Virginia Ratifying Convention
The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, which had been drafted at the Philadelphia Convention the previous year.
The Convention met and deliberated from June 2 through June 27 in Richmond at the Richmond Theatre, presently the site of Monumental Church. Judge Edmund Pendleton, Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention, served as the convention's president by unanimous consent.
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Division
Delegates in favor of ratification (Federalists) were led by James Madison, who had been a driving force behind the framing of the new Constitution. Other notable Federalists included Pendleton, George Wythe, chair of the Rules Committee at the Constitutional Convention, William Overton Callis and John Marshall. Though George Washington did not attend the Convention, he was a prolific letter writer during this time, and messengers carried his communications to Richmond. As a delegate from Virginia to the Philadelphia Convention, Edmund Randolph refused to sign the proposed constitution, and wrote about his anti-federalist objections but by the time of the Richmond meeting, he argued that the need for union outweighed any defects.[2]
Opposing them were Patrick Henry, George Mason, William Grayson, James Monroe, John Taylor of Caroline, Benjamin Harrison V and other Anti-Federalists, who believed that the Constitution created a central government that was too powerful. Henry, the leader of this faction, opposed allowing the new central government to directly tax citizens of the various states, and he feared that the newly created office of President of the United States would become far too powerful. He pointedly made references to a potential future Oliver Cromwell.
Debate
A major issue during the Virginia Ratification Convention was the question of individual rights. Many delegates who were generally in favor of the Constitution were concerned that it did not contain a list of guaranteed rights akin to the celebrated Virginia Declaration of Rights. George Mason argued for the addition of a bill of rights, among other modifications.
On June 25, the convention ratified the Constitution by a narrow vote of 89 to 79.
The convention recommended the addition of a bill of rights, but did not make ratification contingent upon it.[3]
Many of the ideas presented during this convention were later incorporated into the United States Bill of Rights. James Madison, elected to Congress from his home district was a floor leader in the first session of the First Congress. Madison rewrote the various state proposals into twelve proposals from Congress as amended, sent to the States for ratification by three-fourths of them.
Outcome
Virginia was the tenth state to ratify the new Constitution. New York followed a month later on July 26, 1788. The new government began operating with eleven states on March 4, 1789.
Patrick Henry's hostility to the government under the Constitution was so strong that he subsequently refused to join it, turning down offers to serve as United States Secretary of State and as a justice of the United States Supreme Court. His control of the Virginia legislature enabled his partisans to elect the only two Anti-Federalist U.S. Senators in the First Congress.
List of delegates and votes on ratification
The following list is of the delegates to the Virginia ratifying convention and their vote on ratification.[4][5] A total of 170 delegates were elected. Of these, 168 voted on ratification: 89 for, 79 against.[5] The delegates included representatives from modern-day Kentucky and West Virginia, which were part of Virginia at the time.
| County/City | Name | Vote on Ratification |
|---|---|---|
| Accomac | Edmund Curtis | No |
| Accomac | George Parker | Yes |
| Albemarle | George Nicolas | Yes |
| Albemarle | Wilson Cary Nicolas | Yes |
| Amelia | John Pride | No |
| Amelia | Edmund Booker | No |
| Amherst | William Cabell | No |
| Amherst | Samuel Jordan Cabell | No |
| Augusta | Zachariah Johnston | Yes |
| Augusta | Archibald Stuart | Yes |
| Bedford | John Trigg | No |
| Bedford | Charles Clay | No |
| Berkeley | William Darke (or Dark) | Yes |
| Berkeley | Adam Stephen | Yes |
| Botetourt | William Fleming | Yes |
| Botetourt | Martin M'Ferran (or McFerran) | Yes |
| Bourbon | Henry Lee (of Bourbon) | No |
| Bourbon | Notley Conn | Did not vote[6] |
