July 23, 1787: Ratification

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney by James Sharples, c. 1795-1800

Independence National Historical Park

"General Pinckney reminded the Convention, that if the Committee should fail to insert some security to the Southern States against an emancipation of slaves, and taxes on exports, he should be bound by duty to his State to vote against their report."

--James Madison's notes

Monday, July 23, 1787: The Convention Today

New Hampshire’s only delegates, Nicholas Gilman and John Langdon, arrived for the first time today, two months after the Convention began.

Unanimously and without debate, the Convention resolved that the Constitution would be amendable.

The next resolution, requiring all members of the states’ legislative, executive, and judicial branches to swear an oath of allegiance to the United States Constitution, required discussion. Gerry (MA) motioned an amendment to the resolution, adding that national officials should take the same oath.

Williamson (NC) wanted officers of the national government to take a corresponding oath to support the states’ governments.

Wilson (PA) thought oaths were ineffective. “A good government did not need them, and a bad one could not or ought not to be supported.” Gorham (MA) agreed.

Gerry lamented that government officers had in the past failed to think of the national government and state governments as part of a “general system, and had, in all cases of interference given a preference to the State Governments. The proposed oath will cure that error.”

The resolution and Gerry’s amendment both passed unanimously.

Ellsworth (CT) moved, and Paterson (NJ) seconded, that the Constitution should require ratification by the states’ legislatures.

Mason (VA) thought this violated the principle of the Constitution deriving its authority directly from the people. If a legislature could ratify the Constitution, a succeeding legislature could theoretically undo the ratification. Finally, he thought some states, including his own, had governments that were “not derived from the clear and undisputed authority of the people,” which would make a ratification by state legislature less legitimate. Randolph (VA) made a similar argument.

Gerry said referring the Constitution directly to the people would cause “great confusion.” He wanted the ratification to happen through the amendment process described in the Articles of Confederation.

Gorham thought this was a terrible idea, since amendments to the Articles of Confederation required the unanimous approval of the states. He despised the thought of one or two ill-intentioned states (specifically mentioning Rhode Island and New York) causing the Constitution to fail while all the others ratified it. Gouverneur Morris (PA) thought the entire Convention existed outside of the framework of the Articles of Confederation, and therefore the Articles’ amendment process didn’t apply.

Williamson (NC) suggested that the states could hold conventions to decide whether to ratify. King (MA) and Madison (VA) liked that idea. Madison thought “the difference between a system founded on the Legislatures only, and one founded on the people, to be the true difference between a league or treaty, and a Constitution.” Under a treaty, if one party violates a term, the other parties no longer must abide by the treaty. A constitution was more binding and permanent.

Ellsworth’s motion to refer the Constitution to the state legislatures failed, 3–7, with only Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware in support.

Gouverneur Morris motioned for a national convention, with members elected by the people, to consider ratification. No one seconded.

The Convention then voted 9–1 (only Delaware opposed) to have the Constitution be ratified by conventions held in the states.

G. Morris moved for each state to get three Senators in the second house of the legislature. After some quibbling, the states decided 9–1 (only Pennsylvania opposed) that each state would have two Senators.

Luther Martin (MD) proposed that Senators not vote “per capita,” meaning that in the Senate each state would have one vote that would be determined by the concurrence of its Senators. L. Martin’s proposal failed, with only Maryland supporting it.

Gerry moved “that the proceedings of the Convention for the establishment of a National Government (except the part relating to the Executive) be referred to a Committee to prepare and report a Constitution conformable thereto.” The motion passed unanimously. The Convention decided that the committee would have five members who would be chosen the next day.

Synopsis

• Delegates from New Hampshire arrived for the first time.
• The Convention unanimously agreed that the Constitution would be amendable and that state and federal officers would swear an oath of allegiance to the United States Constitution.
• After much debate over how the Constitution should be ratified, it was decided that state conventions would decide whether the Constitution should go into effect.
• A committee of five members was created to draft the Constitution.

Delegates Today

• Washington (VA) dined at Robert Morris's (PA), then called upon Elizabeth Willing Powel in his carriage and escorted her to Governor Penn's country seat, Lansdowne, for tea.

Philadelphia Today

• State Treasurer David Rittenhouse paid Comptroller General John Nicholson 120 shillings “to defray the Contingent Expenses of his office including fire wood for the Guards, oil and so forth for the Guard Room.” These state-employed guards were probably the sentries guarding the Convention.
• Charitable organization The Sons of St. George held their quarterly meeting at City Tavern. A slate of 27 prospective members was presented for consideration, including Benjamin Franklin (PA), his grandson Temple Franklin, painter Robert Edge Pine, and Convention Secretary William Jackson.