The decision of the New Hampshire ratifying convention to adjourn and reconvene at a later date had been of great concern to George Washington. Responding to the news of New Hampshire’s decision, he wrote to Henry Knox on March 30. “The conduct of the State of New Hampshire has baffled all calculation,” he noted, “and happened extremely mal-apropos for the election of delegates to the convention of this State” – his own State of Virginia.

Piqued by the persistent, stubborn recalcitrance of Rhode Island, Washington added, “the postponement in New Hampshire will also, unquestionably, give strength and vigor to the opposition in New York and possibly render Rhode Island more backward than she otherwise would have been, if all the New England States had finally decided in favor of the measure.”

Although Rhode Island had been the first State to renounce allegiance to the British monarch as early as May 4, 1776, it had frequently been an outlier, at odds with its sister colonies and eventually acquiring the epithet “Rogue Island.” For example, in 1781, the Confederation Congress proposed an amendment to the Articles of Confederation giving Congress the power to levy a five percent tax to raise money to pay wartime debts. Rhode Island refused to approve the amendment. Because the Articles required unanimous consent of all the States to amend the Articles, the proposal was defeated. Rhode Island was then blamed for much of the new nation’s economic woes.

Rhode Island had its own internal economic issues. Like other States, it had incurred debts from the Revolutionary War which fell heavily on farmers who had borrowed money to buy equipment to increase their supply of produce to feed the Continental Army. When the war ended and the soldiers went home, the farmers were still faced with paying off their loans but lacked the necessary income to do so. Their creditors, generally merchants and those engaged in commerce, demanded payment. The dispute was manifested in two opposing political parties – the Country party and the Mercantile party – as well as escalated demands for paper money.

The issue of paper money came to a head in the 1786 elections which brought the Country party to power on its promise of debt relief. The new legislature declared paper money legal tender and required that creditors refusing to accept it would forfeit their debts to the State. Later, fines were imposed for refusing to accept the currency and a move to withhold farm produce from several cities gained momentum, causing food shortages and intermittent violence. Tensions were reduced when Governor John Collins called a special session of the legislature, but paper money fiscal policies prevailed, and the Country party swept the 1787 elections. Rhode Island found itself more and more isolated from other States who had little faith in its fiscal stability, especially as the value of its paper money plummeted.

Rhode Island’s disastrous fiscal policies could not be confined within its own borders and became one of the reasons why other States, through the Continental Congress, called for a convention to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787 to “amend” the Articles of Confederation.

When the Rhode Island General Assembly, composed of an upper and lower house, convened in mid-March of 1787, it rejected by a vote of 2 to 1 a motion to appoint delegates to the Constitutional Convention. After the April elections, the upper house of the new legislature defeated a similar measure, yet by a much closer vote, although the lower house had already approved it. Alarmed by the legislature’s failure to appoint delegates, a group of thirteen merchants and tradesmen wrote to Congress in support of giving taxing powers to Congress and, in a separate letter, hoped that its representative to Congress, General James Mitchell Varnum, would be permitted to sit in meetings of the Convention when it discussed commercial matters. Congress did not act on the request and Varnum was not invited to attend.

In June, the legislature again rejected appointing delegates, but this time it was the upper house that approved the action while the lower house rejected it. Newspapers were filled with reports and commentaries, some assailing the legislature as “dangerous to the community at large” and others calling its action “far more joyous than grievous.” Rhode Island was a State divided. When the Governor called a special session of the legislature to consider the issue once again, the legislature balked. Instead of appointing delegates, it wrote a letter to the Constitutional Convention explaining why it was refusing to participate.

“Our conduct has been reprobated by the illiberal, and many severe and unjust sarcasms propagated against us,” the letter began, “but when we state to you the reasons” for refusing to participate in the Convention, “the liberal mind will be convinced that we were actuated by…the love of true constitutional liberty, and the fear we have of making innovations on the rights and liberties of the citizens at large.” The letter cited a state law requiring the people to elect its delegates to Congress, so how could the legislature presume to take upon itself the act of appointing delegates to a convention? Should not the people make such a decision? Moreover, the Articles required that amendments be proposed by Congress and acted upon by the State legislatures. In short, the Convention itself was not legitimate. The letter was dated September 15, two days before the Convention adjourned, and was therefore forwarded to the Congress meeting in New York City.

The Constitution, as well as numerous articles on both sides of the debate, were published in newspapers throughout Rhode Island, but when the legislature convened on February 25, 1788, it refused to approve a ratifying convention by a lopsided vote of 43 – 15. Several days later, it approved a resolution proposed by the Country party to submit the Constitution to the towns where individual freemen could vote. When the votes from the thirty town were counted, the Constitution was rejected by 2,714 to 238. Federalists and the Mercantile party boycotted the process in several large towns and continued to call for a ratifying convention. In the end, the Country party was reelected by a large majority in the April elections. Two months later, in June, the legislature did not even permit a vote on a proposal to approve a ratifying convention.

In late June, news arrived in Providence that New Hampshire had become the ninth State to ratify the Constitution, “sufficient to implement the Constitution among the ratifying States.” Celebrations erupted, bells rang out, cannons were fired, and schools were dismissed for the day. Similar events took place in Newport, culminating in a bonfire. Still, the legislature refused to call a ratifying convention and would not do so for nearly two years.