United States Constitution, Ratification | Rhode Island ratifies, and Congress debates states' debts

United States Constitution, Ratification

Supplement to the Connecticut Courant, Aug. 23, 1790. [Hartford]: Hudson and Goodwin, 1790

Letterpress broadside (365 x 255 mm). Printed verso and recto, 3 columns, on blue paper, edges untrimmed; old horizontal and vertical folds, some browning particularly along folds, 5 pinholes, light foxing. In blue quarter morocco slipcase, with folding chemise.

A broadside recounting landmark congressional proceedings, including the announcement of the ratification of the Constitution by Rhode Island, and the debates surrounding the Compromise of 1790.

This supplement to the Connecticut Courant prints the proceedings of Congress, 16-25 June 1790, opening with news from President Washington that Rhode Island had ratified. On the 21st, the House began to debate the federal assumption of individual states' debts. While Alexander Hamilton wanted the federal government to take on all state debts, as he felt it would strengthen the United States' credit abroad and make the federal government the principal taxing authority, Southerners rejected the proposal, feeling that debt holders would then be able to buy power in Congress. States such as Virginia, which had already paid its debts, felt that the federal assumption of debts would then force them to subsidize the debts of other states. 

The proceedings recounted here took place at the same time that Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison had their now famous "dinner table bargain"—resulting in the Compromise of 1790—which ultimately undid the deadlock in Congress. Hamilton achieved his plan to have the federal government assume state debts, and in exchange the nation's capital was to be located in the South.

The broadside also recounts the contemporaneous debates surrounding the Post Office bill. These centered on how best to establish the postal system, with a proposal from Theodore Sedgwick "to authorize the Post-master-General, with the approbation of the President of the United States, to establish the Post Roads from Wiscasset in Massachusetts, to Savanna in Georgia." The House proceeded to debate the bill's constitutionality, and whether the Post Master General would, in fact, know "what routs are most eligible better than many of the members." Ultimately, the bill was passed on Monday, 21 June.