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Lot 1383: February 22, 1788, MASS. GAZETTE

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Lot 1383: February 22, 1788, MASS. GAZETTE
<b>Newspapers</b><hr><b>Ratification of the United States Constitution</b>

<b>THE MASSACHUSETTS GAZETTE OF FEBRUARY 22, 1788. Two Full pages About the Ratification of the United States Constitution.

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The Massachusetts Gazette, Volume VII, Numb. 411, Boston, Friday, February 22, 1788, carrying an account headed 'The Convention' dated 'January 30, 1788, A.M. ' 4 pages, 10' by 14.5', partially-separated at fold, but otherwise in Very Fine condition...Being a report, in the main, of the debate on religious liberty and the adoption of the Adams-Hancock compromise.

The most important vote in American history took seventeen months to count, but by February 1788, the numbers were in: eleven to two, the states elected to ratify the Constitution of the United States. Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut had all ratified in quick succession - but in Massachusetts, the Constitution ran into serious opposition. The Federalist faction, favoring a strong central government, argued that the Constitution had to be accepted or rejected as it was; the Antifederalists, favoring a limited government, wanted the Constitution to contain a Bill of Rights. Adams and Hancock negotiated a far-reaching compromise which effectively determined the fate of the Constitution, as it allowed delegates with doubts to vote for it in the hope that it would be amended. This intense debate, is reported here, as the delegates went, as it were, the last lap: on the 6th, they voted to ratify - but that news would have to wait, apparently, for a later edition.