A Harvard grad from Andover was pivotal in the nation’s beginnings.
  
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution by Massachusetts in 1788 nearly failed because of a 
Harvard graduate from Andover. William Symmes, Jr., the first attorney to open an office in 
Andover, was one of three Andover delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Boston. 
Reflecting sentiment of the townspeople, many of whom preferred a monarchy to a republic, 
Symmes and his fellow delegates, Capt. Peter Osgood and Dr. Thomas Kittridge, embraced the 
anti-federalists’ concerns that the proposed constitution favored southern plantation owners and 
placed too much authority in a central government. A vote at town meeting showed 115 for and 
124 against the Federal Constitution. The delegates headed to Boston firmly opposed to 
ratification.

Symmes had a change of heart only after Samuel Adams and John Hancock came out 
openly for adoption. On Feb. 6, he delivered the closing speech on the convention floor, 
admitting that arguments by Adams and Hancock had changed his mind. The speech was 
considered pivotal, and the convention sanctioned the Federal Constitution by a slim 187 for, 
167 against vote enabling Massachusetts to become the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. The 
result was considered decisive to the emerging nation, for very shortly Maryland, South Carolina 
and New Hampshire, the ninth and deciding state, also approved the Federal Constitution.

Symmes was raised as a child in the Parson Barnard House, which still stands on Osgood 
Street in North Andover.


-- Leo Chabot