History of the United States, Volume 2

by Elisha Benjamin Andrews

DeKalb Wounded at Camden.
DeKalb was an American, too--by adoption. It is related that he
expostulated with Gates for fighting so unprepared at Camden, and that
Gates intimated cowardice. "Tomorrow will tell, sir, who is the coward,"
the old fellow rejoined. And tomorrow did tell. As the battle reddened,
exit Gates from Camden and from fame. We have recounted elsewhere how
like a bull De Kalb held the field. A monster British grenadier rushed
on him, bayonet fixed. DeKalb parried, at the same time burying his
sword in the grenadier's breast so deep that he was unable to extract
it. Then seizing the dead man's weapon he fought on, thrusting right and
left, till at last, overpowered by numbers, he slipped and fell,
mortally hurt.
Among the civilian heroes of the Revolution, Robert Morris, the
financier, deserves exceeding praise. Now turning over the lead ballast
of his ships for bullets, now raising $50,000 on his private credit and
sending it to Washington in the nick of time, now leading the country
back to specie payment in season to save the national credit, the
Philadelphia banker aided the cause as much as the best general in the
field.
Faithful and successful envoys as Jay and John Adams were, the
Revolution brought to light one, and only one, true master in the
difficult art of diplomacy--Franklin. Wise with a lifetime's shrewd
observation, venerable with years, preceded by his fame as scientist and
Revolutionary statesman, grand in his plain dignity, the Philadelphia
printer stood unabashed before the throne of France, and carried king
and diplomats with an art that surprised Europe's best-trained
courtiers. Never missing an opportunity, he yet knew, by delicate
intuition, when to speak and when to hold his tongue. Through
concession, intrigue, and delay, his resolute will kept steady to its
purpose. To please by yielding is easy. To carry one's point and be
pleasing still, requires genius. This Franklin did--how successfully,
our treaty of alliance with France and our treaty of peace with England
splendidly attested.
Towering above Revolutionary soldier, general, and statesman stands a
figure summing up in himself all these characters and much more. That
figure is George Washington, the most perfect human personality the
world has known. Washington's military ability has been much underrated.
He was hardly more First in Peace than First in War. That he had
physical courage and could give orders calmly while bullets whizzed all
about, one need not repeat. He was strategist and tactician too. Trenton
and Yorktown do not cover his whole military record. With troops
inferior in every single respect except natural valor, he
out-generalled Howe in 1776, and he almost never erred when acting upon
his own good judgment instead of yielding to Congress or to his
subordinates. His movements on the Delaware even such a captain as
Frederick the Great declared "the most brilliant achievements in the
annals of military action." Washington advised against the attempt to
hold Fort Washington, which failed; against the Canada campaign, which
failed; against Gates for commander in the South, who failed; and in
favor of Greene for that post, who succeeded. His army was indeed driven
back in several battles, but never broken up. At Monmouth his plan was
perfect, and it seems that he must have captured Clinton but for the
treason of Charles Lee, set, by Congress's wish, to command the van.
Indeed, of Washington's military career, "take it all in all, its long
duration, its slender means, its vast theatre, its glorious aims and
results, there is no parallel in history." [Footnote: Winthrop,
Washington Monument Oration. February 23, 1885.]
Yet we are right in never thinking of the Great Man first as a soldier,
he was so much besides. Washington's consummate intellectual trait was
sound judgment, only matched by the magnificent balance which subsisted
between his mental and his moral powers. "George had always been a good
son," his mother said. Nature had endowed him with intense passions and
ambitions, but neither could blind him or swerve him one hair from the
line of rectitude as he saw it. And he made painful and unremitting
effort to see it and see it correctly. He was approachable, but repelled
familiarity, and whoever attempted this was met with a perfectly
withering look. He rarely laughed, and he was without humor, though he
wrote and conversed well. He had the integrity of Aristides. His account
with Congress while general shows scrupulousness to the uttermost
farthing. To subordinate, to foe, even to malicious plotters against
him, he was almost guiltily magnanimous. He loved popularity, yet, if
conscious that he was right, would face public murmuring with heart of
flint. Became the most famous man alive, idolized at home, named by
every tongue in Europe, praised by kings and great ministers, who
compared him with Caesar, Charlemagne, and Alfred the Great, his head
swam not, but with steadfast heart and mind he moved on in the simple
pursuit of his country's weal. "In Washington's career," said Fisher
Ames, "mankind perceived some change in their ideas of greatness; the
splendor of power, and even the name of conqueror had grown dim in their
eyes." Lord Erskine wrote him: "You are the only being for whom I have
an awful reverence." "Until time shall be no more," said Lord Brougham,
"will a test of the progress which our race has made in Wisdom and
Virtue be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of
Washington." And Mr. Gladstone: "If among all the pedestals supplied by
history for public characters of extraordinary nobility and purity I saw
one higher than all the rest, and if I were required at a moment's
notice to name the fittest occupant for it, my choice would light upon
WASHINGTON." [Footnote: See Winthrop's Oration for these and other
encomia.]
