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III. DEBATE OVER CONSTITUTION
1788, Connecticut Courant, 7, 14January (CC:413, 420); (5) "Civis" (Da-
vid Ramsay), Charleston Columbian Herald, 4 February (CC:498); (6)
"A.B.: The Raising," (Francis Hopkinson), Pennsylvania Gazette, 6 Feb-
ruary (CC:504); (7) "Spurious Centinel XV," Pennsylvania Mercury, 16
February (CC:534); (8) John Adams to William Stephens Smith, 26
December 1787, from the third volume of Adams's Defence of the Con-
stitutions, reprinted in the New York Journal, 23 February 1788 (CC:557);
(9) "K" (Benjamin Franklin), Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 8 April
(CC:668); and (10) "Fabius" I (John Dickinson), Pennsylvania Mercury,
12 April (CC:677). "Fabius" I was reprinted in the Baltimore Maryland
Gazette, 22 April, while the Maryland Convention was in session. After
the Convention adjourned, the Gazette reprinted from 2 May to 24 June
all of the other eight numbers of "Fabius."
Maryland newspapers also contained numerous squibs and brief news
items reprinted from out-of-state newspapers, which was a longstanding
practice that seemed to become more common after the adjournment
of the Constitutional Convention. These squibs and brief news items
reported or commented on (1) the passage of resolutions and acts
calling state conventions; (2) the prospects for ratification of the Con-
stitution; (3) the reports of ratification of the Constitution; (4) the
positions of prominent individuals on the Constitution, such as Ben-
jamin Franklin, John Hancock, John Jay, and George Washington; (5)
the acquiescence of the minority of the Connecticut and Massachusetts
conventions; (6) the opinions of Europeans on the Constitution; (7)
the delays in mail delivery that caused interruptions to the circulation
of Antifederalist literature, especially Luther Martin's Genuine Informa-
tion; (8) the adjournment of the New Hampshire Convention without
ratifying the Constitution; and (9) the Rhode Island referendum on
the Constitution. For the proliferation of squibs and news reports, see
the first appendix in each of the first five volumes of Commentaries on
the Constitution.
Part III contains around fifty letters, mostly from Federalists. About
four-fifths of the letters are manuscripts, while the remainder are ex-
tracts of letters printed in newspapers. About four-fifths of the letters
were written in Maryland. Around a third came from Annapolis-the
state capital, site of the state legislature, and the designated site of the
state Convention. Approximately another third were written from Bal-
timore, Maryland's busiest and most prosperous port. The remaining
letters came from locations around Maryland, including Chestertown,
Elkton, Frederick, and Georgetown. Letters came from the Pennsylva-
nia towns of Philadelphia and York and from New York City and Lon-
don, England. Nine of the twelve letter extracts appeared in Philadel-
phia newspapers: five were from the Independent Gazetteer, two from the
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