FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140  
141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  
the State of Connecticut_, we, the delegates of _the people of the said State_, in General Convention assembled, pursuant to an act of the Legislature in October last ... do assent to, ratify, and adopt the Constitution reported by the Convention of delegates in Philadelphia." In Massachusetts there was a sharp contest. The people of that State were then--as for a long time afterward--exceedingly tenacious of their State independence and sovereignty. The proposed Constitution was subjected to a close, critical, and rigorous examination with reference to its bearing upon this very point. The Convention was a large one, and some of its leading members were very distrustful of the instrument under their consideration. It was ultimately adopted by a very close vote (187 to 168), and then only as accompanied by certain proposed amendments, the object of which was to guard more expressly against any sacrifice or compromise of State sovereignty, and under an assurance, given by the advocates of the Constitution, of the certainty that those amendments would be adopted. The most strenuously urged of these was that ultimately adopted (in substance) as the tenth amendment to the Constitution, which was intended to take the place of the second Article of Confederation, as an emphatic assertion of the continued freedom, sovereignty, and independence of the States. This will be considered more particularly hereafter. In terms substantially identical with those employed by the other States, Massachusetts thus announced her ratification: "In convention of the delegates of _the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts_, 1788. The Convention having impartially discussed and fully considered the Constitution for the United States of America, reported [etc.] ... do, in the name and in behalf of _the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts_, assent to and ratify the said Constitution for the United States of America." This was accomplished on February 7, 1788. Maryland followed on the 28th of April, and South Carolina on the 23d of May, in equivalent expressions, the ratification of the former being made by "the delegates of _the people of Maryland_," speaking, as they declared, for ourselves, and in the name and on the behalf of _the people of this State_; that of the latter, "in convention of _the people of the State of South Carolina_, by their representatives, ... in the name and behalf of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140  
141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
people
 

Constitution

 

Massachusetts

 
delegates
 

States

 

Convention

 

sovereignty

 

behalf

 

adopted

 

ultimately


United

 
America
 

Maryland

 
Carolina
 
Commonwealth
 

convention

 

proposed

 

considered

 

ratification

 

amendments


ratify

 

assent

 

reported

 

independence

 

announced

 
discussed
 

impartially

 

October

 

identical

 

continued


freedom

 

assertion

 
emphatic
 

Confederation

 

substantially

 

employed

 

expressions

 

equivalent

 

speaking

 

representatives


declared
 
Connecticut
 

assembled

 

accomplished

 

pursuant

 
Article
 

General

 
February
 
Legislature
 

consideration