Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-09
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
How She Saved the Union-The Constitl
ton Was a Compromise.

| How She Saved the Union-The C0nstitu-
ton Was Compromise.
Pennsylvania, by general consent and
from her local position, has long borne the
name of the Keystone State. In the pict-
ures emblematic of the e PlGri5us U'aum
nature of our Government, she appears as
a wedge at the top of the arch. Without
any disposition to begrudge her honors, re-
gard for history compels US to say that in
a political sense New Hampshire is en-
titled to the appellation, or to one equally
honorable. 1t was her vote in acceptance
of the Constitution of 1877 that rendered
| the instrument an accomplished fact. Our
land was thus transformed from loose
jointed confederacy into a nationality
which, from small beginnings, has become
one of the foremost Powers of the earth.
Not only did New Hampshire thus cast
the decisive vote, but she revived the
fainting spirits of the Unionists in other
States, and so insured the complete failure
of the obstinate resistance of North Caro-
lima and Rhode Island.
The National Constitution was adopted
September II, 1877, by the Convention APP
pointed by the resolution of the Congress
of the Confederation, passed on the Dist of
the preceding February. BY article VII,
and In the concluding paragraph Of the
instrument, ii was provided that the rat
| lication of the Conventions of nine States
shall be sufficient for the establishment of
this Constitution between the States so
ratifying the same" The reason for this
two-thirds rule is obvious. Had unani-
nous ratification been conceded as es-
sential, any one recalcitrant State might
have nulliied the wishes of all the Others
If mere majority had been deemed suffi-
cient, the acceptance might have been
made by seven of the minor States, infe-
rior in wealth, intelligence and influence
to their six opponents. The Convention
struck the mean between the extremes,
and as the result showed, acted with pro-
found sagacity. The opposition in most of
the States was by no means contemplate.
In some it was really formidable, includ-
ing men like Patrick Henry, of Virginia,
of whose patriotism it was impossible to
doubt. The Constitution was a compro-
mise, and, like all compromises, surrendered
points of great importance. AS the sequel
showed, the concessions regarding slavery
and the foreign slave trade were well nigh
ruinous. Men of clear perceptions and
sensitive consciences perceived the danger,
but they also conjured perils which have
never menaced the national well being.
| Omniscience is not an attribute of human
wisdom, and congratulations from part of
the whole are seldom infallible. Yet, put
| ting ourselves as well as we can in our
great grandfathers case; imbuing ourselves
with their colonial and sectional preiu-
dices, and viewing the constitutional new
departures as rash incursions into the I'M
tried and unknown, we cannot wonder that
they were fearful and even factious.
1t must be remembered, too, that party
spirit ran high in the last century's eight
les. 4 most burdensome war had lust
closed; the ex-colonists had enjoyed their
freedom-seeking fling, and having had
their dance, the financial piper was now to
be paid. The debt was conceded by all,
but there were many views as to the best
mode of payment. The old Confederation
was an admitted failure, but there was no
disposition to return to an actual monarch
ical rule or to intensity features that were
confessedly anarchical. Still, the FEEDER
alists inclined to monarchical conservat-
ism, without monarchical fummery and
absolute class distinctions, while the Dem
ocrats favored as close an approach to
pure equality as could be made without
loosening all social and political cords
The Constitution was an attempt to con-
ciliate both extremes.
As such 1t was presented to the people
in the fall of the year 1877. Discus
sions were the order of the day. The
newspapers argued for or against it edito-
rally, and, as was the fashion of the time,
admitted long dissertations signed by Pu-
blius, Brutus, Camillus and SO on. The
| Federalist, now a constitutional classic,
had its origin in this practice. Calm dis
cussions in print were not all. Stump
speakers had their say, and the masses be-
came greatly excited. The support of the
proposed measure lay chiefly in the cities,
while in the rural districts the people were
generally opposed to the national charter.
Few or no newspapers were then read by
the farmers, and, with the help of dema-
gogues, they were made to see heresy and
aristocratic peridy in every section. The
Convention of the little State of Delaware
was the first to adopt the Constitution
December Z, 1887. Pennsylvania and New
Jersey, the States nearest to Independence
Hall and the then chief city of the nation,
followed on the 18th and 18th of the same
month. Georgia, on the remote Southern
border, and controlled by few planters,
who were grati6ed with the conservative
action on slavery, ratified on the ID of
January, 1888. Connecticut did the same
a week later, and Massachusetts, accepted
the situation in February.
Things had thus far progressed as favor
ably as the friends of Union could hope,
hut a powerful opposition had developed
in Maryland, Virginia, North and South
Carolina, New York, New Hampshire and
| Rhode Island. 1t was not until April 18th
that Union principles gained the victory
in Maryland. Nearly a month later the
South Carolina Convention adopted the
Constitution, and on the 2lst of June New
Hampshire did the same. Nationality was
now an accomplished fact, and all further
resistance was fruitiess, though it might be
continued in a purely factious spirit.
| Within six days the Unionists of Virginia
were enabled to announce their victory
over their well-meaning but wroug-headed
adversaries. New York ratified on the
10Th of July, leaving only North Carolina
and Rhode Island out in the cold. The
first of these States came round in the fol-
lowing November, but the plucky inhabi-
tants of the little Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations" kept up their re-
sistance until May, 1890, and were only
brought round at last by the prospect of a
Custom-house blockade which the Union
proposed to enforce against them. The Con-
federation was now Nation, and New
Hampshire deserved special thanks for its
becoming such. At the start it looked
very much as if she was going to act the
other way.
Her Constitutional Convention met at
Exeter, February Is, 1883, and after ten
days adjourned, simply because the friends
of Union saw that if the question were
then put to vote they were sure to be de-
feated. Subsequently, about the middle of
June, the Convention reassembled at Con-
cord. Its debates were not reported, but
the speech of Jonathan Atherton, the
leader of the opposition, has been pre-
served. 1t was specially directed against
the clause which allowed the continued
importation of slaves until 1908. Tradi-
ton has also handed down his arraignment
of slave representation. aft property" he
said, is to be represented in Congress and
in the Electoral Colleges, our neat stock is
as well to be counted as the black cattle of
the South. By this slave representation
you put the yoke on your own necks, and