The Dissent of the Pennsylvania Minority
Dissent of the Pennsylvania Minority was published by the Anti-Federalist who were outvoted at Pennsylvania’s ratification convention.
Pennsylvania Ratifies
When the Constitution was submitted for Ratification, Pennsylvania called its convention very quickly.
In the race to be the first to approve the new Government, Pennsylvania came in second. That State ratified on December 12, 1787, the second State to do so.
However, there was a sizable minority who were extremely unhappy with the decision to (as they saw it) cede power to the Federal Government.
Dissent of the Pennsylvania Minority
The Pennsylvania Minority was extremely disgruntled about the situation. Many of the Anti-Federalists at the convention just went home without signing the ratification announcement.
Those who stayed signed a dissent.
The full title is Address and Reasons of the Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of Pennsylvania, though it is usually referred to simply as Dissent of the Pennsylvania Minority (though that really isn’t so simple).
Although the author of the document is uncertain, most historians agree that it was Samuel Bryan who is best known as the main author of the Letters of Centinel.
Rushed Ratification
The Dissent was one of the few Anti-Federalist Papers which was signed by several Founders.
It criticizes the Constitution for many of the familiar Anti-Federalist reasons but its most interesting complaint involved timing.
Pennsylvania had ratified the new Government less than three months after the document was signed. The Dissent claimed that the convention was rushed, not giving the Delegates enough time to properly assess the Constitution, not to mention the larger population.
After its publication, the Dissent was printed in pamphlets around the United States and was an important argument against the conventions themselves as a standard Anti-Federalist point of contention.
This was the second article in my series on the Anti-Federalist Papers.
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I’ve put a lot of time into reviewing the Federalist Papers, so if you want to read more, check them out here:
