\^miiM§Mmi- ufmllm Wlk. .mi^iiiiiiiJiiMani^iL'iAiuUUHiiLiunmL/:^jjjiii±iuni!2imiiJ^ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Commodore Byron McCandless THE CONSTITUTION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. VOL. II. "As the British Constitution is tlie most subtile organism which has proceeded from progressive history, so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man." — William E. Gladstcne. HISTORY FOPiMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BY GEORGE BANCEOFT. /y TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. SIXTH EDITION. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AifD 5 BOND STEEET. 1889. COPTniGHT BY GEORGE BANCROFT, 1882, CONTENTS. BOOK III. THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOK. CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 1787. Events overruled by justice, 3 — General desire for a closer union, 3 — Character of the elections to the federal convention, 3 — Journey to Philadel- phia, 4 — Arrival of Washington, 4 — Opening of the federal convention, 4 — The Virginia members prepare a finished plan, 5 — Washington declares for a new constitution, 5 — Position of Edmund Randolph, 5 — His station and character, fij;;- Virginia unites under the lead of Madison, 7 — Shall the con- vention vote by states, 7 — Arrival of delegates, 7 — Their jarring opinions, 8 — AVashington's appeal to them, 8 — The convention oi'ganized, 8 — Limited power of tlie delegates from Delaware, 8 — Position of Rhode Island, 8 — Character of the delegates, 9 — Votes of individuals not to be recorded, 10 — Randolph opens the convention, 10 — He proposes an outline of a constitution, 11 — Proposal of Virginia to found representation on free inhabitants, 13 — Charles Pinckney presents a plan, 14 — Debates in committee, 14 — Butler supports the Virginia plan, 14 — Government must act on individuals, 1 5 — Sherman not yet ready, 15 — Debate on equality of suffrage, 15 — Delaware interposes, 15 — The legislature to be of two branches, 16 — One branch to be directly chosen by the people, 17 -Extent of the federal legislative powers, 17 — The right to negative any state law denied, 18 — Coercion of states, 19 — The national executive, 19 — The mode of its election and its powers, 20 — Shall it be of one or more, 20 — Sherman for its subordination to the legisla- ture, 21 — Shall there be unity in the executive, 21 — Shall it be chosen by the people, 21— Its period of service, 22 — How to be chosen, 22 — How to be removed, 23 — Speech of Dickinson for a vote by states in one branch of the legislature, 23 — Randolph proposes an executive of three members, 24 — Opinions on an executive council, 24 — The executive to be single, 25 — The veto power, 25 — The judiciary, 26 — Shall the house of representatives be VI CONTEXTS. chosen by the states, 2G — Or by the people, 27 — How both branches arc to be chosen, 28 — Hamilton's opinion, 29 — Appointment of judges, 29 — How to choose the senate, 29 — Are the states in danger, 30 — The equality of the small states defended, 31 — Franklin interposes as a peacemaker, 32 — Con- necticut the umpire between the small states and the large ones, 32 — The largo states prevail, 33 — The requirement of an oath, 34 — Term of office and qualifications of representatives, 34 — Of senators, 35 — The work of the com- mittee ended, 35. CHAPTER II. XEW JERSEY CLAIMS AN EQUAL REmESENTATION OF THE STATES. IVSV. The small states dissatisfied, 36 — The plan of Connecticut, 36 — New Jersey resists the large states, 38 — The plan of New Jersey, 39 — Debate on the ex- tent of the powers of the convention, 39 — Paterson pleads for the equality of the states in one supreme council, 40 — Debate on the sovereignty of a single body, 41 — Speech and plan of Hamilton, 42 — How his plan was received, 45 — The Virginia plan reported to the house, 46. CHAPTER III. THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE. 1787. The states and the nation, 47 — Independence declared unitedly, 48 — Con- necticut takes the lead, 48 — Character of Roger Sherman, 48 — Of Johnson, CO — Of Ellsworth, 51 — Federal and national, 51 — Speech of Mason for two branches, 52 — Sherman for two branches, 53 t- The convention decides for two branches, 54 — Wilson speaks for the general government and the state governments, 55 — Ellsworth would graft a general government on the state governments, 56 — The mode of choosing and term of office of the senators, 56 — The decision, 57 — ^ Fierce contest between the smaller states and the large ones, 58 — Franklin proposes prayer, 59 — The debate continues, GO — Suffrage in the first branch proportioned to population, 61 — Ellsworth would have the vote in the senate by states, 62 — Speech of Baldwin, 62 — "Wilson refuses to yield, 62 — So docs Madison, 63 — Persistence of Ellsworth, 64 — Ho is sup- ported by North Carolina, 65 —The convention equally divided, 66 — Appoiut- inent of a grand coinniittcc to report a conipromi.se, 67. CHAPTER IV. THE ADJUSTMENT OK IlEPUESENTATION. Franklin'^ compromise, 68 — ^lorris claims reprcsentatinn for property, 69 — TLe ratio of representation referred to a committee, 70 — Kcport of tlie coir.mitff'C, 71 — Appointment of a conmiittce of one from each state, 72 — Its report, 72 — Madison's projiosal of conii)r()nii.''e, 72 — licport of the new com- CONTEIS'TS. Vll mittee, 72 — Approved by all except South Carolina and Georgia, '73 — Yates and Lansing desert their post, 74 — The southern states have a majority in the convention, 75 — Abolition of slavery in the North, 76 — Movement against the slave-trade, 77 — Two classes of slave states, 78 — Jealousy of the speedy preponderance of western states, 79 — The equal rights of the western states maintained, 80 — Strife on the representation for slaves, 81 — A triple set of parties prevent a decision, 82 — Rash proposal of Morris, 83 — Taxation and representation, 83 — Slaves to be counted as three fifths in representation, 84 — Morris fears injury to commerce fi'om the influence of western states, 85 — Representation in the second branch proportioned to numbers, 86 — Effect of the decision on the political power of the South, 87 — The senate to vote by states, 88. CHAPTER V. THE OUTLIXE OF THE CONSTITUTION COMPLETED AND REFERRED. The distribution of powers between the general government and the states, 89 — Relation of federal legislation to that of the states, 90 — Property quali- fication as a condition of holding office, 91 — Qualification of the electors left to the states, 92 — Extent of the jurisdiction of federal tribunals, 93 — How the new constitution was to be ratified, 94 — Committee of five ordered to re- port the resolutions of the convention in the form of a constitution, 95 — Character of Rutledge, 95 — Industry of the committee, 96 — Anxiety of the country, 97. CHAPTER VI. THE COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. The ordinance of 1787, 98 — Treaty with the Shawnees, 98 — Monroe's jour- ney to the West, 99 — Report of a grand committee on the western territory, 99 — Monroe's plan for a northwestern ordinance, 100 — Monroe and restric- tions on slavery, 101 — Certain waters and carrying places declared free, 101 — The Connecticut reserve, 101 — The proposed five states in the northwest, 102 — Jealousy of the western states, 103, 104 — Kaskaskias, 103 — Urgent need of a territorial government, 104 — Progress of the bill, 105 — Rufus Putnam's plan for colonizing the West, 105 — His appeal to Washington, 106 — Parsons visits the West, 106 — Congress quiets the Indian title to a gi-eat part of Ohio, 107 — Formation of the Ohio company, 108 — Parsons presents its memorial to congress, 109 — Effect of the memorial, 110 — Power of the South, 110 — Cutler before congress, 110 — Carrington's report. 111 — Richard Henry Lee on a new committee of seven, 112 — Ordinance for governing the territory of the United States, 112 — Its clauses, 112 — Clause on contracts, 113 — Grayson and slavery, 114 — Nathan Dane and King, 115 — History of the clause against slavery, 116 — Virginia accepts the ordinance with its exclusion of slavery, 117 — The rights of the free negro in New York and Virginia, 118. Vm COIfTEXTS. CHAPTER VII, THE CONSTITCTIOX IN DETAIL. THE POWERS OF CONGRESS. AugUSt, 1Y87. Report of the committee of detail, 119 — The constitution a government by the people, 119 — Membership of a colony defined, 120 — Who are the people of the United States, 121 — The new government a unity in plurality, 121 — The tripartite division of powers, 121 — Election of the members of congress, 122 — Continuous succession of the government provided for, 122 — The new government to be supported from the common treasury, 122 — Number of representatives, 123 — Qualifications of membership, 123 — Discrimination against the foreign-born, 124 — Property qualification rejected, 125 — The quorum, 125 — Qualifications of electors, 126 — To be established by each state for itself, 128 — Relation of the slave-trade to representation, 128 — Of slavery, 129 — Why slaves should not be represented, 130 — The question adjourned, 132 — Powers granted to the new government, 132 — Power to emit paper money objected to by Hamilton, 132 — By Gouverneur Morris, 132 — By Mason, Gorham, Mercer, Ellsworth, and Randolph, 133 — By Wilson and Lang- don, 134 — Madison's vote decides that the power shall not be granted, 134 — How friends of paper money stand in history, 135 — Power of the states to emit paper money, 136 — The power absolutely prohibited, 137 — Power left to the states to interfere with contracts, 138 — But not to interfere ex post facto, 138 — The term ex post facto defined, 139 — Power of the congress to encourage manufactures by impost duties, 139 — Shall states or the United States encour- age manufactures, 140 — Power confined to the United States, 141 — States not to treat with foreign powers or other states, 141 — Slaves and representation, 142 — Who are citizens, 143 — Fugitives from justice, 143 — Fugitive slaves, 144. CHAPTER VIII. THE TOWERS OF CONGRESS, CONTINUED. AugUSt, \1S1. The assumption of the state debts, 145 — Jurisdiction over crimes, 145 — Power to subdue a rebellion, 146 — Power of declaring war, 146 — General pro- po.sitions of Madison, 146 — The army, navy, and militia, 147 — Clause on the militia, 148 — Compromise on the appointment of militia officers, 149 — Power to execute the powers granted, 149 — Treason, 149 — State laws cannot shield the traitor, 150 — Commerce and the slave-trade, 151 — Exports exempted from taxation, 152 — Debate on continuing the slave-trade, 152 — South Carolina and Georgia threaten to secede, 155 — Dickinson hints at a compromise, 156 — North ("arolina will join South Carolina and Georgia on the qtiestion, 150 — The question committed, 157 — The fiuestions of the slave-trade and of a navigation act committed, 157 — The compromise of tlic committee, 158 — Final shape of the compromise, 159 — Slave-trade abolislud after twenty years, 159 — Doom of Blave-holding, 100 — Why the British failed in retaining the South, 160 — How hIuvcs may emerge into the human character, 101 — Grant of power to COISTTENTS. IX regulate commerce, 162 — The admission of new states within the limits of the United states, 162 — The admission of new states from abroad permitted, 163 — Special provision for the admission of Vermont, 1G3 — Powers of congress over the territory and other property of the United States, 164 — Limit on the taxation of slaves, 164. CHAPTER IX. THE PRESIDENT. July — September, 1*787. The choice of the president a difficult problem, 165 — How shall he be chosen, 166 — Shall he be re-eligible, 166 — The tenure of good behavior con- sidered, 167 — Question between the tenure of good behavior or the tenure for seven years with perpetual re-eligibility, 168 — Choice by the national legisla- ture and re-eligibility incompatible, 168 — The choice of the president by the aggregate people rejected, 169 — The choice by an electoral college, 169 — Ob- jections started against it, 170 — A triple executive proposed, 17u — Relation of re-eligibility of the executive to the length of the period of office, 171 — Madison proposes the election by the people at large, 171 — Jealousy of the smaller states, 171 — Proposal that each person should vote for two candidates, the highest to prevail, 172 — Different plans proposed, 172 — The convention votes for a single executive, to be chosen by the legislature for seven years, and to be ineligible, 173 — The decision not accepted as final, 173 — Report of the committee of detail, 173 — Antagonism of the smaller and the large states, 174 — The choice of the president by the vote of the states negatived, 175 — Subject referred to a committee of eleven, 176 — Opinions of Gouverneur Mor- ris, 176 — Of Sherman, 177 — Report of the committee, 177 — The president to be voted for in the electoral colleges of the states, 178 — And the vote to be counted by the senate, 178 — The plan of leaving so much power to the senate objected to, 179 — Continued debate, 180 — Speech of Wilson, 181 — Of Hamil- ton, 182 — How the votes were to be counted, 182 — The mode of counting in Massachusetts preferred to that of Virginia, 183 — A summaiy statement of the matter, 184 — Election of the vice-president, 186 — Title of the president, 187 — The veto power, 187 — Power of pardon, 188 — The president commander- in-chief, 188 — Restraints proposed on the executive power, 188 — A privy council proposed, 189 — The plan for a council rejected, 190 — Relation of the president and the senate, 190 — Power of war and peace, 191 — Over inter- course with foreign states, 191 — Power of appointment, 191 — Power of removing, 192 — Qualifications of the president, 192 — Impeachment of the president, 193 — State of the president while on trial, 194 — Judgment in case of impeachment, 194. CHAPTER X. THE_ FEDERAL jTiDiciARY. August — September, 1787. Report on the federal judiciary, 195 — The judiciary and the veto power, 196 — Proposals of Pinckncy, 196 — Organization of federal courts, 197 — Judges X CONTENTS. not removable by address, 197 — Extent of the judicial power, 198 — The judiciary and unconstitutional laws, 198 — Senate to try impeachments, 199 — To cases beginning and ending in a state, 199 — The original jurisdiction of the supreme court, 199 — Its appellate powers, 200 — Method of choosing it, 201 — The supreme court and legislative encroachments, 201 — Protection against erroneous judgments, 201 — By the court, 202 — By congress, 203 — By the good sense of the land, 203 — Methods of consolidating the union, 203 — Of bankruptcies, 204 — Of money bills, 204 — Number of the house of representa- tives, 204 — How the constitution was to be ratified, 205 — Randolph and Franklin for another federal convention, 206. CHAPTER XL THE LAST DAYS OF THK CONTENTION. 12 — 17 September, 1787. Final draft of the constitution, 207 — The constitution the institution of a government by the people, 208 — Why the names of the thirteen states were left out of the first clause, 208 — Federal and national, 208 — The veto of the president, 209 — Of juries, 209 — Motion for a bill of rights defeated, 210 — No title for the president, 210 — Of encouraging American manufactures, 210 — Servitude and service, 211 — How to introduce the constitution, 211 — The keeper of the purse, 211 — Power to cut canals negatived, 212 — Of a univer- sity, 212 — No state to trespass on the rights of another state, 213 — The obligation of contracts, 214 — The distribution of representation, 214 — Slavery not recognised as a legal condition, 215 — Modes of amending the constitution, 216 — Mason dreads navigation acts, 217 — Indecision of Randolph, 217 — Firmness of Pinckney, 218 — Tlie constitution ordered to be engrossed, 218 — Washington's remark to members of the convention, 219 — Speech of Franklin, 219 — An amendment adopted at the wish of Washington, 220 — Appeals of Morris and Hamilton to every one to sign the constitution, 220 — Three refuse, 221 — The constitution signed by every state, 221 — Prophecy of Franklin, 221 — The meditations of Washington, 222. BOOK IV. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATES IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. 1787— 17S8. CHAPTER I. THK coxsTiTCTios FN coNOKESS AND IN VIRGINIA. . September — Novcmbcr, 1787. The constitution received in congress, 225 — Opposed in congress, 226 — Amcnduicnts desired by Lee, 227 — la supported by New York, 228 — Proposi- CONTENTS. XI tions of New Jersey, 228 — Congress against Lee, 229 — A compromise agreed upon, 229 — Perseverance of Lee, 230 — Efforts of Washington in Virginia, 231 — Opponents of the constitution in Virginia, 232 — Washington wins over Randolph, 233 — Monroe writes in favor of adopting the constitution, 234 — The legislature of Virginia, 234 — The constitution referred to a state conven- tion, 234 — But amendments may be proposed in the state convention, 235 — Plan for a second federal convention, 236 — A letter from Washington, 237. CHAPTER 11. THE CONSTITUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA, DELAVPARE, AND NEW JERSEY, AND IN GEORGIA. From 18 September, 1181, to 2 January, 1788. Pennsylvania, 238 — Franklin presents the constitution to its legislature, 239 — Long debates upon it, 240 — Reception of the resolution of congress, 240 — A convention called, 241 — Lee and Wilson in Pennsylvania, 241 — Prompt meeting of the Pennsylvania convention, 242 — Speech of Wilson in favor of the constitution, 242 — Opposed by Smilie, 245 — And by Whitehill, 216— On the want of a bill of rights, 247 — Speech of Findley, 248 — The constitution in the Delaware legislature, 249 — The Delaware convention ratifies the constitu- tion, 250 — Pennsylvania ratifies the constitution, 251 — Act of the legislature of New Jersey, 252 — The New Jersey convention ratifies the constitution, 253 — The legislature of Georgia, 253 — Georgia unanimously ratifies the constitu- tion, 254. CHAPTER III. THE CONSTITrTION IN CONNECTICUT AND MASSACHUSETTS. Letter of Sherman and Ellsworth to the governor of Connecticut, 255 — The Connecticut convention, 256 — Speeches of Ellsworth and Johnson, 256 — James Wadsworth and answers to him, 257 — Wise conduct of Hancock, 258 — Massachusetts calls a convention, 258 — Condition of the state, 259 — The elections, 260 — Samuel Adams, 260 — Opening of the convention, 261 — Elbridge Gerry, 261 — Conduct of Samuel Adams, 262 — Objections to the constitution, 262 — Property qualifications, 263 — Representation of slaves, 263 — On a religious test, 263 — Period of office for senators, 264 — King explains the constitution, 264 — Dawes argues for protective duties, 264 — The convention wavering, 265 — Washington on a second convrntion, 266 — Rally of the friends of the constitution, 266 — Objections made and answered, 267 — The slave-trade, 268 — Hancock proposes resolutions, 269 — Supported by Samuel Adams, 269 — Amendments referred to a committee, 270 — The com- mittee report its approval of the constitution, 271 — Objections on the score of the slave-trade, 271 — And for the want of a bill of rights, 272 — Stillman $peaks for the constitution, 272 — In what words Hancock proposed the ques- Xll CONTEXTS. tion, 272 — The rote, 273 — Acquiescence of the opposition, 273 — Madison adopts the policy of Massachusetts, 274 — Opinions of Jefferson, 274 — Of John Adams, 276. CHAPTER IV. THE COXSTITniON IX XETT HAMPSHIRE, MAKYLAXD, AXD SOUTH CAKOLINA. The constitution in Xew Hampshire, 277 — Its convention adjourns, 278 — The assembly of Maryland calls a convention, 278 — The cabals of Virginia, 279 — Influence of Washington, 279 — The election of a convention in Mary- land, 280 — Advice of Washington, 2S0 — The convention of Maryland at An- napolis, 281 — Conduct of Chase, 282 — Of Paca, 282 — Conduct of enemies and friends to the federal government, 283 — The constitution ratified, 283 — No amendments proposed, 284 — Maryland will have no separate confederacy, 284 — Hopefulness of Washington, 285 — The constitution in South Carolina, 285 — Attitude of its assembly, 286 — Debate between Lowndes and Pinckney, 286 — Why there was no bill of rights, 291 — Speech of Rutledge, 292 — Call of a convention, 292 — The convention organized, 293 — The constitution rati- fied, 293 — Joy of Gadsden, 293 — Effect on New Hampshire, 294. CHAPTER V. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRGINIA AND IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. Jay's negotiation with Gardoqui, 295 — Alarm of the southern states, 296 — Danger of a separation of the southern states, 297 — Failure of the negotiation, 298 — Washington and Jefferson, 299 — Randolph will support the constitution, 299 — Effect of the example of Massachusetts on A'irgiuia, 300 — The opposi- tion in the Virginia convention, 300 — Madison and Pendleton, 301 — Mason, 302 — Patrick Henry leads the opposition, 302 — Is replied to by Pendleton and Madison, 303 — Praise of the British constitution, 304 — Madison com- pares the British and Americaa constitutions, 305 — Henry speaks against the judiciary system, 306 — Marshall defends it, 300 — The debtor planters, 307 — Henry on a separate confederacy, 308 — Mason and Madison on the slave-trade, 309 — And Tyler, 310 — Henry fears emancipation by the general government, 310 — Noble speech of Randolph, 311 — Slavery condemned by Johnson, 311 — Navigation of the Mississippi, 311 — Contest between the North and the South, 312 — The power to regulate commerce, 313 — The prohibition of paper money, 313 — Quieting language of Henry, 314 — The convention refuses a conditional ratification, 315 — The ratification, 310 — lis form, 310 — Acquiescence of the oppoftilion, 317 — New llampohirc ratifies before Virginia, 318. coiTTEifTS. xm BOOK V. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. JUNE, 17S7. CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION. The American constitution, 321 — Its forerunners, 321 — Its place in the world's history-, 322 — Individuality the character of Americans, 323 — Why the English language maintained itself, 323 — The constitution in harmony with individuality, 324 — Freedom of the individual in religion, 325 — Slavery an anomaly, 326 — Tripartite division of the powers of government, 327 — Tri- partite division of the power of legislation, 328 — How the constitution is to be amended, 329 — The United States a continental republic, 330 — A federal republic, 331 — With complete powers of government, 331 — Powers of the states not by grace, but of right, 332 — Sovereignty of the law, 333 — Who are the people of the United States, 333 — Their power, 333 — New states to be admitted on equal terms, 33-4 — Necessity of revolution provided against, 334 — Extending influence of the federal republic, 335 — The philosophy of the people, 335. CHAPTER n. THE LINGERING STATES. 1787 17S9. The Federalist and its authors, 336 — Hamilton and a revenue tariff, 337 — Unreasonableness of New York, 339 — Organization of the federal republicans, 839 — Clinton recommends the encouragement of manufactures, 340 — New York legislature orders a state convention, 340 — The electors, 340 — The meeting of the convention deferred till June, 340 — Division of parties in New York, 340 — Meeting of the convention, 341 — Livingstou opens the debate, 341 — Speeches of Lansing, Smith, and Hamilton, 342 — News from New Hampshire, 342 — Success in New York depends on Virginia, 342 — Hamilton declares his opinions, 343 — Clinton replies, 343 — News received of the ratifi- cation by Virginia, 344 — May New York ratify conditionally, 345 — Debate between Smith and Hamilton, 345 — Lansing holds out, 345 — Madison con- demns a conditional ratification, 346 — The opposition in New York give way, 347 — But ask for a second federal convention, 347 — Joy of New York city, 347 — Convention of North Carolina, 348 — Is divided by parties, 349 — Amend- ments proposed, 349 — The decision postponed, 349 — Conduct of Rhode Island, 350. CHAPTER in. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Relations of America to Europe, 351 — Encroachments of England in Maine and in the West, 351, 352 — John Adams returns home, 352 — Adams and XIV CONTEjJ^TS. Jefferson, 353 — Moderation of the Pennsylvania minority, 353 — Albert Gal- latin, 353 — The Virginia assembly demands a second federal convention, 354 — Lee and Grayson elected senators, 354 — Connecticut refuses a second con- vention, 355 — And Massachusetts, 355 — And Pennsylvania, 355 — Dilatoriness of congress, 356 — Measures for commencing proceedings under the constitu- tion, 356 — Federal elections in Xew York, 356 — In Virginia, 357 — In South Carolina, 35'i' — Party divisions, 35S — Debates in congress on protection, 359 — Washington sees danger to the union from the South, 360 — His resolution on leaving Mount Vernon, 360 — His reception at Alexandria, 360 — At Balti- more, 361 — In Delaware, 361 — At Philadelphia, 361 — At Trenton, 361 — In New York, 362 — His inauguration, 362 — His address to the two houses, 363 — Public prayers in the church, 363 — Description of Washington, 364 — Ad- dress to him from the senate, 364 — From the representatives, 364 — State of Europe at the time, 365 — And of America, 366, 367. APPENDIX. LETTERS AND PAPERS. (For Index to Letters and Papers, see page 497.) BOOK III. THE FEDERAL CONYENTIOK May-Septembee, 1787. CHAPTER I the constitution in outline. 