State Ratifying Conventions

[Keith Broaders]

In the Preamble to the famous words "We the People" is known by all, but who were the founders we referring to when they were written?

In 1788 when the Constitution was ratified by a relative few wealthy white men wrote a Constitution to secure their rights and those of their posterirty. Less than 1/10th of 1 % of people were even permitted to give their consent. 

The 2,154 delegates to the state ratifing conventions  were elected by male property owners in each of the states. 1,493 delegates voted in favor of ratification and 661 voted against ratification and nearly four million people did not give their consent. 

Women, slaves and Native Americans the were not among the people that the Constitution was written ti protect.

The Constitution was written  to secure the rights of the few at the expense of the very many. It did not defend the rights of the vast majority of the people who were not white, male or the owners of a sufficient amount of property. Does this sound like republic where every one was created equal or an oligarchy of the financial elite?

Today little has changed, the Constitution still benefits the few at the top and exploits the masses for the benefit of themselves and their posterity.

Political power is not vested the hands of the people it is held by the  weathy merchants and plantation owners. Today it is the 756 billionaires and the Wall Street corppation that call the shots while the masses are buried in perpetuak debt. 

The Constitution can not protect our rights if we fail to hold oir government officials accountable

The finanial elite will continue explpiting the people until we collectively stand up and enforce the Comstitution. Government officials like dispbedient children that must be punished when they break the rules.

All of the delegates participating in the State Ratifying Conventions and all of those to elected them were all white men that owned property, Up to 98% of the people did not quality to serve as delegates or even vote to decide who the delegates would be. As a result  1,256 od the wealthiest merchants and plantations gave their consent  while nearly 3.9 million other inhabitants  never voted to approve of the Constitution.

December 7, 1787: Delaware ratifies. Vote: 30 for, 0 against.    

December 12, 1787: Pennsylvania ratifies. Vote: 46 for, 23 against.

December 18, 1787: New Jersey ratifies. Vote: 38 for, 0 against. 137

January 2, 1788: Georgia ratifies. Vote: 26 for, 0 against.          163

January 9, 1788: Connecticut ratifies. Vote: 128 for, 40 against.   291

February 6, 1788: Massachusetts ratifies. Vote: 187 for, 168 against.   478

March 24, 1788: Rhode Island popular referendum rejects. Vote: 237 for, 2708 against.    715

April 28, 1788: Maryland ratifies. Vote: 63 for, 11 against.    778

May 23, 1788: South Carolina ratifies. Vote: 149 for, 73 against.   927

June 21, 1788: New Hampshire ratifies. Vote: 57 for, 47 against. Minimum requirement for ratification met.

June 25, 1788: Virginia ratifies. Vote: 89 for, 79 against.

July 26, 1788: New York ratifies. Vote: 30 for, 27 against.    1103

August 2, 1788: North Carolina convention adjourns without ratifying by a vote of 185 in favor of adjournment, 84 opposed.

November 21, 1789: North Carolina ratifies. Vote: 194 for, 77 against.

May 29, 1790: Rhode Island ratifies. Vote: 34 for, 32 against.

Only 2 154 delegates chosen to vote on the ratification od the Comstitition were w oon b at tge srare ratifting  Conbvention dtubf 1,493 people out of 3.9 million gave their consent by voting for the ratification of the Constitution.   1392

[Keith Broaders]

On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify, as well as the first state to endure a serious Anti-Federalist challenge to ratification.