CHAPTER IX.
THE OLD CONFEDERATION
[1781]
The Revolutionary Congress was less a government than an exigency
committee. It had no authority save in tacit general consent. Need of an
express and permanent league was felt at an early date. Articles of
Confederation, framed by Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, were adopted by
Congress in November, 1777. They were then submitted to the State
Legislatures for ratification. By the spring of 1779 all the States but
Maryland had given their approval. Upon the accession of the latter, on
March 1, 1781, the articles went into effect at once.
The Confederation bound the States together into a "firm league of
friendship" for common defence and welfare, and this "union" was to be
"perpetual." Each State retained its "sovereignty" and "independence,"
as well as every power not "expressly delegated" to the central
Government. Inhabitants of each State were entitled to all the
privileges of citizens in the several States. Criminals fleeing from one
State to another were to be returned.
Congress was composed of delegates chosen annually, each State being
represented by not less than two or more than seven. Each State had but
one vote, whatever the number of its delegates.
Taxation and the regulation of commerce were reserved to the State
Governments. On the other hand, Congress alone could declare peace or
war, make treaties, coin money, establish a post-office, deal with
Indians outside of the States, direct the army, and appoint generals and
naval officers. Many other things affecting all the States alike,
Congress alone could do. It was to erect courts for trial of felonies
and piracies on the high seas, and appoint judges for the settlement of
disputes between the States. It was to make estimates for national
expenses, and request of each State its quota of revenue.
To amend the Articles, the votes of the entire thirteen States were
demanded. Important lesser measures--such as those regarding war or
peace, treaties, coinage, loans, appropriations--required the consent of
nine States. Upon other questions a majority was sufficient. A
committee, composed of one delegate from each State, was to sit during
the recess of Congress, having the general superintendence of national
affairs.
The faults of the Confederation were numerous and great. Three
outshadowed the rest: Congress could not enforce its will, could not
collect a revenue, could not regulate commerce.
Congress could not touch individuals; it must act through the State
Governments, and these it had no power to coerce. Five States, for
instance, passed laws which violated the treaty provision about payment
of British creditors; yet Congress could do nothing but remonstrate.
Hence its power to make treaties was almost a nullity. European nations
did not wish to treat with a Government that could not enforce its
promises.
Congress could make requisition upon the States for revenue, but had no
authority to collect a single penny. The States complied or not as they
chose. In October, 1781, Congress asked for $8,000,000; in January,
1783, it had received less than half a million. Lack of revenue made the
Government continually helpless and often contemptible.
Yet in spite of their looseness and other faults, the adoption of the
Articles of Confederation was a forward step in American public law.
Their greatest value was this: they helped to keep before the States the
thought of union, while at the same time, by their very inefficiency,
they proved the need of a stronger government to make union something
more than a thought. The years immediately after the war were an
extremely critical period. The colonies had indeed passed through the
Red Sea, but the wilderness still lay before them. The great danger
which had driven them into union being past, State pride and jealousy
broke out afresh. "My State," not "my country," was the foremost thought
in most minds. There was serious danger that each State would go its own
way, and firm union come, if at all, only after years of weakness and
disaster, if not of war. The unfriendly nations of Europe were eagerly
anticipating such result. At this juncture the Articles of
Confederation, framed during the war when union was felt to be
imperative, did invaluable service. They solemnly committed the States
to perpetual union. Their provisions for extradition of criminals and
for inter-State citizenship helped to break down the barriers between
State and State. Congress, by discharging its various duties on behalf
of all the States, kept steadily before the public mind the idea of a
national government, armed with at least a semblance of authority.

The Franklin Penny.
"United States" "We Are One"
"Fugio" "1787" "Mind Your Business"
[1783]
The war had cost about $150,000,000. In 1783 the debt was
$42,000,000--$8,000,000 owed in France and Holland, and the rest at
home. The States contributed in so niggardly a way that even the
interest could not be paid. Five millions were owing to the army. Deep
and ominous discontent spread among officers and men. An obscure
colonel, supposed to be the agent of more prominent men, wrote to
Washington, advocating a monarchy as the only salvation for the country,
and inviting him to become king. In the spring of 1783 an anonymous
address, of menacing tone, was circulated in the army, calling upon it
for measures to force its rights from an ungrateful country.
[1785]
That the army disbanded quietly at last, with only three months' pay, in
certificates depreciated nine-tenths, was due almost wholly to the
boundless influence of Washington. How powerless the Government would
have been to resist an uprising of the army, was shown by a humiliating
incident. In June, 1783, a handful of Pennsylvania troops, clamoring for
their pay, besieged the doors of Congress, and that august body had to
take refuge in precipitate flight.
The country suffered greatly for lack of uniform commercial laws. So
long as each State laid its own imposts, and goods free of duty in one
State might be practically excluded from another, Congress could
negotiate no valuable treaties of commerce abroad.
The chief immediate distress was from this wretchedness of our
commercial relations, whether foreign or between the States at home. If
our fathers would be independent, king and parliament were determined to
make them pay dearly for the privilege. Accordingly Great Britain laid
tariffs upon all our exports thither. What was much harder to bear, an
order of the king in council, July 2, 1783, utterly forbade American
ships to engage in that British West-Indian trade which had always been
a chief source of our wealth. The sole remedy for these abuses in
dealing with England at that time was retaliation, but Congress had no
authority to take retaliatory steps, while the separate States could not
or would not act sufficiently in harmony to do so. If one imposed
customs duties, another would open wide its ports, filling the markets
of the first with British goods by overland trade, so that the customs
law of the first availed nothing. If Pennsylvania and New York laid
tariffs on foreign commodities, New Jersey and Connecticut people, in
buying imported articles from Philadelphia or New York, were paying
taxes to those greater States. North Carolina was in the same manner a
forced tributary to South Carolina and Virginia, as were portions of
Connecticut and Massachusetts to Rhode Island.

Dollar of 1794.
The First United States Coin.
"Liberty" "1794" "United States of America"
We also needed a complete system of courts, departments for foreign and
Indian affairs, and an efficient executive. The single vote for each
State was unfair, allowing one-third of the people to defeat the will of
the rest. The article requiring the consent of nine States made it
almost impossible to get important measures through Congress. Delegates
should not have been paid by their respective States. In consequence of
this provision, coupled with other things, Congress decreased in numbers
and importance. In November, 1783, less than twenty delegates were
present, representing but seven States, and Congress had to appeal to
the recreant States to send back their representatives before the treaty
of peace could be ratified.
[1787]
But the one grand defect of the Confederation, underlying all others,
was lack of power. The Government was an engine without steam. The
States, just escaped from the tyranny of a king, would brook no new
authority strong enough to endanger their liberties. The result was a
thin ghost of a government set in charge over a lot of lusty
flesh-and-blood States.
The Confederation, however, did one piece of solid work worthy of
everlasting praise. The Northwest Territory, embracing what is now Ohio,
Indiana. Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had been ceded to the Union
by the States which originally claimed it. July 13, 1787, Congress
adopted for the government of the territory the famous Ordinance of
1787. It provided for a governor, council, and judges, to be appointed
by Congress, and a house of representatives elected by the people. Its
shining excellence was a series of compacts between the States and the
territory, which guaranteed religious liberty, made grants of land and
other liberal provisions for schools and colleges, and forever
prohibited slavery in the territory or the States which should be made
out of it. Thus were laid broad and deep the foundation for the full and
free development of humanity in a region larger than the whole German
Empire.
