TowN MEETINGS, 29 MAY 1790

5. See "Town Meetings Consider Rhode Island Convention Bill of Rights and Proposed
Amendments," 21 April (RCS:R.I., 830-36).
6. The Second Baptist Church, founded in 1656, was built in 1706-7 (and enlarged
in 1725) and was located on North Baptist and Farewell streets in Newport. The Reverend
Gardner Thurston (1721-1802) served as its pastor from 1759 until 1801. For a one-page
acrostic printed in Newport in 1791 spelling out "Gardner Thurston," see Evans 46106.
7. Only Hazard and Steere had served on the previous ten-man committee that drafted
the Convention's bill of rights and amendments in March.
8. The Reverend William Patten (1763-1839) served as pastor of the Second Congre-
gational Church in Newport from 1786 until 1833.
9. Three reports of the committee are in the volume labeled Papers Relating to the
Adoption of the Constitution at the Rhode Island State Archives. Two of the reports list
only two amendments. The first amendment deals with recalling U.S. Senators (amend-
ment 18 in the form of ratification) and is marked "voted & passed." The second amend-
ment, marked "expunged" or "not Passed," reads: "That the Direct Taxes Quotaed by
Congress to the Several States shall be apportioned according to the real Value of the
Property in the Several States all Lands within each State granted to, or surveyed for any
Person, or such Lands and the Buildings and Improvements thereon shall be Estimated
according to such mode as the united States in Congress assembled shall from time to
time direct & appoint." One of these two reports is endorsed: "reported May 27th. 1790."
The third report includes three amendments (numbers 19-21 in the form of ratifica-
tion), the recommendation to expunge and replace amendment 18 proposed by the
March Convention, and a paragraph on reporting the form of ratification. The text in
angle brackets that appears in the Convention Proceedings below the hairline is from
this third report. The report was signed by all ten members of the committee.
10. For the eighteenth amendment proposed by the first session of the Rhode Island
Convention on 6 March, see RCS:R.I., 981.
11. Congress proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution on 25 September
1789. (See Appendix I, below.) The date "March 1789" refers to the scheduled open-
ing of Congress' session on 4 March 1789. For Rhode Island's adoption of eleven of
the twelve amendments, see "The Rhode Island General Assembly," 7-12June (RCS:R.I.,
1041-42).
12. The Reverend William Smith (1754-1821) was rector of Trinity Episcopal Church
in Newport from 1789 until 1797.
13. See the Middletown Meeting, 29 May 1790 (immediately below).
14. See "Convention Roll Call Votes on Adjournment, 26 May 1790, and on Ratifica-
tion, 29 May 1790" (RCS:R.I., 994-96).
15. For the committee report, see "Rhode Island Form of Ratification and Amend-
ments," 29 May 1790, note 1 (RCS:R.I., 1003n).
16. A draft of this resolution is in the volume labeled Papers Relating to the Adoption
of the Constitution at the Rhode Island State Archives. See also note 9 (above).
17. The draft of this resolution is in the volume labeled Papers Relating to the Adop-
tion of the Constitution at the Rhode Island State Archives. The resolution was moved
by John Williams of Foster. The text in angle brackets reads in the draft: "and they be
destributed by the Sheriffs of the Several Counties."
Middletown Town Meeting, 29 May 17901
(At a Town Meeting held in Middletown May 29th AD 1790)-Es-
pecially Called by order of the Town Council Joseph Peabody Esqr.
Moderator-

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