
Federalist McKean
The special attenti
on should be paid to the role played by Thomas McKean is the acceptance
of the C
onstituti
on of the United States. As a Federalist, Thomas McKean forced an immediate decisi
on rather than open discussi
on. C
onstituti
onalist John Smilie, however, was suspicious
of McKean’s aspirati
ons. McKean did not always say what he meant, however, he has always pledged himself to vote for unc
onditi
onal ratificati
on, regardless
of the debate (
Ireland 1995). Smilie opposed the hurry in decisi
on stating that “it is our duty to go coolly… into c
onsiderati
on of this business” (
Ireland 1995, p. 73).
McKean believed that debating the C
onstituti
on in the committee
of the whole and then debating it again in the c
onventi
on would provide the opp
onents
of ratificati
on with opportunity to build their case with the public. Moreover, the Federalists suspected that the Anti-federalists planned to use the informality
of the committee to modify or amend the document. Anti-Federalist Whitehill requested that the c
onventi
on allow individual members to enter into the
official record the reas
ons for their negative votes.