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Line 154: When the Philadelphia convention adjourned in September 1787, its president, Washington, returned home and immediately sent a copy of the new [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] to Henry, recommending he support it. Henry, in Richmond for the autumn legislative session as delegate for Prince Edward County, after thanking Washington for presiding in Philadelphia and for sending the document, said of it, "I have to lament that I cannot bring my Mind to accord with the proposed Constitution. The Concern I feel on this account is really greater than I am able to express."{{sfn|Kukla|p=307}} He hinted, however, that he was still open to changing his mind. This allowed Henry to remain noncommittal as opponents of the Constitution, such as Mason and Edmund Randolph (both delegates at Philadelphia) published their opinions, and to refine his views.{{sfn|Kukla|pp=307–310}} In the initial Virginia battle over the Constitution, the call for a convention to decide whether the state should ratify it, Henry and Mason were among those who supported allowing the convention to ratify it conditional on amendments being made. The matter was compromised with language allowing the convention full rein in deciding what to do, and it was set for June 1788, with elections in March; both those who supported it and those who did not felt time would be to their advantage.{{sfn|Mayer|pp=381–382}} Henry was elected to the convention from Prince Edward County without difficulty in March 1788, though [[John Blair Smith]], president of Hampden-Sydney, caused him some annoyance by having students read at an assembly, in Henry's presence, a speech by Henry and Smith's own rebuttal.{{sfn|Mayer|p=391}} Henry opposed the Constitution because of its grant of a strong executive, the president; he had not fought to free Virginia from King George to surrender such powers to what might prove a despot. Henry accordingly deemed the Constitution a backwards step, and a betrayal of those who had died in the Revolutionary cause.{{sfn|Kidd|pp=191–192}} At the [[Virginia Ratifying Convention]], which began on June 2, 1788, {{quote|Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings—give us that precious jewel and you may take everything else. But I fear I have lived long enough to become an old-fashioned fellow. Perhaps an invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man may, in these refined, enlightened days, be deemed old-fashioned: if so, I am contented to be so.{{sfn|Campbell|p=340}}}} | |||