14 May to 13 Ju^-e, 1787. Do nations float clarldinQ: down tlie stream of the chap. o I. ages without hope or consolation, swaying with every wind and ignorant whither they are drifting ? or, is ^'^^ '?• there a superior power of intelligence and love, which is moved by justice and shapes their course ? From the ocean to the American outposts nearest the Mississippi one desire prevailed for a closer connec- tion, | one belief that the only opportunity for its crea- tion was come. Men, who, from their greater attach- ment to the states, feared its hazards, neither coveted nor accepted an election to the convention, and in uneasy watchfulness awaited the course of events. Willie Jones of North Carolina, declining to serve, was replaced by Hugh Williamson, who had voted with Jefferson for excluding slavery from the territo- ries. Patrick Henry, Thomas Nelson, and Richard Henry Lee refusing to be delegates, Edmund Ran- dolph, then governor of Virginia and himself a dele- gate to the convention, named to one vacancy James 4 THE FEDERAL COlSrVEKTION. CHAP. McClurg, a professor in tlie college of William and Maiy, whom Madison had urged upon congress for the office of secretary of foreign affairs. No state except New York sent a delectation insensible to the neces- sity of a vigorous union. Discordant passions were • repressed by the solemnity of the moment ; and, as the statesmen who were to create a new constitution, veterans in the war and in the halls of legislation, journeyed for the most part on horseback to theii' place of meeting, the high-wi'ought hopes of the na- tion went along with them. Nor did they deserve the interest of the people of the United States alone ; they felt the ennobling love for their fellow-men, and knew themselves to be forerunners of reform for the civilized world. George Washington was met at Chester by public honors. From the Schmdkill the city light horse es- corted him into Philadelphia, the bells chiming all the while. His iirst act was to wait upon Franklin, the president of Pennsylvania. 14. On the fourteenth of May, at the hour appointed for opening the federal convention, Virginia and Penn- sylvania, the only states which were sufficiently repre- sented, repaired to the state-house, and, with others as they gathered in, continued to do so, adjourn- ing from day to day. Of deputies, the credentials of Connecticut and Maryland required but one to represent the state ; of New York, South Carolina, and Georgia, two; of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina, three ; of Pennsylvania, four. Tlie delay was turned to the best account by James Madison of Virginia. From THE CONSTITUTIOlSr IN OUTLESTE. 5 tlie completion of the Virginia delegation by tlie ar- chap. rival of George Mason, who came with unselfish zeal v^-^ to do his part in fulfilling "the exj)ectations and i'?8 7. hopes of all the union," they not only attended the 14. general session, but " conferred together by themselves two or three hours ev§ry day in order to form a proper correspondence of sentiments." * As their state had initiated the convention, they held it their duty at its opening to propose a finished plan for consider- ation. The choice lay between an amended confederacy and " the new constitution " ' for which Washin2:ton foiu' years before had pleaded with the people of every state. " My wish is," so he had wi'itten to Mad- 14-24. ison, " that the convention may adopt no temporizing expedients, but probe the defects of the constitution to the bottom and provide a radical cure, whether agreed to or not. A conduct of this kind will stamp wisdom and dignity on their proceedings, and hold up a light which sooner or later will have its influ- ence. We know from Randolph himself that before de- parting for the convention he was disposed to do no more than amend the confederation ; and his decision was likely to have great weight in the councils of his own commonwealth. When his royalist father, at- torney-general of Virginia, took refuge with the Eng- lish, the son cleaved to his native land. At his own request and the solicitation of Richard Henry Lee, Washino-ton received him as an aid durino; the sie2;e ' George Mason to his son, Phil- ' Washington to Lafayette, 5 adelphia, May 20. MS. April, 1783. Sparks, viii. 412. ' Sparks, ix. 250, March 31, 1787. 6 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. of Boston. In 1776 lie took a part in the convention for forming tlie constitution of Vii'ginia ; and the con- vention rewarded his patriotism by electing him at twenty-three years of age attorney-general of Virginia in the place of his father. In 1779 he preceded Madi- son by a year as a delegate to congress. In the effort for the reform of the confederation, he, with Ellsworth of Connecticut and Varnum of Rhode Island for his associates, was the chaii^man of the committee ap- pointed to report on the defects of the confederacy and the new powers necessary for its efficiency. In 1786 he was elected governor of Virginia; and now in his thirty -fourth year he was sent to the conven- tion, bringing with him a reputation for ability equal to his high position, and in the race for public honors taking the lead of Monroe. But with all his merit there was a strain of weakness in his character, so that he was like a soft metal which needs to be held in place by coils of a harder grain than its own. That support he found in Madison, who had urged him to act a foremost part in the convention, and had laid before him the principles on which the new govern- ment should be organized ; and in Washington, who was unceasing in his monitions and encouragement. Randolph, on his arrival in Philadelphia, at once yielded to tlieir influence, and with them became per- suaded that the confederacy was destitute of every energy which a constitution of the United States ought to possess.' The result was harmony among the Virginia dele- gates. A plan for a national government, Avhich em- > IlandoliJh to Speaker, 10 Oct., 1787. TIIE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 7 bodied the thoughts of Madison, altered and amended chap. by their joint consultations, was agreed to by them ^-.^ all. To Randolph, as the official representative of the ^ J^ '^• state, was unanimously assigned the office of bringing 14-24. forward the outline which was to be known as the plan of Virginia. This forethought j)rovided in sea- son a chart for the voyage, so that the ship, skilfully ballasted and trimmed from the beginning, could be steered through perilous channels to the wished-for haven. A government founded directly on the people seemed to justify and require a distribution of suf- frao;e in the national leorislature accordino* to some equitable ratio. Gouverneur Morris and other mem- bers from Pennsylvania in conversation urged the large states to unite from the first in refusing to the smaller states in the federal convention the equal vote which they enjoyed in the congress of the con- federacy ; but the Virginians, while as the largest state in extent and in numbers they claimed a pro- portioned legislative suffrage as an essential right which must be asserted and allowed, stifled the pro- ject, being of the opinion that the small states Avould be more willing to renounce this unequal privilege in return for an efficient government, than to disarm themselves before the battle without an equivalent.* On the seventeenth, South Carolina appeared on the floor ; on the eighteenth, New York ; on the twenty- first, Delaware; on the twenty-second. North Caro- lina. Of the delegates, some were for half-way meas- ^ Madison Papers, edited by Gilpin, 726. Stereotyped reprint of Elliot, 135. 8 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, ures fi'om fear of displeasing tlie people ; others were anxious and doubting. Just before tliere were enough to form a quorum, Washington, standing self-collected in the midst of them, his countenance more than usu- ally solemn, his eye seeming to look into f utuiity, said : " It is too probable that no plan we proj)Ose will be adopted. Perhaps another di'eadf ul conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work ? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair ; the event is in the hand of God." ^ 25. On the twenty-fifth, New Jersey, last of the seven states needed to form a house, was represented by William Churchill Houston, who had been detained by illness, and was too weak to remain long. There were from the South four states, fi'om the North, three ; from the South, nineteen members, from the North, ten. At the desii'e of Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Washington was unanimously elected president of the convention. During the organiza- tion it was noticed that the delegates from Delaware were prohibited fi-om changing the article in the con- federation establishing the equality of votes among the states.* 28. On the twenty-eighth, the representation was in- creased to nine states by the arrival of Massachusetts and Maryland. A letter was read fi'om men of Provi- dence, Rliode Island, among them John Brown, Jabez Bowen, Welcome Arnold, and William Barton, ex- ^Oration l)y Oouvornfiir Morris Av;ia in ^Iny, 1787, present in Pliila- npon tli(! death of VVnsliintfton, delpliin, mid wasol" tlie Cfmventiou. Dec. 31, IIW), pp. 20, 21. Morris "■' Uilpiu, 723; Elliot, 124. THE CONSTITUTIO]!^ ES^ OUTLESTE. 9 plaining wliy tlieii' state wonld send no delegates to chap. the convention, and hopefully pledging their best ex- .__; ertions to effect the ratification of its proceedino-s/ iV8 7. The letter was forwarded and supported by Varnum, 28i a member from Khode Island in con2:ress. The delegates from Maryland, chosen at a time when the best men of the state were absorbed in a domestic struggle against neAV issues of paper money, and its senate by its stubborn resistance was estranged from the house, did not adequately repre- sent its public spirit ; yet the majority of them to the last promoted the national union. Of the iifty-iive in the convention, nine were graduates of Princeton, four of Yale, three of Harvard, two of Columbia, one of Pennsylvania; five, six, or seven had been connected with William and JMary's ; Scotland sent one of her sons, a jurist, who had been taught at three of her universities, and Glasgow had assisted to train another ; one had been a student in Christ Church, Oxford, and he and three others had been students of law in the Temple. To many in the as- sembly the work of the great French magistrate on the " Spirit of Laws," of which Washington with his o^Mi hand had copied an abstract by Madison, was the favorite manual; some of them had made an analysis of all federal governments in ancient and modern times, and a few were well versed in the best English, Swiss, and Dutch ^viiters on government. They had immediately before them the example of Great Britain ; and they had a still better school of political wisdom in the republican constitutions of * Gilpin, 727; Elliot, 125, and Appendix No. 1. 29. 10 THE FEDEEAL COlSTYENTIOlSr. CHAP, their several states, wliicli many of tliem had assisted to frame. Altogether they formed " the goodliest fellowship of " lawgivers " whereof this world holds record." In theii' standing rules they unanimously forbade any registry to be made of the votes of indi- viduals, so that they might, without reproach or ob- servation, mutually receive and impart instruction ; and they sat with closed doors, lest the publication of their debates should rouse the country to obstinate conflicts before they themselves should have reached their conclusions. On the twenty-ninth, the governor of Virginia opened the business of the convention in this wise : " To prevent the fulfilment of the j)rophecies of the do^\Tifall of the United States, it is our duty to in- quii*e into the defects of the confederation and the requisite projoerties of the government now to be framed ; the danger of the situation and its remedy. " The confederation w^as made in the infancy of the science of constitutions, when the inefficiency of re- quisitions was unknown; when no commercial dis- cord had arisen among states ; when no rebellion like that in Massachusetts liad broken out ; when foreign debts were not urgent ; when the havoc of paper money had not been foreseen ; when treaties had not been violated ; and w^hen nothing better could have been conceded by states jealous of their sovereignty. But it offered no security against foreign invasion, for congress could neither prevent nor conduct sl war, nor punish infractions of treaties or of the law of na- tions, nor control particular states from provoking war. The federal government has no constitutional THE COT^STITUTIOIS" IN OUTLDfE. 11 power to clieck a quarrel between separate states ; nor chap. to suppress a rebellion in any one of tliem ; nor to es- ^^^^^ tablish a productive impost ; nor to counteract tlie ^ ^^ '^• commercial regulations of otLer nations ; nor to defend 29. itself asrainst encroachments of tlie states. From tlie manner in whicli it has been ratified in many of the states, it cannot be claimed to be paramount to the state constitutions ; so that there is a prospect of an- archy from the inherent laxity of the government. As the remedy, the government to be established must have for its basis the republican principle." He then proposed fifteen resolutions, which he ex- plained one by one. " The articles of confederation ouo-ht to be so cor- rected and enlarged as to accomplish the objects pro- posed by their institution ; namely, ' common defence, security of liberty, and general weKare.' " The rights of suffrage in the national legislature ought to be proportioned to the quotas of contribu- tion, or to the number of free inhabitants. " The national legislature ought to consist of two branches, of which the members of the fu'st or demo- cratic house ought to be elected by the people of the several states ; of the second, by those of the first, out of persons nominated by the individual legislatures. "The national legislature, of which each branch ought to possess the right of originating acts, ought to enjoy the legislative rights vested in congress by the confederation, and moreover to legislate in all cases to which the separate states are incompetent, or in which the harmony of the United States might be interrupted by the exercise of individual legislation ; 12 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, to negative all laws passed by tlie several states eon- ; travelling the articles of union ; and to call forth the 17 8 7. force of the union aa:ainst any member of the union May . . . ^ -^ 29. failing to fulfil its duty under the articles thereof. " A national executive, chosen by the national legis- lature and ineligible a second time, ought to enjoy the executive rights vested in congress by the confedera- tion, and a general authority to execute the national laws. "The executive and a convenient number of the national judiciary ought to compose a council of re- vision, with authority to examine every act of the national legislature before it shall operate. " A national judiciary ought to be established ; to consist of supreme and inferior tribunals ; to be chosen by the national legislature ; to hold their offices dur- ing good behavior, with jurisdiction to hear and de- termine all piracies and felonies on the high seas ; captures from an enemy; cases in which foreigners and citizens, a citizen of one state and a citizen of an- other state, may be interested ; cases which respect the collection of the national revenue ; impeachments of national officers ; and questions which may involve the national peace and harmony. " Provision outifht to be made for tlie admission of states lawfully ai'ising within the limits of the United States. "A republican government and the territory of each state ought to be guaranteed l)y tlie United States to each state. " Pi'ovision ought to be made for the completion of ' all the engagements of congress, and for its continu- THE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 13 ance until after tlie articles of union shall liave been chap. adopted. v^^^ " Provision oufrlit to be made for tlie amendment i '^ s 7. . . May of tlie articles of union ; to wliich tlie assent of tlie 29. national legislature ought not to be required. "The legislative, executive, and judiciary powers, within the several states, ought to be bound by oath to support the articles of union. "The amendments which shall be offered to the confederation by the convention ought, after the ap- probation of congress, to be submitted to assemblies of representatives, recommended by the several legis- latures to be expressly chosen by the people to con- sider and decide thereon." Randolph concluded with an exhortation to the convention not to suffer the present opportunity of establishing general harmony, happiness, and liberty in the United States to pass away unimproved.* The new articles of union would form a representa- tive republic. The nobleness of the Virginia dele- gation appeared in the offer of an option to found representation on " free inhabitants " alone. The pro- posed government would be truly national. Not the executive, not the Judges, not one officer employed by the national government, not members of the first branch of the legislature, would owe theii' election to the states ; even in the choice of the second branch of the national legislature, the states were only to nominate candidates. It is worthy of note that, as Randolph declared the proportioned nile of suffrage to be " the basis upon * Gilpin, 731-735; Elliot, 126-128. 14 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTIOlSr. CHAP, wliich tlie larger states could assent to any reform," -^.^-^ saying, " AVe ouglit to be one nation," William Pater- 1 '[^ '^- son of New Jersey made note tliat " sovereignty is an "9. integral tiling," meaning that in the new union the states must be equal unless they all were to be merged into one/ The house referred the propositions of Vii'O'inia to a committee of the whole on the state of the union." Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, a young man of twenty-nine, then presented a plan for a constitution, " grounded on the same principles ^ as the resolutions " of Viro;inia. It received the same reference, but no part of it was used, and no copy of it has been preserved. 30. On the mornins: of the thirtieth, Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts having been elected chairman of the committee of the whole, Randolph offered a resolu- tion,* wdiich Gouverneur Morris had formulated, " that a national government ought to be established, con- sisting of a supreme legislative, executive, and judi- ciary." The force of the word " supreme " was ex- plained to be, that, should the powers to be granted to the new government clash with the powers of the states, the states were to yield.* Pierce Butler of South Carolina' advanced the business of the day by saying in the spirit of Mon- tesquieu : " Heretofore I have opposed the grant of new powers to congress because they would all be vested in one body ; the distribution of the powers among different ]K)dieB will induce' me to go great lengths in its support." ' PatcTMon MSS. * TJilpin, 7^17; Elliot, 132. » Cilpin, 7:5~); Elliot, 128. " Y:i(cs in Klliot, i. .'?02. » Yates in Elliot, i. a'Jl. • Gilpin, 747, 748; Elliot, 133. THE CONSTITUTIOlSr EST OUTLLNE. 15 "In all communities," said Gouvemeur Morris, chap. " there must be one supreme power and one only. A v,--^ confederacy is a mere compact, resting on the good ^^j^*^- faith of the parties ; a national, supreme government so. must have a complete and compulsive operation." Mason argued " very cogently " : " In the nature of things punishment cannot be executed on the states collectively; therefore such a government is neces- sary as can operate directly on individuals." * Roger Sherman, who arrived that morning and en- abled Connecticut to vote, was not yet ready to do more than vest in the general government a power to raise its o^vn revenue ; ' and against the negative of his state alone, New York being divided, the motion was carried by Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the two Carolinas, on this day aided by Delaware. Alexander Hamilton of New York next moved that "the rights of suffrage in the national legisla- ture ought to be proportioned to the number of free inhabitants ; " ' and Richard Dobbs Spaight of North Carolina seconded him. But, to escape irritating de- bates, the resolution was postponed, and Madison, supported by Gouverneur Morris, moved in more general terms, "that the equality of suffrage estab- lished by the articles of confederation ought not to prevail in the national legislature ; and that an equit- able ratio of representation ought to be substituted." * Faithful to his instructions, George Read of Dela- ware asked that the consideration of the clause might be postponed ; as on any change of the rule of suf- ' Gilpin, 748; Elliot, 133. " Journal, Elliot, i. 151. ' Gilpin, 748; Elliot 133. * Gilpin, 751; Elliot, 134. 16 TnE FEDEEAL CONVENTION". CHAP, frage it niiglit become tlie duty of the dej)uties from ^ liis state to withdraw from the convention.' " Equal- ity of suffrage," said Madison, " may be reasonable in a federal union of sovereign states ; it can find no place in a national government." ' But, from the spirit of conciliation, the request for delay was granted. 31. The next day Georgia gained the right to vote by the arrival of William Pierce, a Virginian by bii'th, in the war an aid to Greene, and now a member of conixress. The Vir2:inia resolve, that the national legislature should be composed of two branches, passed without debate, and, but for Pennsylvania, unanimously ; Plamilton and Robert Yates of New York voting together." ' Three weeks later, Pennsyl- vania, which had hesitated only out of forbearance toward its own constitution, gave in its adhesion. The decision, which was in harmony with the undis- puted and unchanging conviction of the whole people of the United States, was adopted, partly to check haste in legislation by reciprocal watchfulness, and partly to prevent the fatal conflict w^hich might one day take place between a single legislative body and a sincrle executive. On the method of electing the two branches, the upholders of the sovereignty of each state contended that the national government ought to seek its agents through tlie governments of the respective states ; others preferred that the members of the first branch should be chosen directly by the people. " The people," said Sherman,* " should have as little > (Jilpin, 751; Elliot, 134. " Gilpin, 753; Elliot, 135. "•' Gil])jii, 753; Elliot, 135. * Gilpiu, 753; Elliot, 135. THE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 17 to do as may be about tlie government ; tliey want chap. infoiTnation and are constantly liable to be misled ; .^^^.