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Amos Singletary Born Sept 16, 1721 Died Oct 30, 1806 Anti-Federalist

**Massachusetts Rep.** During the Revolution, Massachusetts was the heart of patriotic New England and produced many of the most notable men in American history. The people of Massachusetts were generally strong willed and willing to take a stand for change. **Occupation and Background** Born September 16, 1721, Singletary grew up in Sutton, MA (in Worcester County) as a mill operator and was eventually the Local Justice of Peace. He was not educated but grew up gaining a sixth sense of sorts for wealth and politics. This sense showed at the ratifying of both the state and national constitutions. Basically, Singletary was the average, debt-ridden farm boy. Unsurprisingly, he described the situation of early America as “lawyers, and men of learning, and moneyed men … make us poor, illiterate people swallow down the pill.” **Ratifying Convention** Singletary attended the ratifying convention. He argued against rich people running the congress. He felt that men that did not work for a living did not know how to take care of the people that did. Although not representing all farmers, Singletary was the voice of the lowest block on the totem pole at the convention. **Massachusetts Ratifying Convention** Singletary also attended the Massachusetts ratifying convention. Being an Antifederalist, he would have been against the Massachusetts Compromise and he would have won if not for the last minute shift of vote by his fellow lobbyists. **Constitutional Arguments** Singletary’s hope was to amend the Articles of Confederation but keep them generally the same. While uneducated, he had an understanding of how wealth and politics worked and he used this to his advantage at the Convention. The base of his political thought was that the wealthy in their white collar world could not run a country of blue collar farmers. For this reason, he wanted a more localized sense of authority.

Gillespie, Michael Allen, and Michael Lienesch. //Ratifying the Constitution//. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1989. Print.
 * Bibliography**

"Introduction to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention." //TeachingAmericanHistory.org -- Free Seminars and Summer Institutes for Social Studies Teachers//. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2011. [].

Nash, Gary B.. "History Now. The Historians Perspective." //The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Home//. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2011. .