"The ayes and noes being called for by Mr. Bland, seconded by Mr. Turberville— "The names of those who voted in the affirmative are: Francis Walker, Zachariah Johnson, John Tate, Joseph Swearingen, Martin McFerran, Lawr. Battaile, Roger West, David Stuart, John Shearman Woodcock, Thomas Smith, Geo. Clendennin, Daniel Fisher, Hezekiah Davison, Wm. Heath, Dan'l Brodhead, Larkin Smith, Wm. Thornton, Daniel Fitzhugh, Bernard Moore, Thos. Pinkard, Levin Powell, Richard Bland Lee, Wm. Overton Callis, Richard Morris, James Knox, Sam'l Taylor, Francis Corbin, Ralph Wormley, Thomas Laidley, Willis Wilson, Hardin Burnley, Jonathan Parsons, John Elliott, George Lee Turberville, Francis Kertley, Geo. Baxter, William Stuart, James Wilkinson, and John Allen. "The names of those who voted in the negative are: Jabez Pitt, Edmund Custis, Davis Booker, Peter Randolph, William Cabell, Samuel Jordan Cabell, John Trigg, Thomas Leftwich, James Barnett, Henry Lee, Notlay Conn, Binns Jones, Andrew Meade, Thomas Anderson, John Clarke, John Hunter, Anthony New, Thomas Bedford, John B. Scott, Henry Southall, Benjamin Harrison, Matthew Cheatham, George Markham, French Strother, John Early, George Pegram, Robert Bolling Jr., George Booker, James Upshaw, John McDowell, James Trotter, Elias Edmonds, John Thompson, William Payne, Joel Early, Joshua Rentfro, John Guerrant, Batt Peterson, Thomas Watkins, Thomas Macon, John Garland, Miles Selden, Nathaniel Wilkinson, Thomas Cooper, Abraham Penn, John Green Clay, Thomas Kennedy, Alexander Robinson, Richard Kennon, Lewis Burwell, Daniel Trigg, John Dandridge, William McClung, Henry Guy, William Nutt, Abraham Beacham, Benjamin Lankford, Patrick Henry, Tarlton Woodson, Theoderick Bland, Cuthbert Bullitt, William Grayson, Thomas Kemp, William McKee, Charles Campbell, Andrew Cowen, Thomas Carter, James Monroe, John Dawson, Lemuel Cocke, John Howell Briggs, Thomas Edmunds, Thomas West, John S. Lanhorne, Samuel Edmiston, John Lowry, Richard Lee and Robert Shield. "And then the main question being put, that the House do agree with the committee of the whole House, in the said resolutions; "It was resolved in the affirmative. "Ordered, That a committee be appointed pursuant to the said resolutions; and that Messrs. Briggs, Henry, Benjamin Harrison, Grayson, Bullitt, William Cabell, Selden, Monroe, Bland, Dawson, Strother, John B. Scott and Roane be of the said committee." Here is revealed a most singular and instructive fact, in connection with ratification in Virginia, and discloses the true temper of the popular mind in reference to that momentous event. It will be perceived, by an inspection of the foregoing extract of the Journal, that the Federalists and Democrats divided by a distinct line, the latter calling for another Convention to make another Constitution, but the former proposing to preserve it, and yet cure its admitted defects by amendments. The majority in favor of setting aside the new government, before even it was installed, was, notwithstanding the restricted suffrage, and the partial representation which prevailed, as great as forty-six. Jefferson wrote to Short, that the Assembly was possessed "by a vast majority of anti-Federalists, and that Henry was supreme." In respect to the party line, he says: "The friends of the new government will oppose the method of amendment by a federal convention, which would subject the whole instrument to change, and they will support the other method, which admits Congress, by a vote of two-thirds, to submit specific changes to the Assemblies, three-fourths of whom must concur, to establish them." Are we to measure the popularity of the Constitution by this vote? What interpretation shall be put upon it? The members which composed the popular branch of the legislature n '88 had been elected in the previous April, a month after the members of the Convention had been chosen. They must have been selected with reference to their opinions about the new Constitution, for that was the absorbing topic. If we judge, then, the politics of the members of the Convention, as they were supposed to be at the time of the election, by the politics of the popular branch of the legislature, the list of those who changed sides in the Convention, must be greatly enlarged. But if we adhere to the idea that parties in the Convention were more nearly balanced, and that the defection of Randolph and "the few" who were influenced by him cast the scale in favor of the Federalists, the proceedings in the legislature are nevertheless significant of the disposition of the people. The legislature held a short session, beginning the 23d of June, two days before the Convention adjourned, and after transacting business of an ordinary character, the members "hurried home," as we are told, " to gather in their harvests." But that short visit to their constituents appears to have instilled into the minds of a great majority of them a most determined opposition to the Constitution, which had just been accepted by the Convention. The legislature convened again in the month of October, at which time the proceedings above quoted transpired. It will be observed, by comparing the votes given on the two occasions that several members who had voted for ratification, now gave their votes for calling a Convention to make another Constitution, and for undoing the work which they had but just assisted to accomplish. The means which had been adopted to stifle their voice in the Convention created, no doubt, great indignation in the particular constituencies which had been misrepresented, and produced a strong general revulsion against the new government. I have but little doubt, owing to the operation of this cause, that the enemies of the Constitution had been multiplied, and that that which was unpopular in spring had become odious in autumn. APPENDIX II. I insert here the counties represented in the Convention, together with the names of the delegates from each county, taken from a printed copy of the Journal of the Convention, to be found in the State library : DELEGATES Returned to serve in Convention, March, 1788. . Robert Alexander,* Edmund Winston.* Notley Conn, one of the delegates from Bourbon, I do not find to have voted on the Constitution; yet he was a Democrat, judging his politics by those of his colleague. He may have dodged in June, but he stood out in October for a new Convention. Nor do I find any trace whatever of Thomas Pierce's vote. If, like Conn, he was a Democrat, who, if present, would have voted against ratification, the majority for ratification, on the test vote, would have been reduced to six votes-to three delegates. COUNTIES. Caroline, Charles City, Cumberland, Culpeper, Dinwiddie, Elizabeth City, Essex, Fairfax, Fayette, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Franklin, Gloucester, Goochland, Greenbrier, Greenesville, Halifax, Hanover, Hardy, Henrico, Henry, Isle of Wight, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Loudoun, Louisa, Lunenburg, Lincoln, DELEGATES. * Hon. Edmund Pendleton, James Taylor. * Isaac Coles, George Carrington.* Andrew Woodrow, Ralph Humphreys. Isaac Vanmiter, Abel Seymour. His Exc'y Gov. Randolph, John Marshall. Thomas Pierce, James Johnson. Nathaniel Burwell, Robert Andrews. Jonathan Patteson,* Christopher Robertson.* |