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William Williams and Samuel Holden Parsons renewed a personal
quarrel which led to a confrontation between them (Enoch Perkins
to Simeon Baldwin, 15 January, VII:B below).
On 9 January, Samuel Holden Parsons moved that the Convention
ratify the Constitution. Before the vote was taken, the state's three
leading officials-Governor Samuel Huntington, Lieutenant Governor
Oliver Wolcott, and Chief Judge Richard Law-spoke in support of the
Constitution. Other delegates followed. The yeas and nays were then
called on Parsons' motion, and the Constitution was ratified 128 to
40.
Two copies of the engrossed Form of Ratification were signed and
certified. Shortly thereafter, President Matthew Griswold transmitted
one copy to the President of Congress, and it was read to Congress on
22 January. The second copy of the Form was delivered to Connecti-
cut's secretary of state.
The closing date of the Connecticut Convention is usually given
as 9 January, after the vote for ratification late in the afternoon.
However, there is some evidence that the Convention possibly met on
the 10th to sign the Form of Ratification, which had to be engrossed
after the vote to ratify. (See Samuel Holden Parsons to William
Cushing, 11 January, and Hugh Ledlie to John Lamb, 15 January,
both VII:B below.)
Letters and newspaper items written after the close of the Conven-
tion throw more light on the character of the debates, and on some
of the issues involved, than do the newspaper reports of the debates.
These documents are printed in VII:B below.
Connecticut Convention Roster
This roster is compiled from the Weekly Monitor, 14 January; the
Connecticut Courant, 14 January; and Glorious News, a broadside
published by Josiah Meigs (Mfm:Conn. 59, 68, 69). The Courant listed
the names of the delegates, with their military and honorific titles, in
two paragraphs-one headed "yeas" and the other "nays." The Monitor
and the broadside listed the delegates by towns and counties. The
Monitor indicated how each delegate had voted, while the broadside
marked only those delegates who had voted against ratification.
A total of 174 men was elected to the Convention. A "Y" has been
placed after the names of those delegates who voted for ratification,
an "N" after those who voted against ratification, and an "A" after
those who were either absent or abstained.
The first names of the delegates have been spelled out, and their
last names are spelled correctly so far as the sources make it possible
to do so. The names of two towns were later changed. Bethlem became
Bethlehem and Chatham became East Hampton.
536
CONNECTICUT