Location: US 70 Business/NC 86 (Churton Street) at Queen Street in Hillsborough
County: Orange
Original Date Cast: 2014
Beginning on July 21, 1788, 270 delegates convened at St. Matthews Church (no longer standing) in Hillsborough to debate ratification of the proposed U.S. Constitution. For fourteen days, the Federalists and the Antifederalists sparred over the question. Led by William R. Davie and James Iredell, the Federalists advocated a strong, centralized federal government and supported unconditional ratification. The Antifederalists, led by Willie Jones, championed states’ rights and espoused the view that the proposed Constitution undermined the power of the state.
As the Federalists led a paragraph-by-paragraph examination of the proposed Constitution, the Antifederalists remained largely silent, commenting only on issues relating to taxation and representation. One of the Antifederalists’ more prominent arguments was voiced by Samuel Spencer of Anson County. The lack of a declaration or bill of rights, Spencer argued, put the “unalienable rights” of the people at risk. More specifically, Spencer argued that a bill of rights was absolutely necessary to place boundaries on the power ceded to the federal government.
When the convention held the final vote, the Antifederalists won the day by a margin of 2-1, neither rejecting nor ratifying the proposed Constitution. Copies of the Antifederalists’ proposals were sent to Congress and the other states, and the convention adjourned on August 4. Though many state conventions discussed a need for amendments, North Carolina's 1788 Hillsborough Convention was the only state convention to make ratification contingent upon a bill of rights being presented to Congress and the ratifying states first.
Despite North Carolina’s stance, the constitution received the nine-state majority it needed and went into effect on March 4, 1789. But the call for amendments was not forgotten. A bill of rights, heavily influenced by Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, passed both the Congress and the Senate and was forwarded to the states for consideration in September 1789. With this news, a second state convention met in Fayetteville in November 1789 and ratified the Constitution after five and half days of debate.
References:
Pauline Maier, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 (2010)
Walter Clark, ed., “Journal of the Convention of North Carolina, 1788,” State Records of North Carolina, XXII (1907)
Michael Lienesch, "North Carolina: Preserving Rights," in Michael Allen Gillespie and Michael Lienesch, eds., Ratifying the Constitution (1989)
William S. Price, The Bill of Rights and North Carolina: There Ought to be a Bill of Rights (1991)