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VIII
CONNECTICUT RATIFICATION AND
OTHER STATES
9 January-5 February 1788
Immediately after the Connecticut Convention ratified the Consti-
tution., Connecticut Federalists sped the news to Boston where the
Massachusetts Convention convened on 9 January. Boston church
bells rang out in celebration on 'the morning of the 14th, and by the
17th news of Connecticut ratification had been printed in ten Massa-
chusetts newspapers. By the end of February at least fifty-five news-
papers throughout the United States had printed reports of Connecti-
cut's ratification. Some reports were mere statements that Connecticut
had ratified; others gave the vote and the Form of Ratification; and
a few printed the debates as reported in the Connecticut newspapers
(for examples, see Mfm:Conn. 71).
Federalists were concerned about the progress toward ratification in
every state, but they had a particular interest in the outcome in Con-
necticut. They hoped that Connecticut ratification would have a bene-
ficial effect in Massachusetts where the opposition was very strong and
in New York where it was even stronger. The letters printed below il-
lustrate Federalist concern and hopes from Connecticut's ratification
between 9 January and 5 February when George Washington summed
up Federalist views precisely in a letter to Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.
Washington congratulated Trumbull on Connecticut's ratification and
commented on the "6not so favorable"9 accounts from Massachusetts.
The next day, the Massachusetts Convention voted to ratify the
Constitution.
Christopher Gore to Jeremiah Wadsworth
Boston, 9 January'
Not having the honor of a personal acquaintance with you, my
commencing a correspondence at this time might be deemed imperti-
nent were it not for the importance of the object, which I presume
we both wish attained-I mean, the adoption of the proposed frame
of government by the New England States. Our Convention met this