^ the election oucrlit to be by tlie state lesrislatures." i v s 7. o -^ . ^ May " The people do not want virtue ; but tliey are the 31. dupes of pretended patriots," added Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts/ To this arraignment of the people by men of New England, Mason of Virginia replied : " The larger branch is to be the grand depository of the democratic principle of the government. We ought to attend to the rights of eveiy class of the people. I have often wondered at the indifference of the superior classes of society to this dictate of humanity and policy." * " "Without the confidence of the people," said James Wilson of Pennsylvania, "no government, least of all a republican government, can long subsist ; nor ought the weight of the state legislatures to be increased by making them the elec- tors of the national legislature." ' Madison, though for the senate, the executive, and the judiciary he approved of refining popular appointments by succes- sive " filtrations," ' held the popular election of one branch of the national legislature indispensable to every plan of free government. This opinion pre- vailed. It was agreed unanimously and without debate, that the national legislature should possess the legis- lative powers of the confederacy ; but, to the exten- sion of them to all cases to which the state le^-islatures were individually incompetent, Charles Pinckney, John Rutledge, and Butler, all the three of South. ^ Gilpin, 753; Elliot, 136. " Gilpin, 755; Elliot, 136. « Gilpin, 754; Elliot, 136. * Gilpin, 756; Elliot, 137.. VOL. II. 2 18 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP. Carolina, objected tliat tlie vagueness of tlie lan- guage might imperil tlie powers of tlie states. But Randolj^li disclaimed tlie intention of giving indefi- nite powers to the national legislature, and declared himself unalterably opposed to such an inroad on the state jurisdictions. Madison was strongly biased in favor of enumerating and defining the powers to be granted, although he could not suppress doubts of its practicability. "But," said he, "a form of govern- ment that will provide for the liberty and happiness of the community being the end of our deliberations, all the necessary means for attaining it must, how- ever reluctantly, be submitted to." ' The clause was adopted by nine states, including New York and New Jersey. Oliver Ellsworth, voting against Sher- man, divided Connecticut. The clauses in the Virginia plan, giving to the national legislature the powers necessary to preserve harmony among the states, to negative all state laws contravening, in the opinion of the national legis- lature, the articles of union, or, as Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania added, "contravening treaties sub- sisting under tlie authority of the union," were agreed to without debate or dissent. Madison struorc^led to confer on the national leojis- lature the right to negative at its discretion any state law whatever, being of tlie opinion that a negative of which the lightfulness was unquestioned would strip a local law of every pretence to the character of legal- junc ity, and thus su2~>press resistance at its inception. On another day, explaining his motives, he said : " A 'Gilpin, 700; Elliot, 139. THE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 19 negative on state laws is the mildest expedient that chap. can be devised for enforcing a national decree. Should ^^^ no such precaution be engrafted, the only remedy i "^ § '^• would be coercion. The negative would render the s. use of force unnecessary. In a word, this prerogative of the general government is the great pervading principle that must control the centrifugal tendency of the states, which, without it, will continually fly out of their proper orbits, and destroy the order and harmony of the political system." * But the conven- tion refused to adopt his counsel. Lastly : the Virginia plan authorized the exertion May of the force of the whole against a delinquent state. Madison, accepting the argument of Mason, expressed a doubt of the practicability, the justice, and the equity of applying force to a collective people. " To use force against a state," he said, "is more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment, and would be considered, by the party attacked, a dissolution of all previous contracts. I therefore hope that a national system, with full power to deal directly with individuals, will be framed, and the resource be thus rendered unnecessary." The clause was postponed.'' In this wise and in one day the powers of the legis- lature which was to be the centre of the government were with common consent established in their out- lines. On points essential to union, Yates and Ham- ilton, New Jersey and Pennsylvania voted together. On the first day of June the convention took into J«ne consideration the national executive. The same spirit » GUpin, 832, 833; Elliot, 171. » Gilpin, 761; ElUot, 140. 20 THE FEDERAL COETENTION. CHAP, of conciliation prevailed, but witli a chaos of ideas and a sliyness in the members to declare their minds. Should the national executive be one or many ? — a question v^hich, from a difference among themselves, the plan of the Vii'ginia delegates had left unde- cided. Should it be chosen directly by the people ? or by electors ? or by state legislatures ? or by the executives of the states? or by one branch of the national legislature ? or by both branches ? And, if by both, by joint or concurrent ballot? or by lot? How long should be its term of service ? And how far should its re-eligibility be limited? Should it have the sole power of peace and war ? Should it have an absolute or a qualified veto on acts of legis- lation, or none at all ? Should its powers be exercised with or without a council ? Should it be liable to re- moval by the legislatures of the states, or by the na- tional legislature ? or by the joint action of both ? or by impeachment alone ? Here the convention marched and countermarched for want of guides. Progress began to be made on the ascertainment that the members inclined to withhold from the executive the power over war and peace. This being understood, AVilson and Charles Pinckney proposed that the national executive should consist of a single person. A long silence prevailed, broken at last by tlie chairman asking if he should l)ut the question. Franklin entreated the members first to deliver their sentiments on a, point of so great impoi-tance. Putledge joined in the re(|uest, and for himself supported Pinckney and Wilson. On the 'Gilpin, 703; Elliot, 140. THE CONSTITUTION EST OUTLINE. 21 otlier hand, Slierman, controlled by the precedents of chap. the confederacy which appointed and displaced exec- .— ,1^ utive officers just as it seemed to them fit, replied ; ^ ^ ® '^• " The legislature are the best judges of the business i. to be done by the executive, and should be at liberty from time to time to appoint one or more, as experi- ence may dictate." * " I do not mean to throw censure on that excellent fabric, the British government," said Randolph ; " if we were in a situation to copy it, I do not know that I should be opposed to it. But the fixed genius of the people of America requires a different form of government. The requisites for the executive de- partment, — ^vigor, despatch, and responsibility, — can be found in three men as well as in one. Unity in the executive is the foetus of monarchy." ' " Unity in the executive," retorted Wilson, " will rather be the best safeguard against tyranny. From the extent of this country, nothing but a great confederated republic will do for it." To calm the excitement, Madison led the convention, before choosing between unity or plu- rality in the executive, to fix the extent of its author- ity ; and the convention agreed to clothe it " with power to carry into effect the national laws and to ap- point to offices in cases not otherwise provided for." * On the mode of appointing the executive, Wilson said : " Chimerical as it may appear in theor}^, I am for an election by the people. Experience in New York and Massachusetts shows that an election of the fii'st magistrate by the people at large is both a con- » Gilpin, 763; Elliot, 140. » Gilpin, 765; Elliot, 141. * Gilpin, 764; ElUot, 141. 22 THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOI^. venient and a successful mode. Tlie objects of choice in sucli cases must be persons wliose merits Lave gen- eral notoriety." "I," replied Sherman, ''am for its appointment b}^ the national legislature, and for mak- ing it absolutely dependent on that body whose will it is to execute. An independence of the executive on the supreme legislature is the very essence of tyranny." Sherman and Wilson were for a period of office of three years and " against the doctrine of ro- tation, as throwing out of office the men best quali- fied to execute its duties." Mason asked for seven years at least, but without re-eligibility. "What," inquired Gunning Bedford of Delaware, " will be the situation of the country should the fii'st magistrate elected for seven years be discovered immediately on trial to be incompetent ? " He argued for a triennial election, with an ineligibility after three successive elections. The convention, by a vote of five and a half states against four and a half, decided for the period of seven years ; ' and by at least seven states against Connecticut, that the executive should not be twice eligible.' How to choose the executive remained the per- plexing problem. AVilson, borrowing an idea from the constitution of Maryland, proposed that electors chosen in districts of the several states should meet and elect the executive by ballot, but not fi'om their own body.' He deprecated the intervention of the states in its choice.* Mason favored the idea of choos- ing the executive by the people; Rutledge, by the "Gilpin, 707; Elliot, 11:]. ' Gilpin, 70S; Elliot, 143. • Gilpm, 77U; Elliot, 14U. * Gilpin, 707; Elliot, 143. THE COITSTITUTION IN OUTLESTE. 23 national senate/ Gerry set in a clear liglit tliat tlie cn.vp. election by the national legislature would keep up a ^^', constant intri2;ue between that leo-islatui'e and the i'?8 7. '^ . ^ . June candidates ; nevertheless, Wilson's motion was at that 2. time supported only by Pennsylvania and Maryland ; and, from sheer uncertainty what else to do, the con- vention left the choice of the executive to the national legislature/ For relief from a bad selection of the executive, John Dickinson of Delaware, who did not like the plan of impeaching the great officers of state, pro- posed a removal on the request of a majority of the lesfislatures of the individual states." Sherman would o give that power to the national legislature. "The making the executive the mere creatui'e of the legis- lature," replied Mason, " is a violation of the funda- mental principle of good government." * "The occasion is so important," said Dickinson, " that no man ought to be silent or reserved. A limited monarchy is one of the best governments in the world. Equal blessings have never yet been derived from any of the republican forms. But, though a form the most perfect perhaps in itself be unattainable, we must not despair. Of remedies for the diseases of republics which have flourished for a moment only and then vanished forever, one is the double branch of the legislature, the other the accidental lucky di- vision of this country into distinct states, which some seem desirous to abolish altogether. This di\4sion ought to be maintained, and considerable powers to » Gilpin, 768; Elliot, 143. ' Gilpin, 776; Elliot, 147. » GUpin, 770; Elliot, 144. * Gilpin, 776; Elliot, 147. 24 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, be left witli tlie states. Tliis is the ground of my -^-,1^ consolation for the future fate of my country. In ij^*^- case of a consolidation of tlie states into one srreat re- June . ... 2. public, we may read its fate in tlie history of smaller ones. " The point of representation in the national legislature of states of different sizes must end in mutual concession. I hope that each state will retain an equal voice, at least in one branch of the national legislature." * The motion of Dickinson was sustained only by Delaware ; and the executive was made removable on " impeachment and conviction of malpractice or neg- lect of duty." ° But the advice on the distribution of suffrage in the national legislature sank deep into the minds of his hearers. Randolph pleaded anew for an executive body of three members, one from each of the three geographi- cal divisions of the country. " That would lead to a constant struggle for local advantages," replied But- ler, who had travelled in Holland ; and from his own observation he sketched the distraction of the Low Countries from a plurality of military heads.' " Ex- 4. ecutive questions," said Wilson, "have many sides; and of three members no two might agree." All the thirteen states place a single magistrate at the head. Unity in the executive will favor the tranquillity not less tlian the vigor of the government." * Assenting to unity in the executive, Sherman tliought a council necessary to make that unity acceptable to the people. "A council," replied Wilson, "oftener covers malprac- ' rjilpin, 778; Elliot, 148. " Gilpin, 782; Elliot, 150. ' (Jilpin, 779; Elliot, 149. ' Gilpin, 781; Elliot, 150. •Gilpin, 780; Elliot, 149. THE CONSTITUTIOIC IN OUTLINE. 25 tices tlian prevents them." ' The proposal for a single chap. executive was sustained by seven states against New ^^.'-^ York, Delaware, and Maryland. In the Virginia dele- ^ ^ ^ '• gation there would have been a tie but for Washing- 4. ton.'' The decision was reached after mature deliber- ation, and was accepted as final. Wilson and Hamilton desired to trust the executive with an absolute negative on acts of legislation ; but this was opposed, though from widely differing mo- tives, by Gerry, Franklin, Sherman, Madison, Butler, Bedford, and Mason," and was unanimously negatived. When Wilson urged upon the convention the Vir- ginia plan of vesting a limited veto on legislation in a council of revision, composed of the executive and a convenient number of the judiciary, Gerry called to mind that Judges had in some states, and with gen- eral approbation, set aside laws as being against the constitution ; but that from the nature of their office they were unfit to be consulted on the policy of pub- lic measures ; and, after the example of his own state, he proposed rather to confide the veto power to the executive alone, subject to be overruled by two thirds of each branch. " Judges," said Kuf us King of Massa- chusetts, '' should expound the law as it may come be- fore them, free from the bias of having participated in its formation."* Gerry's motion was carried by eight states against Connecticut and Maryland.* In a convention composed chiefly of lawyers, the organization of the judiciary engaged eager attention ; at the close of a long sitting, the Virginia resolution, » Gilpin, 783; Elliot, 151. * Gilpin, 783; Elliot, 151. "" Gilpin, 783 ; Elliot, 151. " Gilpin, 790, 791 ; Elliot, 155. » Gilpin, 784-787 ; Elliot. 151-154. 26 THE FEDERAL COinTENTIOIT. CHAP, tliat a national judiciary be establislied, passed witli- out debate and unanimously, witli a further clause tbat tlie national judiciary should consist of one su- preme tribunal and of one or more inferior tribunals.' A night's reflection developed a jealousy of trans- ferrino; business from the courts of the states to the 5. courts of the union ; and on the fifth Rutledge and Sherman insisted that state tribunals ought, in all cases, to decide in the first instance, yet without im- pairing the right of appeal. Madison replied : " " Un- less inferior tribunals are dispersed throughout the republic, in many cases with final jurisdiction, appeals will be most oppressively multiplied. A government without a proper executive and judiciary will be the mere trank of a body, without arms or legs to act or move." The motion to dispense with the inferior national tribunals prevailed ; but Dickinson, Wilson, and Madison, marking the distinction between estab- lishing them and giving a discretion to establish them, obtained a great majority for empowering the national legislature to provide for their institution." 13, It was unanimously agreed " that the power of the national judiciary should extend to all cases of na- tional revenue, impeachment of national officers, and questions which involve the national peace or har- mony." * 6. On the sixth of June, Charles Pinckney, supported by Rutledge, made once more a most earnest effort in favor of electing the first branch of the legislature by •Gilpin, 791; Elliot, l.-,5; iind = Gili)in, 800; Elliot, 100. Cora- Elliot, i. 100. pare Elliot, i. 103, 397. » Gilpin, 708, 799; Elliot, 159. * ('.\\\)\n, B.IO; Elliot, 188; Yates in EUiut, i. 409. THE CONSTITUTIOlSr IN OUTLESTE. 27 the legislatures of tlie states, and not by the people, chap. " Vigorous authority," insisted AVilson, " should flow -^^^^ immediately from the le2:itimate source of all author- i^^8 7. -n • 111 °® ity, the people. Kepresentation ought to be the exact e. transcript of the whole society ; it is made necessary only because it is impossible for the people to act col- lectively."' "If it is in view," said Sherman, "to abolish the state governments, the elections ought to be by the people. If they are to be continued, the elections to the national government should be made by them. I am for giving the general government power to legislate and execute within a defined prov- ince. The objects of the union are few : defence against foreign danger, internal disputes, and a resort to force ; treaties mth foreign nations ; the regula- tion of foreisrn commerce and drawino; revenue from it. These, and perhaps a few lesser objects, alone rendered a confederation of the states necessary. All other matters, civil and criminal, will be much better in the hands of the states." ' "Under the existing confederacy," said Mason, "congress represent the states, and not the people of the states ; their acts operate on the states, not on in- dividuals. In the new j)lan of government the people will be represented ; . they ought, therefore, to choose the representatives.' Improper elections in many cases are inseparable from republican governments. But compare these with the advantage of this form, in favor of the rights of the people, in favor of human nature ! " » Gilpin, 801, 802; Elliot, 160. ' Gilpin, 803; Elliot, 161. ' Gilpin, 802, 803; Elliot, 161. 28 THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOIS". CHAP. Appro\nng tlie objects of union whicli Sherman .-..,-,1^ liad enumerated, "I combine with them," said Madi- 1^8 7- son, "the necessity of providing more effectually for 6. the security of private rights and the steady dispensa- tion of justice." ' And he explained at great length that the safety of a republic requires for its sphere a large extent of territory, v^ith interests so many and so various that the majority could never unite in the pursuit of any one of them. " It is incumbent on us," he said, " to try this remedy, and to frame a republi- can system on such a scale and in such a form as will control all the evils which have been experienced." " " It is essential," said Dickinson, " that one branch of the legislature should be drawn immediately from the people ; and it is expedient that the other should be chosen by the legislatures of the states. This com- bination of the state governments with the national government is as politic as it is unavoidable." Pierce spoke for an election of the fii'st branch by the people, of the second by the states ; so that the citizens of the states will be represented both indi- vidually and collectively.' 21. AVhen on the twenty-first the same question was revived in the convention, Charles Cotesworth Pinck- ney of South Carolina, seconded by Luther Martin of Maryland, adopting a milder form, j^i'oposed "that the first l)ranch, instead of being elected by the peo- ple, should be elected in such manner as the legisla- ture of each state should direct." * " It is essential to the democratic rights of the com- * Gilpin, 804; Elliot, lf;3. ^Cilpin, 807; Elliot, 1G3. "Gilpiu, 800; Elliot, 103. * Gilpin, 023; Elliot, 223. THE CONSTirUTION EST OUTLINE. 29 munity," said Hamilton, enouncing a principle wliicli chap. lie upheld with unswerving consistency, "that the .^-;_. first branch be directly elected by the people." " The i *? 8 7. democratic principle," Mason repeated, "must actuate 21. one part of the government. It is the only security for the rights of the people." " An election by the legislature," pleaded Rutledge, " would be a more refining process." " The election of the first branch by the people," said Wilson, " is not the corner-stone only, but the foundation of the fabric."' South Carolina, finding herself feebly supported, gave up the struggle. The Virginia plan intrusted the appointment of s. the judges to the legislature ; Wilson proposed to transfer it to the executive ; Madison to the senate ; and for the moment the last mode was accepted with- out dissent." All aG:reed that their tenure of ofiice should be good behavior, and that their compensation should be safe fi'om diminution dui'ing the period of their service. On the seventh of June Dickinson moved that the 7. members of the second branch, or, as it is now called, the senate, ought to be chosen by the individual legis- latures." The motion, without waiving the claim to perfect equality, clearly implied that each state should elect at least one senator. " If each of the small states should be allowed one senator," said Cotesworth Pinckney, " there will be eighty at least." " I have no objection to eighty or twice eighty of them," re- joined Dickinson. "The legislature of a numerous » Gilpin, 926, 937; Elliot, 223, 'Gilpin, 792, 793, 855; Elliot, 224. Yates in Elliot, i. 432, 433. 155, 156, 188. "Gilpin, 812; Elliot, 166. 30 THE FEDEEAL COIfVENTION. CHAr. people ought to be a numerous body. I msli tTie -^^ senate to bear as strong a likeness as possible to tlie 17 8 7. British house of lords, and to consist of men distin- June . ... 7. guished for their rank in life and their weight of prop- erty. Such characters are more likely to be selected by the state legislatures than in any other mode." * " To depart from the proportional representation in the senate," said Madison, " is inadmissible, beiug evi- dently unjust. The use of the senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, system, and wisdom than the popular branch. Enlarge their number, and you communicate to them the vices which they are meant to correct. Their weisrht will be in an inverse ratio to their numbers." ' Dickinson replied : " The preservation of the states in a certain degree of agency is indispensable. The proposed national system is like the solar system, in which the states are the plan- ets, and they ought to be left to move more freely in their proper orbits." " The states," answered Wilson, " are in no danger of being devoured by the national government ; I wish to keep them from devoui'ing the national gov- ernment. Their existence is made essential by the great extent of our country. I am for an election of the second branch by the people in large districts, subdividing the districts only for the accommodation of voters." ' Gerry and Sherman declared themselves in favor of electing the senate by the individual legis- latures. From Charles Piuckney came a proposal to divide the states periodically into three classes ac- 'Gilpin, 813; Elliot, 1(50. "Gilpin, 817, 818; Elliot, 1G8, •Gilpiu, 814, 815; Elliut, 1G7. 1G9. THE COlSrSTITUTIOlSr IN OUTLINE. 31 cording to tlieir comparative importance ; tlie first cnAP. class to have three members, tlie. second two, and the '^ third one member each ; but it received no attention, i *? » y. Mason closed the debate : " The state le2:islatures 7. ought to have some means of defending themselves against encroachments of the national government. And what better means can we provide than to make them a constituent part of the national establishment ? No doubt there is danger on both sides ; but we have only seen the evils arising on the side of the state governments. Those on the other side remain to be displayed ; for congress had not power to carry their acts into execution, as the national government will now have." The vote was then taken, and the choice of the second branch or senate was with one consent intrusted to the individual legislatures.* In this way the states as states made their lodgement in the new constitution. The equality of the small states was next imper- illed. On the ninth, David Brearley, the chief jus- 9. tice of New Jersey, vehemently protested against any change of the equal suffrage of the states. To the remark of Randolph, that the states ought to be one nation, Paterson replied : " The idea of a na- tional government as contradistinguished from a fed- eral one never entered into the mind of any of the states. If the states are as states still to continue in union, they must be considered as equals. Thirteen sovereign and independent states can never constitute one nation, and at the same time be states. If we are to be formed into a nation, the states as states must » Gilpin, 831 ; Elliot, 170. Elliot, i. 1G5, 399. 32 THE FEDERAL COISTVENTIOIS". CHAP, be' abolislied, and tlie whole must be thrown into hotchpot, and when an equal division is made there may be fairly an equality of representation. New Jersey will never confederate on the plan before the committee. I would rather submit to a despot than to such a fate. I will not only oppose the plan here, but on my return home will do everything in my power to defeat it there." " 11. When, on the eleventh, the committee of the whole was about to take the question, Franklin, ever the peace-maker, reproved the want of coolness and tem- per in the late debates. " We are sent here," he said, " to consult, not to contend with each other ; " and, though he mingled crude proposals with wholesome prece^^ts, he saw the danger of the pass into which they were entering. There were two Northern and four Southern states demanding a representation in some degree proportioned to numbers — Massachu- setts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the two Carolinas with Georgia, whose delegates, as they contemplated her vast and most fertile territor}^, indulged in glow- ing visions of her swift advances. There were two Northern with one Soutliern state for an equal repre- sentation of states — New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Connecticut stood between the two. It was carried by the six national states and Connecti- cut against the three confederating states, Maryland being divided, that in the first branch, or house of representatives, of tlie national legislature the suf- frage ouglit to Ije according to some equitable ratio. ' Pat(;rson MSS. 870, 003, 903; Elliot, 17G, 177, '' Gilpiu, 831, b32; and compare 11)4, 211. THE COIS^STITUTION IN OUTLINE. 