other members of the Virginian convention. Madison's letter was a strong step in gaining his support. "It may be said that the new Constitution is founded on different principles, and will have a different operation. I admit the difference to be material. It presents the aspect rather of a feudal system of republics, if such a phrase may be used, than of a Confederacy of independent States. And what has been the progress and event of feudal Constitutions" (Bent, intro., 2000)?Madison goes on throughout the letter to support the Constitutions strong points while dissecting it openly and honestly for the benefit of Jefferson. His frank discussion of what he viewed to be the finished document's flaws as well as positive traits helped Jefferson come to his final conclusion to support the ratification of the Constitution after securing the promise that a Bill of Rights would be added when Madison could arrange it.Jefferson's support ensured, Madison turned his attention to the loud opposition of George Mason and Patrick Henry, who attacked the document from every possible angle (Nat. Archives, 2000). Madison, however, never seemed to take impassioned declarations of his own opinion as a strategy; rather, as Jefferson stated, he "pursued it closely in language pure, classical, and copious, soothing always the feelings of his adversaries by civilities and softness of expression, he rose to the eminent station which he held in the great National convention of 1787 and in that of Virginia which followed, he sustained the new constitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm against the logic of George Mason and the fervid declamation of Mr. Henry" (Overview, 2000).Mason and Henry were the more prominent anti-federalists Madison had to contend with, but certainly not the only ones. There were large factions of anti-Federalists, especially in New York. The anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution almost wildly, focusing on wide-apart issues. Th...
