Maine, gave majorities against it. The majority of Maine for the constitution was in proportion greater than in Massachusetts.

The motion for ratifying the constitution was declared to be in the affirmative by one hundred and eighty-seven votes against one hundred and sixty-eight.* The bells and artillery announced the glad news to every part of the town.

With the declaration of the vote, every symptom of persistent opposition vanished. No person even wished for a protest. The convention, after dissolving itself, partook of a modest collation in the senate-chamber, where, merging party ideas in mutual congratulations, they all "smoked the calumet of love and union." "The Boston people," wrote Knox to Livingston, "have lost their senses with joy." The Long Lane by the meeting-house, in which the convention held its sessions, took from that time the name of Federal street. The prevailing joy diffused itself through the commonwealth. In New York, at noon, men hoisted the pine-tree flag with an appropriate inscription. Six states had ratified, and six salutes, each of thirteen guns, were fired.

The example of Massachusetts was held worthy of imitation. "A conditional ratification or a second convention," so wrote Madison to Randolph in April, ❝appears to me utterly irreconcilable with the dictates of prudence and safety. Recommendatory alterations are the only ground for a coalition among the real federalists." +

Jefferson, while in congress as the successor of Madison, had led the way zealously toward rendering the American constitution more perfect. "The federal convention," so he wrote to one correspondent on hearing who were its members, "is really an assembly of demigods;" and to another: "It consists of the ablest men in America." He hoped from it a broader reformation, and saw with satisfaction "a general disposition through the states to adopt what it should propose." To Washington he soberly expressed the opinions from which during his long life he never departed: "To make our states one as to all foreign concerns, preserve them several as to all

* Elliot, ii., 174–176, 181.

+ Knox to Livingston, 13 February 1788.

Madison's Works, i., 386, and compare 376-379.

merely domestic, to give to the federal head some peaceable mode of enforcing its just authority, to organize that head into legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, are great desiderata." *

Early in November Jefferson received a copy of the new constitution, and approved the great mass of its provisions.† But once he called it a kite set up to keep the hen-yard in order; and with three or four new articles he would have preserved the venerable fabric of the old confederation as a sacred relic.

#

To Madison he explained himself in a long and deliberate letter. A house of representatives elected directly by the people he thought would be far inferior to one chosen by the state legislatures; but he accepted that mode of election from respect to the fundamental principle that the people are not to be taxed but by representatives chosen immediately by themselves. He was captivated by the compromise between the great and smaller states, and the method of voting in both branches of the legislature by persons instead of voting by states; but he utterly condemned the omission of a bill of rights, and the abandonment of the principle of rotation in the choice of the president. In December he declared himself "a friend to a very energetic government;" for he held that it would be "always oppressive." He presumed that Virginia would reject the new constitution; for himself he said: "It is my principle that the will of the majority should prevail; if they approve, I shall cheerfully concur in the proposed constitution, in hopes they will amend it whenever they shall find that it works wrong." A In February 1788 he wrote to Madison◊ and at least one more of his correspondents: "I wish with all my soul that the nine first conventions may accept the new constitution, to secure to us the good it contains; but I equally wish that the four latest, whichever they may be, may refuse to accede to it till a declaration of rights be annexed; but no objection to the new form must produce a schism in

* Jefferson, i., 349, 260, 149, 264, 250, 251.

Jefferson, i., 79, and ii., 586.

Jefferson, ii., 319.

# Jefferson, ii., 328-331.

Jefferson, ii., 325.

A Jefferson, ii., 332.

