this!  Our distress was so great that we should have been glad to snatch at anything that looked like a government....  Now, Mr. President, when I saw this Constitution, I found that it was a cure for these disorders.  I got a copy of it, and read it over and over....  I did not go to any lawyer, to ask his opinion; we have no lawyer in our town, and we do well enough without.  My honourable old daddy there (pointing to Mr. Singletary) won’t think that I expect to be a Congressman, and swallow up the liberties of the people.  I never had any post, nor do I want one.  But I don’t think the worse of the Constitution because lawyers, and men of learning, and moneyed men are fond of it.  I am not of such a jealous make.  They that are honest men themselves are not apt to suspect other people....  Brother farmers, let us suppose a case, now.  Suppose you had a farm of 50 acres, and your title was disputed, and there was a farm of 5000 acres joined to you that belonged to a man of learning, and his title was involved in the same difficulty; would you not be glad to have him for your friend, rather than to stand alone in the dispute?  Well, the case is the same.  These lawyers, these moneyed men, these men of learning, are all embarked in the same cause with us, and we must all sink or swim together.  Shall we throw the Constitution overboard because it does not please us all alike?  Suppose two or three of you had been at the pains to break up a piece of rough land and sow it with wheat:  would you let it lie waste because you could not agree what sort of a fence to make?  Would it not be better to put up a fence that did not please every one’s fancy, rather than keep disputing about it until the wild beasts came in and devoured the crop?  Some gentlemen say, Don’t be in a hurry; take time to consider.  I say, There is a time to sow and a time to reap.  We sowed our seed when we sent men to the Federal Convention, now is the time to reap the fruit of our labour; and if we do not do it now, I am afraid we shall never have another opportunity.”

There spoke the common sense of the common man of the Commonwealth.  The counsel of the farmer from the country, joined with the resolutions of the workingmen from the city, carried the convention and the Constitution was ratified.  In the light of succeeding history, who shall say, that it was not the voice of the people, speaking with the voice of Infinite Authority?

The attitude of Samuel Adams, William Shepard, Jonathan Smith and the workingmen of Boston toward government, is worthy of our constant emulation.  They had not hesitated to take up arms against tyranny in the Revolution, but having established a government of the people they were equally determined to defend and support it.  They hated the usurper whether king, or Parliament, or mob, but they bowed before the duly constituted authority of the people.