The passing of the Ordinance was probably due in large measure to the
influence of the Ohio Company, a colonist society organized in Boston
the year before. It was composed of the flower of the Revolutionary
army, and had wealth, energy, and intelligence. When its agent appeared
before Congress to arrange for the purchase of five million acres of
land in the Ohio Valley, a bill for the government of the territory,
containing neither the antislavery clause nor the immortal principles of
the compacts, was on the eve of passage. The Company, composed mostly of
Massachusetts men, strongly desired their future home to be upon free
soil. Their influence prevailed with Congress, eager for revenue from
the sale of lands, and even the Southern members voted unanimously for
the remodelled ordinance. The establishment of a strong and enlightened
government in the territory led to its rapid settlement. Marietta, 0.,
was founded in April, 1788, and other colonies followed in rapid
succession.
CHAPTER X.
RISE OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION
[1787]
The anarchy succeeding the Revolution was as sad as the Revolution
itself had been glorious. The Articles of Confederation furnished
practically no government with which foreign nations could deal; England
still clung to the western posts, contrary to the treaty of peace, with
no power anywhere on this side to do more than protest; the debt of the
confederacy steadily piled up its unpaid interest; the land was flooded
with irredeemable paper money, state and national; the confederacy's
laws and constitution were ignored or trampled upon everywhere; and the
arrogance and self-seeking of the several States surpassed everything
but their own contemptible weakness.
In 1786 Shays' rebellion broke out in Massachusetts. Solid money was
very scarce, and paper all but worthless, yet many debts contracted on a
paper basis were pressed for payment in hard money. The farmers swore
that the incidence of taxes upon them was excessive, and upon the
merchants too light. But the all-powerful grievance was the sudden
change from the distressing monetary injustice during the Revolution,
with the consequent increase of debts, to a rigid enforcement of
debtors' claims afterward. At this period men were imprisoned for debt,
and all prisons were frightful holes, which one would as lief die as
enter. Meetings were held to air the popular griefs, and grew violent.
In August the court-house at Northampton was seized by a body of armed
men and the court prevented from sitting. Similar uprisings occurred at
Worcester, Springfield, and Concord. The leader in these movements was
Daniel Shays, a former captain in the continental army. Governor Bowdoin
finally called for volunteers to put down the rebellion, and placed
General Lincoln in command. After several minor engagements, in which
the insurgents were worsted, the decisive action took place at
Petersham, where, in February, 1787, the rebels were surprised by
Lincoln. A large number were captured, many more fled to their homes,
and the rest withdrew into the neighboring States. Vermont and Rhode
Island alone offered them a peaceful retreat, the other States giving up
the fugitives to Massachusetts.

A Scene at Springfield, during Shays' Rebellion, when the
mob attempted to prevent the holding of the Courts of Justice.
The Shays commotion, for a long time shaking one of the stanchest States
in the Confederation, well showed the need of a far stronger central
government than the old had been or could be made. Other influences
concurred to the same conviction. Washington's influence, which took
effect mainly through his inspired letter to the States on leaving the
army, was one of these. National feeling was also furthered by the
spread of two religious sects, the Baptists and the Methodists, up and
down the continent, whose missionary preachers, ignoring State lines and
prejudices, helped to destroy the latter in their hearers.
[1785]
During the Revolution, American Methodism had been an appanage of
England. Wesley had discountenanced our effort at independence, and
when war broke out, all the Methodist preachers left the country, save
Asbury, who secreted himself somewhere in Delaware, waiting for better
days. But in 1784 this zealous body of Christians was organized as an
American affair, its clergy and laity after this displaying loyalty of
the most approved kind.

John Wesley.
Schemes had been mooted looking to a changed political order. A
proposition for a convention of the States to reform the Confederation
passed the New York Legislature in July, 1782, under the influence of
Alexander Hamilton; another passed that of Massachusetts, July, 1785,
urged by Governor Bowdoin; but because of too great love for state
independence and too little appreciation as yet of the serious nature of
the crisis, both motions failed of effect.
The idea of reform which found most favor, the only one which at first
had any chance of getting itself realized, was that of giving Congress
simply the additional power of regulating commerce. Even so moderate a
proposal as this had many enemies, especially in the South. Greatly to
her credit therefore as a Southern State, the purpose of amending the
old Articles in the direction indicated was first taken up in earnest by
Virginia. Her Legislature, soon after opening session in October, 1785,
listened to memorials from Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth, and Alexandria,
upon the gloomy prospects of American trade, which led to a general
debate upon the subject. In this, Mr. Madison, by a speech far exceeding
in ability any other that was made, began that extended and memorable
career of efforts for enlarged function in our central government which
has earned him the title of the Father of the Constitution.