33 In April, 1783, congress liad apportioned tlie sup- chap. plies of tlie states for the common treasury to the .^^ whole number of their free inhabitants and three ^'J^'^- June fifths of other persons; in this precedent the equita- n- ble ratio for representation in the popular branch was found.* Connecticut then took the lead ; and Sherman, act- ing upon a principle which he had avowed more than ten years before, moved that each state should have one vote in the second branch, or senate. " Every- thing," he said, " depends on this ; the smaller states will never agree to the plan on any other principle than an equality of suffrage in this branch." Ells- worth shored up his colleague ; but they rallied only five states against the six which had demanded a pro- portioned representation. Finally Wilson and Hamilton proposed for the second branch the same rule of suffrage as for the first ; and this, too, was carried by the phalanx of the same six states against the remaining five. So the settlement offered by Wilson, Hamilton, Madison, Rutledge, and others, to the small states, and adopted in the committee of the Avhole, was : The appointment of the senators among the states according to repre- sentative population, except that each state should have at least one. The convention speeded through the remainder of the Virginia plan. A guarantee to each state of its territory was declined. A republican constitu- tion, the only one suited to the genius of the United States, to the principles on which they had conducted 'Gilpin, 843; Elliot, 181. VOL. II, 3 34 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, tlieir war for independence, to tlieir assumption be- s^^ fore tlie world of tlie responsibility of demonstrating 1787. nian's capacity for self-government, was guaranteed 11- to each one of tlie United States. The requirement of an oath from the highest state officers to support the articles of union was opposed by Sheiman ' as an intrusion into the state jurisdic- tions, and supported by Randolph as a necessaiy pre- caution. " An oath of fidelity to the states from na- tional officers might as well be required," said Gerry. Martin observed: "If the new oath should conflict with that already taken by state officers, it would be improper; if coincident, it would be supei^flu- ous." ' The clause was retained by the vote of the six national states. By the same vote the new system was referred for consideration and decision to assem- blies chosen expressly for the purpose by the people of the several states. The articles of union were thereafter open to " amendment whensoever it should 12. seem necessary." Shennan and Ellsworth wished the members of the popular branch to be chosen annually. "The people of New England," said Gerry, "will never give up annual elections." ' " AVe ought," re- plied Madison, " to consider what is right and neces- sary in itself for the attainment of a proper govern- ment ; " and his 2')roposal of a term of three years was adopted for the time ; though, to humor the Eastern states, it was afterward changed to two. The ineligi- bility of members of congress to national offices was limited to one year after their retirement ; but on the 'Cilpin, 845; Elliot, 1H2. 'Gilpin, 8-17; Elliot, 184. " (Jilpm, 84.j; Elliot, 183. THE CONSTITUTION IN OUTLINE. 35 motion of Charles Pinckney tlie restriction on tlieir chap. re-election was removed, and the power of recalling them, which was plainly inconsistent with their choice by the people, was taken away.' The qualification of age was at a later day fixed at twenty-five years for the branch elected by the people. For senators the qualification of age was at that time fixed at thirty. Pierce would have limited their term of service to three years ; Sherman to not more than five ; but a great majority held seven years by no means too long^. The resolutions of the committee departed from i3. the original plan of Vii'ginia but rarely, and, for the most part, for the better. Thus amended, it formed a complete outline of a federal republic. The mighty a work was finished in thirteen sessions, with little opposition except from the small states, and from them chiefly because they insisted on equality of suf frage in at least one branch of the legislature. 1 GHpin, 851 ; Elliot, 185. June. CHAPTEE II. new jersey claims an equal representation op the states. 15-19 June, 1787. The plan of Virginia divested the smaller states of the equality of suffrage, which they had enjoyed 1^7 8 7. from the inception of the union. " See the conse- quence of pushing things too far," said Dickinson to Madison ; the smaller states, thou2:h some of their members, like himself and the delegates from Con- necticut, wished for a good national government with two branches of the legislature, were compelled, in self-defence, to fall back upon the articles of confed- eration.* The project which in importance stands next to that of Vii'ginia is the series of propositions of Con- necticut. It consisted of nine sections, and in the sessions of tlie convention received the unanimous support of tlie Connecticut delegation, particularly of Slierman and Ellsworth. It was framed while they were still contriving amendments of the articles > Gilpin, 8G3, note ; Elliot, 191. NEW JEESEY CLAIMS EQUAL KEPEESENTATIOlSr. 37 of tlie confederation/ It gave to the legislature of chap. tlie United States tlie power over commerce witli — A- foreicjn nations and between the states in the union, '^^^'^• ^ tD ' June, with a revenue from customs and the post-office. The United States were to make laws in all cases which concerned theii' common interests ; but not to interfere with the governments of the states in mat- ters wherein the general weKare of the United States is not affected. The laws of the United States re- lating to their common interests were to be enforced by the judiciary and executive officers of the respect- ive states. The United States were to institute one supreme tribunal and other necessary tribunals, and to ascertain their respective powers and jurisdiction. The individual states were forbidden to emit bills of credit for a currency, or to make laws for the pay- ment or discharge of debts or contracts in any man- ner differing fi'om the agreement of the parties, whereby foreigners and the citizens of other states might be affected. The common treasury shall be * Therefore, certainly, before 19 tion made in 1786 by a sub-com- June, and probably soon after the mittee of which Johnson was a arrival of Sherman in Philadel- member; and another, the sixth, phia. The Connecticut members does no more than adopt the re- were not chosen till Saturday, the port of a committee of which Ells- twelfth of May. Ellsworth took worth was a member with Hamil- his seat the twenty-eighth of May, ton and Madison in 1783. As to Sherman the thirtieth, and John- the introduction of the Connecti- son the second of June. For the cut articles into the constitution, plan, see the Life of Roger Sher- it is hard to say whether Sherman man by Jeremiah Evarts, in Bi- or Ellsworth was the greatest ography of the Signers, Ed. of hater of paper money. Compare 1828, pp. 42-44. It maybe that Gilpin, 1345, 1442; Elliot, 485, Sherman drew the paper; but one 485. For proof of their unity of of the articles corresponds with action, compare their joint letter the sixth recommendation of a from New London, 26 September, committee on which Ellsworth 1787, to Governor Huntington of served with Randolph in 1781; Connecticut, in Elliot, i. 491,. and is very similar to a proposi- 38 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, supplied by the several states in proportion to the ^.^^-r^^ whole number of white and other free citizens and 17 8 7. inhabitants and three fifths of all other persons, ex- June. . , - oi 1 1 cept Indians not paying taxes, m each state. Should any state neglect to furnish its quota of supplies, the United States might levy and collect the same on the inhabitants of such state. The United States might call forth aid from the people to assist the civil officers in the execution of theii- laws. The trial for a criminal offence must be by Jury, and must take place within the state in which the offence shall have been committed. The task of leadino; resistance to the lars-e states fell to New Jersey. Paterson, one of its foremost statesmen, of Scotch-Irish descent, brought fi'om Ire- land in infancy, a graduate of Princeton, desired a thoroughly good general government. Cheerful in disposition, playful in manner, and even in temper, he was undisturbed by resentments, and knew how to bring back his fiiends fix)m a disappointment to a good humor with themselves and -with the world.' In his present undertaking he was obliged to call around him a group of states agreeing in almost nothing. New York, his strongest alty, acted only from faction. New Jersey itself needed protec- tion for its commerce against New York. Luther Martin could bring the support of Maryland only in the absence of a majority of his colleagues. The people of Connecticut" saw the need of a vig- * Dayton to Paterson, 1 Fel>., and Connecticut toGjethor. In con- 1801. MS. duct and intention the delefrates " Gilpin, 802, 808, Elliot, 191, of Connecticut were very unlike note, wrongly classes New York Yates and Lansing. NEW JERSEY CLADIS EQUAL EEPEESEN.TATION. 39 orous o-eneral o-overnment, -witli a le2;islatiu'e in two chap. II branclies. The plan of New Jersey, whicli Paterson present- ed on tlie fifteenth, was a revision of the articles of confederation. It preserved a congress of states in a single body ; granted to the United States a revenue fi-om duties, stamps, and the post-office, but nothing more except by requisitions ; established a plural ex- ecutive to be elected and to be removable by con- gress ; and conferred on states' courts original though not final jurisdiction over infractions of United States laws/ " The New Jersey system," said John Lansing " of i6. New York, " is federal ; the Vii'ginia system, national. In the fii'st, the powers flow fi'om the state govern- ments ; in the second, they derive authority fi'om the people of the states, and must ultimately annihilate the state governments. "We are invested only with power to alter and amend defective parts of the pres- ent confederation." ' Now the powers granted by Virginia extended to " all further provisions necessary to render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union." " Fully adequate," were the still more energetic words of Pennsylvania. New Jersey did not so much as name the articles of confederation ; Avhile Connecti- cut limited the discussions of its delegates only by " the general principles of republican government." * » Paterson MSS. ; Elliot, i. 177; ' Gilpin, 867; Elliot, 193; Yates Gilpin, 803-867; Elliot, 191, 193. in Elliot, 411. "" Yates in Elliot, i. 411 ; com- * Journals of Congress, iv. Ap- pared with Gilpin, 807 ; Elliot, 193 ; pendix. Paterson MSS. 40 THE FEDERAL COlSrVElSTTION. CHAP. Tlie states, Lansino- furtlier insisted, would not rat- II. . . . — ^-^ ify a novel scheme, while they would readily approve 17 ^'^- an auojinentation of the familiar authority of con- June ^ '' 16. gress.' Paterson next spoke with the skill of a veteran advocate, setting forth, " not his own opinions," as he fi'ankly and repeatedly avowed,' but " the views of those who sent him." " The system of government for the union which I have proposed accords with our owtl powers and with the sentiments of the people." If the subsisting confederation is so radically defective as not to admit of amendment, let us report its insufficiency and wait for enlarged powers. If no confederation at present exists, all the states stand on the footing of equal sovereignty ; and all must concur before any one can be bound." If a federal compact exists, an equal sovereignty is its basis ; and the dissent of one state renders every proj)osed amendment nuU. The con- federation is in the nature of a compact ; and can any state, unless by the consent of the whole, either in politics or law, withdraw its powers ? The larger states contribute most, but they have more to pro- tect ; a rich state and a poor state are in the same relation as a rich individual and a poor one : the lib- erty of the latter must be preserved. Two branches are not necessary in the supreme council of the states; the representatives from the several states are cliecks upon eacli other. Give congress the same ' Oilpin, 808, 809; Elliot, 194. ' Gilpin. 809; Elliot, 194j Yates * PiitcTson MS9. The inform- in Elliot, i. 413. nntH of En^Miinfl namo Governor * Gilpin, 809 ; Elliot, 194. Livingston ua the author. NEW JEESEY CLAISIS EQUAL EEPEESEJSTTATIOX. 41 powers tliat are intended for the two branches, and chap. I apprehend they will act with more energy and wis- dom than the latter. Congress is the sun of our po- litical system."* AYilson refuted Paterson by contrasting the two plans.'' ^^ The congress of the confederacy," he con- tinued, " is a single legislature. Theory and practice both proclaim that in a single house there is danger of a legislative despotism." ' One of the Pinckneys added : " The whole case comes to this : give ]S^ew Jersey an equal vote, and she will dismiss her scruples and concur in the national system." * "When the salvation of the republic is at stake," said Randolph, " it would be treason to our trust not to propose what we find necessary." The insufficiency of the federal plan has been fully disj^layed by trial. The end of a general government can be attained only by coercion, or by real legislation. Coercion is impracticable, expensive, and cruel, and trains up instruments for the service of ambition. AVe must resort to a national legislation over individuals. To vest such power in the congress of the confederation would be blending^ the lesfislative with the executive. Elected by the legislatures who retain even a power of recall, they are a mere diplomatic body, ^^ith no will of theh' own, and always obsequious to the states who are ever encroaching on the authority of the United States.' A national government, properly * Paterson MSS. * Gilpin, 875 ; Yates in Elliot, i. "" Gilpin, 871; Elliot, 195; Elliot, 415; Elliot, 197; Paterson MSS. i. 414; Paterson MSS. * Gilpin, 876; Elliot, 197; Pat- ^ Gilpin, 874; Elliot, 19G. erson M^S. « Gilpin, 876, 877; Elliot, 198. 42 THE FEDEEAL COIS^VEISTTIOTT. CHAP, constituted, will alone answer tlie purpose ; and this — A-- is the only moment when it can be established." * ^jun'^ On the morning of the eighteenth, Dickinson, to 18. conciliate the conflicting parties, induced the con- vention to proceed through a revision of the articles of the confederation to a government of the United States, adequate to the exigencies, preservation, and prosperity of the union.'' Hamilton could no longer remain silent. Embar- rassed by the complete antagonism of both his col- leagues, he insisted that even the New York delegates need not doubt the ample extent of theii' powers, and under them the risrht to the free exercise of their judgment. The convention could only propose and recommend ; to ratify or reject remained " in the states." ' Feelins: that another ineffectual effort " would be- get despair," he spoke for " a solid plan without re- gard to temporary opinions." " Our choice," he said, " is to engraft powers on the present confederation, or to fonn a new government with complete sover- eignty." * He set forth the vital defects of the confed- eracy, and that it could not be amended except by in- vesting it with most important powers. To do so would establish a general government in one hand without checks ; a sovereignty of the worst kind, the sovereignty of a single body. This is a conclusive objection to the Jersey plan.* " I have great doubts," he continued, " vdiether a • Yntes in Elliot, i. 417 ; Gilpin, ' Yates in Elliot, i. 418. 877-879 ; Elliot, 108 ; Patcisou * Hamilton's Works, ii. 410. MS3. » Hamilton's Works, ii. 412; » Gilpin, 878 ; Elliot, 108. Yates in Elliot, i. 430, 431. iraW JEESEY CLAIMS EQUAL EEPEESEXTATION. 43 national government on tlie Virginia plan can be chap. effectual/ Gentlemen say we need to be rescued from the democracy. But what are the means pro- posed ? A democratic assembly is to be checked by a democratic senate, and both these by a democratic chief magistrate." The Virginia plan is but pork still with a little change of the sauce.' It will prove in- efficient, because the means will not be equal to the object." "The general government must not only have a strong soul, but strong organs by which that soul is to operate.' I despaii^ that a republican form of gov- ernment can remove the difficulties ; I would hold it, however, unwise to change it.* The best fonn of government, not attainable by us, but the model to which we should approach as near as possible,^ is the British constitution,* praised by Necker as ' the only government which unites public strength with indi- \ddual security.' ' Its house of lords is a most noble institution. It forms a permanent barrier against every pernicious innovation, whether attempted on the part of the crown or of the commons." " It seems to be admitted that no good executive can be established upon republican principles." The English model is the only good one. The British executive is placed above temptation, and can have no interests distinct from the public welfare." The » Yates in Elliot, i. 417. ' Hamilton, ii. 413. » Hamilton, ii. 415. « Yates in Elliot, i. 421 ; Ham- « Yates in Elliot, i. 423 ; Gilpin, ilton, ii. 413. 898, note ; Elliot, 205. " Gilpin, 884-6 ; Elliot, 202. * Hamilton, ii. 415. " Gilpin, 88G, 887 ; Elliot, 203. * Hamilton, ii. 413. " Gilpin, 887 ; Elliot, 203. * Yates in Elliot, i. 421. *- Yates in Elliot, i. 422. 44 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, inference from tliese observations is, tliat, to obtain n • • v^^-^I^ stability and permanency, we ouglit to go to tlie full 1787. length tliat republican principles will admit/ And 18. tlie government mil be republican so long as all officers are appointed by tlie people, or by a process of election originating witb the people." Hamilton then read and commented on Ms sketch of a constitution for the United States. It planted no one branch of the general government on the states ; but, by methods even more national than that of the Virginia plan, derived them all from the people. The assembly, which was to be the corner-stone of the edifice, was to consist of persons elected directly by the people for three years. It was to be checked by a senate elected by electors chosen by the people,'' and holdino; office durins; 2:ood behavior. The su- preme executive, whose term of office was to be good behavior, was to be elected by electors, chosen by electors, chosen by the people. "It may be said," these were his words, " this constitutes an elective monarchy ; but by making the executive subject to impeachment the term monarchy cannot apply."" The courts of the United States were so instituted as to place the general government above the state governments in all matters of general concern.' To prevent tlie states from passing laws contrary to the constitution or la\vs of the United States, the execu- tive of each state Avas to be appointed by the gen- * fiilpin, HH9, ; Elliot, 203 ; Yates plan, pivon to Madison near the in Elliot, i. 422. close of the convention. The sea- 'I think Hamilton meant tlio ute of New York was so chosen. choice of electors to he made by '■' Yates in Elliot, i. 423. the laudholtlurs; see hia fuller * Ibid, 423. NEW JERSEY CLAIMS EQUAL KEPEESEISTTATION. 45 eral goverumeut with a negative on all state legis- chap. lation. v^>^-- Hamilton spoke, not to refer a proposition to the 1^87. committee, but only to present his own ideas, and to is. indicate the amendments which he mis-ht offer to the Virginia plan. He saw evils operating in the states which must soon cure the people of their fondness for democracies, and unshackle them from their preju- dices ; so that they would be ready to go as far at least as he had suG^o-ested/ But for the moment he held it the duty of the convention to balance incon- veniences and dangers, and choose that which seemed to have the fewest objections.' Hamilton "was praised by everybody, but sup- ported by none," ' It was not the good words for the monarchy of Great Britain that estranged his hearers. Hamilton did not go far beyond the lan- guage of Kandolph,* or Dicldnson," or Geny,' or Charles Pinckney." The attachment to monarchy in the United States had not been consumed by vol- canic fires ; it had disappeared because there was nothing left in them to keep it alive, and the nation imperceptibly and without bitterness outgrew its old habits of thousfht. Gratitude for the revolution of 1688 still threw a halo round the house of lords. But Hamilton, finding a home in the United States only after his mind was near maturity, did not cherish toward the states the feeling of those, who were born and bred on the soil and received into their aifections » Gilpin, 890 ; Elliot, 204. • Gilpin, 778 ; Elliot, 148. " Hamilton, ii. 415. ' Yates in Elliot, i. 408. » Yates in Elliot, i. 431. ' Gilpin, 949 ; Elliot, 235. ♦ Gilpin, 763 ; Elliot, 141. 46 THE FEDERAL COISTVENTION. CHAP, tlie tliouglit and experience of tlie preceding genera- tion. His speecli called forth from many sides tlie liveliest defence of the rio-lits of the states. On the nineteenth the convention in committee rejected the milder motion of Dickinson ; and after an exhaustive analysis by Madison * of the defects in the New Jersey plan, they reported the amended plan of Virginia by the vote of the six national states, aided by the vote of Connecticut." » Gilpin, 893 ; Elliot, 206. '' Gilpin, 904 ; Elliot, 213 ; Yates in Elliot, i. 425. CHAPTEE III. THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE. The convention, wliicli had shown itself so reso- chap. lute for consolidatino" the union, next bethought itself .!!!_ of home rule. In reply to what had fallen from iisi. Hamilton, Wilson said : " I am for a national govern- 19. ment, but not one that will swallow up the state gov- ernments ; these are absolutely necessary for pur- poses which the national government cannot reach." * "I did not intend yesterday," exclaimed Hamilton, " a total extinguishment of state governments ; but that a national government must have indefinite sov- ereignty ; for if it were limited at all, the rivalship of the states would gradually subvert it' The states must retain subordinate jurisdictions."' "If the states," said King, " retain some portion of their sov- ereignty, they have certainly divested themselves of essential portions of it. If, in some respects, they form a confederacy, in others they fonn a nation." Martin held that the separation from Great Britain placed the thirteen states in a state of nature toward » Gilpin, 904; Elliot, 212. » Yates in Elliot, i. 426. * Gilpin, 905; Elliot, 212. 48 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, each otlier.' This AVilson denied, saying: "In the -^.^-^ declaration of independence the united colonies were 1 ^^ s ■'• declared to be fi'ee and independent states, indepen- ly. dent, not individually, but unitedly." ' Connecticut, which was in all sincerity partly fed- eral and partly national, was now compelled to take the lead. As a state she was the most homogeneous and the most fixed in the character of her consociate churches and her complete system of home govern- ment. Her delectation to the convention was thrice remarkable : they had precedence in age ; in experi- ence, from 1776 to 1786 on committees to frame or amend a constitution for the country ; and in illus- tratino; the force of relio-ion in human life. Roger Sherman was a unique man. No one in the convention had had so large experience in legislating for the United States. Next to Franklin the oldest man in the convention, like Franklin he had had no education but in the common school of his bii-thplace hard by Boston ; and as the one learned the trade of a tallow-chandler, so the other had been apprenticed to a shoemaker. Left at nineteen an orphan on the father's side, he ministered to his mother durino; her lono- life ; and having suffered from the want of a lil)eral education, he provided it for his younger brothers. Resolved to con(]uer poverty, at the age of two-and-twenty he wrapped lilniself in liis own manliness, and bearing witli liim the tools of his trade, he mi2:rated on foot to New Milford, in Connecticut, where he gained a living by his craft or by trade, until in Decern- ' Gilpin, 900, 907; Elliot, 213. ' Gilpin, 907; Elliot, 213. THE COISTNECTICUT COMPEOMISE. 