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VIII.
THE RHODE ISLAND CONVENTION
SECOND SESSION
24-29 May 1790
Introduction
The second session of the Rhode Island Convention assembled at
the State House in Newport on Monday, 24 May 1790, but no quorum
was attained. The Convention adjourned to the next day but did no
business even though all seventy members were listed as present. Ben-
jamin Bosworth, the town of Warren's replacement for General Nathan
Miller, who had died in the interim, took his seat.
On Wednesday, 26 May, a motion was made to adopt the Constitu-
tion, whereupon AntifederalistJob Comstock of East Greenwich moved
for an adjournment "for a Short time." Federalists questioned the pro-
priety of the motion, but President Daniel Owen ruled that, according
to the Convention's rules, all motions for adjournment were proper
and took precedence over any other consideration. The vote to adjourn
was defeated, probably 36 to 29. In the afternoon session the Convention
read the Constitution and the bill of rights and amendments proposed
by the March Convention. The Convention reconstituted the ten-man
committee that had drafted the bill of rights and amendments in March
and ordered it to consider additional amendments to the Constitution
that might have been proposed by the towns during the Convention's
three-month recess. Before adjourning for the day, the delegates agreed
to reconvene at the Second Baptist Church.
On Thursday, 27 May, the Reverend Gardner Thurston opened the
proceedings with prayer. The committee on amendments reported
and the Convention accepted an additional amendment allowing
state legislatures to recall and replace their federal senators. In the
afternoon session the Convention appointed another ten-man com-
mittee to consider additional amendments and to draft a form of rat-
ification.
The Convention adjourned to the next morning, Friday, 28 May, when
the Reverend William Patten of the Second Congregational Church
opened the session with prayer. The committee reported a form of rat-
ification that included three additional amendments and recommended
the deletion of the March Convention's eighteenth amendment calling
for the legislature to approve eleven of the twelve amendments to the
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