Ratification of the United States Constitution by Rhode Island the convention instead set about drafting a new Constitution. Rhode Island was the only state to not participate in its proceedings. By April 1, 1789, the new constitution had entered into force after the required nine states had completed their ratification processes. The First United States Congress had already convened, and the Congress had already passed twelve proposed amendments, but Rhode Island still had not ratified the new Constitution and continued to effectively operate outside the new governmental structure. Opposition was chiefly due to the paper money issued in Rhode Island pounds since 1786 by the governing Country Party, intended
Section 51(xxvi) of the Australian Constitution period to the country whence they came." There were delegates, however, at the 1898 Convention who argued against the use of legislative power to deal specifically with alien races, accepting that people might be excluded from Australia based on race, but arguing that once people were admitted to the country they should be treated in the same way as other citizens. The scope of s 51(xxvi), is, subject to the Constitution itself, unfettered, in keeping with s 51 granting plenary powers to the Commonwealth. Section 51(xxvi) supports the rejection of legal equality requirements when considering legislation otherwise validly enacted under