◊ Jefferson to Madison, 6 February 1788.

our union." This was the last word from him which reached America in time to have any influence. But in May of that year, so soon as he heard of the method adopted by Massachusetts, he declared that it was far preferable to his own, and wished it to be followed by every state, especially by Virginia.* To Madison he wrote in July: "The constitution is a good canvas on which some strokes only want retouching." + In 1789 to a friend in Philadelphia he wrote with perfect truth: "I am not of the party of federalists; but I am much further from that of the anti-federalists." +

The constitution was to John Adams more of a surprise than to Jefferson; but at once he formed his unchanging judgment, and in December 1787 he wrote of it officially to Jay: "The public mind cannot be occupied about a nobler object than the proposed plan of government. It appears to be admirably calculated to cement all America in affection and interest as one great nation. A result of compromise cannot perfectly coincide with every one's ideas of perfection; but, as all the great principles necessary to order, liberty, and safety are respected in it, and provision is made for amendments as they may be found necessary, I hope to hear of its adoption by all the states." #

* Jefferson, ii., 398, 399, 404. † Jefferson, ii., 445. Jefferson, ii., 585, 586. John Adams's Works, viii., 467; Diplomatic Correspondence, 1783-1789,

V., 356.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONSTITUTION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, MARYLAND, AND SOUTH CAROLINA.

FROM FEBRUARY TO 23 MAY 1788.

LANGDON, the outgoing chief magistrate of New Hampshire, and Sullivan, his successful competitor, vied with each other in zeal for federal measures; but when, in February 1788, the convention of the state came together there appeared to be a small majority against any change. In a seven days' debate, Joshua Atherton of Amherst; William Hooper, the minister of Marbury; Matthias Stone, deacon of the church in Claremont; Abiel Parker, from Jaffrey, reproduced the objections that had been urged in the neighboring state; while John Sullivan, John Langdon, Samuel Livermore, Josiah Bartlett, and John Pickering explained and defended it with conciliatory moderation. When zealots complained of the want of a religious test, Woodbury Langdon, lately president of Harvard college, but now a minister of the gospel at Hampton Falls, demonstrated that religion is a question between God and man in which no civil authority may interfere. Dow, from Weare, spoke against the twenty years' sufferance of the foreign slave-trade; and to the explanation of Langdon that under the confederation the power exists without limit, Atherton answered: "It is our full purpose to wash our hands clear of becoming its guarantees even for a term of years."

The friends of the constitution won converts enough to hold the balance; but these were fettered by instructions from their towns. To give them an opportunity to consult their constituents, the friends of the constitution proposed an ad

journment till June, saying, with other reasons, that it would be very prudent for a small state like New Hampshire to wait and see what the other states would do. This was the argument which had the greatest weight.* The place of meeting was changed from Exeter, a stronghold of federalism, to Concord; and the adjournment was then carried by a slender majority.t

The assembly of Maryland, in November 1787, summoned its delegates to the federal convention to give them information of its proceedings; and Martin rehearsed to them and published to the world his three days' arraignment of that body for having exceeded its authority. He was answered by McHenry, who, by a concise analysis of the constitution, drew to himself the sympathy of his hearers. The legislature unanimously ordered a convention of the people of the state; it copied the example set by Virginia of leaving the door open for amendments; and by a majority of one the day for the choice and the day for the meeting of its convention were postponed till the next April.

The long delay gave opportunity for the cabalings of the anti-federalists of Virginia.# Richard Henry Lee was as zealous as ever; and Patrick Henry disseminated propositions for a southern confederacy; but Washington, who felt himself at home on the Maryland side of the Potomac, toiled fearlessly and faithfully, with Madison at his side, for the immediate and unconditioned ratification of the constitution by the South.

In the three months' interval before the election, the fields and forests and towns of Maryland were alive with thought; the merits of the constitution were scanned and sifted in every public meeting and at every hearth; and on the day in 1788 for choosing delegates, each voter, in designating the candidate of his preference, registered his own deliberate decision. In fifteen counties, and the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, there was no diversity of sentiment. Two counties only re

*

Report in the Mass. Spy, copied into Ind. Gazetteer of 9 April 1788.

Ind. Gazetteer, 17 March 1788.

Madison to Jefferson, 9 December 1787; Madison, i., 363, 364.

# Letters to Washington, iv., 196.

This is repeatedly told of Henry by Carrington. See also Madison, i., 365