Virginia Ratifying Convention

”Old Capitol” where the Ratifying (Federal) Convention met, 1788.^[1]

The Virginia Ratifying Convention (also historically referred to as the "Virginia Federal Convention") was a convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, which had been drafted at the Philadelphia Convention the previous year.

The Convention met and deliberated from June 2 through June 27 in Richmond at the Richmond Theatre, presently the site of Monumental Church. Judge Edmund Pendleton, Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention, served as the convention's president by unanimous consent.

Division

Delegates in favor of ratification (Federalists) were led by James Madison, who had been a driving force behind the framing of the new Constitution. Other notable Federalists included Pendleton, George Wythe, chair of the Rules Committee at the Constitutional Convention, William Overton Callis and John Marshall. Though George Washington did not attend the Convention, he was a prolific letter writer during this time, and messengers carried his communications to Richmond. As a delegate from Virginia to the Philadelphia Convention, Edmund Randolph refused to sign the proposed constitution, and wrote about his anti-federalist objections but by the time of the Richmond meeting, he argued that the need for union outweighed any defects.^[2]

Opposing them were Patrick Henry, George Mason, William Grayson, James Monroe, John Taylor of Caroline, Benjamin Harrison V and other Anti-Federalists, who believed that the Constitution created a central government that was too powerful. Henry, the leader of this faction, opposed allowing the new central government to directly tax citizens of the various states, and he feared that the newly created office of President of the United States would become far too powerful. He pointedly made references to a potential future Oliver Cromwell.

Debate

A major issue during the Virginia Ratification Convention was the question of individual rights. Many delegates who were generally in favor of the Constitution were concerned that it did not contain a list of guaranteed rights akin to the celebrated Virginia Declaration of Rights. George Mason argued for the addition of a bill of rights, among other modifications.

On June 25, the convention ratified the Constitution by a narrow vote of 89 to 79.

The convention recommended the addition of a bill of rights, but did not make ratification contingent upon it.^[3]

Many of the ideas presented during this convention were later incorporated into the United States Bill of Rights. James Madison, elected to Congress from his home district was a floor leader in the first session of the First Congress. Madison rewrote the various state proposals into twelve proposals from Congress as amended, sent to the States for ratification by three-fourths of them.

Outcome

Plaque marking the site of the Virginia Federal Constitution, Richmond VA^[4]

Virginia was the tenth state to ratify the new Constitution. New York followed a month later on July 26, 1788. The new government began operating with eleven states on March 4, 1789.

Patrick Henry's hostility to the government under the Constitution was so strong that he subsequently refused to join it, turning down offers to serve as United States Secretary of State and as a justice of the United States Supreme Court. His control of the Virginia legislature enabled his partisans to elect the only two Anti-Federalist U.S. Senators in the First Congress.

List of delegates and votes on ratification

The following list is of the delegates to the Virginia ratifying convention and their vote on ratification.^[5][6] A total of 170 delegates were elected. Of these, 168 voted on ratification: 89 for, 79 against.^[6] The delegates included representatives from modern-day Kentucky and West Virginia, which were part of Virginia at the time.

