Chapter 31 2. Come out after a thousand calls

The accession of New Hampshire brought the states required to ratify the Federal Constitution to the required majority (9).The problem is that there are a lot of these 9 states, and they are not divided into two.Except for Pennsylvania, Massachusetts is heavily in debt, Connecticut is limited in scale, Maryland is doing its own thing, South Carolina is overwhelmed, New Jersey, Delaware, Georgia, and New Hampshire are all small states (5 small states and 4 join, it seems that the new constitution is really beneficial to small states ).Relying on these 9 states alone to form a federation, not only will there be no climate, but also the country will not look like it—New York has been left aside, and Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia are separated by Virginia and North Carolina.

What's more, the remaining 4 states are also extraordinary.Rhode Island may not matter, but North Carolina is the third largest state in terms of population and land.Virginia and New York are even more special in the Confederacy.These two states and Pennsylvania are not only the geographic center of the United States, but also its political and economic center.Without the accession of these two states, the Federation is still a castle in the air, and the Constitution is still a dead letter.It seems that the journey of a thousand miles is half nine hundred, this statement is not false at all.

However, after the nine states mentioned above ratified the constitution, the remaining four states were relatively passive.What's more, the approval of these 9 states is basically not too reluctant.Delaware, New Jersey, and Georgia passed unanimously, Connecticut, Maryland approved overwhelmingly, Pennsylvania and South Carolina also voted well, one was 46 to 23, the other was 149 to 73, and only Massachusetts and New Hampshire passed with a narrow majority .What is this indicating?Explain that the Constitution is still popular, although some people think that it is only popular with small states.

Now, it's up to Virginia and New York. As mentioned earlier, Virginia was the number one "superpower" in the Confederacy of America at that time, with the largest population, the second largest land area, and the longest history.Not only has he been the leader of the Confederacy for a long time, but also the leader of 13 states.The Constitutional Convention was initiated by Virginia.Now, the front-runners have become the laggards, which is really embarrassing. But the struggle within Virginia was fierce.Opposition leaders, primarily Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Mason who refused to sign at the Constitutional Convention.We talked about Richard Henry Reed in Chapter 2, Section 1. He was also an old revolutionist and signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.Patrilly Henry is even more famous.If Samuel Adams of Massachusetts is the "Father of the American Revolution", then Patrick Henry is the "Tongue of the American Revolution". In the spring of 1775, Patrick Henry delivered an immortal speech to the Virginia Assembly demanding immediate approval for the creation of a militia.Patrick Henry said the roar of weapons was about to reach our ears with gusts of north wind.Our brothers are already on their way to the battlefield, how can we stand by and do nothing?Three million armed soldiers and civilians will fight for freedom.Because for us, give me liberty or give me death!

Patrick Henry delivered this speech on March 23, nearly a month before the official start of the War of Independence (April 19).So he is an out-and-out "revolutionary pioneer".At this moment, he took the lead in opposing the constitution, and with the help of Richard Henry Lee and Mason, the natural offensive was fierce.The Federalists were originally weak, and Washington, which enjoyed high prestige among the people, did not participate in the congress that ratified the Constitution. It was not easy for Madison to fight alone. In the end, we can only know the stakes.What Virginia was most worried about was that the Union would use the federal government to harm the interests of the South.Madison had already considered this point.He opposed the Connecticut Compromise because the North already had the upper hand in the House of Representatives, which was apportioned according to population.If the Senate were to implement an equal vote system for each state, the North's advantage would be too great.Therefore, he advocated the implementation of a proportional system between the two houses, but the first house only counted free people according to the population ratio, and the second house also counted slaves, and it counted 100%.In this way, the North and the South each have an advantage in one house.What's more, the North has an advantage in the House of Representatives, but the South has an advantage in the Senate, and the South has an advantage.As for Virginia, it can have an advantage in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Madison played wishful thinking, but the final result made his dream come true.According to the current plan, the eight northern states have a total of 36 seats in the House of Representatives, while the five southern states have only 29 seats.Each state has 2 Senate seats, 16 in the North and 10 in the South.Both houses were dominated by the North.Although Virginia has the most seats in the House of Representatives (10 seats), it cannot "control" and cannot help the four "little brothers" in the South.Of course, the five southern states also have conflicts of interest.For example, Virginia was the largest slave state at the time, and Maryland also had many slaves.Slave population reproduction rate is high, both states need to resell surplus slaves to southern slave states (mainly South Carolina and Georgia), so they both want to cancel overseas slave trade, but have little interest in complete abolition of slavery .Those who raged against slavery were representatives of the North, such as Paterson in New Jersey, Goweno Morris in Pennsylvania, and Rufus King in Massachusetts.In order to control and sanction the South, Guweno Morris also had to face reality and turned to support the "evil principle" of equal seats in the Second House.

