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establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same."

Why "between"?

Because each State was sovereign, and treaties must be made between sovereigns. States, not men, framed the Constitution. "Done in convention with the unanimous consent of the States present," are the final emphatic words of the original instrument. Remember States, not men, were "present" as contracting parties.

Were other plans proposed?

Yes. Gouverneur Morris moved to refer the proposed Constitution to a general convention chosen by the people. It did not have a second. Hamilton moved to submit the instrument to Congress, and, if that body agreed to it, then it was to be laid before the States in convention. Rejected. It was then agreed that Congress should send it to the legislatures of the several States, to be by them submitted to a convention in each State for ratification, the delegates whereof should be chosen by the people thereof. Pennsylvania was first to call a convention for ratification, but second to ratify. Delaware was the first to ratify, December 7, 1787, and without proposing an amendment. "We, the people

of Delaware State," began the ratification. Massachusetts declared it to be a new Constitution, a solemn compact between the States. New Hampshire, the ninth State, ratified June 21, 1788. But eleven States, March 4, 1789, when the new Congress convened, had ratified.

Where were the twelfth and thirteenth States? Out among the independent countries of the world. Rhode Island was never represented in the convention. North Carolina was represented, but declined to ratify, and did not do so for more than eight months. Rhode Island ratified May

29, 1790.

What did Massachusetts do?

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John Hancock and James Madison determined the fate of the Constitution in Massachusetts. Madison wrote to Washington: "We must take off some of the opposition by amendments. I do not mean such as are to be made conditions of ratification, but recommendations only. Upon this plan we may probably get a majority of twelve or fifteen, if not more." This device succeeded. Hancock presented amendments, and his adherents voted for the Constitution with this explanation of that gentleman: "I give my assent to the Constitution in full confidence that

the amendments proposed will be a part of the system."

It is a curious fact that eighteen members of the Massachusetts convention, Hancock among them, had been engaged in Shays's Rebellion for the cancellation of debts. Rufus King and Samuel Adams contributed to securing a majority of nineteen of three hundred and thirty-three members.

What did New Hampshire do?

When the convention convened, the opponents to the Constitution were in the majority. The voters of the State were opposed to an act of ratification. An adjournment was carried, and, on reconvening, the delegates ratified the Constitution. They disobeyed the will of their constituents, being convinced, as were some other statesmen, by "the rhetoric of the Federalists"!

What was the course of Virginia?

Virginia, named for the virgin daughter of the Tudors, was first settled by charter, May, 1607, at Jamestown. In the dedication of Spencer's "Faerie Queene," Elizabeth is called "Queen of England, France, Ireland, and Virginia." Tucker says that "the first fœtal Commonwealth was the Old Dominion." In 1623-24 Virginia declared

that no tax could be laid on the Colony but by consent of the House of Burgesses. In 1645-46 this prophecy of the Revolution was repeated. In 1651-52 the Commonwealth of England made a treaty with Virginia, conceding the same freedom to her people as was enjoyed by the people of England; that no taxation nor forts nor garrisons should be imposed on her without the consent of her Assembly, and that body should transact her local affairs. During the Commonwealth, Virginia elected her governors.

Is it not consistent that Virginia now insisted on a Bill of Rights?

Jefferson, on his return from France, was amazed that personal and property and other essential rights were unprovided for in the Constitution.

In the Assembly of Virginia, November 14, 1788, an address was issued, asking Congress to call "a convention of deputies from the several States, with full power to take into consideration the defects of the Constitution that have been suggested by the State conventions," and to "report such amendments thereto as they shall find suited to the common interests, and to secure to ourselves and the latest posterity the great and ‘inalienable rights of mankind." A second

convention was not called, but amendments were passed by joint resolution in Congress, and submitted to the legislatures of the States for ratification. Had the amendments not become a part of the Constitution, revolution would have followed.

The State of Virginia had led, in the colonial era, in the war for "redress of grievances" within the British Union, and afterwards in the war for independence. She was called the "mother of States and of statesmen" in the after-time, because she had given to the Union Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, and a galaxy of Presidents, jurists, and politicians of great lustre. It was a proud and deserved title, and she has, as a sovereign lady should, worn her honors with distinguished dignity. Virginia should be painted as the mother of the Gracchi, always pointing to her children as her jewels, was the sentiment of Calhoun, and the artist idea of the civilized world.

Can you name some of the men of the Virginia convention of 1788?

Yes. James Madison, who had been conspicuous in shaping the Constitution; John Marshall, James Monroe, George Mason, "the lord of Gunston Hall," a man of transcendent

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