57 votes for and 46 against the Constitution. This was the ninth ratification and made the Constitution valid in respect to the nine States. Virginia gave her approval after a protracted and bitter resistance, June 21, 89 yeas to 79 nays. New York, at the end of a long struggle, and more determined than that in Virginia, July 26, gave the narrow majority of three in a total vote of 57. To secure even this small majority, the friends of the Constitution were compelled to agree to a recommendation that a second Federal Convention should be called, to act upon the amendments that had been or should be proposed. This was the last ratification until the new government had been some months in operation. The first North Carolina Convention, by a decisive vote, refused to ratify until a second Federal Convention should be called; the second one, November 21, 1789, ratified by a majority of 11. The Rhode Island ratification was not given until May 29, 1790, and then only by a vote of 34 to 32. As rapidly as they were made, the ratifications were transmitted to Congress.

214. Washington and Ratification.— Washington expressed his views as to the scheme to defer ratification in the strongest terms. "Clear I am," said he, "if another Federal Convention is attempted, that the sentiments of the members will be more discordant or less accommodating than the last. In fine, they will agree on no general plan. General government is now suspended by a thread; I might go further and say it is at an end; and what will be the consequence of a fruitless attempt to amend the one which is offered before it is tried, or of the delay of the attempt, does not, in my opinion, need the gift of prophecy to predict. The Constitution or disunion is before us to choose from. If the first is our election, when the defects of it are experienced, a constitutional door is open for amendments, and may be adopted in a peaceable manner, without tumult or disorder." Moreover, the popular conviction that he was sure to be chosen to preside over the inauguration of the new government was a great factor. With hin the interests of the people would be safe. Monroe wrote to Jefferson, "Be assured Washington's influence carried this government."

215. Patrick Henry. This distinguished orator had refused a seat in the Federal Convention, but accepted one in the Virginia convention called to ratify it, where his course well illustrates the most

determined opposition that was made. "He could not endure," it has been said, "the thought of a government external to that of Virginia, and yet possessed of the power of direct taxation over the people of the State. He regarded with utter abhorrence the idea of laws binding the people of Virginia by the authority of the people of the United States; and thinking that he saw in the Constitution a purely national and consolidated government, and refusing to see the Federal principle which its advocates declared was incorporated in its system of representation, he shut his eyes resolutely upon all the evils and defects of the Confederation, and denounced the new plan as a monstrous departure from the only safe construction of a Union. He belonged, too, to that school of public men-some of whose principles in this respect it is vain to question-who considered a bill of rights essential in every republican government that is clothed with powers of direct legislation."

216. Foreshadowings of Political Parties.-In the conflict attending the establishment of the Constitution, the beginnings of the future political parties appeared. They arose out of the absorbing question of the times the expansion of the National Government. The names "National," pertaining to a nation, and "Federal," pertaining to a fœdus, federation, or league, justly describe the two parties that divided the country in 1787. These parties survived that struggle, although there was some changing of sides and of names. The Nationalists now assumed the name Federalists, because they favored the ratification of the Federal Constitution, and the Federalists became Anti-federalists, because opposed to such ratification. A few years later believers in loose-construction were called Federalists, while believers in strict-construction called themselves Republicans and Democratic-Republicans. Change of name did not imply a necessary change of principle. Hamilton and Madison were Nationalists in 1787, because they favored strengthening the Government; they were Federalists in 1788, because they favored ratifying the Federal Constitution; afterwards they separated, the first becoming a Federalist and the second a Democratic-Republican, because they did not agree as to the powers of the Government under the Constitution. Again, Patrick Henry was a Federalist in 1787, an Anti-federalist in 1788, and a Federalist again after the Government was put in operation.

