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Kaminski, John P.; Schoenleber, Charles H.; Saladino, Gaspare J.; Leffler, Richard; Reid, Jonathan M.; Flamingo, Margaret R.; Lannér-Cusin, Johanna E.; Fields, David P.; Conley, Patrick T.; Moore, Timothy D. (ed.) / Ratification of the Constitution by the states: Rhode Island (3)
26 (2013)
VIII. The Rhode Island Convention second session, 24-29 May 1790, pp. 984-1012
Page 984
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 984
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