49 ber, 1754, after careful study, lie was admitted to cn.vp. the bar. .^..^ There was in hiin kind-heartedness and industry, ^ ^ ^ '^• T T -, . June penetration and close reasoning, an unclouded mtel- i9. lect, superiority to passion, intrepid patriotism, solid judgment, and a directness which went straight to its end ; so that the country people among whom he lived, first at New Milford, and then at New Haven, gave him every possible sign of their confidence. The church made him its deacon ; Yale College its treasurer ; New Haven its representative, and when it became a city, he was its first mayor, and remained so during life. For nineteen years he was annually chosen one of the twelve assistants, or upper house of the legislature ; and for twenty-three years a judge of the court of common pleas, or of the superior court. A plurality of offices being then allowed, Sherman was sent to the first congress in 1774, and to every other congress to the last hour of his life, except when excluded by the fundamental law of rotation. In congress he served on most of the important com- mittees, the board of war, the board of the marine, the board of finance. He signed the declaration of 1774, which some writers regard as the date of our nationality ; was of the committee to write, and was a signer of the declaration of independence ; was of the committee to frame the articles of the confederation, and a sisrner of that instrument. No one is kno^vn to have complained of his filling too many offices, or to have found fault with the manner in which he filled them. In the convention he never made long 50 THE FEDERAL COJTVTENTIOTf. CHAP, speeches, but would intuitively seize on tlie tuming- v^_^ point of a question, and present it in terse language 178 7. wliicli showed Ms own opinion and the strength on 19. which it rested. By the side of Sherman stood William Samuel Johnson, then sixty years of age. He took his first degree at Yale, his second, after a few months' fur- ther study, at Harvard ; became a representative in the Connecticut assembly; was a delegate to the stamp act congress of 1765, and assisted in writing its address to the king. From 1766 to 1776 he was chosen one of the twelve assistants and one of the judges of the superior court, even while he acted as the able and faithful agent of his state in England, where Oxford made him a doctor of civil laws. He was sent by Connecticut on a peace mission to Gage at Boston ; but from the war for independence he kept aloof. His state, nevertheless, appointed him its leading counsel in its territorial disputes with Penn- sylvania. A delegate to the fifth congress and the sixth, he acted in 1786 on a grand committee and its sub-committee for reforming the federal government. He had just been unanimously chosen president of Columbia college. His calm and conservative char- acter made him tardy in coming up to a new position, so that he had even opposed the call of the federal convention.* He was of good-humor, composedness, and candor, and he knew how to conciliate and to convince. The third member of the Connecticut delegation was Oliver Ellsworth, whom we have seen on the »Galc to Johnson, 19 April, 1787. MS. Gilpin, 589; Elliot, 96. TIEE CONNECTICUT COMPKOMISE. 51 committee of 1781 for amendino; tlie constitution, and chap. . .Ill on tlie committee of 1783 for addressino; the states in v.^^ belialf of further reforms. A native of Connecticut, i "? § 7. he was at Yale for two years, and in 1766, after two i9. years more of study, graduated in the college of New Jersey, where Luther Martin was his classmate. Of a robust habit of mind, he was full of energy and by nature hopeful ; devoid of sentimentality and safe af?ainst the seductions of feelinsr or the delusions of imagination, he was always self-possessed. Free from rancor and superior to flattery, he could neither be intimidated nor cajoled. His mind advanced cau- tiously, but with great moving force. Knowing what he needed, he could not be turned from its pursuit ; obtaining it, he never wrangled for more. He had been the attorney of his own state, a member of its assembly, one of its delegates in congress, a colleague of Sherman in its superior court ; and now, at the age of two-and-forty, rich in experience, he becomes one of the chief workmen in framing the federal constitu- tion. On the twentieth, he put forth all his strength 20. to obtain the equal representation of the states in the senate. By Paterson, in his notes for a New Jersey plan, the proposed new government "jvas named " the federal government of the United States ; " by Dickinson, in his resolution, " the government of the United States." In the Virginia plan it was described as " national " nineteen times, and in the report from the convention in committee of the whole to the house, twenty-six times. Ellsworth, who then and ever after did not scruple to use the word "national," moved to substitute in 52 THE FEDEEAL COXVEXTIOIS'. CHAP, tlie amended Virginia plan tlie phrase of DicMnson v^-^-L. as tlie proper title/ To avoid alarm, tlie friends i^s7. to the national plan unhesitatingly accepted the col- 20. orless change/ Lansing then moved " that the pow- ers of leo;islation ouf>;ht to be vested in the United States in cono;ress." He dwelt ao:ain on the want of power in the convention, the probable disappro- bation of their constituents, the consequent dissolu- tion of the union, the inability of a general govern- ment to pervade the whole continent, the danger of complicating the British model of government with state governments on principles which would gradu- ally destroy the one or the other. Mason protested against a renewed agitation of the question between the two plans, and against the ob- jection of a want of ample powers in the convention ; with impassioned wisdom, he continued : " On two points the American mind is well settled : an attachment to republican government, and an at- tachment to more than one branch in the le2:islature. The general accord of their constitutions in both these circumstances must either have been a miracle, or must have resulted from the genius of the people. Congress is the only single legislature not chosen by the people themselves, and in consequence they have been constantly averse to giving it further ])owers. They never will, they never can, intrust their dearest rights and liberties to one body of men not cliosen by tliem, and yet invested with the sword and the purse ; a conclave, transacting their business in secret and guided in many of their acts by factions and » Gilpin, 908, 909; Elliot, 214. " Martin in Elliot, i. 3G3. THE CONNECTICUT COMPEOMISE. 53 party spirit. It is acknowledged by tlie author of chap. the New Jersey plan that it cannot be enforced with- -.^^,-1^ out military coercion. The most jarring elements of i *? ^ 7. nature, fire and water, are not more incompatible than 20. such a mixture of civil liberty and military execution. " Notwithstanding my solicitude to establish a na- tional government, I never will agree to abolish the state governments, or render them absolutely insig- nificant. They are as necessary as the general gov- ernment, and I shall be equally careful to preserve them. I am aware of the difficulty of drawing the line between the two, but hope it is not insur- mountable. That the one government will be pro- ductive of disputes and jealousies against the other, I believe; but it mil produce mutual safety. The convention cannot make a faultless government ; but I will trust posterity to mend its defects." ' The day ended in a definitive refusal to take up the proposition of Lansing; the six national states standing together against the three federal ones and Connecticut, Maryland being divided. The four southernmost states aimed at no selfish advantages, when in this hour of extreme danger they came to the rescue of the union. Moreover, the people of Ma- ryland were by a large majority on the side of the national states, and the votes of Connecticut and Del- aware were given only to pave the way to an equal vote in the senate. Weary of supporting the New Jersey plan, Sher- man " pleaded for two houses of the national legisla- ' Gilpin, 912-915 ; Elliot, 216, ^ Gilpin, 918; Elliot, 219. 217 ; Yates in Elliot, 1. 428, 429. 54 THE FEDEEAL COJSTVENTIOK CHAP, ture and an equal vote of tlie states in one of tliem. V-.-Y— ' On tlie next morning Jolinson ' took up the theme. y^^ '^- Avoiding every appearance of dictation, lie invited 21. the convention to harmonize the individuality of the states as j^i'oposed by New Jersey with the general sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Virginia plan. He wished it to be- well considered, whether the por- tion of sovereignty which was to remain with the states could be preserved without allowing them in the second branch of the national legislature a dis- tinct and equal vote. The six national states, re- enforced by Connecticut, then resolved' that the general legislature should consist of two branches. Upon this decision, which was carried by more than two states to one, the New Jersey plan fell hopelessly to the ground. 25. It was in the course of these debates that AVilson said : " When I consider the amazino: extent of coun- try, the immense population which is to fill it, the in- fluence which the government we are to form will have, not only on the present generation of our peo- ple and their multiplied posterity, but on the whole globe, I am lost in the magnitude of the object." We are laying the foundation of a building in which millions are interested, and which is to last for ages.* In laying one stone amiss we may injure the super- structure ; and what will be the consequence if the corner-stone should be loosely placed ? A citizen of America is a citizen of the general .government, and is * Gilpin, 920; Elliot, 230; Yates =" Gilpin, 95G; Elliot, 239. in Elliot, i. 4^1. « Yutcs in Elliot, i. 446. '' Gilpin, 92.-) ; Elliot, 223 ; i. 184; Yutoa in Elliot, i. 432. THE CONU'ECTICUT COMPEOMISE. 55 a citizen of tlie particular state in wliicli lie may re- cnAP. side/ The general government is meant for them in . ,_L. tlie first capacity ; the state p-overnments in the sec- i ? s 7. ond. lioth governments are derived irom the peo- 25. pie, both meant for the people; both, therefore, ought to be regulated on the same principles." In forming the general government we must forget our local habits and attachments, lay aside our state con- nections, and act for the general good of the whole/ The general government is not an assemblage of states, but of individuals, for certain political pur- poses ; it is not meant for the states, but for the indi- viduals composing them ; the individuals, therefore, not the states, ought to be represented in it." * He persisted to the last in demanding that the senate should be elected by electors chosen by the people. Ellsworth replied : " Whether the member of the senate be appointed by the j)eople or by the legisla- ture, he will be a citizen of the state he is to repre- sent. Every state has its particular views and preju- dices, which will find their way into the general council, through whatever channel they may flow.* The state legislatures are more competent to make a judicious choice than the people at large. Without the existence and co-operation of the states, a repub- lican government cannot be supported over so great an extent of country. We know that the people of the states are strongly attached to their own consti- tutions. If you hold up a system of general govern- ment, destructive of their constitutional rights, they » Yates in Elliot, i. 445, 446. * Gilpin, 957; ElUot, 239. « Gilpin, 95G ; Elliot, 339. » Ibid. ' Yates in Elliot, i. 44G. 56 THE FEDEEAL COinTENTION. CHAP, will oppose it. Tlie only cliance we liave to support a general government is to graft it on tlie state gov- ernments." * That the members of the second branch should be chosen by the individual legislatures, which in the committee had been unanimously accepted, was then affirmed in convention by all the states except Penn- sylvania and Virginia, which looked upon this mode of choice as the stepping-stone to an equal represen- tation." For the term of office of the senators, who, as all agreed, were to go out in classes, Randolph proposed seven years; Cotesworth Pinckney, four; Gorham and Wilson, six with biennial rotation. Read de- sired the tenure of good behavior, but hardly finding a second,^ moved for a term of nine 3^ears as the 26. longest which had a chance for support. Madison came to his aid. " The second branch, as a limited number of citizens, respectable for wisdom and vii'tue, will be watched by and will keep watch over the representatives of the people ; it will season- ably interpose between impetuous counsels ; and will guard the minority who are placed above indigence against the agrarian attempts of the ever-increasing class who labor under all the hardships of life, and se- cretly sigh for a more equal distribution of its bless- in o^s. The lono^er the members of the senate continue in office, the better will these objects be answered. The term of nine years can threaten no real danger." * » Yates in Elliot, i. 44fi, 447. » Compare Gilpin, OGO, or Elliot, » Gilpin, 959; Elliot, 240; Yatea 241. with Yates in Elliot, i. 448. in Elliot, i. 447. * Giljiin, 904; Elliot, 242, 243; Yates iu Elliot, i. 450. THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE. 57 Sherman replied: "The more permanency a gov^- chap. ernment lias, the worse, if it be a bad one. I shall be -^^ content with six years for the senate ; but f oui' will be ^ J ^ ^■ '' ' June quite sufficient." ' s^o. " We are now to decide the fate of republican government," said Hamilton ; " if we do not give to that form due stability, it will be disgraced and lost anions: ourselves, disa;raced and lost to mankind for- ever.'' I acknowledge I do not think favorably of republican government ; but I address my remarlvs to those who do, in order to prevail on them to tone their government as high as possible. I profess myself as zealous an advocate for liberty as any man whatever ; and trust I shall be as willing a martyr to it, though I differ as to the form in which it is most eligible. Real liberty is neither found in despotism nor in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate 2:overnments.^ Those who mean to form a solid republic ought to proceed to the confines of an- other s:overnment. If we incline too much to democ- racy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy." The term of nine years received only the votes of Penn- sylvania, Delaware, and Virginia ; and that for six years, with the biennial renewal of one third of its members, was carried by the voice of seven states against four.* On the twenty-seventh, Eutledge brought the con- 27. vention to consider the rule of suffrage in the two branches of the national legislature. For the rest of the day, and part of the next, Martin vehemently de- * Gilpin, 965 ; Elliot, 243 ; " Yates in Elliot, i. 450. Yates in Elliot, i. 450. " Gilpin, 9G9 ; Elliot, 245 ; i. " GUpin, 9G5, 9GG ; Elliot, 244. 451. 68 THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOIS". CHAP, noimced any general government tLat could reacli in- v-.-,-^ dividuals, and intimated plainly that Clinton of New 1 V8 7. York would surely prevent its adoption in tliat state. 28. Lansing renewed the proposal to vote by states in the first branch of the les-islature. Madison summed up a most elaborate statement by saying : " The two extremes before us are, a perfect separation, and a per- fect incorporation of the thirteen states. In the first case, they will be independent nations, subject only to the law of nations ; in the last, they vidll be mere counties of one entire republic, subject to one com- mon law. In the first, the smaller states will have everything to fear from the larger ; in the last, noth- ing. Their true policy, therefore, lies in promoting that form of government which "wdll most approxi- mate the states to the condition of counties." * John- son and Sherman and Ellsworth, Paterson and Dick- inson, even at the risk of union, opposed King, the most eloquent orator, Wilson, the most learned civil- ian, and Madison, the most careful statesman, of the convention. It was in vain for the smaller states to say they intended no injustice, and equally in vain for Madison to plead that the large states, from dif- fering customs, i-eligion, and interests, could never unite in perilous combinations. In the great diversity of sentiment, Johnson was saddened by anxiety for the result ; ' and at a later day Martin reported that the convention was " on tlie verge of dissolution, scarce held together by the strength of a hair." ' To restore calm, Franklin, just as the house was * Cilpin, 982 ; Elliot, 2r>2. son, Philadelphia, 37 June, 1787. '■' William bumuclJolmson to his MS. » Elliot, i. 358. THE COmSTECTICUT COMPROMISE. 59 about to adjourn, proposed tliat tlie convention sliould chap. be opened every morning by prayer. Having present — ,— - in Ms mind Lis own marvellous career from tlie \^^'^- June mocking skepticism of kis boykood, ke said : " Tke 28. longer I live, tke more convincing proofs I see tkat God governs in tke affairs of men. I firmly believe tkat ' except tke Lord build tke kouse, tkey labor in vain tkat build it.' Witkout kis concurring aid, we skall be divided by our little local interests, succeed no better tkan tke builders of Babel, and become a reproack and by- word to future ages. Wkat is worse, mankind may kereafter, from this unfortunate in- stance, despair of establisking government by kuman wisdom, and leave it to ckance and war." ' Tke mo- tion w^as avoided by adjournment. Tke concurring aid wkick Franklin invoked im- 29. plied a purification from tke dominion of selfisk in- terests. In tke next meeting tke members were less absorbed by inferior motives." Tke debate was opened by Joknson. " A state," ke said, " exists as a political society, and it exists as a district of indi\4d- ual citizens. Tke aristocratic and otker interests, and tke interests of tke states, must be armed witk some power of self-defence. In one brancli of tke general government, tke people ougkt to be represented ; in tke otker, tke states." ' Gorkam br ougkt togetker arguments for union alike from tke point of view of small and of large states ; and kis last word was : " A union of tke states is necessary to tkeir kappiness, and a firm general government is necessary to tkeir * Gilpin, 985 ; Elliot, 253, 254. « Gilpin, 987 ; Elliot, 255. ' Walter Scott's Heart of Md- lothian, vol. i., chap. xiv. 60 TIIE FEDEEAL CaJSrVENTIOlvr. CHAP, union. I will stay liere as long as any state will re- ..^-^-I^ main, in order to agree on some plan tliat can be 17 8 7. recommended to the people." * 29. " I do not despair," said Ellsworth ; " I still trust that some good plan of government will be devised and adopted." " If this point of representation is once well fixed," said Madison, " we shall come nearer to one another in sentiment." The necessity will then be discovered of circumscribing more effectually the state govern- ments, and enlarging the bounds of the general gov- ernment. There is a gradation from the smallest cor- poration with the most limited powers to the largest empire mth the most perfect sovereignty.' The states never possessed the essential rights of sover- eignty ; these were always vested in congress. Vot- ing as states in congress is no evidence of sovereignty. The state of Maryland voted by counties. Did this make the counties sovereign ? The states, at present, are only great corporations, having the power of mak- ing b3^-la^vs not contradictory to the general confeder- ation.* The proposed government 'will have powers far beyond those exercised by the British parliament when the states were part of the British empire. " The mixed nature of the government ought to be kept in view ; but the exercise of an e(pial voice by unequal portions of the people is confessedly unjust, and would infuse mortality into the constitution which \ve wish to last forever. A .total separation of the states from each other or partial confederacies ' fJilpin, 980 ; Elliot, 235. '•' Oilpiii, 9!)0 ; Elliot, 256. ' ElUot, i. 401. * Yates iu Elliot, i. 401. THE CONTSTECTICUT COMPEOMISE. 61 would alike be truly deplorable ; and those wlio may chap. be accessory to either can never be forgiven by their country, nor by themselves." ' " In all the states," said Hamilton, " the rights of individuals with regard to suffrage are modified by qualifications of property. In like manner states may modify their right of suffrage, the larger exercising a larger, the smaller a smaller share of it. Will the people of Delaware be less free if each citizen has an equal vote with each citizen of Pennsylvania ? The contest is for power, not for liberty. "No government can give us happiness at home which has not the strength to make us respectable abroad. This is the critical moment for forming such a government. As yet we retain the habits of union. We are weak, and sensible of our weakness. Our people are disposed to have a good government ; ^ but henceforward the motives will become feebler and the difficulties greater. It is a miracle that we are now here, exercising free deliberation ; it would be madness to trust to future miracles.' We must there- fore improve the opportunity, and render the present system as perfect as possible. The good sense of the people, and, above all, the necessity of their affairs, will induce them to adopt it." * It was then decided, by the six national states to four, Maryland being divided, that the rule of suf- frage in the first branch ought to bear proportion to the population of the several states. A reversal of this decision was never attempted. ' Gilpin, 990, 992 ; Elliot, 256, ' Gilpin, 995 ; Elliot, 259. 257 ; Yates in Elliot, i. 462. * Yates in Elliot, i. 463, 464. » Yates in Elliot, i. 463. 62 THE FEDEEAL COlSTENTIOlNr. CHAP. " We aro partly national, partly federal," said Ells- ,^^ worth, and lie moved that in the second branch the 1787. YQte should be taken by states.' "I am not sorry June •' ... 29. that the vote just passed has determined against this rule in the first branch; I hope it will become a ground of compromise with regard to the second. On this middle ground, and on no other, can a com- promise take place. If the great states refuse this plan, we shall be forever separated. "In the hour of common danger we united as equals ; is it just to depart from this principle now, when the dano;er is over? The existins: confedera- tion is founded on the equality of the states in the article of suffrage, and is declared to be perpetual.'' Is it meant to pay no regard to this plighted faith ? ' "We then associated as free and independent states. To perpetuate that independence, I wish to establish a national legislature, executive, and judiciary; for under these we shall preserve peace and harmony." * Abraham Baldwin, a native of Connecticut, a grad- uate of Yale college, for four years one of its tutors, a recent emigrant to Georgia, from which state he was now a deputy, stepped forth to the relief of Ells- worth, saying : " The second branch ought to be the representation of property,' and ought not to be elect- ed as the first." ' so. " If a muiorlty will have their own will, or sep- arate the union," said Wilson, "let it be done. I cannot consent that one fourth shall control the power of three fourtlis. The Connecticut proposal ' Yntos in Elliot, i. 4C4. * Y.-itcs in Elliot, i. 405. '' Il)i Gilpin, 1009; Elliot, 266; Yates in Elliot, i. 470 ; Paterson Yates in Elliot, i. 471. MS. " Gilpin, 1010, 1011 ; Elliot, 266, 267. VOL. n. 6 66 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, states ; it is, therefore, only another edition of the old — ^ confederation, and can never answer. Still I would pre- '^T^'^- serve the state rights as carefully as the trial by jury.'" 30. Bedford scoffed at Georgia, proud of her future greatness ; at South Carolina, puffed up with wealth and negroes ; at the great states, ambitious, dictato- rial, and unworthy of trust ; and defied them to dis- solve the confederation, for ruin would then stare them in the face.' To a question from King, whether by entering into a national government he would not equally pai'- ticipate in national security, Ellsworth answered : " I confess I should; but a general government cannot know my wants, nor relieve my distress. I depend for domestic happiness as much on my state govern- ment as a new-born infant depends upon its mother for nourishment. If this is not an answer, I have no other to give." ° July On the motion of Ellsworth, five states voted for ^" equal suffrage in the senate ; five of the six national states answered. No. All interest then centred upon Georgia, the sixth national state and the last to vote. Baldwin, fearing "a disruption of the convention, and convinced of the hopelessness of assembling another under better auspices, dissented from his colleague, and divided the vote of his state. So the motion was lost by a tie ; but as all believed that New Hampshire and Rhode Island, had they been present, would have voted with Connecticut, the convention moved ra^^idly toward its inevitable decision. » Cilpin, 1012; Elliot, 2G7; ' Gilpin, 1012-1014; Elliot, 268. YutcH ia Elliot, i. 471. * Yutca in Elliot, i. 473, 474. ( TIIE CONNECTICUT COMPEOMISE. 