The story begins in 1788, after Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution in June. The state’s General Assembly had to create 10 congressional districts, deciding which counties to assign to each one. At the time, Patrick Henry, a member of the state House, was Virginia’s most powerful legislator and had almost complete control over the House and Senate. His influence over the Legislature was so obvious that George Washington wrote to Madison, “[Henry] has only to say let this be Law—and it is Law.”
Henry was also a leading Anti-Federalist who opposed the new plan and feared the Constitution would create a “consolidated” government that would be too powerful. Henry had tried to stop Virginia from approving the Constitution at the state’s ratifying convention. For three weeks in a sweltering converted theater in downtown Richmond, he had vigorously debated Madison, another delegate at the convention and the principal defender of the Constitution. Madison prevailed—the state voted to ratify the document.
One of the reasons Madison had been successful was he had promised to work to add a bill of rights if he were elected to the first Congress. The original Constitution mentioned a few rights, but it did not come close to containing the comprehensive protection for individual rights demanded by the people and supported by Thomas Jefferson and other prominent founders. Madison’s commitment to introducing such amendments had helped win ratification in Virginia and other states.
But Henry was determined to stop Madison from proposing a bill of rights in Congress. Henry and other Anti-Federalists did not oppose a bill of rights, but what Henry really wanted was a second constitutional convention. A new convention, he believed, was a chance to weaken the new government by rewriting the Constitution or proposing amendments that would return power to the states, similar to what they had under the Articles of Confederation. Henry also knew, however, that supporters of a convention were generally motivated by the lack of a bill of rights. New York and Virginia—at Henry’s urging—had already requested a second convention. Under Article 5 of the Constitution, if two-thirds of the states submit petitions for a convention, Congress must call one. Henry was convinced that if Madison steered a bill of rights through Congress, the drive for a new convention would dissipate.