North Carolina's Ratification of the Federal Constitution: A Story of Trials and Triumphs Frustration was building. As he sat at the state's ratifying convention and listened to the roll call of their members, William Richardson Davie feared that his Federalist movement in the state of North Carolina would die a slow and agonizing death before him. Davie, an ardent supporter of federalism and its promotion of a strong national and central government, had spent nearly a year debating and debating the need and importance of ratifying the newly proposed federal Constitution. One by one, as the names were read aloud, Davie realized that the makeup of the convention's members favored those who opposed the federal Constitution. A year earlier, during the months of May through September of 1787, delegates from twelve of the thirteen states (Rhode Island chose not to participate) met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to discuss the current governing document, the Articles of Confederation. Enacted in March 1781, the Articles of Confederation was an agreement that allowed the thirteen separate and independent states to establish the United States of America as a confederation – or association – of thirteen sovereign states. With the ratification of the Articles, the United States did not become a government, but rather a “firm league of friendship.” This amalgamation of sovereign states attempted, through the Articles, to ensure unity and numerical strength during the American Revolutionary War, but with its lack of power and authority, succeeded in creating a weak and ineffective central government. For Davie and the other delegates at the Philadelphia meeting, the intent had been to deliberate on the inadequacy of the Articles with the extension of individual liberty and states' rights. Federalists were also concerned with other issues, such as public debt and the state's inability to repay it; limited trade and private industry; and the fact that Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, could do little to address these problems. William Davie knew that with the unfortunate and unequal number of Federalists and Anti-Federalists present at the ratifying convention, he would have to take a leading role in defending the actions taken in Philadelphia the previous year. Since Federalists made up only 31 percent of the convention's members, Davie took it upon himself to defend the Constitution and support the Federalist cause. So began two weeks of debate beginning with the opening language of the Constitution's preamble: “We the people…”