Читать книгу American Democracy in Context - Joseph A. Pika - Страница 83

Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution in December 1787. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut quickly followed suit. Massachusetts, however, derailed this momentum with a chief Anti-Federalist concern: that the new central government would run roughshod over the rights of the people.

During the Constitutional Convention, George Mason, a delegate from Virginia, had proposed that the Constitution include a bill of rights. The majority of the framers rejected this proposal, however, reasoning that since government was limited to those powers granted by the Constitution and the Constitution did not empower government to infringe upon those rights, a bill of rights was unnecessary. They further argued the potential danger of such a list: Failure to include a specific right might imply that that right was unprotected. These arguments did not convince Mason, who was so upset at the omission that he refused to sign the Constitution. Mason went on to become a leading opponent of its ratification.

Federalist Papers Essays by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay supporting ratification of the Constitution. Originally published in newspapers under the pseudonym “Publius” (Latin for “the people”), they were gathered together in 1788 and published in two volumes as The Federalist.

As the debates played out, it became clear that without a bill of rights, the Constitution would not be ratified. But Federalists feared that calling another Constitutional Convention to modify the existing document would lead to new debates about issues far afield from a bill of rights. Therefore, Federalists conceded the issue by promising that if the Constitution was ratified, they would support an amendment to provide a bill of rights. This broke the logjam in Massachusetts, which voted for ratification in February 1788, followed by the required ninth state, New Hampshire, in June of that same year.

Although approval by nine states led to ratification of the Constitution, four states still remained opposed and thus not part of the new nation. Not only would their failure to ratify leave the United States geographically split, but two of the four states were seen as key to the nation’s success: Virginia and New York. The outcome was not clear in either state. Virginia, whose ratifying convention convened before New York’s, became the focus of attention. At Virginia’s convention, a debate between the Anti-Federalist Patrick Henry and the Federalist James Madison proved to be a defining moment. Indeed, Joseph Ellis argues that it might be “the most consequential debate in American history.”⁴⁶

Of the two men, Henry was, by far, the better orator. But Madison was, by far, the more prepared. In the end, Madison’s soft-spoken, point-by-point rebuttal of Henry’s theatrical criticisms of the Constitution won out. Virginia voted to ratify by a vote of 89 to 79 on June 25. Without this important turning point, Virginia would not have joined the United States, assuring a division between northern and southern states. Had the Anti-Federalists won in Virginia, the confidence of other states in the new national government might well have been shaken. Still, it is worth remembering that although Madison’s position prevailed in the vote to ratify the Constitution, Henry’s passionate defense of liberty strongly influenced the eventual decision to amend that Constitution to add a bill of rights.