5. The Constitution of Massachusetts was ratified by ignoring changes demanded by the people
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the oldest written constitution in continuous effect to be found anywhere in the world. It was written largely by John Adams, with work on the document beginning in 1777, and finally ratified by the state legislature in 1780. It was adopted as the model, in terms of style and format, for the Constitution of the United States in 1787. Officially it was ratified by the people, who voted on it in town meetings, but in truth, the changes made by the people during the ratification process were ignored when it was officially voted upon by the convention which wrote the document.
When the document was sent to the people, many towns and local governments wrote amendments, which they then voted upon, approving the constitution as amended. The convention then counted the votes for each section, noting that the section had been approved but ignoring the amendments which had led to approval. This meant that several sections of the document were in fact not approved by the people described in the preamble as the “Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts”. The Constitution took effect on October 25, 1780.