The result of this discussion was a bill directing the Virginia
delegation in Congress to propose amendment to the constitution giving
to Congress the needed additional power. The enemies of the bill,
however, succeeded in so modifying it by limiting the proposed grant of
power to a period of thirteen years, that Madison and its other abettors
turned against it and voted to lay it on the table.
There was in existence at this very time a joint commission
representing Virginia and Maryland, which had been raised for the
purpose of determining what jurisdiction each of the two States had over
the Potomac and in Chesapeake Bay. Madison was one of the Virginia
commissioners. A meeting had been held on March 17, 1785, at which the
commissioners agreed in their report to transcend their instructions and
to recommend to the two States uniform monetary and commercial
regulations entire, including common export and import duties. They thus
reported, adding the still further recommendation that commissioners to
work out the details of such a plan be appointed each year till it
should be completed. The Maryland Legislature adopted the report, adding
the proposition that Delaware and Pennsylvania also should be invited to
enter the system and to send commissioners.
When the commissioners' report, with Maryland's action thereon, came
before the Virginia Legislature, Madison moved, as a substitute for the
mutilated bill which had been tabled previously, that the invitation to
take part in the commission go to all the States. The motion passed by a
large majority.
[1786]
Thus originated the Annapolis Convention of 1786. Nine States appointed
delegates; all but Connecticut, Maryland, and the two Carolinas; but of
the nine only Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York
actually sent them. As the powers granted the commissioners presupposed
a deputation from each of the States, those present, after mature
deliberation, deemed it inadvisable to proceed, drawing up instead an
urgent address to the States to take "speedy measures" for another,
fuller, convention to meet on the second Monday of May, 1787, for the
same purposes as had occasioned this one. Such was the mode in which the
memorable Federal Convention came about. Its seat was Philadelphia.
[1787]
The second Monday of May, 1787, which should have witnessed the opening,
was the 14th, but on that day too few deputies had assembled. So late as
the 25th only nine States were represented. They, however, effected an
organization on the 25th and chose officers. On the 28th eleven States
were present, so that on the next day business began in earnest.
Governor Randolph read and expounded the Virginia plan for a new
government, and Charles Pinckney the South Carolina plan. Both of these
were referred to a committee of the whole to sit next day.
This Virginia plan was substantially the work of Madison, and was the
earliest sketch of the present Constitution of the United States. With
the Pinckney plan, it was worked over, debated, and amended in the
committee of the whole, until June 13th, on which day the committee rose
and reported to the Convention nineteen resolutions based almost wholly
upon the Virginia plan. These were the text for all the subsequent
doings of the Convention.
The so-called New Jersey plan was brought forward on June 15th, the gist
of it being a recurrence to the foolish idea of merely repairing the
Confederation that then was. Its strength, which was slight, consisted
in its accord with the letter of the credentials which the delegates had
brought. It was, however, emphatically rejected, the Convention
stretching instructions, ignoring the old government, and proceeding to
build from the foundations. On July 24th and 26th the resolutions, now
increased to twenty-three, were put in the hands of a committee of
detail to be reported back in the form of a constitution. They
reappeared in this shape on August 6th, and this new document was
henceforth the basis of discussion. On September 8th a new committee was
appointed to revise style and arrangement, and brought in its work
September 13th, after which additions and changes were few. The
Constitution received signature September 17th.
The Federal Convention of 1787 was the most remarkable gathering in all
our national history thus far. Sixty-five delegates were elected, but as
ten never attended, fifty-five properly made up the body. Even these
were at no time all present together. From July 5th to August 13th New
York was not represented. Rhode Island was not represented at all.
Washington was President; Franklin, aged eighty-one, the oldest member;
Gillman, of New Hampshire, aged twenty-five, the youngest. Each State
sent its best available talent, so that the foremost figures then in
American political life were present, the chief exceptions being John
Adams, Jefferson--both abroad at the time--Samuel Adams, not favorable
to the Convention, John Jay, and Patrick Henry. Eight of the members had
signed the great Declaration, six the Articles of Confederation, seven
the Annapolis appeal of 1786. Washington and a good half dozen others
had been conspicuous military leaders in the Revolution. Five had been
or still were governors of their respective States. Nearly all had held
important offices of one sort or another. Forty of the fifty-five had
been in Congress, a large proportion of them coming to the Convention
directly from the congressional session just ended in New York.
