General Henry Knox had been a trusted advisor to George Washington since their first meeting in July 1775. In December of that year Washington chose Knox to lead one of the most consequential missions in the early days of the rebellion against Great Britain – to steal the artillery and munitions at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain and transport them to Boston. His remarkable feat enabled the Continental Army to defeat the British at Dorchester Heights the following March of 1776.
Born in Boston, Knox was largely self-educated and immersed himself in military strategy, weaponry, and military history. His father died when Knox was nine years old, forcing young Henry to leave school and seek work to support his mother. Employed as a clerk in a local bookstore, by the age of twenty-one he opened his own shop, the London Book Store, which became a popular gathering place for Boston’s leading citizens. After the war broke out, Knox and his wife fled Boston and his bookstore was looted by the British while Knox soon became an essential member of Washington’s inner circle. Corresponding with John Adams many years later, Washington would write, “with respect to General Knox, I can say with truth, there is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy; no one whom I have loved more sincerely; nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.”
Along with James Madison, Knox had been influential in Washington’s decision to attend the Constitutional Convention and was among those who kept Washington apprised of the proceedings of the Massachusetts ratifying convention. Writing to Washington on February 14, 1788, Knox noted that the Constitution had been “most candidly examined and debated,” then reported the opposition had arisen from three groups of “local causes.” Many “oppose every species of government, that may prevent their return to Great Britain.” Others were “desperate debtors warmly attached to paper money and tender laws.” Finally, there were “honest men, without information, whose minds are apprehensive of danger to their liberties…like people groping in the dark; they possess no principle whereby to ascertain the quality, degree of nearness of the danger. Their suspicions render them incapable of conviction.”
Knox closed his letter by observing that the New Hampshire ratifying convention had assembled the day before and hoped in “about 20 days hence to have the pleasure of informing you of the adoption of the Constitution in that State.” He was not alone in his optimism. Attending Congress in New York, Madison wrote that “the convention of New Hampshire is now sitting. There seems to be no question that the issue there will add a seventh pillar, as the phrase now is, to the federal Temple.”
In December 1787, Governor John Sullivan, a strong supporter of the Constitution, had called for a special session of the State legislature to authorize a ratifying convention. In short order it approved a convention to be convened in Exeter on the second Wednesday in February and ordered the printing of four hundred copies of the Constitution to be distributed to the towns.
Even before the convention convened on February 13, optimism for ratification began to wane. Sullivan sent a message to Knox that the prospects were “not so favorable” as he had expected, assigning much of the blame to “many of our people who are attached to paper money and Tender laws.”
Sullivan and Knox both had served under Washington from the beginning of the war against Great Britain. Knox received his commission as a colonel in the Continental Army’s artillery regiment during the Second Continental Congress, based on the recommendation of John Adams. Sullivan, on the other hand, had served as a major in the New Hampshire militia and was appointed brigadier general by the First Continental Congress on June 19, 1775, the same day Washington was appointed commander-in-chief. At the time, Sullivan was a delegate to the Congress representing New Hampshire. He resigned on June 27 to accept his command and joined the army at the siege of Boston.
After retiring from military service in 1779, Sullivan was immediately thrust back into politics and elected to the Second Continental Congress. He became embroiled in the controversy over whether the territory of Vermont would become part of New York or New Hampshire or become independent. By 1786, as the newly-elected President of New Hampshire, he was immediately confronted with a rebellion of freemen from various towns who began to elect delegates to unofficial conventions demanding paper money, equal distribution of property, annihilation of debts, freedom from taxes, and repeal of the law authorizing the return of Tory refugees. On September 20, a mob of about 200 armed men marched to the beat of drums to the outskirts of Exeter, demanding that the legislature address their grievances.
The legislature refused to be intimidated or meet with the mob, even though the mob refused to permit the legislators leave the place where they were meeting. Sullivan managed to get through and the next morning called up the militia. The crowd dispersed without loss of blood and most of the insurgents were released. Five were detained, stood trial, and were ultimately treated with leniency. In nearby Massachusetts, a similar event of greater proportion erupted, garnering more attention throughout the colonies and accelerating the push to amend the ineffectual Articles of Confederation. The event became known as Shays’ Rebellion.
Nevertheless, the New Hampshire legislature failed to select delegates to the Constitutional Convention until June 27, 1787, more than a month after the Convention had begun its deliberations. It delegates, John Langdon and Nicholas Gilman, did not arrive until July 23, their expenses paid by Langdon personally. In the end, both signed the Constitution and traveled to New York where it was formally presented to the Confederation Congress.
Langdon had preceded Sullivan as President of New Hampshire, but their shared opposition to British rule had begun years before when both men were involved in the capture of the British Fort William and Mary in December 1774. Warned by Paul Revere that British troops were on their way to reinforce the fort, on December 14 Langdon led a band of Patriots to seize gun powder stored there, hauling off 100 barrels and the British flag. The next day, Sullivan led a second raid, confiscating more military supplies, including 16 cannons. Both men were elected to the Second Continental Congress, but Langdon left in June 1776 to superintend construction of American war ships, including John Paul Jones’ ship the Ranger. For more than a decade, New Hampshire politics would be dominated by factions led by Langdon and John Sullivan.