217. Course of History Reviewed. In the preceding history two things stand out with prominence. One is that it was the ratifications of the State conventions, speaking the voice of the people, which gave the Constitution all its binding force. Or, as C.-J. Marshall said: "From these conventions the Constitution derives its whole author

1 Curtis: History of the Constitution, Vol. II., p. 554.

ity." The other is that the adoption of the Constitution and the inauguration of the new Government together composed a political revolution. The Articles of Confederation provided in express terms how the Government established in 1775, and confirmed in 1781, should be changed, and these provisions were disregarded in every particular. Thus the new order of things was a peaceful revolution enacted by the sovereign people.

NOTE.-Alexander Hamilton had been very influential in bringing about the Federal Convention of which he was also a member. Of all the members of that body, he believed in a strong government, but he cheerfully signed the Constitution on the ground that it was impossible to deliberate between anarchy on the one side, and the chance of good government on the other. The Convention over, Hamilton threw himself into the ratification struggle, and without him ratification would have failed in New York, and possibly in other States. He conceived the idea of a series of essays to explain to the public what the Constitution really was, and called to his side Jay and Madison to aid in its execution. These essays are collectively known as "The Federalist," of which he wrote much the larger number. They were widely published and read, and had great influence. "The Federalist" was projected for a temporary purpose, but it proved to be the best commentary on the Constitution ever written.

See Cooley: Principles of Constitutional Law, p. 16.

CHAPTER XI.

THE CONSTITUTION GOES INTO OPERATION.

REFERENCES.

Bancroft, Vol. VI. (Formation of the Federal Constitution, 5); Hildreth, Vol. III.; Pitkin, Chap. XX.; McMaster, Vol. I., Chap. VI.; Hart, Chap. VII.; Fiske, Critical Period of American History.

Annals of Congress, Vol. I.; Benton, Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, Vol. I.; Lanman, History of Congress, 1789 to 1793, Chap. I.; U. S. Statutes at Large.

218. Second Resolution of the Convention.-This related to putting the Constitution into operation, and was in these words:

"That it is the opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a day on which Electors should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the time and place for commencing proceedings under this Constitution. That after such publication, the electors should be appointed and the Senators and Representatives elected. That the Electors should meet on the day fixed for the election of the President, and should transmit their votes certified, signed, sealed, and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled; that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the time and place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a president of the Senate for the sole purpose of receiving, opening, and counting the votes for President, and that, after he shall be chosen,

the Congress, together with the President, should, without delay, proceed to execute this Constitution."

219. Action of Congress.-On July 2, 1788, the ratification of New Hampshire was received, and the President called the attention of Congress to the fact that this was the ninth ratification. Whereupon it was ordered: "That the ratifications of the Constitution of the United States, transmitted to Congress, be referred to a committee to examine the same, and report an act to Congress for putting the said Constitution into operation, in pursuance of the resolutions of the late Federal Convention." On the 14th of the same month the committee reported, and September 13th, Congress adopted the following resolution :

"That the first Wednesday in January next be the day for appointing electors in the several States, which, before the said day, shall have ratified the said Constitution; that the first Wednesday in February next be the day for the Electors to assemble in their respective States and vote for a President; and that the first Wednesday in March next be the time, and the present seat of Congress the place, for commencing the proceedings under the said Constitution."'"

220. Appointment of Presidential Electors.-The new Constitution said each State should appoint the number of Electors to which it was entitled, in such manner as the Legislature thereof might direct. Ten States proceeded on the day appointed, January 7, to discharge this duty. New York made no appointments, owing to a dispute between the two houses of the Legislature as to the manner in which it should be done; while Rhode Island and North Carolina had not ratified the Constitution, and so had no part in the first Presidential election.

221. First Meeting of the New Congress.-Even after the ratification of the Constitution by nine States,

1It happened that the first Wednesday in March, 1789, was the 4th of that month, which day has since marked the beginning of the successive administrations and Congresses, and since 1804 has been a part of the Constitution itself. (Amendment XII.) Congress was sitting in New York when the above action was taken, and it was there that the new Government was organized.