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The Rocky Road to Ratification - Part III

© Christina Coruth

A Lesson in Political Maneuvering

It was left to the legislature in each state to decide the specifics of its Constitutional Convention. John Sullivan, president of the New Hampshire state senate, supported ratification. By convening a special legislative session he was able to spread the word to like-minded senators to attend, which they did. Although the Anti-Federalists made up more than half of the house membership, the members attending the special session were evenly balanced between pro and con. Thomas Bartlett, the speaker of the house, also supported ratification.

A joint committee was appointed. Both sides were evenly represented in the Bartlett's group of appointees. Senate appointees to the committee were Federalists. The committee recommendations for New Hampshire's Convention favored the Federalists.

The committee set the location in Exeter, a pro constitutional town, on February 13.It was believed that at least six states including Massachusetts would have voted for ratification by then. The number of delegates elected by each town or class of towns would be the same in number as their representatives in the house. Those towns that had refused to elect representatives were still eligible to elect delegates to the Convention. All expenses would be paid by the state. The State's Exclusion Rule, which prohibited appointed state officials from representing their towns in the legislature while holding an appointed office, would not apply to the Convention. Most of those officials were Federalists.

House member Nathaniel Peabody of Atkinson, upon seeing that the recommendations favored the Federalists, attempted to get the number of delegates doubled. If he had succeeded, it was likely that many more Anti-Federalists would have been sent to the Convention. However, since doubling the number of delegates also doubled the cost to the state, his recommendation was defeated.

Anti-Federalists put another strategy into action. They worked on electing Anti-Federalist delegates and binding them with written instructions. While two or three towns managed the same tactic in favor of ratification, there were more than 20 towns that succeeded in sending their delegates to the Convention with instructions to vote "nay."

The success of this strategy unsettled the Federalists. They were faced with the likelihood that the vote at Exeter would defeat ratification. Leaders John Sullivan and John Langdon devised a plan to adjourn the Convention before a vote could be taken if defeat seemed likely. They spread the word to the other pro ratification delegates to arrive as early as possible on February 13 with the intention of calling the Convention to order as soon as a quorum was present (which turned out to be 50 delegates). Thirty-three of the 50 were pro Constitution. Of those 33 delegates, five were also legislators, who had left the legislative session early and unnoticed in order to arrive at the Convention early. Sullivan deliberately ended the legislative session late, thus preventing the early influx of Anti-Federalist legislators who were also delegates.

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