titution the support of Hancock and Samuel Adams; and the question
on ratification was carried by one hundred eighty-seven against one
hundred sixty-eight.

In the Virginia convention the Constitution was opposed by Patrick
Henry, James Monroe, and George Mason, the last of whom had been one of
the delegates to the constitutional convention. On the other side were
John Marshall, Edmund Pendleton, James Madison, George Wythe, and Edmund
Randolph, the three last also having been members of the national
convention. Randolph had refused to sign the Constitution, but had since
become one of its warmest advocates. In the convention of this State,
also, the ratification was aided by the adoption of a bill of rights and
certain proposed amendments, and was carried, eighty-eight yeas against
eighty nays.

In the convention of New York the opposition embraced a majority of its
members, among whom were Yates and Lansing, members of the general
convention, and George Clinton. The principal advocates of the
Constitution were John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, and Alexander
Hamilton. Strong efforts were made for a conditional ratification, which
were successfully opposed, though not without the previous adoption of a
bill of rights and numerous amendments. With these, the absolute
ratification was carried, thirty-one to twenty-nine.

The ratification of North Carolina was not received by Congress until
January, 1790; and that of Rhode Island not until June of the same year.

After the ratification of New Hampshire had been received by Congress,
the ratifications of the nine States were referred to a committee, who,
on July 14, 1788, reported a resolution for carrying the new government
into operation. The passage of the resolution, owing to the difficulty
of agreeing upon the place for the meeting of the first Congress, was
delayed until September 13th. The first Wednesday in January, 1789, was
appointed for choosing electors of President, and the first Wednesday in
February for the electors to meet in their respective States to vote for
President and Vice-President; and the first Wednesday, March 4th, as the
time, and New York as the place, to commence proceedings under the new
Constitution.

JOSEPH STORY

Commissioners were appointed by the Legislatures of Virginia and
Maryland, early in 1785, to form a compact relative to the navigation of
the Potomac and Pocomoke rivers and Chesapeake Bay. The commissioners,
having met in M