tax census, by which time his eldest brother Benjamin Jr. had died, William Grayson owned eight enslaved adults in Prince William County, as well as four enslaved teenagers, two horses and eighteen cattle, compared to Rev. Spence Grayson, who owned fourteen enslaved adults, 21 enslaved teenagers, ten horses and 17 cattle. Grayson's political career began in 1784, when he won election as one of Prince William County's two delegates (part time) in the Virginia House of Delegates. He replaced Arthur Lee and the following year would be replaced by the same man, who was then removed from office as disqualified by his federal office. Grayson had not stood for re-election because he was a delegate to the Confederation Congress from 1785 to 1787. While in that office, he helped to pass the Northwest Ordinance, including a provision that forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory. As an Anti-Federalist, he joined George Mason, James Monroe, and Patrick Henry in opposing ratification of the proposed new United States Constitution at the Virginia Ratification Convention in 1788. In that Convention, Grayson argued that the proposed constitution was neither fish nor fowl—neither strong enough for a national government nor decentralized enough for a federal one — and thus eventually would either degenerate into a despotism or result in the dissolution of the Union. Grayson experienced the inflation caused by Virginia and other states issuing paper fiat currency during the Revolutionary War. He later wrote to James Madison that: United States Senate Although the Anti-Federalists lost the battle in opposition of the new Constitution, Patrick Henry, Virginia's leading Anti-Federalist, rewarded Grayson by arranging his election to the first United States Senate. Grayson served from March 4, 1789, until his death on March 12, 1790. He and Richard Henry Lee were the only members of the first Senate who had opposed ratification, and so they were unhappy when the Bill of Rights omitted any provisions making serious corrections to the division of powers between the central government and the states. Grayson continued to believe that the Philadelphia Convention had struck precisely the wrong balance. Death and legacy Grayson and his family had moved to Frederick County, Virginia (where his widow ultimately died), but he died at the home of his brother Rev. Spence Grayson on March 12, 1790. He hand wrote a will shortly before his death which appointed executors and charged them to make "all my