{"id":17702,"date":"2025-08-08T17:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/?p=17702"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:22:19","slug":"federal-farmer-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/federal-farmer-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"The Federal Farmer in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Federal Farmer in the First Congress<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Federal Farmer \/ Elbridge Gerry Authorship Thesis\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(Uncovering the Federal Farmer \u2013 Part 7)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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In August of 1789 the first federal Congress debated the proposed Constitutional amendments which would eventually become the Bill of Rights. When considering an early draft of the First Amendment, Massachusetts Representative Theodore Sedgwick moved to strike the right of freedom of assembly. Sedgwick argued that enumerating a right of assembly was unnecessary minutia. When people freely converse, he reasoned, they necessarily assemble. According to Sedgwick, it was similarly unnecessary to declare that citizens have a right to wear a hat or go to sleep when they please. Elbridge Gerry disagreed, asserting that freedom of assembly was \u201can essential<\/em> right.\u201d Gerry insisted that the people \u201cought to be secure in the peaceable enjoyment of this privilege and that can only be done by making a declaration to that effect in the Constitution.\u201d[1]<\/a> According to Gerry\u2019s biographer, \u201cthis key phrase was kept in the Constitution \u2013 in part as the result of Gerry\u2019s arguments.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Federal Farmer consistently and repeatedly argued that Constitutional amendments were \u201cessential<\/em> and necessary.\u201d[3]<\/a> \u201cAs to the principal defects\u201d in the Constitution, the Federal Farmer identified \u201cthe insecurity of some essential<\/em> rights\u201d and the \u201cwant of a more perfect bill of rights.\u201d[4]<\/a> Federal Farmer No. 6 suggested a list of \u201cunalienable and fundamental rights.\u201d After identifying the rights of an accused and the right not to be subject to unreasonable searches and seizures, the Federal Farmer indicated that \u201c[t]he people have a right to assemble<\/em> in an orderly manner, and petition the government for a redress of wrongs,\u201d among other rights. This is only one example of the through line connecting Gerry\u2019s position at the Constitutional Convention, the Federal Farmer, and Gerry\u2019s arguments in the first federal Congress.<\/p>\n

As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, during the ratification campaign in 1787-1788, and as a member of Congress in 1789 Gerry had been making the same familiar arguments. During the final week of the Constitutional Convention Gerry unsuccessfully moved for a committee to prepare a Bill of Rights.[5]<\/a> Undeterred, two days later, Gerry moved to insert a declaration that \u201cthe liberty of the press should be inviolably observed.\u2019\u2019[6]<\/a> On the final day of the Constitutional Convention Gerry was one of only three remaining delegates who refused to sign the Constitution on September 17. In October Gerry explained to the Massachusetts legislature the reasons why he dissented from the Constitution. Among his principal objections, Gerry specified that the liberties of America were not secured and \u201cthe system is without the security of a bill of rights.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

The first federal Congress was likely bittersweet for Gerry. Although Congress proposed a bill of rights for ratification by the states, it did not contain all of the amendments Gerry would have preferred. Nevertheless, the Congressional record provides abundant examples connecting Congressman Gerry and the Federal Farmer, including:<\/p>\n