County/City	Name	Vote on Ratification
Accomac	Edmund Curtis	No
Accomac	George Parker	Yes
Albemarle	George Nicolas	Yes
Albemarle	Wilson Cary Nicolas	Yes
Amelia	John Pride	No
Amelia	Edmund Booker	No
Amherst	William Cabell	No
Amherst	Samuel Jordan Cabell	No
Augusta	Zachariah Johnston	Yes
Augusta	Archibald Stuart	Yes
Bedford	John Trigg	No
Bedford	Charles Clay	No
Berkeley	William Darke (or Dark)	Yes
Berkeley	Adam Stephen	Yes
Botetourt	William Fleming	Yes
Botetourt	Martin M'Ferran (or McFerran)	Yes
Bourbon	Henry Lee (of Bourbon)	No
Bourbon	Notley Conn	Did not vote[7]
Brunswick	John Jones	No
Brunswick	Binns Jones	No
Buckingham	Charles Patteson	No
Buckingham	David Bell	No
Campbell	Robert Alexander	No
Campbell	Edmund Winston	No
Caroline	Hon. Edmund Pendleton	Yes
Caroline	James Taylor (of Caroline)	Yes
Charlotte	Thomas Read	No
Charlotte	Hon. Paul Carrington	Yes
Charles City	Benjamin Harrison V	No
Charles City	Hon. John Tyler, Sr.	No
Chesterfield	David Patteson	Yes
Chesterfield	Stephen Pankey, Jr.	No
Cumberland	Joseph Michaux	No
Cumberland	Thomas H. Drew	No
Culpeper	French Strother	No
Culpeper	Joel Early	No
Dinwiddie	Joseph Jones	No
Dinwiddie	William Watkins	No
Elizabeth City	Miles King	Yes
Elizabeth City	Worlich Westwood	Yes
Essex	James Upshaw (or Upshur)	No
Essex	Meriwether Smith	No
Fairfax	David Stuart	Yes
Fairfax	Charles Simms	Yes
Fayette	Humphrey Marshall	Yes
Fayette	John Fowler	No
Fauquier	Martin Pickett	Yes
Fauquier	Humphrey Brooke	Yes
Fluvanna	Samuel Richardson	No
Fluvanna	Joseph Haden	No
Frederick	John Sheaman Woodcock	Yes
Frederick	Alexander White	Yes
Franklin	John Early	No
Franklin	Thomas Arthur (or Arthurs)	No
Gloucester	Warner Lewis	Yes
Gloucester	Thomas Smith	Yes
Goochland	John Guerrant	No
Goochland	William Sampson	No
Greenbrier	George Clendenin	Yes
Greenbrier	John Stuart (or Stewart)	Yes
Greensville	William Mason	Yes
Greensville	Daniel Fisher	Yes
Halifax	Isaac Coles	No
Halifax	George Carrington	No
Hampshire	Andrew Woodrow	Yes
Hampshire	Ralph Humphreys	Yes
Hanover	Parke Goodall	No
Hanover	John Carter Littlepage	No
Hardy	Isaac Vanmeter	Yes
Hardy	Abel Seymour	Yes
Harrison	George Jackson	Yes
Harrison	John Prunty	Yes
Henrico	Governor Edmund Randolph	Yes
Henrico	John Marshall	Yes
Henry	Thomas Cooper	No
Henry	John Marr	No
Isle of Wight	Thomas Pierce
Isle of Wight	James Johnson	Yes
James City	Nathaniel Burwell	Yes
James City	Robert Andrews	Yes
Jefferson	Robert Breckenridge	Yes
Jefferson	Rice Bullock	Yes
King and Queen	William Fleet	Yes
King and Queen	John Roane
King George	Burdet Ashton	Yes
King George	William Thornton	Yes
King William	Holt Richeson	No
King William	Benjamin Temple	No
Lancaster	James Gordon (of Lancaster)	Yes
Lancaster	Henry Towles	Yes
Loudoun	Stevens Thomson Mason	No
Loudoun	Levin Powell	Yes
Louisa	William Overton Callis	Yes
Louisa	William White	No
Lunenburg	Jonathan Patteson	No
Lunenburg	Christopher Robertson	No
Lincoln	John Logan	No
Lincoln	Henry Pawling	No
Madison	John Miller	No
Madison	Green Clay	No
Mecklenburg	Samuel Hopkins, Jr.	No
Mecklenburg	Richard Kennon	No
Mercer	Thomas Allen	No
Mercer	Alexander Robertson	No
Middlesex	Ralph Wormley, Jr.	Yes
Middlesex	Francis Corbin	Yes
Monongalia	John Evans	No
Monongalia	William McClerry	Yes
Montgomery	Walter Crockett	No
Montgomery	Abraham Trigg	No
Nansemond	Willis Riddick	Yes
Nansemond	Solomon Shepherd	Yes
New Kent	William Clayton	Yes
New Kent	Burwell Bassett	Yes
Nelson	Matthew Walton	No
Nelson	John Steele	No
Norfolk	James Webb	Yes
Norfolk	James Taylor (of Norfolk)	Yes
Northampton	John Stringer	Yes
Northampton	Littleton Eyre	Yes
Northumberland	Walter Jones	Yes
Northumberland	Thomas Gaskins	Yes
Ohio	Archibald Woods	Yes
Ohio	Ebenezer Zane	Yes
Orange	James Madison, Jr.	Yes
Orange	James Gordon (of Orange)	Yes
Pittsylvania	Robert Williams	No
Pittsylvania	John Wilson (of Pittsylvania)	No
Powhatan	William Ronald (or Roland)	Yes
Powhatan	Thomas Turpin, Jr.	No
Prince Edward	Patrick Henry	No
Prince Edward	Robert Lawson	No
Prince George	Theodorick Bland (or Theodoric Bland)	No
Prince George	Edmund Ruffin	No
Prince William	William Grayson	No
Prince William	Cuthbert Bullitt	No
Princess Anne	Anthony Walke	Yes
Princess Anne	Thomas Walke	Yes
Randolph	Benjamin Wilson	Yes
Randolph	John Wilson (of Randolph)	Yes
Richmond	Walker Tomlin	Yes
Richmond	William Peachy	Yes
Rockbridge	William McKee	Yes
Rockbridge	Andrew Moore	Yes
Rockingham	Thomas Lewis	Yes
Rockingham	Gabriel Jones	Yes
Russell	Thomas Carter	No
Russell	Henry Dickenson (or Dickinson)	No
Shenandoah	Jacob Rinker	Yes
Shenandoah	John Williams	Yes
Southampton	Benjamin Blout (or Blunt)	Yes
Southampton	Samuel Killo (or Kello)	Yes
Spotsylvania	James Monroe	No
Spotsylvania	John Dawson	No
Stafford	George Mason	No
Stafford	Andrew Buchanan	No
Surry	John Hartwell Cocke	Yes
Surry	John Allen	Yes
Sussex	John Howell Briggs	No
Sussex	Thomas Edmunds	No
Warwick	Cole Digges	Yes
Warwick	Hon. Richard Cary	No
Washington	Samuel Edmison	No
Washington	James Montgomery	No
Westmoreland	Henry Lee III (of Westmoreland)	Yes
Westmoreland	Bushrod Washington	Yes
York	Hon. John Blair	Yes
York	Hon. George Wythe	Yes
Williamsburg	James Innes	Yes
Norfolk Borough	Thomas Mathews (or Matthews)	Yes

