28. The Battle for Massachusetts
As the epochal struggle for Massachusetts began, it was clear that the majority of the people of the state opposed the Constitution. Furthermore, in contrast to Pennsylvania where the Federalists had the important advantage of recently acquired control of the state government, the story in Massachusetts was almost the reverse. For in 1787, in reaction to the harsh measures taken to suppress Shays’ Rebellion, the people had swept the ultra-conservative Governor James Bowdoin out of office and reelected the highly popular John Hancock.
29. Rhode Island Holds Out
Almost on cue, now the Constitution received its first positive and emphatic setback. Predictably it came from Rogues’ Island. Little Rhode Island had been the only state that had staunchly, though by a close margin, refused to send delegates to the Constitution Convention. Now, in March 1788 the Rhode Island Assembly refused to call a state convention, and instead, by a heavy majority, it very democratically decided to turn this momentous decision over to the people in the various towns of the state.
30. Maryland and South Carolina Ratify
It is not surprising that the next state to ratify should be Maryland, where the Constitution commanded a comfortable popular majority. But the proceedings were curious. The Federalists were actually quite worried, for some of the great men and leading oligarchs of the state were opposed to the Constitution, and they could have wielded great influence.
31. New Hampshire Follows
The first of the state conventions to make its decision was New Hampshire. Between the adjournment in February and the resumption in June, Federalist votes and propaganda had been executed to the maximum. The energetic Federalist-controlled press naturally excluded Antifederalist material, and personal influence by prominent men did its work, with Judge Samuel Livermore succeeding in converting many of the northern towns.
The most famous work of twentieth-century political philosophy is John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (1971). The most controversial part of this book is the “difference principle”: “Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: (a) They are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and (b), they are to be to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society” More exactly, it’s the second part of the principle that has generated controversy.
Over the past two decades, fears about China’s rapid economic and technological advancement have grown exponentially and culminated in the recent trade war unleashed by President Trump. But only supporters of government intervention could think of China’s market socialism as a redoubtable challenger to a market-oriented economy. But that’s not how it works.
Often, government-created holidays begin with a good premise — i.e., Independence Day, Armistice Day — and get worse from there. On Independence Day, instead of celebrating armed rebellion and secession, we now sing the praises of the government. Similarly, Armistice Day — a day designed to commemorate the end of a war — became Veterans Day, a day designed to honor government employees.
24. Little Delaware and New Jersey Ratify
The Federalist strategy was to drive the Constitution through as quickly as possible and concentrate on building momentum by getting rapid approval in the states in which they had a comfortable majority. The two leaders of the small-state bloc, Delaware and New Jersey, were two of the earliest ratifiers and ratified unanimously. This bloc fought the large-state nationalists at the convention, not to whittle down the basic nationalist program, but to ensure small-state equality in running that program. The achievement of equality in the Senate satisfied their qualms.
25. The Battle for Pennsylvania
Delaware and New Jersey were absurdly easy, but the same would not be true of the premier Delaware Valley state, Pennsylvania. Here, after all, the radical Constitutionalists, particularly from the center and western rural interior of the state, promised to be a formidable foe. The Federalists, however, were in luck: the conservative Republican Party of Pennsylvania was in the final upward phase of its in-and-out battle with the radicals.
23. Federalist Control of the Mail and Newspapers
The Federalists shrewdly decided to strike hard and swift and drive the Constitution rapidly through the states. The Federalist leaders were a small and cohesive group concentrated in the cities of the eastern seaboard, knew each other, were often tied into the same merchant business interests, and had united with each other and hammered out their ideas over the months of the convention and the years before.
