The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1928-07-01
VTRGnJIA'S CONDITIONAL
RATIFICATION

and against. A large majority Of the dele
gates were opposed to ratification. Many
were instructed to vote against the Con-
gtitution The resolution before the con-
Vention at first included q condition"
BY close vote, the condition was stricken
out, but unfortunately it had sleeper"
in it in the form of a reservation thus,
~the powers granted under the Constltu-
ton being derived from the people of the
United States may be resumed by them
whensoever the same shall be perverted
to their injury and oppression" The
vote was 80 to 70 for the resolution with
the sleeper" in it, Madison said the
reservation was not condition" Mason,
Henry, Monroe and others said it was.
The Virginia Resolutions of 1898, written
by Madison, advocating notification, by
inference affirmed the reservation as
condition" The ordinance of secession
of Virginia, May II, 1861, reaf6rmed it as
Condition" and through all the inter-
vening years, the people of Virginia SO
held.
Ten men in that convention had posi-
tive instructions to vote against rat1t1ca-
ton. Those ten voted contrary to in
Structions Ten men violated sacred
trust The ten faith breakers and trust
violators converted a defeat into VIC
tory for the Constitution with the sleep
err" tackled on. That reservation from the
standpoint of law was condition. A con-
ditional ratification is no ratification, and
the Virginia act was invalid and null and
void
So much for Virginia, what about New
York? The resolution in this state for
ratification had the same sleeper" in it
as Virginia with this difference. The
word "reassumed" was used in the place
of resumed" Condition" was also in
it. BY large majority, condition was
stricken out Rhode Island used the same
language as did New York.
Madison wrote letter to the Pough-
keepsie Convention, giving as his opinion
that "reassumed' was not a condition,
and the effect was "reassumed'' stayed
in.
NEW YORK'S ACTION NULL AND VOID
But a stronger case of invalidity can be
made out against the New York ratlflca-
ton. There were 81 members present on
the day of the vote. -Four members were
absent-total 81 elected. The vote stood
80 for and q against. Thirty-one was
majority Of all the members. Thirty be-
ing only majority Of a quorum the vote
was illegal, and therefore, the act of
ratification was invalid and null and void.
Rhode Island is an exact parallel to
New York The Constitution there was
finally ratified by a majority of two votes,
two members being absent. The vote IN
favor was only one-haf Of all the men,
bers elected and not a majority, there
fore. the act of Rhode Island was in
valid and yoid.'
Pennsylvania, call for convention in
valid-nnajority of quorum and that
quorum kidnapped; Virginia, ratification
invalid-bad faith and conditional; New
York, ratification inValid-majority Of a
quorum besides CONDITIONAL: Rhode Is
land, ratification invalid-majority Of a
quorum!
Thus to this unhappy and dreary reve-
lation Mr. Roots reasoning leads us,
sanctioned by DR.. Nicholas Murray But
Ter, of Columbia University.
Yes, it may be argued, leaving out all
these invalid notifications, we still have
nine valid notifications, enough to make
the Constitution legal, valid and effective.
The bad acts of the four states would
not have changed the result That will
depend upon the question whether or not
the four illegal and invalid acts poison
the whole proceeding.
For arguments sake, the point will be
conceded that the final result would not
have been changed by the four illegal
state acts. But we have proved the con-
tention that the history of legislative
bodies in the United States, customs,
precedent, rules and regulations Of pro-
cedure sanction the effectiveness of votes