Madison's Music by Burt Neuborne Read Free Book Online Page A

required unanimous consent, the 1787 Constitution required ratification by only nine states to become effective, at least within the territory of the ratifying states. Because two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina, openly opposed the new constitution (Rhode Island refused to call a ratifying convention; North Carolina held a convention and overwhelmingly rejected it), the ratification math was harder than it first appeared; approval by nine of the eleven states in play was needed. The Founders didn’t trust either an up-or-down popular vote on ratification in each state or ratification by the state legislatures. Instead, they insisted on state ratifying conventions with delegates often elected from malapportioned districts. The slice of the populationthat elected the delegates excluded women, members of racial minorities, and white men who didn’t have enough money to meet each state’s property qualifications for voting. While a few states relaxed property qualifications somewhat to permit broader white male participation in the ratification process, there was no thought of permitting women, African Americans, or Native Americans to vote. The closest thing to a feminist consciousness was Abigail Adams’s plaintive plea to her husband, John, “not to forget the ladies.”
    When the proposed new constitution was presented to the Confederation Congress (which served under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to 1789 and had issued the call for amendments to the Articles in the first place), the Confederation Congress declined to endorse it, in part because many members believed that the delegates had exceeded their authority by drafting an entirely new constitution instead of amending the Articles of Confederation. The best the Founders could do was to obtain unanimous consent from the Congress to submit the new draft constitution to the states for possible ratification, without an endorsement. Opponents of ratification, calling themselves Anti-Federalists, viewed the new constitution as a threat to individual freedom. A strong national government, they feared, would be controlled by men like Alexander Hamilton, who favored industry and manufacture over an Arcadian vision of citizen farmers. The failure to provide for a bill of rights became a rallying point for the Anti-Federalists, who argued that the powers granted to the national government by the new constitution were too dangerous unless they were constrained by a written list of rights.
    The new constitution’s supporters, calling themselves Federalists, led by Hamilton, Madison, and John Jay, answered that the twin structural protections of federalism and separation of powers would be much more effective in preserving freedom than any “parchment barriers.” In the end, facing likely defeat in the ratification process, the Federalists promised to amend the new constitution by adding a Bill of Rights as soon as it was ratified.
    Even with the promise, it was a close thing. Five states, Delaware (December 7, 1787), Pennsylvania (December 12), New Jersey (December 18), Georgia (January 2, 1788), and Connecticut (January 8), quickly ratified by comfortable margins, although the debate in Pennsylvania, which ratified by a vote of 46–23, was fierce and was marred by resort to mob violence aimed at compelling dissenting members of the state legislature to attend the legislative session calling for a ratifying convention. The dissenters had stayed away hoping to prevent a quorum. The next state up, Massachusetts, was a battleground, eventually ratifying by a vote of 187–168 on February 5, 1788, but only after the Federalists promised to enact a Bill of Rights and submit a series of proposed amendments. On February 13, facing almost certain defeat in New Hampshire, the Federalists engineered a vote of 56–51 to adjourn the ratifying convention to allow the delegates to seek guidance from their constituents. It was a