Convention Proceedings, Monday, 31 December

[Twenty-six members present.]

On motion of Christopher Hillary, seconded by Jacob Weed,1

Resolved, unanimously, That the proposed Federal Constitution be now adopted; and that Mr. Stephens, Mr. Osborne, and Mr. Sullivan be a committee to prepare and report the form of a deed of ratification.

The committee appointed to prepare and report the form of a deed of ratification reported the same; which was agreed to, and ordered to be engrossed.

Adjourned till tomorrow morning, 10 o’clock.

Hillary represented Glynn County in the Assembly in 1787 and 1789, and in the Council in 1788 and 1789. Weed, a justice of the Camden County Superior Court, represented Camden County in the Assembly in 1787 and 1789–90, and in the Council in 1789.

The Georgia Deed of Ratification, 2 January1

State of Georgia, In Convention;

Wednesday, January the second one thousand seven hundred and eighty eight:

To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting.

Whereas the form of a Constitution for the Government of the United States of America, was, on the seventeenth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, agreed upon and reported to Congress by the Deputies of the said United States convened in Philadelphia; which said Constitution is written in the words following, to wit;

[At this point the Deed contains the Constitution and the names of the thirty-nine delegates who signed it in the Constitutional Convention.]

And Whereas the United States in Congress assembled did, on the twenty-eighth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, Resolve, unanimously, That the said Report, with the resolutions and letter accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several Legislatures, in order to be submitted to a Convention of Delegates chosen in each State by the People thereof, in conformity to the Resolves of the Convention made and provided in that case.

And Whereas the Legislature of the State of Georgia did, on the twenty-sixth day of October one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, in pursuance of the above recited resolution of Congress,

Resolve, That a convention be elected on the day of the next General Election, and in the same manner as representatives are elected; and that the said Convention consist of not more than three members from each County. And that the said Convention should meet at Augusta, on the fourth Tuesday in December then next, and as soon thereafter as convenient, proceed to consider the said Report, letter and resolutions, and to adopt or reject any part or the whole thereof.

Now Know Ye, That We, the Delegates of the People of the State of Georgia in Convention met, pursuant to the Resolutions of the Legislature aforesaid, having taken into our serious consideration the said Constitution, Have assented to, ratified and adopted, and by these presents DO, in virtue of the powers and authority to Us given by the People of the said State for that purpose, for, and in behalf of ourselves and our Constituents, fully and entirely assent to, ratify and adopt the said Constitution.

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Done in Convention, at Augusta in the said State, on the second day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty eight, and of the Independence of the United States the twelfth. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

John Wereat. President and Delegate for the County of Richmond.

Attest. Isaac Briggs, Secretary.

1

Engrossed MS (LT), RG II, Certificates of Ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights …, 1787–92, DNA. For a photographic copy of the Deed, see Mfm:Ga. 33. For the transmittal of the Deed to Congress, see Convention Proceedings, 5 January, immediately below.