| Brunswick | John Jones | No |
| Brunswick | Binns Jones | No |
| Buckingham | Charles Patteson | No |
| Buckingham | David Bell | No |
| Campbell | Robert Alexander | No |
| Campbell | Edmund Winston | No |
| Caroline | Hon. Edmund Pendleton | Yes |
| Caroline | James Taylor (of Caroline) | Yes |
| Charlotte | Thomas Read | No |
| Charlotte | Hon. Paul Carrington | Yes |
| Charles City | Benjamin Harrison V | No |
| Charles City | Hon. John Tyler, Sr. | No |
| Chesterfield | David Patteson | Yes |
| Chesterfield | Stephen Pankey, Jr. | No |
| Cumberland | Joseph Michaux | No |
| Cumberland | Thomas H. Drew | No |
| Culpeper | French Strother | No |
| Culpeper | Joel Early | No |
| Dinwiddie | Joseph Jones | No |
| Dinwiddie | William Watkins | No |
| Elizabeth City | Miles King | Yes |
| Elizabeth City | Worlich Westwood | Yes |
| Essex | James Upshaw (or Upshur) | No |
| Essex | Meriwether Smith | No |
| Fairfax | David Stuart | Yes |
| Fairfax | Charles Simms | Yes |
| Fayette | Humphrey Marshall | Yes |
| Fayette | John Fowler | No |
| Fauquier | Martin Pickett | Yes |
| Fauquier | Humphrey Brooke | Yes |
| Fluvanna | Samuel Richardson | No |
| Fluvanna | Joseph Haden | No |
| Frederick | John Sheaman Woodcock | Yes |
| Frederick | Alexander White | Yes |
| Franklin | John Early | No |
| Franklin | Thomas Arthur (or Arthurs) | No |
| Gloucester | Warner Lewis | Yes |
| Gloucester | Thomas Smith | Yes |
| Goochland | John Guerrant | No |
| Goochland | William Sampson | No |
| Greenbrier | George Clendenin | Yes |
| Greenbrier | John Stuart (or Stewart) | Yes |
| Greensville | William Mason | Yes |
| Greensville | Daniel Fisher | Yes |
| Halifax | Isaac Coles | No |
| Halifax | George Carrington | No |
| Hampshire | Andrew Woodrow | Yes |
| Hampshire | Ralph Humphreys | Yes |
| Hanover | Parke Goodall | No |
| Hanover | John Carter Littlepage | No |
| Hardy | Isaac Vanmeter | Yes |
| Hardy | Abel Seymour | Yes |
| Harrison | George Jackson | Yes |
| Harrison | John Prunty | Yes |
| Henrico | Governor Edmund Randolph | Yes |
| Henrico | John Marshall | Yes |
| Henry | Thomas Cooper | No |
| Henry | John Marr | No |
| Isle of Wight | Thomas Pierce | |
| Isle of Wight | James Johnson | Yes |
| James City | Nathaniel Burwell | Yes |
| James City | Robert Andrews | Yes |
| Jefferson | Robert Breckenridge | Yes |
| Jefferson | Rice Bullock | Yes |
| King and Queen | William Fleet | Yes |
| King and Queen | John Roane | |
| King George | Burdet Ashton | Yes |
| King George | William Thornton | Yes |
| King William | Holt Richeson | No |
| King William | Benjamin Temple | No |
| Lancaster | James Gordon (of Lancaster) | Yes |
| Lancaster | Henry Towles | Yes |
| Loudoun | Stevens Thomson Mason | No |
| Loudoun | Levin Powell | Yes |
| Louisa | William Overton Callis | Yes |
| Louisa | William White | No |
| Lunenburg | Jonathan Patteson | No |
| Lunenburg | Christopher Robertson | No |
| Lincoln | John Logan | No |
| Lincoln | Henry Pawling | No |
| Madison | John Miller | No |
| Madison | Green Clay | No |
| Mecklenburg | Samuel Hopkins, Jr. | No |
| Mecklenburg | Richard Kennon | No |
| Mercer | Thomas Allen | No |
| Mercer | Alexander Robertson | No |
| Middlesex | Ralph Wormley, Jr. | Yes |
| Middlesex | Francis Corbin | Yes |
| Monongalia | John Evans | No |
| Monongalia | William McClerry | Yes |
| Montgomery | Walter Crockett | No |
| Montgomery | Abraham Trigg | No |
| Nansemond | Willis Riddick | Yes |
| Nansemond | Solomon Shepherd | Yes |
| New Kent | William Clayton | Yes |
| New Kent | Burwell Bassett | Yes |
| Nelson | Matthew Walton | No |
| Nelson | John Steele | No |
| Norfolk | James Webb | Yes |
| Norfolk | James Taylor (of Norfolk) | Yes |
| Northampton | John Stringer | Yes |
| Northampton | Littleton Eyre | Yes |
| Northumberland | Walter Jones | Yes |
| Northumberland | Thomas Gaskins | Yes |
| Ohio | Archibald Woods | Yes |
| Ohio | Ebenezer Zane | Yes |
| Orange | James Madison, Jr. | Yes |
| Orange | James Gordon (of Orange) | Yes |
| Pittsylvania | Robert Williams | No |
| Pittsylvania | John Wilson (of Pittsylvania) | No |
| Powhatan | William Ronald (or Roland) | Yes |
| Powhatan | Thomas Turpin, Jr. | No |
| Prince Edward | Patrick Henry | No |
| Prince Edward | Robert Lawson | No |
| Prince George | Theodorick Bland (or Theodoric Bland) | No |
| Prince George | Edmund Ruffin | No |