67 For a moment Charles Pinckney made delay by chap. calling up Lis scheme of dividing the United States v^-v-^ into northern, middle, and southern groups, and ap- ^J^^*^" portioning the senators between the three ; * a meas- 2. ure which, with modifications, he repeatedly brought forward. Cotesworth Pinckney liked better the motion of Franklin, and proposed that a committee of one from each state, taking into consideration both branches of the legislature, should devise and report a compro- mise." " Such a committee," said Sherman, " is neces- sary to set us right." Gouvemeur Morris, who, after a month's absence, had Just returned, spoke abruptly for a senate for life to be appointed by the executive ; ' but the com- mittee was ordered by a great majority; and the house showed its own inclination by selecting Frank- lin, Gerry, Ellsworth, Yates, Paterson, even Bedford and Martin, Mason, Davie, E-utledge, and Baldwin. To give them time for their task, and to all the op- portunity of celebrating the anniversary of indepen- dence, the convention adjourned for three days.* » Gilpin, 1017; Elliot, 270. » Gilpin, 1020; Elliot, 271. '' Gilpin, 1017, 1018; Elliot, 270. * Gilpin, 1023, 1024; Elliot, 273. CHAPTER IV. TDE ADJUSTxMENT OF EEPRESENTATION. Ox tlie morning of tlie thii'd of July, the grand committee accepted as a basis for a compromise * tlie proposal of Franklin/ tliat in tlie first branch of the first congress there should be one member for every forty thousand inhabitants, counting all the free and three fifths of the rest ; that in the second branch each state should have an equal vote ; and that, in return for this concession to the small states, the first branch should be invested with the sole power of originating taxes and appropriations. The settle- ment of the rule of representation for new states was considered, but was left to the convention. "The committee have exceeded their powers,"' cried Wilson, when Gerry, on the fifth, delivered the report to the convention. Madison encouraged the large states to oj^pose it steadfastly. Butler denounced the plan as unjust." Gouverneur Morris, delighting to startle by his cynicism, condemned alike its fonn and substance,' addino: : " State attach- ' Yatos in Elliot, i. 478. * Oilpin, 1028; Elliot, 275. » Miirtin in Elliot, i. IIHR. » Gilpiu, 1028; Elliot, 276. •Gilj.in, 102.j; Elliot, 274. THE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESENTATION. 69 ments and state importance liave been the bane of chap. the country. AVe cannot annihilate the serpents, but we may perhaps take out their teeth.' Suppose the larger states agree, the smaller states must come in. Jersey would follow the opinions of New York and Pennsylvania. If persuasion does not unite the small states with the others, the sword will. The strongest party will make the weaker traitors, and hang them. The larger states are the most power- ful ; they must decide." ' Ellsworth enforced the ne- cessity of compromise, and saw none more convenient or reasonable than that proposed by the committee.' " We are neither the same nation, nor different na- tions," said Gerry ; " we therefore ought not to pur- sue the one or the other of these ideas too closely. Without a compromise a secession will take place, and the result no man can foresee." ' "There must be some accommodation on this point," said Mason, " or we shall make little further progress in the work. It cannot be more inconven- ient to any gentleman to remain absent from his pri- vate affairs than it is for me ; but I will buiy my bones in this city rather than expose my country to the consequences of a dissolution of the convention without anything being done." ' A throng of questions on representation thrust themselves into the foreground. Gouverneur Morris objected to the rule of numbers alone in the dis- tribution of representatives. " Not liberty," said he ; " property is the main object of society. The savage ^Gilpin, 1032: Elliot, 377. * Gilpin, 1032; Elliot, 278. " Paterson MSS. • Gilpin, 1033; Elliot, 278,. "Gilpin, 1032; Elliot, 278. 70 THE FEDERAL COJiTVENTIO]^. CHAP, state is more favorable to liberty tLan tlie civilized, V r^ and was only renounced for the sake of property. A ^ J^^ ^- range of new states will soon be formed in the West. 5. The rule of representation ought to be so fixed as to secure to the Atlantic states a prevalence in the na- tional councils." * Rutledge repeated : " Property is certainly the principal object of society." " If num- bers should be the rule of representation, the Atlantic states will soon be subjected to the western." " If new states," said Mason and Randolph, " make a part of the union, they ought to be subject to no unfavor- able discriminations." ' 6. On the morning of the sixth, Gouverneur Morris moved to refer the ratio of representation in the popular branch to a committee of five.^ Wilson, who still strove to defeat the compromise between the federal and the national states, seconded the mo- tion. In the distribution of representatives, Gorham thought the number of inhabitants the true guide. "Property," said King, "is the primary object of society, and in fixing a ratio, ought not to be ex- cluded from the estimate." * " Propei'ty," said But- ler, " is the only just measure of representation." ' To Charles Pinckney the number of inhabitants ap- peared tlie true and only practicable rule,' and he acquiesced in counting but three fifths of the slaves. The motion of Morris was carried by New Eng- land, Pennsylvania, and the four southernmost slave- holding states. Gorham, King' and Gouverneur Mor- ' Gilpin, 1034 ; Elliot, 278, 279. * Gilpin, 1038 ; Elliot, 281. ^ Gil|)in, l():{r) ; Elliot, 27i). " Gilpin, 1031) ; Elliot, 281. » (Jilpin, 10:U5 ; Elliot. 280. ' Ibid. * GJi])in, 1037 ; Elliot, 280. THE ADJUSTMENT OF REPEESENTATIOlSr. 7l ris, Randolpli and Rutledge were cliosen tlie com- chap. mittee. -— v^ On tlie seventh the clause allowins; each state an ^ ? f '^• July equal vote in the senate was retained as part of the i. report by a majority of six to three, New York being present and voting with the majority, Massachusetts and Georgia being divided. The number and distribution of the members of the first branch of the legislature in the first congress, the rule for every future congress, the balance of legis- lative power between the South and the North ; be- tween the carrying states which asked for a retaliatory navigation act and the planting states which desired free freight and free trade ; between the original states and new ones ; the apportionment of representation according;: to numbers or wealth, or a combination of the two ; the counting of all, or three fifths, or none, of the slaves ; the equal suffrage in the senate — be- came the subjects of motions and counter-motions, postponements and recalls. To unravel the tangled skein it is necessary to trace each subject for itself to its preliminary settlement. On the ninth Gouverneur Morris presented the 9. report of the committee of five. It changed the dis- tribution of representation in the first congress to the advantage of the South ; for the future, no one op- posing except Randolph, it authorized, but purposely refrained from enjoining, the legislature, from time to time, to regulate the number of representatives of each state by its wealth and the number of its in- habitants.* • Gilpin, 1051, 1053 ; ElUot, 287, 388. 72 THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOTT. CHAP. " Tlie report," said Sherman, " corresponds neitlier •^r^ ^yitli any rule of numbers, nor any requisition by ^jd^" congress;"* and on his motion its &st jmragraph 9- was referred to a committee of one member from each state/ Gouverneur Morris seconded and Ran- dolph approved the motion.' Paterson could regard negro slaves in no light but as property; to grant theii' masters an increase of representation for them he condemned as an indirect encouragement of the slave-trade." Madison revived his suggestion of a representation of fi'ee inhabitants in the popular branch ; of the whole number, including slaves, in the senate; which, as the special guardian of property, would rightly be the protector of property in slaves.' "The southern states are the richest," said King, who yet sliould have known that they were not so, or per- haps was thinking only of the exports of the coun- tiy ; " they will not league themselves with the north- ern unless some respect is paid to their superior wealth. The North must not expect to receive from the connection preferential distinctions in commerce without allowino; some advantagfe in return." ' 10- The committee of one from each state on the very next morning produced their well-considered report. The committee of five had fixed the number of rep- resentatives at fifty-six ; or thirty from the North, twenty-six from the South ; and Maryland and Vir- ginia had each given up one member to South Caro- lina, raising her number to five.^ • Gilpin, 1052 ; Elliot, 288. » Gilpin, 1055 ; Elliot, 289, 290. ' Klliot, i. 197. 6 Gil))in, 105(5 ; Elliot, 290. Miilpin, 1054 ; Elliot, 288, 289. ' Gilpin, 10U3, 1003; Elliot, 293. * GJlj)in, 1054, 1055; Elliot, 2«9. TIIE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESEISTTATIO]^. 73 'In the confederacy eacli state miglit send to con- chap. gress as many as seven delegates, so that the whole number in congress might be ninety-one. This num- ber was adopted for the new constitution : as there were to be two branches of the legislature, two mem- bers for each state were assigned to the branch rep- resenting the states, the remaining sixty-five were assigned to the popular branch. Thirty-five were parcelled out to the North, to the South thirty. Of the new members for the South, two were allotted to Maryland, one to Virginia, and one to Georgia. In this way Connecticut, North Carolina, and South Carolina, having each five votes in the popular branch, retained in the house exactly one thirteenth of all the votes in that body, and so would hold in each branch exactly the same relative power as in the confederacy. The first census established the Justice of this relative distribution between the North and the South ; though, within the South, Georgia and South Carolina had each at least one more than its share. The final division was approved by all except South Carolina and Georgia ; and these two favored states now opened a resolute but not stormy debate to gain still more le2;islative streno^th. To this end Rut- ledge moved to reduce the absent state of New Hampshire fi'om three to two members, pleading its deficiency in population and its poverty.' King, after demonstrating the rights of New Hamp- shu*e, proceeded : " The difference of interests lies not between the great and small states, but between the 1 Gilpin, 1057 ; Elliot, 290. 74 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHIP, soutliern and eastern. For this reason I liave been ^^^r^ ready to yield something in the proportion of repre- ^1V' sentatives for the security of the southern. I am not July , . "^ 10. averse to yielding more, but do not see how it can be done. They are brought as near an equality as is possible ; no principle will justify giving them a majority." ' Cotesworth Pinckney replied : " If the southern states are to be in such a minority, and the regulation of trade is to be given to the general gov- ernment, they will be nothing more than overseers for the northern states. I do not expect the south- em states to be raised to a majority of the represen- tatives ; but I wish them to have something like an equality." Randolph, speaking the opinions of Richard Henry Lee and of Mason as well as his own, announced that he had it in contemplation to require more than a bare majority of votes for laws regulat- ing trade. For reducing New Hampshire none voted but South Carolina and Georo-ia." There followed sue- o cessive motions to give one additional vote to each of the three southernmost states. They were all lost ; that for Georgia alone gaining the vote of Virginia. On that day Robert Yates and John Lansing, of New York, were on the floor for the last time. The governor of their state had unreservedly declared that no good was to be expected from the deliberations at Philadelphia; that the confederation on more full experiment might be found to answer all the pur- poses of the union.' The state which had borne itself ' Gilpin, 1057, 1058 ; Elliot, ' Gilpin, 1059 ; Elliot, 291 ; El- 290, 291. Hot, i. 198. • Pcnn. Packet, 2G July, 1787. THE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESENTATION. 75 witli unselfish maofnanimity tlirou2:li tlie war of tlie chap. . IV revolution had fallen under the sway of factious self- ishness. Yielding to this influence, Yates and Lan- sing, renouncing the path to glory and the voice of duty, deserted their post, leaving to the South the power to mould the commercial policy of the union at their will. Hamilton, being left alone, had no vote, and from this day to the end was absent more than half the time, taking little part in the formation of the constitution. In the convention, fi*om its organization to its dis- solution, there was always a majority of at least one on the side of the southern states. After the defec- tion of New York the proportion remained six to, four till New Hampshire arrived. Slavery in the United States was a transient form, not an orifrinal element of their colonization, nor its necessary outgrowth. In the division between north- em and southern states the criterion was, whether a state retained the power and the will by its own inward energy to extricate itself from slavery. Seven had abolished, or were preparing to abolish it. Madison * and others counted the southern states as no more than five ; but Delaware, like all south of it, gave signs that it was not equal to the high endeavor of setting its bondmen free ; and its votes in the convention prove that it was rightly classed by Dayton ' with the South. The boundary between the two sections was Mason and Dixon's line. Pennsylvania, purely popular, without family aristocracies or the ascendency of any one form of relio;ion, first in aofriculture and com- 1 Gilpin, 1104 ; Elliot, 315. "^ Gilpin, 1058 ; Elliot, 291. 76 THE FEDERAL COITVrEI^TIOIT. CHAP, merce, and not suqDassed in stip-building, stood mid- ^.^-.-^^ way between six northern states and six soutliem 17 8 7. ones, tlie stronghold of an undivided, inseparable f edr 10. eral republic. The abolition of slavery in the North, which was aided by the long British occupation of Boston, Rhode Island, and New York, had not been accom- plished without a quickening of conscience on the wrongfulness of hereditary bondage and its incon- sistency with the first principles of American polity. By the act of Pennsylvania of 1780 for the gradual abolition of slavery, persons merely sojourning in the state were permitted to retain their slaves for a term of six months ; delegates in congress from other states, foreign ministers and consuls, as long as they con- tinued in their public characters. The right of the masters of absconding slaves to take them away remained as before. But the recovery of a slave through the intei'position of the courts was resisted with zeal by self-appointed agents ; * and the south- ern master sometimes had no relief but to seize the runaway and bi'ing him back to bondage by force. Abolition and manumission societies were formed in various parts of the North. Of one of these Ham- ilton was the secretary, with Jay, Duane, and Robert R. Livingston for associates. Just at this time Franklin Avas elected president of the society in Pennsylvania. The newspapers of all parties at the North teemed with essays against slavery. Tlie op- position to it prevailed in nearly all religious and ' Dallas, i. 179, 180 ; ii. 234. THE ADJUSTMENT OF REPRESENTATION. 77 political sects, but flamed the briglitest among tliose chap. of extreme democratic tendencies. ^^^^ In 1783 deputies from the yearly meeting of the ^jV- Quakers were admitted to the floor ' of congress, and lo. delivered their address, entreating that body to use its influence for the general abolition of the slave- trade, and in several later years the meeting renewed the petition." The Presbyterian synod which met at Philadelphia in the same week as the federal con- vention resolved " to procure eventually the final abolition of slavery in America."' The Pennsylva- nia Abolition Society adopted a memorial to the con- vention to suppress the slave-trade,* though, fi-om motives of prudence, it was not presented. This conspicuous action at the North on the slave- trade and slavery might have baflied every hope of a consolidated union but for the wide distinction be- tween those states that were least remote from the « West Indies and those that lay nearer the North ; be- tween the states which planted indigo and rice and those which cultivated by slave labor maize and wheat and tobacco : between Georgia and South Carolina which had ever been well affected to the slave-trade, and the great slave-holding state to the north of them which had ^vrestled with England for its abolition. In the three northernmost of the southern states ^ Journals of Congress, iv. Friends, 20 Oct., 1786, and Oct., 289. 1789. ' Address presented 8 Oct., ' Acts and Proceedings of the 1783, MS., at State Dept., Vol. Synod of New York and Phila- of Remonstrances and Address- delphia, A. d. 1787. es, 339; Letter to R. H. Lee, ^ Penn. Packet of 14 Feb., 1788; President, 21 Jan., 1785 ; ibid.. Independent Gazetteer of 7 March, 347. See the MS. Records of the 1788. 78 THE FEDEEAL COITVENTIOI^. CHAP, slavery raaintained itself, not as an element of pros- ^^" perity, but as a baleful inheritance. Tlie best of the statesmen of Virginia, without regard to other ques- tions which divided them, desired its abolition — alike Washington, Kichard Henry Lee, Jefferson, Randolph, Madison, and Grayson. George Mason had written to the lesrislature of Virmnia a2:aiust it with the most terrible invectives and gloomiest fore- bodino^s. This comparative serenity of judgment in Virginia was shared, though not completely, by North Caro- lina, of whose population three parts out of four were free, and whose upland country attracted emi- gi'ants by its fertility, salubrity, and beauty. The difference between the two classes of slave states was understood by themselves, and was a guarantee that questions on slavery would neither • inflame nor unite them. Viro;inia and North Caro- lina held the balance of power, and knew how to steer clear of a fatal collision. 9. The preliminary distribution of representatives having been agreed upon, Gouverneur Morris desired to leave the control of future chano-es to the national legislature.* Perceiving peril in confiding so vast a discretion to those who might be tempted to keep to themselves an undue share of legislative power, ^^>- Randolph, following the precedent of 1781, insist- ed on an absolute constitutional requirement of a census of population and an estimate of wealth, to' be taken within one year after the first meeting of the legislature, and ever thereafter periodically ; and ' Gilpin, 1052 ; Elliot, 288. THE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESENTATION. 79 ttat tlie representation sliould be aiTan<2-ed accord- chap. ^ IV ingly.' ^ ^ v_v~ Gouverneur Morris, supported by King and otliers, ^ J^^ '^• resisted this "fettering of tlie legislature," by wliich n. a preponderance niiglit be thrown into the western scale. In various debates it was urged by Morris and King and others that the western people would in time outnumber those of the Atlantic states, while they would be less wealthy, less cultivated, less favor- able to foreign commerce, and less willing to bide the right moment for acquiring the free navigation of the lower Mississippi ; that the busy haunts of men are the proper school for statesmen ; that the members from the back country are ahvays most averse to the best measures; that, if the western people should get the power into their hands, they w^ould ruin the Atlantic interests ; and therefore that, in every future legislature, the original states should keep the majority in their own hands." To this Mason replied : " A revision from time to time, according to some permanent and precise stand- ard, is essential to fail' representation. According to the present population of America, the northern part of it has a right to preponderate ; and I cannot deny it. But, unless there shall be inserted in the consti- tution some principle which will do justice to the southern states hereafter, w^hen they shall have three fourths of the people of America within their limits, I can neither vote for the system here nor support it in my state. The western states as they arise must be treated as equals, or they will speedily » Gilpin, 1063 ; Elliot, 293. * Gilpin, 1072 ; ElHot, 298. 80 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. cnAP. revolt. Tlie number of inliabitants is a sufficientlv IV . .^^ precise standard of wealtli." * 178 7. "Congress," said Randolph, "Lave pledged the 11. public faith to the new states that they shall be ad- mitted on equal terms. They never will, they never ought to accede on any other." ' Madison demon- strated that no distinctions unfavorable to the west- ern states were admissible, either in point of justice or policy." By a majority of two to one the first legislature under the new constitution was required to provide for a census ; * a periodical census ever after was then accepted without a division. Its period, first fixed at fifteen years, after repeated debates, was reduced to ten." Yet an ineradicable dread of the coming power of the South-west lui'ked in New England, especially in 14- Massachusetts. Only three days after the subject appeared to have been definitively disposed of, Gerry and King moved that the representatives of new states should never collectively exceed in number the representatives from such of the old thirteen states as should accede to the new confederation." The motion came from New England ; and from New England came the reply. " We are providing for our poster- ity," said Shemian, who had helped to secure to Con- necticut a magnificent reserve of lands in northern Ohio. " Our children and our grandchildren will be as likely to be citizens of new wes.tern states as of 'Gilpin, 10U5, 1000; Elliot, * Gilpin, 1078 ; Elliot, 301. 294, 295. » Gilpin, 1080 ; Elliot, 305. " Gilpin, 1007 ; Elliot. 295. • Gilpin, 1095 ; Elliot, 310. • Gilpin, 1073 ; Elliot, 299. THE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESENTATIOK 81 the old states." * His words were lost upon his o\\ti cnAP. colleagues. The motion was defeated by the nar- ^ ^ rowest majority, Massachusetts being sustained by ^'IV^ Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland, against New i*- Jersey and the four southernmost states, Pennsyl- vania being divided." The vote of Maryland and Delaware was but the dying expression of old regrets about the proprietaryship of western lands, from which they had been excluded ; that of Massachu- setts sprung from a jealousy which increased with the ever-increasing political power of the South-west. But in spite of renewed murmurs the decision was never reversed. The final concession on the representation for n. slaves proceeded from North Carolina. AVilliamson accepted for the permanent basis the free inhabitants and three fifths of all others.' Eandolph agreed to the amendment. On the instant Butler and Cotes- worth Pinckney demanded that the blacks should be counted equally with the whites." New York, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island not being on the floor, the southern states were left with ample power to settle the question as they pleased. "The motion," said Mason, "is favorable to Virginia, but I think it unjust. As slaves are useful to the community at large, they ought not to be excluded from the estimate for representation ; I cannot, however, vote for them as equals to free- men." * On the question, Delaware alone joined South Carolina and Georgia. » Gilpin, 1095 ; Elliot, 310. * Gilpin, 1067 ; Elliot, 296. "Ibid. ^Gilpin, 10G8, 1069; Elliot, » Gilpin, 1066 ; Elliot, 295. 296. VOL. n. 6 82 THE FEDERAL COISTVENTIOI?^. Rutledge next insisted on proportioning represen- tation periodically according to wealth as well as population. This was condemned by Mason as in- definite and impracticable, leaving to the legislature a pretext for doing nothing/ Madison saw no sub- stantial objection to fixing numbers for the perpetual standard of representation.