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566                            CONNECTICTJT/9, 10 JAN.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the Convention of this
state have this day ratified the new proposed Constitution by a ma-
jority of more than three to one.2
Two of the delegates designated to attend Congress have been de-
tained to attend the Convention of this state, which being this day
dissolved, you may expect this state will be represented in Congress
within a few days.3
1. RC, PCC, Item 66, Connecticut State Papers, 1775-89, Vol. 11, 882-85, DNA.
The date on the letter seems to have been supplied by Roger Alden, deputy secre-
tary of Congress, who endorsed the letter as received on 17 January.
2. On 23 January, Huntington repeated this information in letters to the governors
of New Jersey and Virginia (Mfm:Conn. 79, 80).
3. Jeremiah Wadsworth arrived in Congress on 21 January and Stephen Mix Mit-
chell on 29 February. Joseph Platt Cooke, who was not a member of the Conven-
tion, also arrived on 29 February.
Samuel Holden Parsons to William Cushing
Hartford, 9 January'
The Convention of this state, after deliberating with great calm-
ness and candor on the important question of adopting the proposed
Federal Constitution from Thursday last, have decided this day and
assented to the proposed government-yeas 128, nays 40. The 4th
and 8th sections in the 1st Article and the 1st and 2d sections in the
3d Article met the most opposition. I would give you the arguments
but [-] would expect on so decided a majority. No time is now
in my power to go into the detail on that subject, but I will try to
write you next post.2
1. RC, Cushing Papers, MHi. As in his letter to Henry Knox (immediately above),
Parsons misdated this letter, "Thursday night." Cushing, Chief justice of the
Supreme judicial Court of Massachusetts, was in Boston as a delegate to the
Massachusetts Convention.
2. See Parsons to Cushing, 11 January, VII:B below.
Ezra Stiles Diary
New Haven, 9, 10 January1
January 9. At V h 30' P.M. [5:30 P.M.] the Convention at Hart-
ford accepted and ratified the new Federal Constitution. 128 yeas and
39 [40] nays, Total 167 [168] + 6 absent= 183 [174] total mem-
bers of Convention. A courier set off from Hartford at VI [6:00 P.M.],
rode 14 miles in one hour and six minutes, and reached the city of
New Haven before XI h at night [11:00 P.M.] ,2
January 10. At X11.25' this morning [12:25 A.M.], the four bells
in the city began and continued to ring above an hour and ceased at
I h 40' [1:40 A.M.] during which thirteen cannon were discharged.
566