Such sentiments were not confined to these Virginia statesmen. It was
evident that the victory for the new government had been only half won
in its formation and adoption by the convention. It had yet to be
accepted by the Congress and to be adopted by nine of the States before
going into effect. Great opportunity for a renewal of insurrection and
faction would be offered by undue delay.
CHAPTER VI
ADOPTING A NATIONAL CONSTITUTION
The statesmen who had won the fight for a new form of national
government in the Philadelphia Convention lost no time in following
it up through the various stages leading practically to a _plebiscite_
of the people. Madison returned immediately to New York to resume his
seat in Congress, where the first stand must be made. That body had
been engaged during the summer with the Ordinance of 1787, and the
question of the navigation of the lower Mississippi. It was feared
that Richard Henry Lee, who had refused to be a delegate to the
convention, might make the Congress hostile to the new plan, or delay
it until after the fall meetings of the State Legislatures.
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