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By WARREN E. BURGER
Rappahannock New* Contributing Writer
As those fateful days of 1788 passed, the Virginia ratification convention emerged as the most dramatic meeting yet, replete with hints of violence, secret strategies and Patrick Henry’s passionate oratory. The debate became so heated that Edmund Randolph challenged Patrick Henry to a duel - one that never came off.
' George Washington, who chose not to attend, was the only notable Virginia absentee as 170 delegates arrived in Richmond on June 4, 1788. The promise of Virginia’s prominent role in the ratification process had attracted most of the key figures in the state.
But the stage clearly belonged to Patrick Henry, a man of legendary eloquence and political acumen. A year earlier, he had declined to be a delegate of Philadelphia, saying he “smelt a rat.” That “rat” - the Constitution written in Philadelphia — was now before the delegates in Richmond and Henry detected the same aroma.
Buoyed by the cheers of fellow “Henryites,” he began his vigorous assault on the Constitution by objecting to the phrase “We the People” instead of “We the States” in the Preamble. “Does this not sound like a Compact between Prince and people?” he asked. His eloquence blurred the fact that there was no “prince.” Furthermore, he said, the Framers had refused to include a Bill of Rights. Henry questioned the good sense of individuals who would sign a contract with important terms postponed until later. ; Soft-spoken and small of stature, the principal arButect of the Constitution, James Madison - with roung John Marshall at his elbow — responded to Hengy’s arguments. While his modest oratorical skills were 8o match for those of Patrick Henry, Madison pointed Out with clear logic Henry’s inconsistencies and quieted (post objections. Virginians listened to James Madison.
y Neither side was prepared for the dramatic change bf mind by Governor Edmund Randolph, one of three Philadelphia delegates who had refused to sign the Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. Randolph had previously insisted that a second convention be held to incorporate a Bill of Rights, but he was now persuaded that any delay might doom the Constitution; with Madison he was now willing to wait.
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