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only Rhode Island remained awkwardly absent, resistance to ratification seemed absurd rather than principled. Rhode Island resembled not a confidently self-governing republic choosing its own sustainable political and economic destiny, but a state making an inexplicably negative choice to be unrepresented in its own
Federal union by stubbornly ignoring it. Exerting informal leverage amid a measure of national public ridicule of the state, the new Federal Government pressured "Rogue Island" to conform, but also welcomed its eventual accession.
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While at least five states quickly ratified unconditionally, beginning with
Delaware on December 7, 1787, as opponents organized more effectively it became clear that fewer than nine states were projected to ratify without at least an informal guarantee that the proposed new Congress would append key
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Anti-Federalist opinion in Rhode Island, which retained wide popular support and for which the
Country Party was the vehicle, clearly had helped ensure a Bill of Rights. However, by the spring of 1790, months after a finalized Bill of Rights was approved by a smoothly functioning Congress from which
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decided to support the
Constitution, effectively ending his political career. Rhode Island was the last of the original states to ratify, and by the margin of 34 votes to 32. Its first senators were seated on June 25, 1790, and its first representative was seated on December 17, during the third
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was inaugurated as
President in April. The First Congress proposed the Bill of Rights in September, to be duly ratified by state legislatures and to take effect roughly two years later. In November, North Carolina ratified the Constitution. Its senators were seated in January 1790, and its five
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and agreed. As public discussion of these draft amendments progressed and confidence in the compromise grew, more members of remaining state legislatures came to favor ratification. On June 21, 1788, New
Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify and news quickly reached Rhode Island.
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By the end of July 1788, Virginia and New York had ratified, bringing the total to 11, excluding only North
Carolina and Rhode Island and making universal ratification subject to adoption of a Bill of Rights virtually inevitable. The Constitution took effect when the
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and was the organized vehicle for political expression of popular views that led to Rhode Island both disrupting consensus among states under the
Articles of Confederation and being the last of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution.
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Ratification by the legislatures of nine states had been required for the
Constitution to take effect. Effectively, this requirement represented nine of 12, as Rhode Island had already earned a reputation for poor cooperation in the
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were also opposed, as one of the largest denominations in Rhode Island who had historically been persecuted by various governments. Many were also concerned that the government created by the
Constitution would violate
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351:, which drafted the United States Constitution. Then, when that document was presented to the states for ratification, Hazard's faction delayed, and nearly prevented, Rhode Island's approval."
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were leaders of the rural Country Party which opposed the Constitution. The party "was suspicious of the power and the cost of a government too far removed from the
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was averted when the Federalists agreed to celebrate only independence and not the Constitution. This incident became national news.
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were among those in Rhode Island who opposed the Constitution; they were opposed to it largely because of its sanctioning of slavery.
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as governor for the next 15 years. After passage of the Constitution, some Country Party leaders were left bankrupt, such as
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Rhode Island politics of the period was marked by exceptional favor for state independence. It was the first of the
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led nearly 1,000 armed farmers to Providence to protest an ox roast celebration and toast to the Constitution on
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The Rhode Island legislature had delayed a constitutional convention 11 times, but finally called for one in
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The Town of Providence, From Its First Settlement, to the Organization of the City Government, in June, 1832
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to protect individual liberties. In the rural areas of Rhode Island, citizens wanted to ensure that their
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and early Federal periods, from about March 1781 until the death in office of its leader, Governor
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as legal tender at face value. Some of these views found mainstream expression in the
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session of the First Congress and only weeks before that Congress admitted
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concerns driving distrust of distant and large government; opposition to
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to pass legislation declaring independence, doing so prior to the
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Arthur Fenner, an anti-federalist, served as Governor for 15 years
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The Country Party opposed the Constitution largely because of
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and dominated state politics from 1785 to 1790. A stridently
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party, it was instrumental in resisting ratification of the
626:""Rogue Island": The last state to ratify the Constitution"
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level, and so it declined to dispatch delegates to the
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Passage of the Constitution and William West's protest
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851:Ratification of the United States Constitution
831:Defunct political parties in the United States
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557:. Providence, RI: Knowles and Vose. pp.
508:"Chapter 3: The Revolutionary Era, 1763-1790"
304:in which the mercantile economy, but not the
16:Defunct political party in the United States
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283:United States Declaration of Independence
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
826:Political parties disestablished in 1790
800:Political party strength in Rhode Island
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479:Rhode Islanders elected Anti-Federalist
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861:1790 disestablishments in Rhode Island
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41:Please help
36:verification
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754:Libertarian
424:Federalists
409:compromised
345:grass-roots
189:Agrarianism
99:August 2012
815:Categories
717:Republican
712:Democratic
597:2019-03-01
491:References
185:Fiat money
69:newspapers
475:Aftermath
227:Elections
208:Elections
164:Dissolved
792:See also
744:Moderate
606:cite web
456:Kingston
391:and had
359:Baptists
329:Scituate
180:Ideology
763:Defunct
565:July 7,
522:July 7,
469:Vermont
460:Newport
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355:Quakers
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