The first snow of the year has arrived. It’s not accumulating at all, but I can see the flurries fall as the evening matures. Our winter has started off much milder than last year’s version, but it’s just started, so there’s a long way to go.
I wanted to briefly mention the Philadelphia Convention this evening. No, not that Convention, as we’ve discussed it quite a bit this year (and will visit it several more times in the future). The convention I want to discuss is the one that took place after that one.
As you might recall from previous readings, the Pennsylvania legislature was meeting upstairs during the final weeks of the Constitutional Convention. And while the discussions downstairs were held in secret, there is little doubt that a bundle of rumor, a boatload of speculation, and maybe even a fact or two made its way to the second floor of Independence Hall.
And the close proximity of the two gathering bodies meant that the Pennsylvania legislature would see the finished product first once ratification was complete. Indeed, just two days after business was completed, the Pennsylvania Packet published as its only news item the entire Constitution, printed in four pages. And the state legislature got its first exposure a day earlier, as Thomas Mifflin (a Convention delegate) took to the floor and read the Constitution aloud.
To say eyebrows were raised would be to grossly understate the reaction…and with good reason. Pennsylvania’s own Constitution was altogether different, calling for a one-chamber legislature, elections every year, and a President chosen by the legislative body. And since 1776, the system had been in place. And since July of 1787, rumor had been swirling that drastic changes were coming. In the eyes of many statesmen, Mifflin’s reading confirmed the worst.
The call by supporters of the “new” Constitution for a ratification convention was met with shock and dismay by supporters of the “old”. For weeks, the arguments back and forth continued, both in the newspapers and in the courts of public opinion. James Wilson, another the delegates and one of the unsung (and unknown) heroes of the Convention, worked tirelessly in support of innovation (there’s that word again), but met with heavy opposition. Congress (the big one created under the Articles of Confederation) called for state conventions just eight days after the Constitutional Convention ended, giving rise to fears that things were simply moving too quickly.
It took a couple of weeks for the vote to take place, and the tactics used by each side were both alarming and somewhat comical (and have a place on next year’s schedule), but it finally passed…Pennsylvania’s legislature would meet to determine the new Constitution’s fate in their state. And on November 30, 1787, the Philadelphia legislature gathered for its convention. And while the body would meet for five weeks, it would require less than two of them to render a verdict on the Constitution.
Another great post! marcia is working her way through Pauline Maier’s latest book on exactly this topic, Ratification. From what she has told me, the Federalists in PA did not necessarily acquit themselves terribly well. They apparently ramrodded things through, and raised the ire of the opposition. This heavy-handedness had the result of energizing the anti-Federalists in other States.