III. DEBATE OVER CONSTITUTION

Poughkeepsie on 26 July 1888 commemorating the centennial of the ratifica-
tion of the Constitution by the New York Convention which had met in Pough-
keepsie. Using original sources, Lossing gave his readers a history of the rati-
fication debate in New York, with particular emphasis on the New York
Convention. He noted that the arrival in Poughkeepsie on 24June of the news
of New Hampshire's ratification of the Constitution as the ninth state was
"sensibly felt in the New York Convention" because ratification of the Consti-
tution by nine states was sufficient to make the Constitution "the fundamental
law of the land." But, according to Lossing, the supporters of the Constitution
realized that "to make the Union more perfect, complete and strong, it was
necessary to secure the ratification of the Constitution by the people of all the
states." New York Convention delegate Alexander Hamilton was especially con-
cerned about Virginia whose ratification of the Constitution would have a fa-
vorable impact on the New York Convention. Therefore, he wrote James Madi-
son, a Virginia Convention delegate, telling him how important Virginia
ratification would be to New York's chances of ratification.
The Virginia Convention ratified the Constitution on 25 June. According to
Lossing, the arrival on 2 July of the news of Virginia's ratification "produced
a stirring scene at Poughkeepsie, in and out of the [New York] Convention."
At this point in his narrative, Lossing quoted an account of the arrival of that
news which allegedly was given to him in his "young manhood, by an eye
witness, a very old resident of that village who had been a soldier in the French
and Indian war, in northern New York."
"It was at about noon on a very hot day," said the old man, "when
I saw an express rider on a powerful bay horse flecked with foam,
dismount at the Court-house door, and placing his bridle-reins in the
hands of a negro boy standing by, hastened to the door of the Con-
vention-chamber and delivered a sealed package to Mr. [David] Barclay,
the door-keeper. The courier was colonel William Smith Livingston,
who had ridden express (changing horses several times) from New York
city to Poughkeepsie, a distance of eighty-one miles in less than ten
hours. The package he brought contained a dispatch from the Presi-
dent of the Virginia Convention at Richmond,29 and a letter from Madi-
son to Hamilton announcing that Virginia had, on the 25th day ofJune,
unconditionally ratified the Constitution.30 The reading of that dispatch
gave great joy to the Federalists in the Convention, and they cheered
loudly. Many people, out of curiosity, had gathered in front of the
Court-house after the arrival of the courier; and when the nature of
his errand was made known, a part of them formed a little procession,
and, led by the music of a fife and drum marched around the Court-
house several times. In the evening they lighted a small bonfire. Before
sunset Power had printed an 'Extra' on a sheet of paper seven by ten
inches in size, which contained the form of the ratification by Vir-
ginia."1

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