Virginia Ratifying Convention

The Convention convened "in the temporary capital at Cary and Fourteenth streets" on June 2, 1788, and elected Edmund Pendleton its presiding officer.

George Mason had refused to sign due to the lack of a Bill of Rights in Philadelphia and would continue in his opposition.

[4] An early estimate gave the Federalists seeking ratification a slim margin of 86 to Anti-Federalists rejecting at 80, with four unknowns.

Delegates changed sides over the debates, demonstrators paraded in the streets, and the press churned out accounts of the proceedings along with commentary pamphlets.

[7] Patrick Henry questioned the authority of the Philadelphia Convention to presume to speak for "We, the people" instead of "We, the states".

Nine states making a new nation without the rest would abrogate treaties and place Virginia in great peril.

Edmund Randolph had changed from his opposition in the Philadelphia Convention to now supporting adoption for the sake of preserving the Union.

Efficient government can only come from direct operation on individuals, it can never flow from negotiations among a confederation's constituent states.

The proposed Constitution creates a republic with each branch of government grounded in the people without hereditary offices.

[10] The Virginia Ratification (Federal) Convention made a final vote on George Wythe's motion to ratify, passing it 89 to 79.

[11] Unlike the Pennsylvania Convention where the Federalists railroaded the Anti-federalists in an all or nothing choice, in the Virginia Convention the Federalists had made efforts to reconcile with the Anti-federalists by recommending amendments like that of Virginia's Bill of Rights preamble to its 1776 Constitution.