Henry Knox by Mark Puls

andsounding the alarm against the weak national government. Even before the peace treaty that had ended the American Revolution was signed, he had pressed prominent civil leaders with the need for a more vigorous central government. And perhaps most of important of all, he helped convince George Washington to take the risky step of attending the convention and supporting the move toward a new Constitution.

    In his private life, Knox believed that a remedy for his family's financial problems was near. He and Lucy cleared their claim on the Waldo patent, which provided them with thousands of acres of uncultivated land. His former army colleague Henry Jackson sent him news that this land contained many settlers, some of whom were willing to pay for their property and some who denied his right. Knox wrote a land agent who was about to embark to Europe with an offer that he was willing to sell well-timbered land, suitable for farming, on the St. George's River and Penobscot Bay at $2 an acre. He told the agent he could deliver perfect titles and to sell any amount, from a single acre up to 80,000 acres.
    On Tuesday, November 27, Lucy gave birth to a boy, whom Knox described as a "fine black-haired, black-eyed boy." He named his son after George Washington, and notified the child's namesake in a letter: "As an evidence of our respect and affection for you, which we hope will survive ourselves, we have done him the honor of giving him your name.“ 31
    Five states had ratified the Constitution—Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut—by the time the ratifying convention in Knox's home state of Massachusetts opened on Wednesday, January 9, 1788. Massachusetts emerged as the critical swing state, upon which the success or failure of the constitution rested. The size and influence of the state would likely sway delegates in ratifying conventions in New York, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.
    Knox wrote a stream of letters to influential leaders lobbying support for the constitution. He explained that landowners, or "Federalists," wanted a strong government to ensure stability to protect their homes and businesses, but that many former Shays men sat at the convention as "anti-Federalists" and opposed any viable government. Knox was exasperated by those who favored state rights over federal sovereignty. To Washington, he wrote: "Mr. Samuel Adams has declared that he will oppose it to the very great disgust ofthe people of Boston, his constituents. It is said Boston was about to take some spirited measures to prevent the effect of his opposition."
    Knox overstated Samuel Adams's opposition, however. As the debate progressed, Adams became persuaded of the imperative need for greater federal power and finally threw his support behind the Constitution. After delegates scrutinized and argued over the document line by line, paragraph by paragraph, for nearly a month, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the compact by a narrow margin of just 18 votes: 187 to 168. Church bells rang and cannons fired in celebration in Boston.
    An overjoyed Knox wrote to Washington on Thursday, February 14: "It may with great truth be asserted that no subject was ever more candidly debated.“ 32
    Knox continued to lobby support for the Constitution through his connections around the country, which provided him with greater knowledge of Federalist efforts than almost any other leader at the time. Even Washington was forced to ask Knox about the identity of the writers behind the
Federalist Papers:
"Pray, if it is not a secret, who is the author, or authors of Publius?“ 33
    Knox replied that the essays were the work of his former aide, Alexander Hamilton, along with James Madison and John Jay. Knox's passions were caught up in the prospective fate of the proposed Constitution. Rhode Island invoked his ire when he received news that the state had rejected ratification in a referendum on Monday, March 24, by the wide margin of