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."

Boston proceeded to celebrate as Philadelphia, and Benjamin Lincoln
wrote to Washington, on the 9th of February, enclosing an extract from
the local paper describing the event:

"By the paper your Excellency will observe some account of the parade
of the Eighth the printer had by no means time eno' to do justice to
the subject. To give you some idea how far he has been deficient I will
mention an observation I heard made by a Lady the last evening who saw
the whole that the description in the paper would no more compare with
the original than the light of the faintest star would with that of the
Sun fortunately for us the whole ended without the least disorder
and the town during the whole evening was, so far as I could observe
perfectly quiet."*

*Documentary History, vol. IV, pp. 488-490.

He added another paragraph which he later struck out as being of little
importance; but it throws an interesting sidelight upon the customs of
the time.

"The Gentlemen provided at Faneul Hall some biscuit & cheese four qr
Casks of wine three barrels & two hogs of punch the moment they found
that the people had drank sufficiently means were taken to overset the
two hogspunch this being done the company dispersed and the day ended
most agreeably"*

* Ibid.

Maryland came next. When the Federal Convention was breaking up, Luther
Martin was speaking of the new system of government to his colleague,
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, and exclaimed: "I'll be hanged if ever
the people of Maryland agree to it!" To which his colleague retorted:
"I advise you to stay in Philadelphia, lest you should be hanged." And
Jenifer proved to be right, for in Maryland the Federalists obtained
control of the convention and, by a vote of 63 to 11, ratified the
Constitution on the 26th of April.

In South Carolina, which was the Southern State next in importance to
Virginia, the compromise on the slave trade proved to be one of the
deciding factors in determining public opinion. When the elections were
held, they resulted in an overwhelming majority for the Federalists, so
that after a session of less than two weeks the convention ratified the
Constitution, on the 28th of May, by a vote of over two to one.

The only apparent setback which the adoption of the Constitution had
thus far