In Pennsylvania, Wilson at great length explained the new form of government, stating “that by adopting this system we become a nation; at present we are not one.”[47] His labors in the State and the general conventions have been fully recognized by recent writers. [47] 2 Elliot, 526. It was only after a long and heated discussion in the large convention of the then important State of Massachusetts, where were present, John Hancock, Fisher Ames, Rufus King, and Sam Adams, who reluctantly yielded consent, that the Constitution was adopted, the majority in favor being small. In Virginia, which was the tenth State to come into the Union, Patrick Henry, who had declined the appointment to the general convention, objected because the Constitution said “We, the people,” instead of “We, the States”; and “if the States be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great consolidated national government of the people of all the States.”[48] “It had an awful squinting towards monarchy.” “The federal convention ought to have amended the old system.” George Mason objected because the Constitution had no bill of rights and would end in a monarchy or corrupt oppressive aristocracy, and the confederation be converted to one grand consolidated government.[49] The acceptance was ably argued and urged by Madison and others and Edmund Randolph, who had refused to sign, but had since come to the conclusion that the only chance of escape from the discredited, crumbling Confederacy was in adopting the new Constitution. He said in the beginning of the debate, “I shall endeavor to make the committee sensible of the necessity of establishing a _national government_. In the course of my argument I shall show the inefficacy of the confederation.”[50] [48] 3 Elliot, 22. [49] See Mason’s objections, 1 Elliot, 494, also _Debates_. [50] 3 Elliot, 64. The acceptance of New York, her territory dividing the Central and Southern States from the Eastern, was considered all important. Her ratification of the Constitution came late. She was the eleventh State, and neglected to vote for President at Washington’s first election. John Jay, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Congress of the United States, in an address to the people, plainly told them the new government was national. He said: “Friends and Fellow-Citizens--The convention concurred in opinion with the people, that a national government, competent to every national object, was indispensably necessary.”[51] [51] 1 Elliot, 496. Hamilton, Jay, Chancellor and other Livingstons, Melanchthon Smith, and a number of leading citizens were members of the convention. Yates and Lansing, who were members of the general convention that made the Constitution, and Governor George Clinton strenuously and persistently opposed the ratification, alleging as the reason the danger from the great powers given to the General Government subverting those of the State.