It is interesting to note how high many from this Constituent Assembly
rose after the adoption of the paper which they had indited. Washington
and Madison became Presidents, Gerry Vice-President, Langdon senator and
President of the Senate, with duty officially to notify him who was
already First in War that the nation had made him also First in Peace.
Langdon was candidate for Vice-President in 1809. Randolph was the
earliest United States Attorney-General, Hamilton earliest Secretary of
the Treasury, M'Henry third Secretary of War, succeeding General Knox.
Dayton was a representative from New Jersey in the IId, IIId, IVth, and
Vth Congresses, being Speaker during the last, then senator in the VIth,
VIIth, and VIIIth. Ellsworth and Johnson were Connecticut's first pair
of senators, Johnson passing in 1791 to the presidency of Columbia
College, Ellsworth to the national chief-justiceship to succeed Jay.
Rutledge was one of the first associate justices of the Supreme Court.
Subsequently, in July, 1795, Washington nominated him for chief justice,
and he actually presided over the Supreme Court at its term in that
year; but, for his ill-mannered denunciation of Jay's treaty, the Senate
declined to confirm him. Wilson and Patterson also each held the
position of associate justice on the supreme bench of the nation.
Rufus King, after the adoption of the Constitution, removed to New York.
He was a senator from that State between 1789 and 1795, and again
between 1813 and 1826; and Minister to England from 1796 to 1803, and
again after 1826 till his failing health compelled his resignation. He
was the federalist candidate for Vice-President in 1804 and 1808, and
for President in 1816. Sherman of Connecticut, Gillman of New Hampshire,
and Baldwin of Georgia, went into the House of Representatives and were
promoted thence to the Senate. Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, Gouverneur
Morris, now again of New York, Caleb Strong of Massachusetts, William
Patterson of New Jersey, Richard Bassett of Delaware, Alexander Martin
and Blount of North Carolina, Charles Pinckney and Butler of South
Carolina, and Colonel Few of Georgia, all became senators. Madison,
Gerry, Fitzsimmons of Pennsylvania, Carroll of Maryland, and Spaight and
Williamson of North Carolina, all wrought well in the House, but did not
reach the Senate. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was nominated for the
Presidency in 1800, on the ticket with John Adams, again in 1804, and
still again in 1808.
Jared Ingersoll was the federalist candidate for Vice-President in 1812,
on the ticket with De Witt Clinton, against Madison and Gerry. Yates
rose to be Chief Justice of the State of New York, Lansing to be its
Chancellor. Gerry and Strong of Massachusetts, Patterson of New Jersey,
Bassett of Delaware, Spaight and Davie of North Carolina, and Charles
Pinckney of South Carolina, became Governors of their States, as did
Alexander Martin, of North Carolina, a second time.
Having received final revision and signature, the Constitution was
transmitted, with a commendatory letter from Washington, to the old
Congress. Suggestions were added relating to the mode of launching it.
Congress was requested to lay the new Great Charter before the States,
and, so soon as it should have been ratified by nine of them, to fix the
date for the election by these of presidential electors, the day for the
latter to cast their votes, and the time and place for commencing
proceedings under the revised constitution. Congress complied. The
debates of the Convention, only more hot, attended ratification, which
was carried in several States only by narrow majorities.
[1788-1790]
Delaware was the first to ratify, December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania and New
Jersey soon followed, the one on the 12th of the same month, the other
on the 18th. Delaware and New Jersey voted unanimously; Pennsylvania
ratified by a vote of forty-six to twenty-three. During the first month
of the new year, 1788, Georgia and Connecticut ratified, on the 2d and
9th respectively. New Hampshire next took up the question, but adjourned
her convention to await the action of Massachusetts. In this great State
the people were divided almost equally. Of the western counties the
entire population that had sympathized or sided with Shays was bitter
against the Constitution. The larger centres and in general the eastern
part of the State favored it. The vote was had on February 6th, and
showed a majority of only 19 out of 355 in favor of the Constitution.