There is a hill in Lanesborough called Constitution Hill. Henry Wheeler Shaw (Josh Billings) was born on that hill in 1818. However, that is not why we remember it, nor is it why it was named Constitution Hill. It was named in February 1788. Here is the story.
It was not a slam dunk. It was not a movie with the problem resolved in 120 minutes. It was September 1787, and it was that knotty thing we call real life. The Constitution of the United States was finally written and disseminated. Now it had to be accepted and ratified in all 13 states to form that perfect union, the United States of America.
Some folks just didn’t like it. They were suspicious because rich guys and lawyers wrote the thing. They thought if the colonies united and formed a new nation, that nation would make George Washington the king. They, regular folk, would be right back where they started.
Besides, the country—if country it was to be—was broke, and so were the majority of people in it. They paid the farmers who fought in the Revolution with bad currency—why trust them to write good laws? They lost money on their farms because they were off fighting the war. They were paid in bad notes, and still the courts expected them to pay their debts by learned and rich men and lawyers.
Those on the side of ratification urged, “Thus will America be a second time rescued from desolation and confusion … [and] … all united shall seek the general good.” So wrote the American Centinel in Pittsfield, an agricultural community of 2,000.
The Centinel was unique in more ways than just misspelling its own name. The other newspapers in our area were the Hampshire Federalist, Berkshire County Republican, and Berkshire County Whig. All three announced their political positions on their mastheads. They enthusiastically slanted the news in favor of their political beliefs and energetically slammed their political rivals.
From the masthead, readers knew what to expect. The Federalist paper would be for the Constitution, while the Whig and Republican papers likely would not. While proponents were painting images of utopia, opponents were sowing seeds of fear. What the newspapers’ arguments lacked in clarity, or sense, they made up for in heat.
The American Centinel gave no clue to its politics on its masthead and gave even-handed coverage to both sides. Its stated purpose was objective journalism—the newspaper lasted 19 months.
Debate about ratifying was more contentious in Massachusetts than one might think. Debate labored on from September 1787 to February 1788. It was suspenseful. The representative from Lanesborough, Jonathan Smith, had a plan to inform his constituency. On a high hill, Smith asked that a bonfire be laid. The bonfire would be lit for all to see. They could come to the hill—thereafter known as Constitution Hill—and hear the result.
Smith had more than a plan to announce the outcome; he meant to influence it. Here is a part of what he said (you can read the full speech here):
Mr. President, I am a plain man, and get my living by the plough. I am not used to speak in public, but I beg our leave to say a few words to my brother plough-joggers in this house.
I have lived in a part of the country where I have known the worth of a good government by the want of it…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 don’t think the worse of the Constitution because lawyers, and men of learning and moneyed men are fond of it. I don’t suspect that they want to get into Congress and abuse their power…Brother farmers…these lawyers, these moneyed men, these men of learning, are all embarked in the same cause with us, and we must all swim or sink together.
When it finally came, the vote to ratify was 187 to 168—just 19 votes, not an overwhelming majority. Nonetheless, Massachusetts was the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
The great fire was lit on Constitution Hill.