* In like manner Sher- man, Johnson, Wilson, and Gorham looked upon pop- ulation as the best measure of wealth ; and accepted the propriety of establishing numbers as the rule. King refused to be reconciled to any concession of representation for slaves.^ Gouverneur Morris, always a hater of slavery, closed the debate by say- ing : " I am reduced to the dilemma of doing injustice to the southern states, or to human nature, and I must do it to the former ; I can never agree to give such encoura2:ement to the slave-trade as w^ould be given by allowing them a representation for then- negroes." * On the division, those who insisted on enumerat- ing all the slaves and those who refused to enu- merate any of them, as elements of representation, partially coalesced; and Connecticut, Virginia, and North Carolina, though aided by Georgia, were out- voted by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina.^ The aspect . of affairs at the adjournment was not so dancjerous as it seemed. Virojinia with a united delegation liad licr hand on the helm, while North Carolina kept watch at her side. » r.ilpin, 1071 ; Elliot, 297. . * Hilpin, 1078 ; Elliot, 801. =■ Oilpin, 1074 ; Elliot, 209. * Ibid. •Gilpin, 1070 ; Elliot, 300. THE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESENTATION. 83 But Gouverneur Morris brooded over the deep chap. gulf by wliicli the convention seemed to him rent in .^^ twain ; and rashly undertook to build a bridge over ^ J ^ ''• the chasm. To that end he proposed the next morn- 12 ing that taxation should be in proportion to repre- sentation/ His motion was general, extending to every branch of revenue. The convention was taken by surprise. South Carolina scorned to be driven from her object by the menace of increased contributions to the general treasury ; and again demanded a full representation for all blacks.'' Mason pointed out that the proposal of Gouverneur Morris would so embarrass the legis- lature in raising a revenue that they would be driven back to requisitions on the states. Appalled at dis- covering that his motion was a death-blow to the new constitution, Morris limited it to direct taxation, say- ing : " It would be inapplicable to indirect taxes on exports and imports and consumption." ' Cotesworth Pinckney took fire at the idea of taxing exports. "Wilson came to the partial rescue of Morris ; and the convention, without a dissentient, agreed that " direct taxation ought to be in proportion to representation." * In this short interlude, by the temerity of one man, the United States were precluded from deriving an equitable revenue from real property. Morris soon saw what evil he had wrought, but he vainly strove to retrieve it. The moderating states of the South grew restless. " North Carolina," said Davie, " -will never confederate » Gilpin, 1079 ; Elliot, 303. ' Gilpin, 1080 ; Elliot, 303. « Gilpin, 1079, 1080 ; Elliot, 303. * Gilpin, 1081 ; Elliot, 303. 84 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. on terms that do not rate tlieir blacks at least as tliree fifths." ' Johnson, holding the negro slave to '^IV' be a man, and nothinsr less than a man, could not July . . 12. forego the conclusion " that blacks equally with the whites ought to fall within the computation," and his votes conformed to his scruples. Contrary to the wishes of Gouverneur Morris and King, Randolph insisted that the representation allowed for slaves should be embodied in the constitution, saying : " I lament that such a species of property exists ; but, as it does exist, the holders of it will requii'e this secu- rity." ' Ellsworth seconded Randolph, whose motion was tempered in its form by Wilson, so as to avoid the dii^ect mention of slavery or slave. '^ The south- ern states," said King, " threaten to separate now in case injury shall be done them. There will be no point of time at which they will not be able to say, ' Do us justice or we will separate.' " The final motion to make blacks equal with whites in fixing the ratio of representation received no suj^port but from South Carolina and Georgia ; ' and the compromise, propor- tioning representation to direct taxation, and both to the number of the free and three fifths of others, was established by the southern states, even Georgia ap- proving, and South Carolina relenting so far as to divide its vote." 18. Randolph seized the ojiportunity to propose num- bers as the sole rule of representation. Gouverneur Morris " stated the result of his deep meditation " : " The southern gentlemen will not be satisfied unless » Gilpin, 1081 ; Elliot, 802, 303. » Cilpin, 1084-1087 ; Elliot, 305. * Gilpin, 108:3 ; Elliot, 30-1. ■• Gili)iu, 108G, 1087 ; Elliot, 30G. THE ADJUSTMENT OF REPKESENTATIOTT. 85 they see the way open to their gaining a majority in chap. the public councils. The consequence of such a trans- c^~,-L. fer of power fi'om the maritime to the interior and ^ | ^ '^• landed interest will, I foresee, be an oppression to i3. commerce. In this struggle between the two ends of the union, the middle states ought to join their eastern brethren. If the southern states get the power into their hands and be joined as they will be with the interior country, everything is to be appre- hended." By the interior, Morris had specially in his mind the rising states of Kentucky and Tennessee. Butler replied : " The southern states want security that theu' negroes may not be taken from them, which some gentlemen within or without doors have a very- good mind to do. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will have relatively many more people than they now have. The people and strength of America are evidently bearing to the South and South- west." ' "The majority," said Wilson, "wherever found, ought to govern. The interior country, should it acquire this majority, will avail itself of its right whether we will or no. If numbers be not a proper rule, why is not some better rule pointed out ? Con- gress have never been able to discover a better. No state has suggested any other. Property is not the sole nor the primary end of government and society ; the improvement of the human mind is the most noble object. With respect to this and other per- sonal rights, numbers are surely the natural and pre- » GilpiB, 1091-1093 ; Elliot,' 308, 309. 86 THE FEDEEAL CONVET^TIOI^^. CHAP, cise measm*e of representation, and could not vary .-^^ mucli from tlie precise measure of proj)erty." ' 1Y87. The apportionment of representation to numbers 13. was adopted without a negative, Delaware alone beino; divided/ The American declaration of inde- pendence proclaimed all men free and equal; the federal convention founded representation on num- bers alone. The equality of votes of the states in the senate when reported to the convention was resisted by Wilson, King, and Madison to the last as contrary to 14^ justice. On the other hand, Sherman held that the state governments could not be preserved unless they should have a negative in the general government. Caleb Strong, a statesman of consummate pru- dence, from the valley of the Connecticut, a graduate of Harvard, and a fit representative of the country people of Massachusetts, lucidly reviewed the case, and from the desire to prevent the dissolution of the union found himself compelled to vote for the com- promise. Madison replied in an elaborate speech, which closed with these words : " The perpetuity which an e(j[uality of votes in the second branch will give to the preponderance of the northern against the southern scale is a serious consideration. It seems now well understood that the real difference of inter- ests lies, not between the large and small, but be- tween the noi-tliern and southern states. The insti- tution of slaveiy and its consequences form the line of discrimination. Should a proportional representa- tion take place, the northern will still outnumber the • Gilpin, 1093, 1094 ; Elliot, 309. = Gilpin, 1094 ; Elliot, 309. THE ADJUSTMENT OF EEPEESENTATIOl^. 87 other; but every day will tend toward an equilib- chap. 11 1 IV. num. V.-V— ' Tlie great poet of tlie Hellenic race relates Low ^ J ^ '^• tlie most famed of its warriors was lured by one of i4. tlie heavenly powers from the battle-field to chase a phantom. Had the South joined with the smaller states to establish the suffrage by states in both branches of the general legislature, it would, in less than ten years," have arrived at an equality, alike in the house and in the senate. But it believed that swarms of emigrants were about to throng every path to the South-west, bearing with them affluence and power. It did not yet know the dynamic energy of freedom in producing wealth, and attracting and employing and retaining population. The equality of the vote in the senate, which Virginia and South Carolina vehemently resisted, was to gain and pre- serve for the slave-holding states a balance in one branch of the legislature ; in the other, where repre- sentation was apportioned to population, the supe- riority of the free commonwealths would increase from decade to decade till slavery in the United States should be no more. Shrinking from the final vote on the question, the house adjourned. On Monday, the sixteenth, as soon as tJie con- le. vention assembled, the question was taken on the amended report which included an equality of votes in the senate.' The six southern states were present, and only four of the northern. Four of the six states which demanded a proportioned representa- ^ Giliiin, 1104 ; Elliot, 815. » Gilpin, 1107; Elliot, 316. * On the admission of Tennes- see, 1796. 88 THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOlSr. CRAF. tion stubbornly refused to yield. It was of decisive . ^ iufluence on the history of the country that Strong ^jV' and Gerry, balancing the inflexible King and Gor- is- ham, pledged Massachusetts at least to neutrality. On the other side, Connecticut, New Jersey, Dela- w^are, and Maryland spurned the thought of surren- der. The decision was given by North Carolina, which broke from her great associates and gave a majority of one to the smaller states. More than ten years before, Jefferson had most earnestly proposed this compromise, seeking to proselyte John Adams, to whom he vsn'ote : " The good whigs will so far cede their opinions for the sake of union." * He heard with great joy that his prophecy had come to pass." The large states accepted the decision as final. 17. When, on the seventeenth, Gouverneur Morris pro- posed a reconsideration of the resolution of the for- mer day, no one would second his motion. 23 A few days later the number of senators for each state was fixed at two, and each of these, as had been proposed by Gerry and seconded by Sherman, was personally to have one vote." From the day when every doubt of the right of the smaller states to an equal vote in the senate was quieted, they — so I received it from the lips of Madi- son, and so it appears from the records — exceeded all others in zeal for granting powers to the general government. Ellsworth became one of its strongest pillars. Paterson of New Jersey was for the rest of his life a federalist of federalists. •Works of John Adams, ix. 'Gilpin, 1093,1185,1180; El- 405^07. liot, 311, 313, 357. '■' Jellerson, ii. 329. CHAPTER V. TUE OUTLINE OF THE CONSTITUTION COMPLETED AND EEFEIIRED. The distribution of powers between tlie general chap. government and tlie states was the most delicate and most difficult task before the convention. Startled by tlie vagueness of language in tlie Virginia resolve, Sherman, wlio with his colleagues had prepared a series of amendments to the old articles of confedera- tion,' proposed the grant of powers " to make laws in all cases which may concern the common interests of the union, but not to interfere with the government of the individual states in any matters of internal police which respect the government of such states only, and wherein the general welfare of the United States is not concerned."' Wilson seconded the amendment, as better expressing the general princi- ple. But, on scanning its probable interpretation by the separate states, the objection prevailed that it would be construed to withhold from the general government the authority to levy direct taxes and * Life of Sherman by Jeremiah "" Gilpin, 1115 ; Elliot, 319, 320. Evarts, ii. 43, in Lives of the Signers. 90 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, the autliority to suppress tlie paper money of the spates. Bedford moved to empower the national legisla- ture "to legislate for the general interests of the union, for cases to which the states are separately in- competent, and for cases in which the harmony of the United States might be interrupted by the exercise of individual les-islation." ' This Gouverneur Morris gladly seconded ; and, though Eandolph resisted, the current ran with such increasins: vehemence for union that the amendment was adopted at first by six states, and then by every state but South Carolina and Georo-ia. As to giving power to the national legislature " to negative laws passed by the several states," Gouver- neur Morris, opposing it as terrible to the states,'' looked where Jeiferson invited Madison to look — to the judiciary department to set aside a law that ought to be negatived/ Sherman insisted that state laws, contravening the authority of the union,* were invalid and inoperative from the beginning. Madison put forth all his strength to show that a power of negativ- ing the improper laws of the states is the most mild and certain means of preserving the harmony of the system. He Avas supported by Massachusetts, Vii*- glnia, and North Carolina." From the New Jersey plan it was taken without one dissentient, that the laws and treaties of the United States sliould be the supreme law of the states, and bind their judiciaries, anything in their » Ciilpin, 1110 ; Elliot, 320. ■• Gilpin, 1117; Elliot, 831, 323. 2 (iilpin, 1117; Elliot, 321. » Gilpin, 1118, 1119; Elliot, 323. •Gilpin, 111b; Elliot, 321. OUTLINE OF THE CONSTITUTION EEFEEEED. 91 laws to the contrary not with standing/ That all chap, power not granted to tlie general government re- v^-^ mained with the states was the opinion of every ^!^'^- member of the convention ; but they held it a work i7. of supererogation to place in the constitution an ex- press recognition of the reservation. Thus in one half of a morniuo: the convention beo-an and ended its distribution of power between the states and the union. The further development of the central gov- ernment brought to it a wider scope of action and new ascendency over the states. The construction of the executive department was fi'aught with bewildering difficulties, of which a new set rose up as fast as the old ones w^ere overcome. The convention, though it devoted many days in July/ to the subject, did but acquiesce for the moment in the Vii'ginia resolve, with which its deliberations had yet made it thoroughly discontented. Mason and the Pinckneys would have required a 26. qualification of landed property for the executive, judiciary, and members of the national legislature.' Geny approved securing property by property pro- visions. " If qualifications are proper," said Gouver- neur Morris, "I should prefer them in the electors rather than the elected " ; ' and Madison agreed with him. " I," said Dickinson, " doubt the policy of in- terweaving into a republican constitution a venera- tion for Wealth. A veneration for poverty and virtue is the object of republican encouragement. ISTo man of merit should be subjected to disabilities in a re- > Gilpin, 1119 ; Elliot, 322. = Gilpin, 1211 ; Elliot, 370. " Gilpin, 1311, 1313; Elliot, 370, 371. 92 THE FEDERAL COTHTENTIOIir. CHAP, public wLere merit is understood to form the great title to public trust, honors, and rewards." * The sub- ject came repeatedly before the convention ; but it never consented to require a property qualification for any office in the general government. In this way no obstruction to universal suffrao-e was allowed to conquer a foothold in the constitution, but its build- ers left the enlaro'ement of suifragj-e to time and fu- ture lawgivers. They disturbed no more than was needed for the success of their work. They were not restless in zeal for one abstract rule of theoretical equality to be introduced instantly and everywhere. They were like the mariner in mid-ocean on the roll- ing and tossing deck of a ship, who learns how to keep his true course by watching the horizon as well as the sun. In leading a people across the river that divided their old condition from the new, the makers of the new form of government anchored the sup- porting boats of their bridge up stream. The qualifi- cations of the electors it left to be decided by the states, each for itself. 18 All agreed " that a supreme tribunal should be es- tablished," ' and that the national legislature should be empowered to create inferior tribunals.' By the report of the committee, the Judges were to be ap- pointed by the senate. Gorhara, supported by Gou- veraeur Morris, proposed their appointment " by the executive with the consent of the senate " ; a mode, he said, which had been ratified by the experience of a hundred and forty years in Massachusetts.* The Gilpin, 1213-1215 ; Elliot, 371, " Oilpin, 1137; Elliot, 331. 872. * Gilpiu, 1134 ; Elliot, 330. » Gilpin, 1130; Elliot, 328. OUTLINE OF THE COISTSTITUTION EEFERRED. 93 proj)osal was gradually gaining favor; but for tlie chap. moment failed by an equal division. .--^^^ The trial of impeacliments of national officers was i *? s 7. . July taken from tlie supreme court ; and then, m the words is. of Madison, its jurisdiction was unanimously made to " extend to all cases arisino; under the national laws, or involving the national peace and harmony." ' Con- troversies which began and ended in the several states were not to be removed from the courts of the states. The convention had still to decide how the new constitution should be ratified. " By the legislatures 23. of the states," said Ellsworth, and he was seconded by Paterson. " The legislatures of the states have no power to ratify it," said Mason. " And, if they had, it would be wrong to refer the plan to them, because succeeding legislatures, having equal authority, could undo the acts of their predecessors, and the national government would stand in each state on the totter- ing foundation of an act of assembly. AVhither, then, must we resort ? To the people, with whom all power remains that has not been given up in the constitutions derived from them." "One idea," said Eandolph, "has pervaded all our proceedings, that opposition, as well from the states as from individuals, will be made to the system to be proposed. AVill it not, then, be highly imprudent to furnish any unnecessary pretext by the mode of rati- fying it? The consideration of this subject should be transferred from the legislatures, where local dema- gogues have their full influence, to a field in which their efforts can be less mischievous. Moreover, some ' Gilpin, 1138 ; Elliot, 333. 94 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTIOlSr. CHAP, of tLe states are averse to any change in tlieir consti- .__^ tution, and will not take tlie requisite steps unless 17 8 7. expressly called upon to refer tlie question to tlie 23. people." * " The confederation," said Gerry, " is paramount to the state constitutions ; and its last article authorizes alterations only by the unanimous concurrence of the states." " Are all the states," replied his colleague Gorham, " to suffer themselves to be ruined, if Rhode Island, if New York, should persist in opposition to general measures ? Provision ought to l^e made for giving effect to the system, without waiting for the unanimous concurrence of the states." "^ "A new set of ideas," said Ellsworth, "seems to have crept in since the articles of confederation were established. Conventions of the people, with power derived expressly from the people, were not then thought of," " " A reference to the authority of the people expressly delegated to conventions," insisted King, " is most likely to draw forth the best men in the states to decide on the new constitution, and to obviate disputes concerning its validity." * Madison spoke with intense earnestness. "The difference between a system founded on the legisla- tures only and one founded on the people is the dif- ference between a treaty and a constitution. A law violating a treaty, ratified by a pre-existing law, might be respected by tlie judges ; a law violating a consti- tution established by the people themselves would be considered by the judges as hull and void. A » Gilpin, 1177-1179 ; Elliot, 352; » Gilpin, 1181 ; Elliot, 354. 353. * Gilpin, 1182, 1183 ; Elliot, 355. '' Gilpin, 1180 ; Elliot, 353, 854. OUTLES'E OF TIIE CONSTITUTION EEFEREED. 95 breach of any one article of a treaty by any one of chap. the parties frees the other parties from their engage- v-^-^1^ ments ; a union of the people, under one constitution, i "^ s '?• , . . July by its nature excludes such an interpretation." * 23. After a full debate, the convention, by nine states against Delaware, referred the ratification of the new constitution to an assembly in each state to be chosen specially for that purpose by the people/ The proceedings of the federal convention for the 24-26. establishment of a national government, consisting of twenty-three resolutions, were referred to a committee of detail, five in number, who were ordered to pre- pare and report them in the form of a constitution. With them were referred the propositions of Charles Pinckney and the plan of New Jersey. The federal convention selected for its committee of detail three members fi^om the North and two fi'om the South — Gorham, Ellsworth, Wilson, Ran- dolph, and Rutledge, of whom the last was the chair- man. By ancestry Scotch-Irish, in early youth care- fully, but privately, educated, afterward a student of law in the Temple at London, Rutledge became the foremost statesman of his time south of Virginia. At the age of twenty-six he began his national career in the stamp act congress of 1765, and from that time was employed by his state wherever the aspect of affairs was the gravest. Patrick Henry pronounced him the most eloquent man in the congress of 1774 ; his sincerity gave force to his words. In the darkest hours he was intrepid, hopeful, inventive of resources, ' Gilpin, 1183, 1184 ; Elliot, 355, ' Gilpin, 1185 ; ElUot, 356. 356. 96 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTIOI^. CHAP, and resolute, so tliat timidity and wavering disap- ._^ peared before him. To the day when disease im- 1 "^ 8 7. paired his powers he was, in war and in peace, the 2i-26. pride of South Carolina. That state could not have selected an abler representative of its policy on the payment of the members of the national legislature from the treasuries of the states, on the slave-trade, the taxation of exports, and the requisition of more than a bare majority of the legislature to counteract European restrictions on navigation. Of his associates, Gorham was a merchant of Bos- ton, who from his own experience understood the commercial relations of his country, and knew where the restrictive laws of England, of France, and of Spain injured American trade and shipping. Ells- worth, who had just established harmony between the small and the larger states by a wise and happy compromise, now found himself the umpire between the extreme South and the North. Cotesworth Pinckney called to mind that if the committee should fail to insert some security to the southern states against an emancipation of slaves, and against taxes on exports, he should be bound by duty to his state to vote against their re- port.' After this the convention, on the twenty- sixth of July, unanimously adjourned till Monday, the sixtli of August, Ijiat the committee of detail might have time to prepare and report the constitu- tion.'' 2f5- Tlie committee in joint consultation gave their "y""* unremitting attention to every (piestion that came be- ' Gilpin, lib? ; Elliot, 357. ' Gilpin, 1220 ; Elliot, 374, 375. OUTLINE OF THE CONSTITUTION EEFEERED. 97 fore them.* Tlieir best p-uides were tlie constitutions chap. of tlie several states, whicli furnislied most striking >— ^ expressions, and regulations apj)roved by long expe- ■" ! ^ '^• rience. There is neither record nor personal narrative 26- of their proceedings, though they were invested with "f."