On February 2, the Massachusetts ratifying convention voted unanimously to appoint a committee to consider John Hancock’s amendments to the proposed Constitution. Chaired by former governor James Bowdoin (whose son was also a convention delegate), the committee was nearly evenly divided between supporters and opponents of the Constitution, with pro-Constitution Federalists having a slight edge. Two days later, the committee submitted its report and dined at Bowdon’s home as his guests.
Euphoric at the improved prospects for ratification, Rufus King wrote to Henry Knox noting that “Hancock will hereafter receive the support of Bowdoin’s friends, and we tell him that if Virginia does not unite, which is problematical, that he is considered as the only fair candidate for President.” But the end was not yet. The “Antis,” as Tristram Dalton called opponents of the Constitution, continued to rail against its lack of a religious qualification for holding office, provisions regarding slavery, and whether or not delegates who had been “instructed” by their constituents should vote their conscience instead of their instructions. On Friday, February 6, Gilbert Dench moved that the convention “adjourn to a future day,” hoping to derail ratification by an indefinite postponement. After debate, during which the motion “was warmly advocated by the gentlemen who are against the adoption of the Constitution,” the motion was defeated, receiving only 115 votes out of 329 members present.
The final vote on ratification was scheduled for February 6, but a motion by Samuel Adams to amend the committee’s report created a momentary but dramatic commotion and consternation among the delegates. Earlier he had declared that Hancock’s first amendment proposition, “that all powers not expressly delegated to Congress are reserved to the several States,” appeared “to his mind, to be a summary of a bill of rights.” But now, he proposed that “the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; to raise standing armies;” and so on. In effect, he proposed his own bill of rights.
Realizing the confusion his motion caused by stoking fears that the Constitution may actually enable violations of civil liberties, Adams quickly withdrew the motion. The “Antis” seized the opportunity for delay and renewed Adams’ motion, which was quickly “thrown out by a very general vote,” with Adams voting in the majority against his own original amendment.
Finally, at 4:00 p.m. on February 6, voting began on the committee’s report, the equivalent of voting on ratification. The gallery was filled with spectators. Some, like Henry Jackson, arrived early and did not leave their seat for fear of losing it. A veteran Revolutionary War officer, Jackson wrote to Henry Knox, noting “I attend the gallery from 9 o’clock in the morning…and eat my dinner there on ginger bread & cheese, which I sent a boy to buy in a neighboring shop –the galleries remained full the whole time…such was the anxiety of the minds of the people on this important question.” Observing the solemnity of the impending vote, he added, “Harry, there never was a subject came before a body of men on earth that was more critically examined & debated that this has been by this convention.” William Widgery recalled that “the gallery was very much crowded, yet on the disposition of so important a question as the present you might have heard a Copper fall on the gallery floor, there was such a profound silence.”
By 5:00 p.m. the voting was complete. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution by a narrow vote of 187 to 168 with 9 absent. The deal struck involving Hancock and Adams had been important, perhaps even pivotal, but the debates themselves had made a difference. Nathaniel Barrell, William Symmes, and Charles Turner were among at least ten Antifederalists who had changed their minds. Of nearly equal importance were those who voted against the Constitution but then pledged to work with their constituents to support it. Among them William Widgery, a spirited leader of the “Antis.” Having voted “nay,” he nevertheless asserted the vote “had been carried by a majority of wise and understanding men” and considered the convention “as full a representation of the people as can be convened.” He concluded by saying he “should support as much as in him lay, the Constitution, and that he believed, as this state had adopted it, that not only nine, but the whole thirteen would come into the measure.”
Widgery’s conciliatory remarks were followed by other “Antis” who now declared their intention to “go home and endeavor to infuse a spirit of harmony among the people.” The convention’s secretary recorded that “other gentlemen expressed their inclination to speak, but, growing late, the Convention adjourned to the next morning.” That evening, Benjamin Lincoln wrote to George Washington, reporting that leaders of the opposition “arose and assured the convention that they were convinced that the debates had been conducted with fairness and candor and that they should return with dispositions to satisfy the minds of their constituents and to preserve the peace and order of the people at large.”
The next morning, the convention attended to administrative details and passed resolutions of thanks to the chaplains, proprietors of the meeting house, and others. Then they proceeded to the State House where they publicly declared ratification from the balcony to the anxious multitude assembled below. The announcement was met with bells ringing throughout the city, people pouring into the streets, and rounds of “the loudest huzzahs.”
Massachusetts’ ratification of the Constitution was a turning point in the drive to replace the Articles of Confederation with a federal system composed of an energetic national government which would share power with the individual States. Although it was the sixth State to ratify, the final vote was perilously close. However, equally important as the ultimate outcome was the process. Unlike events in Pennsylvania where Federalists nearly bullied their way to ratification, the debate in the Massachusetts convention had been fair and thorough. Major Benjamin Swain, representing the town of Marlborough in the county of Middlesex, voted against ratification and was one of the last to address the convention after the final vote. Swain declared “that the Constitution had had a fair trial, and that there had not, to his knowledge, been any undue influence exercised to obtain the vote in its favor; that many doubts which lay on his mind had been removed; and that, although he was in the minority, he should support the Constitution as cheerfully and as heartily as though he had voted on the other side of the question.”
James Madison opined, “the convention of New Hampshire is now sitting. There seems to be no question that the issue there will add a seventh pillar to the federal temple.” He was wrong.