THE NORTH CAROLINA AMENDMENTS. 183 in Congress were instructed to demand that the Constitution should be so amended that Congress should not exercise any authority over the election of Senators or Representatives unless the legislature of a State should fail to provide for the election;1 that neither directly nor indirectly should Congress interfere with any one of the States in the redemption of paper money already emitted and in circulation, or in liquidating the public credits of any State, but that each should have the exclusive right of making such laws for the purpose as it should think proper.2 Members of either House of Congress should be ineligible to hold any federal office during their term.3 The journals of the two Houses should be published at least once a year, excepting such parts as in their judgment required secrecy, and at least once in every year should a regular statement be published of the receipts and expenditures of the general government. No navigation law or one regulating commerce should be passed without the consent of two-thirds of the members present in both Houses. No soldier should be enlisted for a longer term than four years, except in time of war, and then for no longer term than its continuance, and finally that some tribunal other than the Senate should be provided for the trying of impeachments of senators. These amendments are of interest chiefly because they formulate quite accurately the political platform on which the AntiFederalists stood at this time, and which, with modifica 6 1 No. XVII of the Amendments of 1788. • No. VIII of the Amendments of 1788. 8 184 THE SECOND NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION. tions, became a part of the political creed of that great party which Jefferson organized in the closing years of the eighteenth century. Though our knowledge of the proceedings in the second North Carolina Convention is incomplete the correspondence of the times leads us to believe that the opposition to the Constitution in 1789, was tedious and trifling, rather than reasonable, as is shown by the conduct of the minority in walking out of the Hall when the vote on ratification was made known.1 The change in public sentiment in the State was largely due to the remarkable influence of James Iredell. His extraordinary service to the Union was speedily recognized by his appointment, while yet under forty years of age, as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.3 The intensity of feeling which prevailed in North Carolina at this time is hinted at in a letter of Richard Dobbs Spaight to Iredell, that the ratification marked the dissolution of the clouds of ignorance and villainy which had overhung the State. With the accession of North Carolina to the Union, the fortunes of all the southern States were identified with it. Washington spoke words, whose meaning was deeper than those of ordinary compliment, when, early in the new year," he congratulated the two Houses of Congress on the action of North Carolina, and on the favorable prospect of public affairs which it opened up. Had he chosen, he might have added that on the twenty 1 Maclaine to Iredell, November 26, 1789; McRee's Iredell, II, 273. 2 Charles Johnson (Speaker of the Senate and Vice-President of the Convention of 1789) to Iredell, November 23, 1789; Id., 273. 3 His commission bears date, February 10, 1790. 4 Spaight to Iredell, November 26, 1789; Ib. 5 January 8, 1790; Sparks, XII, 7. SENTIMENT IN RHODE ISLAND. 185 second of December, the State had ratified the twelve amendments which Congress had submitted, and that the principal objections which it had once raised to the Constitution were thereby removed.1 When North Carolina ratified the Constitution, the Congressional amendments had been before the States for nearly two months, and, excepting the second article, had been approved by New Jersey the day before. Maryland approved on the nineteenth of December, and North Carolina three days later. South Carolina, New Hampshire and Delaware followed in January;2 and Pennsylvania and New York in March.3 Meanwhile the people of Rhode Island had been agitating ratification. In the Federal Convention, Rhode Island had been treated as if present, and no word had been spoken which intimated any hostility toward her. Upon the receipt of the Constitution, the assembly caused copies to be sent to each of the twenty-nine towns in the State that the people might consider it in their townmeetings. While it was agreed by a large majority that the Constitution should thus be submitted to a popular vote, yet the assembly refused to call a convention. The town of Little Compton instructed its members of assembly to demand a convention, and similar instructions 1 For the ratification of the amendments see Documentary History, III, 335. 2 South Carolina agreed to all; New Hampshire rejected the second, and Delaware the first. 3 Pennsylvania agreed to all except the first, and New York to all except the second. 4 The action of Rhode Island respecting the Constitution is related in Staple's Rhode Island in the Continental Congress, which also reprints all that is preserved of the minutes of the Newport Convention. 5 Forty-three to 15. • Thirty-six nays to 16 ayes. 186 STATE OF PARTIES. came up from Newport, Providence and Bristol. Most of the Federalists refused to vote and out of a total registration of nearly forty-five hundred, only two hundred and thirty-seven votes were cast in favor of the Constitution, while two thousand seven hundred and eight were cast against it. The refusal of the Federalists to participate in the election was inspired by their belief that the assembly had not submitted the Constitution in a proper manner. The State was divided into hostile factions, the country against the town; the rural districts against Newport, Bristol and Providence. Indeed, the people of Providence could scarcely restrain their wrath at the conduct of the assembly, and on the fourth of July, they celebrated the adoption of the Constitution with all the zeal shown by the people of Philadelphia. Though an Anti-Federalist mob, among whose leaders was one of the judges of the State, attempted to break up the rejoicings at Providence, the Federalists treated the interruption with such civility that most of the rioters, shamed into decency, retired and slunk out of sight.2 Though nine States had now ratified, and the Congress of the Confederacy had ceased to maintain a quorum, indeed, had ceased to exist, the people in Rhode Island, in their general election in May, 1789, chose five delegates as usual, as if the Confederation was still in being. Clinton's circular letter was submitted by the assembly to the towns in October following its appearance, but they took no special action. Indeed, before December, 1788, eight towns had instructed their assemblymen to demand a convention. A fifth effort, therefore, was made by the 1 Staples, 589; the names of all persons who voted are given on p. 591, et seq. 2 See the account from the Gazette and Chronicle in Staples, 609-611. ENEMIES OF THE CONSTITUTION. 187 friends of the Constitution in the assembly, in March following, to call one, but was unsuccessful.1 About five hundred citizens of Providence signed a petition demanding a convention and sent it to the assembly at its June session, but the effort was again defeated.2 The opponents of the Constitution, at the special session in September, wished to submit the question to the towns whether their delegates in the assembly should call a convention, but this was only for the purpose of delay, for it was at this session that Governor Collins, at the direction of the assembly, sent a letter to the President and Congress explaining the refusal of the State to ratify; that it was chiefly because the Constitution too strongly resembled the British Constitution, and because the State was waiting to see the proposed system organized and in operation and also what further checks and guards would be established by way of amendments before it ratified.3 It was this apologetic letter which drew forth from Washington the severe judgment, that there would be no doubt of the accession of Rhode Island had not the majority of its people "bid adieu long since to every principle of honor, common sense and honesty," but he was cheered by the prospect of a better disposition in the Rhode Island assembly at its next session, for it was said that a material change had taken place at its late election of representatives. The act of Congress, regulating the tonnage duties, contained a special exemption extending to ships and vessels wholly owned by citizens of Rhode Island and North Carolina, but the exemption expired on the 1 Thirty-seven nays to 19 ayes. 2 Thirty-two to 22. 3 The letter is given in Sparks, X, 487. + Washington to Gouverneur Morris, October 13, 1789; Sparks, |