FIFTH GENERATION 4.9 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     emission widely different from that of the States, being founded on real estate, 
     
     and that as long as real estate remained, the money must retain its value, and 
     
     that no bank could be more secure. That the public were alarmed without rea- 
     
     son, and that the opposition were governed by avarice and prejudice. 
     
    

    
     “ Mr. Hazard was the leader of the same party under the name of Anti—Federal— 
     
     ists, and a fiery opponent of the adoption of the Federal Constitution. As a dele— 
     
     gate to the Convention assembled at South Kingstown, in March, 1790, to take 
     
     into consideration the adoption of that instrument, he successfully resisted the 
     
     measure, and upon an informal vote, it was ascertained that there was a majority 
     
     of seventeen against its adoption. Upon this event, the popular party chaired 
     
     Mr. Hazard, their leader. The friends of the Constitution, however, obtained an 
     
     adjournment to meet at Newport in the May following. In the meantime, all 
     
     the influence and wealth of the State were brought to bear upon the members of 
     
     the Convention, and whether Mr. Hazard was actually influenced by other means 
     
     than conviction, cannot be ascertained; but his opposition became neutralized, 
     
     and the Constitution was adopted by a bare majority of one (some say two, but 
     
     the original paper upon which the yeas and nays were taken gives only the 
     
     majority of one). The defection of Mr. Hazard, upon a question ofthis magni— 
     
     tude, and in relation to which his party confided in his integrity, shook the confi— 
     
     dence of the public and his party, and he fell in the popular estimation, and 
     
     never regained his former elevated position. He was subsequently a represent- 
     
     ative in the General Assembly, but his influence was so greatly impaired by his 
     
     defection in the Convention, that he never could re—establish himself in the good 
     
     opinion of his party or the people. 
     
    

    
     “ Mr. Hazard was well formed, sturdy in body and mind, with a fine phreno— 
     
     logical development of the head. He was a natural orator, with a ready com— 
     
     mand of language, subtle and ingenious in debate. He successfully contended 
     
     against Marchant, Bradford, and Welcome Arnold, in the debates of the House 
     
     at that period. He was for a long time the idol of the country interests, man— 
     
     ager of the State, leader of the Legislature, in fact, the political dictator in Rhode 
     
     Island; but his course in the Constitutional Convention was the cause of his 
     
     political ruin. . . . 
     
    

    
     “The late Hon. Elisha R. Potter, and the late Benjamin Hazard, who knew Mr. 
     
     Hazard in the zenith of his political influence, always spoke of him as a man of 
     
     great natural power and sagacity.” ‘ 
     
    

    
     Mr. Hazard had a different opinion upon the causes of his fall, and must be 
     
     allowed to speak for himself, as he does in a letter to his friend and kinsman, 
     
     Thomas B. Hazard, which has been preserved by the descendants of the latter. 
     
     The letter is given herewith: —— 
     
    

    
     Dear Kinsman .- JAMESTOWN, June ye I8. 
     
    
   
   
    
     I have thought of your disappointment in not being appointed Judge. You may be assured 
     
     it is for your advantage that you are not chosen. It would have led you further into political 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     1 Updike’s Hist. of Narragansett Church, p. 328. 
     
     matters