Footnotes

1. Grigsby, Hugh Blair. The History of the Virginia Federal Convention: 1788. Da Capo Press, New York 1969 p.67. Initially built as the New Academy by the Chevalier Quesnay, subsequently the Richmond Theater
2. "Delegates to the Constitutional Convention: Virginia". University of Missouri-Kansas City. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
3. "Virginia ratification" Avalon Law Project, Yale University. Viewed November 11, 2011.
4. Chevalier Quesnay's "New Academy" had failed in 1786. It was renamed "The Theatre Square" at the time of the Ratification Convention. The wooden structure was torn down, and a masonry "Richmond Theater" erected in 1810. It burned in 1811, and a memorial Church built in memoriam to the 72 victims. Southern Democrats nominated Breckinridge in 1860 at the 1817 "New Richmond Theatre" at another site. The plaque's location is in Richmond's West Hospital. The original building, a converted theater, is gone.
5. Delegates Returned to Serve in Convention of March 1788, in Hugh Blair Grigsby, The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788: With Some Account of Eminent Virginians of that Era who Were Members of the Body.
6. David L. Pulliam, The Constitutional Conventions of Virginia from the Foundation of the Commonwealth to the Present Time (1901), pp. 38-39, 46-47.
7. Lowell H. Harrison & James C. Klotter, A New History of Kentucky (University Press of Kentucky, 1997): "The convention ratified the Constitutuion on June 25, 1788, by a vote of 89-79, with ten of the fourteen Kentucky delegates voting in the negative. Humphrey Marshall, Robert Breckinridge, and Rice Bullock favored acceptance; for some reason, delegate Notley Conn did not vote.)

References

• Labunski, Richard E. James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Elliot, Jonathan. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution..., vol. 3. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1891.

Further reading

• Grigsby, Hugh Blair (1890). Brock, R.A., ed. The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788 With Some Account of the Eminent Virginians of that Era who were Members of the Body. Collections of the Virginia Historical Society. New Series. Volume IX 1 (Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Historical Society). OCLC 41680515. At Google Books. Contains records of resolutions and individual votes at the ratification convention and short biographical sketches of five future U.S. office holders J. Marshall, J. Madison, J. Monroe, John Tyler, B. Harrison. Five famous "old men of the Convention" are outlined, P. Henry, G. Mason, G. Wythe, E. Randolph, Henry Lee and E. Pendleton, as well as lesser-knowns.
• Maier, Pauline. Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 (2010) pp 235–319; the standard scholarly study
• Shepard, E. Lee, comp. Reluctant Ratifiers: Virginia Considers the Federal Constitution. Richmond: Virginia Historical Society, 1988. ISBN 0-945015-01-1.
• Thomas, Robert E. "The Virginia Convention of 1788: A Criticism of Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution", The Journal of Southern History 19, no. 1 (Feb., 1953), pp. 63–72.

Primary sources

• Kaminski,John P.; Saladino, Gaspare J.; Leffler, Richard, eds. (1982). The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Virginia (1) 8. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. ISBN 9780870202575. OCLC 19749336.
• Kaminski,John P.; Saladino, Gaspare J.; Leffler, Richard, eds. (1990). The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Virginia (2) 9. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. ISBN 9780870202582. OCLC 763003075.
• Kaminski, John P., Saladino, Gaspare J., Leffler, Richard: Schoenleber, Charles H., eds. (1993). The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution: Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Virginia (3) 10. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. ISBN 0870202634. OCLC 258057019.

External links

• "Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention, 5-16 June 1788"
• "George Mason and the Constitution"
• Text of the debates
• Text of the ratification