prosperity, but the Anti-Federalists were unwilling to accept the Constitution as a remedy.

For a time the chief object of attack was the system of representation, which was declared to be inadequate. Congress, it was said, would be corrupt and vicious; positions would be secured for life; the senators would become especially dangerous. "What will be their situation in a federal town?" exclaimed one delegate. "Nothing so unclean as state laws to enter there, surrounded, as they will be, by an impenetrable wall of adamant and gold, the wealth of the whole country flowing into it." Some one wanted to know what "wall" the speaker meant; "on which he turned, and replied, 'A wall of gold-of adamant, which will flow in from all parts of the continent."" In spite of the amusement of the audience at his liquid wall of adamant, he went on to lament the luxurious life of congressmen within the sacred precincts of the federal city. In general, of course, the arguments of the opposition were based on fear and suspicion, but there was not the narrow class jealousy that was manifested in Massachusetts, nor the flood of exuberant oratory that was poured out in Virginia. The union of the purse and sword, the extensive power of taxation granted to the national government, the weakness of the states, were all dwelt on at length as reasons for the rejection of the Constitution.

1 Elliot, Debates, II., 287..

After the convention had been a week in session, news was brought that New Hampshire had ratified, and the establishment of the new Constitution was assured. On July 3 came the announcement that Virginia also had thrown in her lot with the majority. If New York rejected the Constitution, she was separated from the other states, and stood with Rhode Island and North Carolina. Such a fact must have acted as a powerful argument on the minds of the Anti-Federalists.

By this time different proposals, short of absolute rejection, were considered: to draw up and present amendments for adoption before ratification; to ratify and at the same time propose amendments with the declaration that, if the amendments should not be adopted within a certain time, the state would withdraw from the Union; and, lastly, to ratify and recommend amendments with the hope of their adoption. Hamilton, fearing that without material concession his opponents would win the day, wrote to Madison to inquire his opinion as to the propriety of a conditional ratification with "the reservation of a right to recede" if proper amendments were not made. "My opinion is,” replied Madison, "that a reservation of a right to withdraw, if amendments be not decided on under the form of the Constitution within a certain time, is a conditional ratification; that it does not make New York a member of the new Union, and

consequently that she could not be received on that plan.'

2

Though Hamilton is said to have declared that the convention should never rise till the Constitution was adopted, to the end there seemed little hope of success. He debated untiringly and with remarkable power and eloquence. At length the opposition began to give way, and Melancthon Smith himself, giving up his attempt to force conditional ratification, voted with the Federalists in favor of accepting the Constitution, "in full confidence" that certain amendments would be adopted. The final vote stood thirty for ratification and twentyseven against it. Before the vote was taken a resolution was unanimously passed favoring the preparation of a circular letter to the states recommending a second constitutional convention. The resolution, declared by Madison to be of "most pestilent tendency," was in reality a cheap price to pay for unconditional ratification. Counting New York, eleven states had adopted the Constitution, and, in spite of the demands of the politicians, the people were not ready to enter once again upon the troublesome task that was but just finished.

The circular letter, however, did for a time have some effect. In Virginia it fell on good ground,"

2

' Hamilton, Works (Hamilton's ed.), I., 464, 465.

J. C. Hamilton, Hist. of the Rep., III., 523.

Elliot, Debates, II., 412, 413.

Madison, Letters, I., 410.

5 Henry, Patrick Henry, II., 409 et seq.

for the assembly, led by Henry, who was uneasy under defeat, was ready to do his bidding. A reply to the New York letter was drawn up, a circular to the states, and a memorial to Congress; the objections to the Constitution were said not to be founded on speculative theory, but deduced from the principles established by the melancholy example of other nations and of different ages. In Pennsylvania the Anti-Federalists, among whom Albert Gallatin now took a leading part, demanded a speedy revision by a general convention, but recommended the people of the state to acquiesce in the organization of the government.1

Two states lingered behind the others-Rhode Island, which was in no condition to do anything wise, and North Carolina, which lacked unity, was under the influence of frontier sentiment, and had not felt the pressure experienced by the commercial sections of the Union. The letter from New York probably affected the course of North Carolina, for the convention of that state came to no decision, the opponents of the Constitution refusing either to ratify or reject, and awaiting developments.

Rhode Island was still intent on showing her superiority over her neighbors; when the Constitution was received by the legislature, it voted to have the document printed and distributed, that the people might have "an opportunity of forming their

'Elliot, Debates, II., 544; McMaster and Stone, Pa. and Fed. Const., 560.

2

sentiments" on the matter.1 Some time afterward the legislature solemnly enacted that on the fourth Monday in March "all the freemen and freeholders" should convene in their several towns and there deliberate upon the Constitution. The townmeetings were farcical: the Federalists as a rule refused to vote, and the result was that 237 were counted as voting for adoption and 2,708 in the negative. The Federalists were, however, not idle. They formed a strong minority, and their ability and strength were destined to win before long and to wrest the state from the hands of the ignorant, suspicious, and bigoted men who had already brought it into disrepute. Even in Rhode Island the Federalists did not entirely despair. There was still hope that the "inconsiderate people" would not fill "up the measure of iniquity"; the belief prevailed that the scales were "ready to drop from the eyes, and the infatuation to be removed from the heart," of the state."

We have now traced the establishment of the supreme law of the new republic; we have seen how the American people found adequate political organization, and closed, for a time at least, the great political drama that began with the Stamp Act, when England and America entered on the dispute

! 1 Bates, R. I. and the Union, 162; Staples, R. I. in the Continental Congress, 584.

* Ibid., 586.

Ibid., 589, 606.

'Washington, Writings (Ford's ed.), XI., 287.