The southern states were at a disadvantage in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. As the leader of the Confederacy, Virginia, of course, refused to ratify the Constitution.To this end, Madison did a lot of persuasive work. He pointed out that in the competition between the north and the south, the west would be a balancing force.Because the Confederate Congress passed the Northwest Act in the middle of the Philadelphia Convention, many new States will appear in the west.The feeling and character of the new state was in favor of Virginia.Because the president needs to rely on the majority of the agricultural population in the election, he must give extra protection to the South and the West. What's more, it is Washington, a Virginian who is most likely to become the first president?

Madison's work convinced some, and Randolph's counterattack helped him a lot.Randolph refused to sign the Constitution, and everyone regarded him as the opposition.Unexpectedly, it was Randolph who gave Patrick Henry a blow to the head.As soon as the Virginia Convention began, Patrick Henry attacked, pointing out that the Philadelphia Convention had no right to make a constitution, and questioning why the Constitution used the name "We the People of the United States" instead of "Our 13 States."Randolph immediately spoke, saying that the Philadelphia Conference had indeed exceeded its authority, but there was no other way out.He also said, what's wrong with using the name "We the People of the United States"?Isn't the new government just serving the people?

Randolph's attitude left many dumbfounded.Afterwards, some people said that this was because Washington bought Randolph (in fact, Washington later appointed him as the first federal inspector general).Of course, there is no real evidence for this matter, but the opposition has also suffered a lot from this, and finally had to retreat to the next best thing, hoping to obtain additional protection through amendments.As a result, Virginia ratified the Constitution by an 89-79 majority on June 26, 1788, provided the Federalists promised to add a Bill of Rights. On July 2, Cyrus Griffin (Virginia), President of the Convention of the Confederation, announced the entry into force of the Constitution and started the procedure for the transfer of power at the same time.

Hamilton and John Jay were ecstatic at the news.For they met with the fiercest opposition in New York.We have said before that New York was, after Rhode Island, the most opposed state to the Philadelphia Conference.Later, although a representative was sent reluctantly, the power of attorney signed by the administrator was dated "May 9, the eleventh year of New York's independence", and the meaning could not be more clear.Of the three representatives sent there, two were dedicated to singing the opposite tune, and the last one left, and naturally they would not sing praises when they came back.These two representatives, one is the chief justice of the New York Supreme Court (Yats), the other is the mayor of Albany, the capital of New York (Lan Xin), and the chief executive, George Clinton (who is also the Chairman of the New York Congress), where is the "junior" Hamilton their opponent?Even with Confederate Foreign Minister John Jay, I'm afraid it won't work.Hamilton himself said that the opposition had a 2/3 advantage, and the Federalists had only 19 people, and they were almost doomed.

Hamilton and the others decided to adopt a "dragging strategy" and delay for a while.They therefore proposed that all men of full age in the state should be elected to the Ratification Council, and that there should be no property qualifications.After such a delay, it was delayed until June 17, 1788. Eight states had ratified the constitution, and New York discussed the constitution one by one.There are also two purposes: one is to allow New Hampshire and Virginia to pass the constitution first; the other is that if the session is long, the representatives of the rural opposition will leave early. But when news of the ratification of the Constitution by New Hampshire and Virginia reached New York, the Federalists stopped delaying and demanded an immediate decision.They also prepared two hands at the same time: one is to propose another national convention to amend the currently adopted constitution, which is to appease the opposition; the other is to warn the opposition that if the constitution cannot be ratified, New York City, controlled by the Federalists, will be destroyed. join the federation individually.The people of New York City who supported the constitution even held a parade to celebrate the victory of the constitution on July 23 (because 10 states had ratified it by then).The marchers specially made a victory ship with wheels.On Broadway, the name of the ship is called "Hamilton". Now the opposition couldn't stand it anymore. On July 26, the New York Congress approved the constitution by a slim majority of 30 to 27.In November of the same year, the states that ratified the Constitution began to elect federal congressmen and presidential electors.On February 4 of the following year (1789), the election of the president began. On the evening of March 3, the New York militia fired a salute at the fort located at the southern tip of Manhattan to bid farewell to the old Confederate system.The next day (March 4), all the church bells in New York City rang together, together with the rumbling salute, announcing the official entry into force of the new constitution and the official birth of the new country. Now only North Carolina and Rhode Island are left to fight.But the two states also have their own personalities.North Carolina has always insisted on adding a Bill of Rights before ratifying the Constitution.And by an overwhelming majority of 184 to 83, it decided to postpone the ratification, and at the same time announced an indefinite adjournment.It wasn't until the first Congress passed the Bill of Rights in 1789 and sent it to the states that North Carolina ratified the Constitution in November of that year. Rhode Island's approval was delayed until May 1790, and it was literally a toast without eating and fine wine.On the one hand, the Federal Senate passed the Joint Sanctions Act, which banned Rhode Island from maritime and land trade with the United States, and also required the state to repay the national debt within a time limit.On the other hand, businessmen in Providence, Newport and other seaside towns controlled by the Federalists also said that if the constitution was not ratified, they would secede from the state.Rhode Island passed the Federal Constitution with a 34 to 32 majority in the absence of opposition representatives, and became the last state to join the Federation on May 29, 1790 (see the above process and reasons. Chu Leping, "A History of the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution").