then there is a second issue. South Carolina. like Massachusetts, is concerned about the lack of religious tests for holding offices. As it turns out, South Carolina has an official religion, one that is traditional but quickly becoming an anachronism.

Lastly, Mr. Rawlins Lowndes rises in opposition to ratification. A Charleston lawyer, he takes upon himself the mantel of speaking for those "less accustomed to public speaking," and he outlines the problems that many in South Carolina have with the overall tone of the Constitution. Which is, of course, the one thing that all of the Southern States, South Carolina most of all, fears the Constitution will do - end slavery.

There is a strong majority anti-Federalist sentiment in the State, and indeed, there are many in South Carolina who believe that the State should "go it alone" rather than remain joined to the Union. It is Charles Cotesworth Pickney who puts a final rest to that political heresy.

When South Carolina votes to ratify, it is over the objections and the will of the people of the State. but it is the eighth pillar to be raised in the new government...

Over the course of the Convention, Luther Martin (Maryland) had been a petulant opponent of the plan and an irritant to pretty much everybody there - even those who agreed with him. Now that his State, Maryland, is taking up ratification, he will continue to adamantly and vociferously oppose the Constitution. He is the very embodiment of the Anti-Federalists.

Pretty much nobody will listen to his ranting, and Maryland will easily vote to ratify.

It's what happens after that is so fascinating to me. Because of our own historical myopia, we tend to only see the good and heroic sides of the Framers and Founders. We don't relate to them as people just like us, facing difficulties and crises. Consequently, we don't learn from their example of how to deal with and even overcome those difficulties.

The rest of Luther Martins' life will be spent in various pursuits as a lawyer - including defending Aaron Burr against charges of treason - and in the bottle. But by 1807, he will be called, "The Federalist Bulldog," by no less than Thomas Jefferson. What drives a man who is virulently anti-Federalist to change his mind? Was it the ultimate "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?" Or did Luther Martin discover something about human nature in his later years?

As momentum builds for ratification, the two biggest States, New York and Virginia are hesitating.

New York is seemingly against ratification, but as the pillars of the needed nine States continue to fall, the debate intensifies. With their convention not scheduled to begin for several weeks, the debate moves into the Social Media of the day - the newspapers.

First, New York papers take up the Anti-Federalist cause by publishing the DeWitt Letters, the Letters from a Federal Farmer, the Cato, and Brutus letters, but they also begin to pick up a series of equally anonymous letters written specifically to the people of New York and signed simply, Publius.

These particular letters will become known as "The Federalist Papers," and they are not - despite common misconception - a "commentary on Federalist Papers Facebook the Constitution." They are in fact, a reasoned and direct defense of the Constitution as written and a statement of what the Federalists believed would be the benefits of ratification of the Constitution.

But the really amazing thing to think about when we consider all of these letters is how the people of New York (and the rest of the country) consumed them. It's quite an odd foreshadowing of a more modern phenomenon with which we ourselves are very familiar, #socialmedia...

After "impartial discussion & full consideration," the Massachusetts delegates to their State ratifying Convention agreed to what became known as the "Massachusetts Compromise." This allowed a number of anti-Federalists, including Samuel Adams, to vote in favor of ratifying the Constitution. But it wasn't a cut and dried, full-throated endorsement of the document. As the compromise agreed, many of the Anti-Federalist ideas worked their way into the ratification document as proposed amendments to the Constitution.

Many of their recommended amendments are easily recognized by us today, and some made their way into the proposed Bill of Rights when the 1st Congress finally convened. Some of the ideas were ultimately rejected, but there is one overriding idea that we must keep in mind when considering these ideas: all of them came from people who did not like the Constitution as proposed.

As intriguing as what the Massachusetts Convention recommended is what the did not include in their list of proposed amendments. Did they leave out some of the most treasured rights because they assumed the States would and could protect them or did they presume that the proposed Federal Government would never try to stifle free speech or religion?

In early 1788, a Weston, Massachusetts newspaper reported that "Little else, among us, is thought or talked of, but the new Constitution." The debate seemed to engross the attention of all classes of people, including women, who normally would be excluded from politics. 

But as Massachusetts debates, the fate of the Constitution is as yet, undetermined. 

If Massachusetts ratifies, it is likely that the Constitution will be adopted. But if not, it seems that New York, Virginia will most likely follow their example.

The debates have consumed Americans of all political and social divisions. for the first and perhaps only time in her history, the level of political engagement is nearly one hundred percent. Even former Loyalists have and interest in the Constitution being ratified, as it would mean they would finally receive their long ago promised compensation. 

But no longer will States simply approve the Constitution in quick and easy conventions. In Massachusetts, where the Revolution really began, the life or death of the Constitution will face it's first real test among the States.

Connecticut's path to ratification was decidedly more smooth than some of the other States. While there would be debate, and the final vote would not be unanimous, the entire process reflected the character of Connecticut in a way that perhaps no other process had. Certainly not the Revolution, which at one point during the Convention, had seen a delegate accuse Connecticut of being less than wholehearted in her efforts to support the Patriot cause.

Overshadowing Connecticut's debate, the Federalist Papers turn away from the subject of the problems with the Confederacy and the ills that face the nation and the need for union, to the more detailed arguments as to why certain provisions in the proposed Constitution are so important and, consequentially, beneficial to the nation. 

The Anti-Federalists naturally turn to those same provisions as dangers to the liberties of the people.

So who is right? Can both sides be? How can something, like a standing army, be both a danger and a necessity?

By the summer of 1787, George, the youngest and smallest (population size) State, seemingly had very little to offer to the nation and needed a great deal of help to deal with her problems, many of which could be described as more or less self-produced.

The biggest problem was Georgia's indifference towards... well... pretty much everything, including defending herself, first against the British and now against the hostile tribes on her borders and territory.  And while her participation in Congress had been spotty at best, she had managed to send four delegates to the Convention.

Now, in very late 1787 - December 25th, to be exact, Georgia's leaders gathered to debate ratification of the Constitution. For her, it was more a matter of what was to be gained, than what could be lost. And when the New Year finally rolled in, Georgia kicked it off by officially ratifying the Constitution.

In late 1788, Pennsylvania was, without a doubt, the most culturally, religiously and politically diverse State in the Union. It was also the one State that managed to spend most of the preceding decade disenfranchising most of its own citizens as a small powerful, anti-British, anti-Quaker minority ruled the State politically and used that power to maintain its base. It was only in 1786 that laws had been repealed that allowed the ouster of the political minority from power.

Now, just two years later, the State delegates meet in the same room where the Constitution had been forged to debate whether or not Pennsylvania would follow Delaware's lead and ratify the document. Unlike Delaware, in this room sat men who adamantly opposed the Constitution, and interestingly enough, had recently been removed from power in the State.

Over the few weeks of debate, the fight in Pennsylvania moved out of the State Hall, and into the media of the day - newspapers and pamphlets. And whoever won that, would win the ratification debate.

Our story today begins in the office of a prominent Wilkes-Barre citizen, who supports the ratification of the Constitution. On his desk, given to him by another, a perhaps more prominent citizen of the city, are pamphlets that present a Federalist, pro-constitution view of the matter, with instructions to distribute the pamphlets throughout the city. But Ebenezer doesn't like the fact that the pamphlets contain rebuttals to arguments against the Constitution. He fears that if the good people of Wilkes-Barre read these, they will discover that there are cogent arguments against the Constitution. And so, he hits upon an idea...

The first State conventions in Pennsylvania and Delaware are called to debate the proposed Constitution. While Pennsylvania will actually debate, and question the wisdom of proceeding sans Bill of Rights, Delaware's internal issues and her external debates with the other States, have put her in a unique position. Of the thirty delegates who will be elected to her Convention, all thirty will favor ratification, even those men from Sussex County, which polls show is adamantly against ratification. 

For years, Delaware had led the fight for equal representation. Both in the Congress under the Articles of Confederation, and in the new Senate. And it is at Delaware's insistence and with her support that the proposed Constitution offers that equal representation in the new Senate. 

Internally, Delaware is racked by violence and constant bickering between the Whigs and the Tories, but unlike her neighbor, Pennsylvania, both of Delaware's political movements want the Constitution ratified. It's more an argument of who will get credit for it than it is whether or not they should ratify the Constitution. 

As Pennsylvania hesitates, Delaware ratifies the Constitution and become "The First State" of the new Federal Republic.