| Prince William | William Grayson | No |
| Prince William | Cuthbert Bullitt | No |
| Princess Anne | Anthony Walke | Yes |
| Princess Anne | Thomas Walke | Yes |
| Randolph | Benjamin Wilson | Yes |
| Randolph | John Wilson (of Randolph) | Yes |
| Richmond | Walker Tomlin | Yes |
| Richmond | William Peachy | Yes |
| Rockbridge | William McKee | Yes |
| Rockbridge | Andrew Moore | Yes |
| Rockingham | Thomas Lewis | Yes |
| Rockingham | Gabriel Jones | Yes |
| Russell | Thomas Carter | No |
| Russell | Henry Dickenson (or Dickinson) | No |
| Shenandoah | Jacob Rinker | Yes |
| Shenandoah | John Williams | Yes |
| Southampton | Benjamin Blout (or Blunt) | Yes |
| Southampton | Samuel Killo (or Kello) | Yes |
| Spotsylvania | James Monroe | No |
| Spotsylvania | John Dawson | No |
| Stafford | George Mason | No |
| Stafford | Andrew Buchanan | No |
| Surry | John Hartwell Cocke | Yes |
| Surry | John Allen | Yes |
| Sussex | John Howell Briggs | No |
| Sussex | Thomas Edmunds | No |
| Warwick | Cole Digges | Yes |
| Warwick | Hon. Richard Cary | No |
| Washington | Samuel Edmison | No |
| Washington | James Montgomery | No |
| Westmoreland | Henry Lee III (of Westmoreland) | Yes |
| Westmoreland | Bushrod Washington | Yes |
| York | Hon. John Blair | Yes |
| York | Hon. George Wythe | Yes |
| Williamsburg | James Innes | Yes |
| Norfolk Borough | Thomas Mathews (or Matthews) | Yes |
Footnotes
- ↑ Chevalier Quesnay's "New Academy" had failed in 1786. It was renamed "The Theatre Square" at the time of the Ratification Convention. The wooden structure was torn down, and a masonry "Richmond Theater" erected in 1810. It burned in 1811, and a memorial Church built in memoriam to the 72 victims. Southern Democrats nominated Breckinridge in 1860 at the 1817 "New Richmond Theatre" at another site. The plaque's location is in Richmond's West Hospital. The original building, a converted theater, is gone.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Virginia ratification" Avalon Law Project, Yale University. Viewed November 11, 2011.
- ↑ Delegates Returned to Serve in Convention of March 1788, in Hugh Blair Grigsby, The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788: With Some Account of Eminent Virginians of that Era who Were Members of the Body.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 David L. Pulliam, The Constitutional Conventions of Virginia from the Foundation of the Commonwealth to the Present Time (1901), pp. 38-39, 46-47.
- ↑ Lowell H. Harrison & James C. Klotter, A New History of Kentucky (University Press of Kentucky, 1997): "The convention ratified the Constitutuion on June 25, 1788, by a vote of 89-79, with ten of the fourteen Kentucky delegates voting in the negative. Humphrey Marshall, Robert Breckinridge, and Rice Bullock favored acceptance; for some reason, delegate Notley Conn did not vote.)
References
- Labunski, Richard E. James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Elliot, Jonathan. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution..., vol. 3. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1891.
Further reading
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. At Google Books. Contains records of resolutions and individual votes at the ratification convention and short biographical sketches of five future U.S. office holders J. Marshall, J. Madison, J. Monroe, John Tyler, B. Harrison. Five famous "old men of the Convention" are outlined, P. Henry, G. Mason, G. Wythe, E. Randolph, Henry Lee and E. Pendleton, as well as lesser-knowns.
- Maier, Pauline. Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 (2010) pp 235–319; the standard scholarly study
- Shepard, E. Lee, comp. Reluctant Ratifiers: Virginia Considers the Federal Constitution. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1988. ISBN 0-945015-01-1.
- Thomas, Robert E. "The Virginia Convention of 1788: A Criticism of Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution", The Journal of Southern History 19, no. 1 (Feb., 1953), pp. 63–72.
Primary sources
- Kaminski, John P. and Gaspare J. Saladino, eds. Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vols 8–10. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1988–1993.
External links
- "Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention, 5-16 June 1788"
- "George Mason and the Constitution"
- Text of the debates
- Text of the ratification
