Bill of Rights & Constitution--the irony!

In quite an irony, the US Constitution was voted unanimously into power in the fall of 1787. Then on Dec. 15, 1791 the
Bill of Rights was passed by Congress.  And the guy most responsible for this didn’t even like the Constitution. 

            The Articles of Confederation governing federal obligations and taxes was a flop.  It couldn’t raise money or secure the border or make peace with Indians.  In January 1787, James Madison, Washington’s most trusted wartime aid, wrote his old boss saying that he thought he had worked out a compromise, “some outlines of a new system”. Government would have clearly stipulated powers, the legislature would be divided into two branches, and there would be a national executive. “A republic, if you can keep it,” quipped Benjamin Franklin. That same month, Abraham Yates was elected as part of the New York delegation to Congress.  Yates was no newcomer.  Born a lowly shoemaker, he had self-taught himself law and run successfully for office in Albany even before the French and Indian War (1754-63).  He championed the common man against the big Dutch landowners.  A founder of Sons of Liberty, he was one of the earliest to demand the British uphold rights of subjects.  He was an early voice for Independence.  He’d raised money for the Continental Congress to pay soldiers and worked to bring civilians into the conflict resulting in the stunning rout at Saratoga in which half the British North American force surrendered.  Yates was such a hero, his son, nephew and son-in-law were all elected to the Continental Congress, ‘the party of Yates’.  But in 1787, he was called out of retirement at age 62, suffering from gout and a heart condition to go to Philadelphia in May to look at a new constitution. Yates was staunchly pro-state sovereignty (anti-federalist) and liked the Confederation.

            But the biggest federalist of them all was Alexander Hamilton from Manhattan. He, Massachusetts, and the Virginia delegation wanted the Republic and had secretly written much of the new document. The convention went chaotic for a time, but a compromise was reached to make the House apportioned and the Senators appointed by states. And the slave issue was fixed so that states with slavery would not be dominatingly big.  Slaves were counted as 3/5. [Moderns often misunderstand this issue.  Nobody in 1787 had ever successfully sustained a republic.  They took cues from monarchies where only landed gentry could vote or hold office.  Women were considered ‘dependents’ like slaves. Southern tobacco plantations were considered enlightened compared to Caribbean sugar plantations, where slavery was close to a death sentence. We’ve come a long way.] Despite Yates’ NO vote, the Constitution passed and went to the states for ratification. Through the summer, 10 states did so, leaving crucial New York and anti-federalist Yates.

            Hamilton, Madison and Jefferson began authoring “The Federalist Papers”, a series of articles to sway NY farmers to approve the new Constitution. And then they blindsided the old man politically by promising to amend with a Bill of Rights. Yates finally agreed. The offer worked; NY ratified.  What Yates feared most was a federal government that would establish Anglicanism rather than religious tolerance.  It was here that his nemesis but fellow committed Christian, Hamilton, agreed wholeheartedly and came to see him.  The very first amendment would be about freedom of faith. For free exercise of faith and truth is the basis of Liberty.  Yates agreed that the NY delegation should act in unity.  He was finally won over and signed his name to the Constitution as head of the NY delegation.  Hamilton watched him sign with a huge smile. Then on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified by the states. And they begin, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  Don't tell me faith had nothing to do with the Constitution.