The Salt Lake TribuneMonday Morning, May 14, 1951Established April 15, 1871. Issued every morning by The Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., Salt Lake City, UtahDefeatism Was Also Rampant 164 Years AgoWeary after a long horseback ride from Mount Vernon, George Washington arrived in Philadelphia 164 years ago this week for the constitutional convention. It was about two weeks later that a sufficient number of delegates had straggled in to constitute a quorum.During the wait Washington most likely was beset with doubts and worries. Discouraged over the failure of the confederation, general disunity and low morale of the people, he must have wondered what would come of Alexander Hamiltons bold, dramatic move. Washington columnist Malvina Lindsay tunes her typewriter to the sound waves of 1787 and speculates on the defeatist talk of the isolationists and pseudo realists of that period. It probably went like thisNo use waiting around, general. The states will never get together. Look how theyre fighting among themselves! Pennsylvania and Vermont ready to go to war over boundaries. Virginia and Maryland at each others throats about the Potomac.Theyre even fighting inside their borders Shays rebellion in Massachuetts, poor whites on the rampage against the nabobs in South Carolina. Twelve thousand to 15, 000 Communists in New England alone wanting all the property divided. And look at the currency mess!I tell you, general, any smart states going to think twice before getting mixed up in all this. And what state can you name thatll give up a shred of its sovereignty? Better forget this whole crazy scheme of a federal union. Go home and build up Virginia. Get a militia that can lick anybody.Now, general, youve got to look facts in the face. As a practical man, you know these states are going to keep on fighting each other. Look at Europe. Human natures the same anywhere. Anyway, the times not ripe for such a radical step. You ought to go home, general, and make some money.Better drop the whole thing, general. Its tricky. I have it from sources I cant divulge that the Tories have infiltrated the whole convention. Theres a top stooge for England among the delegates. The big plot is to weaken the strong states like Virginia get em tied up in a federal mess. Then the British will take over. Theres even talk that well, this is strictly between us but some people who ought to know arent so sure any more of of Franklin himself. Whatever the talk, Washington did not weaken. The convention was held, but of the 74 men appointed deputies, 19 declined or did not attend. Of the 55 who were present, 14 left before the convention closed and three more refused to sign the final draft. Rhode Island ignored the whole proceedings.Various plans for a federal government were submitted, ranging all the way from a mere patching of the old articles of confederation to formation of a strong central government. A furious fight developed between large and small states, threatening to break up the convention. Then came the great compromise. Other controversies on details were similarly settled and the constitution was called a bundle of compromises a mosaicof second choices accepted in the interest of union. When the constitution was finally submitted to the state legislatures for ratification it was hotly discussed and analyzed in a barrage of pamphlets. Hundreds of meetings were held with strong and articulate spokesmen arguing on both sides. States rights, personal liberties, sovereignty, sectional antagonism and scores of other issues were loudly debated.Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution, acting in December of 1787. Progress was otherwise slow and painful. North Carolina and Rhode Island remained outside until they were threatened with being treated as foreign countries by the new union. North Carolina finally ratified in November, 1789, and Rhode Island the following May by a vote of 34 32.Even after the framework of the government was complete, countless problems had to be worked out, defeatists had to be proved wrong. The first congress failed to have a quorum for more than a month after its opening date. The supreme court did not get organized until February, 1790. Human nature hasnt changed much through the years. Todays national and international dilemmas seem to dwarf those of 1787 1790. Yet the battle of will to fail versus the will to succeed is being refought on much the same lines.