the authority of foreign power,
they came suspicious of all outside authority. Besides there were
eighteen members who had taken part in Shays's Rebellion, so hostile
were they to the execution of all law. Mr. Adams was finally convinced
by a gathering of the workingmen among his constituents, who exercised
their constitutional right of instructing their representatives. Their
opinion was presented to him by Paul Revere. "How many mechanics were at
the Green Dragon when these resolutions were passed?" asked Mr. Adams.
"More, sir, than the Green Dragon could hold." "And where were the
rest?" "In the streets, sir." "And how many were in the streets?" "More
than there are stars in the sky." This is supposed to have convinced the
great Massachusetts tribune that it was his duty to support
ratification.

There were those, however, who distrusted the Constitution and
distrusted its proponents. They viewed lawyers and men of means with
great jealousy. Amos Singletary expressed their sentiments in the form
of an argument that has not ceased to be repeated in the discussion of
all public affairs. "These lawyers," said he, "and men of learning and
moneyed men that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to
make us poor illiterates swallow the pill, expect to get into Congress
themselves. They mean to be managers of the Constitution. They mean to
get all the money into their hands and then they will swallow up us
little folk, like the great Leviathan, Mr. President: yes, just like the
whale swallowed up Jonah." In the convention sat Jonathan Smith, a
farmer from Lanesboro. He had seen Shays's Rebellion in Berkshire. There
had been no better example of a man of the people desiring the common
good.

"I am a plain man," said Mr. Smith, "and am not used to speak in public,
but I am going to show the effects of anarchy, that you may see why I
wish for good government. Last winter people took up arms, and then, if
you went to speak to them, you had the musket of death presented to your
breast. They would rob you of your property, threaten to burn your
houses, oblige you to be on your guard night and day. Alarms spread from
town to town, families were broken up; the tender mother would cry,
'Oh, my son is among them! What shall I do for my child?' Some were
taken captive; children taken out of their schools and carried away....
How dreadful was this! Our distress was so great that we should have
been glad to snatch at anyth