Page:Debates in the Several State Conventions, v1.djvu/342

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RATIFICATIONS—CONN., MASSACHUSETTS.
     
Amasa Learned, Simeon Smith, Robert M'Cune,
Samuel Huntington, Hendrick Dow, Daniel Sherman,
Jedediah Huntington, Seth Paine, Samuel Orton,
Isaac Huntington, Asa Witter, Asher Miller,
Robert Robbins, Moses Cleveland, Samuel H. Parsons,
Daniel Foot, Samson Howe, Ebenezer White,
Eli Hyde, William Danielson, Hezekiah Goodrich,
Joseph Woodbridge, William Williams, Dyer Throop,
Stephen Billings, James Bradford, Jabez Chapman,
Andrew Lee, Joshua Dunlap, Cornelius Higgins,
William Noyes, Daniel Learned, Hezekiah Brainard,
Joshua Raymond, Jun., Moses Campbell, Theophilus Morgan,
Jeremiah Halsey, Benjamin Dow, Hezekiah Lane,
Wheeler Coit, Oliver Wolcott, William Hart,
Charles Phelps, Jedediah Strong, Samuel Shipman,
John Beach, Moses Hawley, Jeremiah West,
Hezekiah Rogers, Charles Burrall, Samuel Chapman,
Lemuel Sandford, Nathan Hale, Ichabod Warner,
William Heron, Daniel Miles, Samuel Carver,
Philip Burr Bradley, Asaph Hall, Jeremiah Ripley,
Nathan Danchy, Epaphras Sheldon, Ephraim Root,
James Davenport, Eleazer Curtiss, John Phelps,
John Davenport, Jun., John Whittlesey, Isaac Foot,
Wm. Samuel Johnson, Dan. Nath. Brinsmade, Abijah Sessions,
Elisha Mills, Thomas Fenn, Caleb Holt,
Eliphalet Dyer, David Smith, Seth Crocker.
Jedediah Elderkin,    

State of Connecticut, ss. Hartford, January Ninth, Anno Domini, 1788. The foregoing ratification was agreed to, and signed as above, by one hundred and twenty-eight, and dissented to by forty delegates in convention, which is a majority of eighty-eight.

Certified by MATTHEW GRISWOLD, President.

Teste. Jedediah Strong, Secretary.




5.COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The Convention having impartially discussed, and fully considered, the Constitution for the United States of America, reported to Congress by the Convention of Delegates from the United States of America, and submitted to us by a resolution of the General Court of the said commonwealth, passed the 25th day of October last past,—and acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Supreme Ruler of the universe in affording the people of the United States, in the course of his providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud or surprise, of entering into an explicit and solemn compact with each other, by assenting to and ratifying a new Constitution, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity,—do, in the name and in behalf of the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, assent to and ratify the said Constitution for the United States of America.

And as it is the opinion of this Convention, that certain amendments and alterations on the said Constitution would remove the fears, and quiet the apprehensions, of many of the good people of this commonwealth, and more effectually guard against an undue administration of the federal government,—the Convention do therefore recommend that the following alterations and provisions be introduced into the said Constitution—

I. That it be explicitly declared that all powers not expressly delegated by the aforesaid Constitution are reserved to the several states, to be by them exercised.

II. That there shall be one representative to every thirty thousand persons, according to the census mentioned in the Constitution, until the whole number of the representatives amounts to two hundred.

III. That Congress do not exercise the powers vested in them by the 4th section of the 1st article, but in cases where a state shall neglect or refuse to make the regulations therein mentioned, or shall make regulations subversive of the rights of the people to a free and equal representation in Congress, agreeably to the Constitution.

IV. That Congress do not lay direct taxes but when the moneys arising from the impost and excise are insufficient for the public exigencies, nor then until Congress