the letter. Harris was so insulted by Marshall's demand that he threatened to cane him. At their next meeting, Harris fired two pistols at Marshall. Neither shot injured Marshall, who retaliated by beating Harris with a stick severely enough to force his retreat from the encounter. Despite his favorable position toward the proposed federal constitution, Marshall was chosen as a delegate to the convention from Fayette County. On June 25, 1788, he joined Jefferson County delegates Robert Breckinridge and Rice Bullock in voting for ratification. Ten other Kentucky delegates opposed ratification and one abstained. The final convention vote was 89–79 in favor of ratification. It was reported that even the Jefferson County delegates were beginning to waver in their commitment to the proposed constitution, but that Marshall steeled their resolve and also influenced several delegates from other parts of Virginia to favor it. In 1789 Marshall was elected again to a convention to consider separation from Virginia. After Kentucky's separation from Virginia in 1792, he was elected to represent Woodford County in the Kentucky House of Representatives. The most notable piece of legislation he authored was an act that simplified the classification and taxation of land. He was reelected to his position in 1794. He opposed allocating men or supplies for George Rogers Clark's proposed attack upon the Spanish at New Orleans. The attack was promoted by Edmond-Charles Genêt, and Marshall accused sitting governor Isaac Shelby of complicity in the matter. U.S. Senate Partly as a result of Marshall's attacks on prominent Democratic-Republicans such as Governor Shelby, the Federalists gained influence in the state legislature. The Federalist cause was also bolstered by the quashing of the Whiskey Rebellion by federal forces in 1794, and the federal victory over the Northwest Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. Later that year, the Federalists in the General Assembly nominated Marshall for the United States Senate. On the first ballot, Marshall garnered 18 votes, compared with 16 for Democratic-Republican John Breckinridge, 8 for John Fowler, and 7 for incumbent John Edwards. On the runoff ballot that followed, Marshall defeated Breckinridge by a vote of 28–22. Shortly after Marshall departed for Philadelphia, the temporary national capital, George Muter and Benjamin Sebastian, both justices of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, published a pamphlet stating that Marshall had perjured himself in a Court of Appeals case between himself and James Wilkinson. No