Connecticut Ratification Convention Proceedings: Connecticut Courant (January 9, 1788)

The Connecticut Convention Wednesday

9 January 1788

Convention Proceedings and Debates

The Convention got through with debating upon the Constitution by sections. It was canvassed critically and fully. Every objection was raised against it which the ingenuity and invention of its opposers could devise. The writer of this account could wish to exhibit to public view, though he is sensible he could do it but imperfectly, the whole of the debates upon this interesting subject; but they would be so exceedingly prolix that he is obliged to give up any such attempt. Suffice it to say that all the objections to the Constitution vanished before the learning and eloquence of a Johnson, the genuine good sense and discernment of a Sherman, and the Demosthenian energy of an Ellsworth.

After the Convention had finished debating upon the Constitution by sections, General Samuel H. Parsons, in order to bring up the subject for a general discussion, moved the grand question, "That this Convention do assent to, ratify and adopt the Constitution reported by the Convention of delegates in Philadelphia on the 17th day of September A. D. 1787 and referred to the determination of this Convention by an act of General Assembly in October last." This motion was seconded by General Jedidiah Huntington. [Connecticut Courant, 14 January]