William Ellery to Benjamin Huntington (July 13, 1789)

After you have completed the act for collecting the Impost, and have established the Judiciary, amendments to the Constitution will, I suppose, be brought upon the tapis. If any amendments are to be proposed to the legislatures of the States the sooner they are offered the better. An early decision either way on that subject would, I believe, be beneficial; for so long as there is any expectation of amendments, that expectation may be assigned as a reason—by the non acceding States for their not acceding, and they who have acceded may not be so perfectly easy as they would otherwise be.1

It is true, that an expectation of amendments is a feeble reason for their not embracing the Union: because by the addition of their force they might be more likely to obtain them, than by standing out—and they must sooner or later accede, whether the Constitution is amended or not.2 But a bad excuse with some characters is better than none. Take away this false ground, and if they then stand out, they will stand, as the Hibernians did, upon nothing. They will be fools indeed, and without even the shadow of an excuse.