^ the largest constructive powers ; but the conduct of its several members may be determined by light re- flected from their own words and actions before and after. Meanwhile the interest and anxiety of the country were on the increase. " If what the conven- tion recommend should be rejected," so wTote Mon- roe to Jefferson the day after the adjournment, " they will complete our ruin. But I trust that the pres- ence of General Washington will overawe and keep under the demon of party, and that the signature of his name to the result of their deliberations will se- cure its passage through the Union." " The weight of General Washington is very great in America," wrote Grayson to Monroe, "but I hardly think it sufficient to induce the people to pay money or part with power." ' > Wilson in Gilpin, 1249 ; Elliot, ^Grayson to Monroe, 29 Maj, 885, and Rutledge in Gilpin, 1384 ; 1787. MS. Elliot, 403. VOL. II. 7 CHAPTER Yl. THE COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAP. Befoee tlie federal convention had referred its S--V-— resolutions to a committee of detail, an interlude in congress was shaping tlie character and destiny of the United States of America. Sublime and humane and eventful in the history of mankind as was the result, it will take not many words to tell how it was brought about. For a time wisdom and peace and justice dwelt among men, and the great ordinance, which could alone give continuance to the union, came in serenity and stillness. Every man that had a share in it seemed to be led by an invisible hand to do just ^vhat was wanted of him ; all that was wrong- fully undertaken fell to the ground to wither by the wayside ; whatever was needed for the haj^py com- pletion of tlie mighty work arrived opportunely, and just at the right moment moved into its place. By the order of congress a treaty was to be held in January, 1780, witli the Shawnees, at the mouth of the Great Miami. Monroe, wlio had been present as a spectator at the meeting of the United States com- COLONIAL SYSTEM OF TIIE UNITED STATES. 99 missioners witli tlie representatives of tlie Six Na- cnAP. tions at Fort Stanwix, in 1784, desired to attend this v.,-,-^ meeting with a remoter tribe. He reached Fort Pitt, and with some of the American party began the de- scent of the Ohio ; but, from the low state of the wa- ter, he abandoned the expedition at Limestone, and made his way to Richmond through Kentucky and the wilderness. As the result of his enquiries on the journey, he took with him to congress the opinion that a great part of the western territory, especially that near Lakes Michigan and Erie, was miserably poor ; that the land on the Mississippi and the Illi- nois consisted of extensive plains which had not a single bush on them, and would not have for ages ; that the western settlers, in many of the most im- portant objects of a federal government, would be either opposed to the interests of the old states or but little connected with them. He disapproved the formation of more than five states in the temtory ; but he adhered to the principle of Jefferson, that they ought as soon as possible to take part in governing themselves, and at an early day share " the sovereign- ty, freedom, and independence " of the other states of the confederacy. In the course of the winter the subject of the di- vision of the western territory into states was, on the motion of Monroe, referred to a grand committee. Its report, which was presented on the twenty -fourth of March, traced the division of the territory into ten states to the resolution of congress of September, 1780, by which no one was to contain less territory than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty 100 THE FEDEEAL CONVElS^TIOlSr. CHAP, miles square. This resolution liad controlled tlie or- . — r^ dinance of April, 1784; and as the first step toward a reform, every part of that ordinance which con- flicted with the powder of congress to divide the terri- tory into states according to its own discretion w^as to be repealed/ In a further rej)ort it w^as found that Virginia had embodied the resolve of congress of September, 1780, into its cession of its claims to the land north-west of the Ohio. It, therefore, proposed that Virginia should be asked to revise its act of cession.'' At this stage of the proceedings Dane made a suc- cessful motion to raise a committee for considering and reporting the foi-m of a temporary government for the western states.' Its chaii'man was Monroe, with Johnson and Kins; of New En2:land, John Kean and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, as his asso- ciates. On the tenth of May this committee read their report. It asked the consent of Virginia to a division of the territory into not less than two nor more than five states ; presented a plan for their tem- porary colonial government ; and promised them ad- mission into the confederacy on the principle of the ordinance of Jefferson. Not one word was said of a restriction on slavery. No man liked better than * This first report of the grand xxx. 79 and followinj?, of Papers committee is found in Reports of of Old Congress ; but it has no Committees, Papers of Old Con- endorsement as to the time when gress, xxx. 75, in the State Dc- it Avas entered, read, or considered. ]tartment, and is endorsed as hav- ' The day on Avhich this motion ing l)een "read 24th of March, was made is not given, nor is the 1780, to be considered Thursday, motion entered in the .Journal. It Mareh IJOth." was probably in A])ril. We get ■•' This second report of the grand tlie fact from i)age 85 of vol. xxx. committee is found likewise in vol. of the Papers of the Old Congress. COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE imiTED STAllSS. 101 Monroe to lean for support on tlie minds and thoughts chap. of others. He loved to spread his sails to a favoring .^^ breeze, but in threatening weather preferred quiet under the shelter of his friends. When Jefferson, in 1784, moved a restriction on slavery in the western country from Florida to the Lake of the Woods, Monroe was ill enough to be out of the way at the division. When King in the following year revived the question, he was again absent at the vote ; now, when the same subject challenged his attention, he was equally silent. At first Monroe flattered himself that his report was generally approved ; * but no step was taken toward its adoption. All that was done lastingly for the West by this congress was the fruit of inde- pendent movements. On the twelfth of May, at the motion of Grayson seconded by King, the navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and the St. Law- rence, and the carrying places between them, were declared to be common highways, forever free to all citizens of the United States, without any tax, im- post, or duty. The assembly of Connecticut, which in the same month held a session, was resolved on opening a land office for the sale of six millions of acres west of the Pennsylvania line which their state had reserved in its cession of all further claims by charter to west- ern lands. The reservation was not excessive in ex- tent ; the right of Connecticut under its charter had been taken away by an act of the British parliament of which America had always denied the validity. ' Monroe to JeSerson, New York, 11 May, 1786. MS. 102 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP. The federal constitution had provided no mode of v^v— ' settling a stiife between a state and the United States ; a war would cost more than the land was worth.* Grayson ceased his opposition ; and on the foui'teenth of the following September congress accepted the deed of cession by which Connecticut was confiimed in the possession of what was called her "western resei've." The compact establishment of the culture of New Eno;land in that district had the most benefi- cent effect on the character of Ohio and the develop- ment of the union. For diminishing the number of the states to be formed out of the western territory, Moni'oe might hope for a favorable hearing. At his instance the subject was refeiTcd to a grand committee, which on the seventh of July reported in favor of obtaining the assent of Virginia to the division of the territory north-west of the Ohio into not less than two nor more than five states. With singular liberality Grayson proposed to divide the country at once into not less than five states. He would run a line east and west so as to touch the most southern part of Lake Michigan, and from that line draw one meridian line to the western side of the mouth of the AVabash, and another to the Avestern side of the mouth of the Great Miami, making three states between the Mississippi and the western lines of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The peninsula of Michigan was to form a fourth state ; the fifth would absorb the country between Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and the line of water to the northern * Grayson to Madison, 28 Muy, 178G. COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE TJlSnTED STATES. 103 boundary iu the Lake of the Woods on the one side chap. and the Mississij^pi on the other. This division, so ^^-r-i^ unfavorable to southern influence, was voted for by Maryland, A'^irginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, South Carolina being divided ; the North did not give one state in its favor ; and the motion was lost. It was then agreed that the district should ultimately be divided at least into three states ; the states and individuals being unanimous, except that Grayson adhered to his preference of five.* The cause which arrested the progi'ess of the ordi- nance of Mom'oe was a jealousy of the political power of the western states, and a prevailing desire to im- pede their admission into the union. For himself he remained on this point true to the principle of Jefferson ; to whom he explained with accurate foresight the policy toward which congress was drifting;. When the inhabitants of the Kaskaskias presented a petition for the organization of a government over their district, Monroe took part in the answer, that congress had under consideration the plan of a tem- porary government for their district, in which it would manifest a due regard to theii* interest."" This is the last act of congress relating to the West in which Monroe participated. With the first Monday of the coming November the rule of rotation would exclude him from congress. Durino; the summer Kean was absent from con- 1 7 s a gress, and his place on the committee was taken by * Journals of Congress, iv. 6C3, - Journals of Congress, iv. 688, 663. 689. 104 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP. Melanctlion Smith/ of 'New York. In September .^ r^ Monroe and King went on a mission from congress i*^^^- to tlie legislature of Pennsylvania, and their places were filled by Henry of Maryland and Dane. The committee with its new members rej)resented the ruling sentiment of the house ; and its report, which was made on the nineteenth of September, required of a western state before its admission into the union a population equal to one thirteenth part of the citi- zens of the thirteen original states according to the last preceding enumeration. Had this report been adopted, and had the decennial census of the popula- tion of teri'itories and states alone furnished the rule, Ohio must have waited twenty years longer for ad- mission into the union ; Indiana would have been received only after 1850; Illinois only after 1860; Michigan could not have asked admittance till after the census of 1880 ; and AYisconsin must still have remained, and hopelessly, a colonial dependency. Sept. The last day of September, 1786, was given to the ^^' consideration of the report ; but before anything was decided the seventh congress expired. Nov. The new congress, to which Madison and Richard Henry Lee, as well as Grayson and Edward Carring 1 7 8 "7. ton, were sent by Virginia, had no quorum till Feb ruary, 1787, and then was occupied with preparations for the federal convention and with the late insurrec tion in Massachusetts. But the necessity of provid ing for a territorial government was urgent; and near the end of April the committee of the late con * Tlio name of Smitli aH one of the committee occurs in Aug., 1786, Jouruals of Congress, iv. G88. COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. 105 gress revived its 2">roject of the preceding September, chap. On tlie ninth of May it was read a second time ; the . ^. clause which would have indefinitely delayed the ^'^^'^• admission of a western state was cancelled ; ' a new draft of the bill as amended was directed to be tran- scribed, and its third reading was made the order of the next day," when of a sudden the further progress of the ordinance was arrested. Kufus Putnam, of Worcester County, Massachu- iisz setts, who had drawn to himself the friendly es- teem of the commander-in-chief, and before the break- ing up of the army received the commission of brigadier-general, was foremost in promoting a peti- tion to congress of officers and soldiers of the revolu- tion for leave to plant a colony of the veterans of the aiTiiy between Lake Erie and the Ohio, in townships of six miles square, with large reservations "for the ministry and schools." For himself and his associates June he entreated Washington to represent to congress the strength of the grounds on which their j^etition rested." Their unpaid services in the war had saved the inde- pendence and the unity of the land ; their settlement would protect the frontiers of the old states against alarms of the savages ; their power would give safety along the boundary line on the north ; under their shelter the endless procession of emigrants would take up its march to fill the country from Lake Erie to the Ohio. With congress while it was at Princeton, and again * This appears from the erasures ' S. P. Hildrcth, Pioneer Set- on the printed bill, which is still tiers of Ohio, 88. Walker, 29. preserved. Letter of Rufus Putnam, 16 June, ^ Journals of Congress, iv. 747. 1783. 106 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTIOIS'. CHAP, after its adjournment to Annapolis, Washington ex- — .-^ erted every power of wliicli lie was master to bring ^T^^- about a speedy decision. The members with whom he conversed acquiesced in the reasonableness of the j)etition and aj)proved its policy, but they excused their inertness by the want of a cession of the north- western lands. ITS 4. "When in March, 1784, the lands were ceded by ^^<= • Vii'ginia, Rufus Putnam again appeals to AYashing- ton : " You are sensible of the necessity as well as the possibility of both officers and soldiers fixing them- selves in business somewhere as soon as possible ; many of them are unable to lie long on their oars ; " 17 8 5. but congress did not mind the spur. In the next year, under the land ordinance of Grayson, Rufus Putnam was elected a surveyor of land in the west- ern territory for Massachusetts; and on his declin- ing the service, another brigadier- general, Benjamin Tupper, of Chesterfield, in the same state, was ap- pointed in his stead.^ Tupper repau^ed to the West to superintend the work confided to him ; but disor- derly Indians prevented the survey ; without having advanced farther west than Pittsburo-h, he returned home ; and, like almost every one who caught glimpses of the West, he returned with a mind filled with the brightness of its promise. Toward the end of 1785, Samuel Ilolden Parsons, the son of a clergyman in Lyme, Connecticut, a gradu- ate of Harvard, an early and a ^vise and resolute patriot, in the ^var a brigadier-general of tlie regular army, travelled to the AYest on public business, de- ' Jouruals of Congress, iv. 520, 527, 547. COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 scended the Oliio as far as its falls, and, full of chap. VI tlie idea of a settlement m tLat western country, — ,-^ wi'ote, before tlie year went out, that on Lis way i "i" s s. lie liad seen no place wliicli pleased him so much for a settlement as the country on the Muskin- gum.' In the treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1784, the Six n8 4. Nations renounced to the United States all claims to the country west of the Ohio. A treaty of January, 1785, with the Wyandotte, Delaware, Chippewa, and i78 5. Ottawa nations, released the country east of the Cuy- ahoga, and all the lands on the Ohio, south of the line of portages from that river to the Great Miami and the Maumee. On the last day of January, 1786, iTse. George Rogers Clark, the conqueror of the North- yi.' west, Richard Butler, late a colonel in the army, and Samuel Holden Parsons, acting under commissions from the United States, met the Shawnees at the mouth of the Great Miami, and concluded with them a treaty by which they acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States over all their territory as de- scribed in the treaty of peace with Great Britain, i v g 7. and for themselves renounced all claim to property in any land east of the main branch of the Great Miami.' In this way the Indian title to southern Ohio, and all Ohio to the east of the Cuyahoga, was quieted. Six days before the signature of the treaty with jau. the Sha^vnees, Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, after a careful consultation at the house of Putnam, * William Frederick Poole iu ^ U. S. Statutes at Large, vii. K A. Eeview, liii. 331. . 15, lG-18, 20. 108 TIIE FEDERAL CONVENTION CHAP, in Rutland, publislied in tlie newspapers of Massa- V— .,-L, cliusetts an invitation to form " the Ohio Company " 178 7. fop purchasing and colonizing a large tract of land between the Ohio and Lake Erie. The men chiefly engaged in this enterprise were husbandmen of New England, nurtured in its schools and churches, labo- rious and methodical, patriots who had been further trained in a seven years' war for freedom. Have these men the creative power to plant a common- wealth? And is a republic the government under which political organization for great ends is the most easy and the most perfect ? To bring the Ohio company into formal existence, all persons in Massachusetts who wished to promote the scheme were invited to meet in their respective counties on Wednesday, the fifteenth day of the next Feb. Februar}^, and choose delegates to meet in Boston on March. Wednesday, the first day of March, 1786, at ten of the clock, then and there to consider and determine on a general plan of association for the company. On the appointed day and hour, representatives of eight counties of Massachusetts came together ; among others, from Worcester county, Rufus Putnam ; from Suffolk, AVinthrop Sargent; from Essex, Manasseh Cutler, lately a chaplain in the army, then minister at Ipswich; from Middlesex, John Brooks; from Hamp- sliire, Benjamin Tupper. Rufus Putnam was chosen chairman of the meeting, Winthrop Sargent its secre tary. On the third of IMarch, Putnam, Cutler, Brooks Sargent, and Cushing, its regularly appointed com mittee, re})orted an association of a thousand shares, each of one thousand dollars in continental certifi' COLOJS'IAL SYSTEM OF THE r]N^ITED STATES. 109 cates, wliicli were then tlie equivalent of one hundred chap. and twenty-five dollars in gold, with a further liabil- ^— ,^-> ity to pay ten dollars in specie to meet the expenses ^"i^"^- of the agencies. Men might join together and sub- scribe for one share. A year was allowed for subscription. At its end, on the eighth of March, 1787, a meeting of the sub- March. scribers was held at Boston, and Samuel Holden Parsons, Rufus Putnam, and Manasseh Cutler were chosen directors to make application to congress for a purchase of lands adequate to the purposes of the company. The basis for the acquisition of a vast domain was settled by the directors, and Parsons repaired to 'New York to bring the subject before congress. On the May same day on which the act for the government of the ^' North-west was ordered to a third readins; on the morrow, the memorial of Samuel Holden Parsons, agent of the associators of the Ohio company, bearing date only of the preceding day, was presented.* It interested every one. For vague hopes of colonization, here stood a body of hardy pioneers ; ready to lead the way to the rapid absoi'ption of the domestic debt of the United States ; selected from the choicest regi- ments of the army ; capable of self-defence ; the pro- tectors of all who should follow them ; men skilled in the labors of the field and of artisans ; enterpris- * The memorial of Parsons is in of the associators for the pm-chase his own handwriting. It is con- of lands on the Ohio. Read May tained in vol. xli. of Papers of the ninth, 1787. Referred to j\Ir. Car- Old Congress, vol. viii. 226, of the rington, Mr. King, Mr. Dane, Mr. Memorials. It is endorsed in the Madison, Mr. Benson. Acted on handwriting of Roger Aldcn, " Me- July 23, 1787. See committee morial of Samuel H. Parsons, agent book." 110 TIIE FEDEEAL CONVENTIOI?^. CHAP, ins: and laborious : trained in the severe morality and ^-r^ strict orthodoxy of the New England villages of that ^l.^'^- day. All was chan2:ed. There was the same differ- May *' *=" 9. ence as between sendins: out recruitino; officers and giving marching orders to a regular coips present with music and arms and banners. On the instant the memorial was I'eferred to a committee consisting of Edward Carrington, Rufus King, ISI^athau Dane, Madison, and Egbert Benson — a great committee: its older members of congress having worthy associ- ates in Carrino-ton and Benson, of whom nothino; was spoken but in praise of theii* faultless integrity and rightness of intention. J"iy On the fourth day of July, 1787, for the fii'st time since the eleventh of May, congress had a quorum. There were present from the North, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey ; fi-om the South, Vir- ginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia, soon to be joined by Delaware. The South had all in its own way. The president of congress being absent, "Wil- liam Grayson, of Virginia, was elected the temporary- president. 5. On Friday, the fifth, there was no (juorum. In the evening arrived Manasseh Cutler, one of the three agents of the Ohio company, sent to complete the negotiations for western lands. On liis way to New York Cutler had visited Parsons, his fellow- du'ector, and now acted in full concert with him. Carrington gave the new envoy a cordial welcome, introduced him to membei's on the ijoor of congress, devoted immediate attention to his proposals, and al- io, ready, on the tenth of July, his report granting to COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill tlie Ohio company all that they desired was read in cdap. congress/ — ^ This report, which is entirely in the handwriting ^ y ? ^" of Edward Carrington, assigns as gifts a lot for the lo. maintenance of public schools in every township ; another lot for the purpose of religion ; and four com- plete townships, " which shall be good land, and near the centre," for the purpose of a university. The land, apart from the gifts, might be paid for in loan office certificates reduced to specie value or certificates of liquidated debts of the United States. For bad land, expenses of surveying, and incidental circum- stances, the whole allowance was not to exceed one third of a dollar an acre. The price, therefore, was about sixty-six cents and two thirds for every acre, in United States certificates of debt. But as these were then worth only twelve cents on the dollar, the price of land in specie was between eight and nine cents an acre. On the ninth of July Richard Henry Lee took his seat in congress. His presence formed an era. On that same day the report for framing a western gov- ernment, which was to have had its third reading on the tenth of May, was referred to a new commit- * The business of congress was Congress, xix. 27. The report is done with closed doors and with in the handwriting of Edward Car- rigid secrecy. Hence some slight rington, and by his own hand is misconceptions in the journal of endorsed: "Report of Committee Cutler. N. A. Review, liii. 334, on Memorial of S. H. Parsons." etc. He says that on July sixth a Mr. Thomson's hand endorses fur- committee was appointed to con- ther: "Report of Mr. Carrington, sider his proposal. The committee Mr. King, Mr. Dane, Mr. Madison, was appointed not on July sixth, Mr. Benson. Read July 10th, 1787. but on the ninth of May, and was Order of the day for the eleventh." not changed. Its report is to be On what day it was presented is found in vol. v. of the Reports of not recorded. Committees, and in Old Papers of 112 THE FEDEEAL COJSTElSrTrOW. tee ' of seven, composed of Edward Camngton aud Dane, Ricliard Henry Lee, Kean of Soutli Carolina, and Melauctlion Smith of New York. There were then in cono-ress five southern states to three of the North ; on the committee two northern men to three from the South, of whom the two ablest were Virginians. The committee, animated by the presence of Lee, went to its work in good earnest. Dane, who had been actively employed on the colonial government for more than a year, and for about ten months had served on the committee which had the subject in charge, acted the part of scribe. Like Smith and Lee, he had opposed a federal convention for the reform of the constitution. The three agreed very well to- gether, though Dane secretly harbored the wish of find- ing in the West an ally for " eastern politics." They were pressed for time, and found it necessary finally to adopt the best system they could get. At first they took up the plan reported by Monroe ; but new ideas were started ; and they worked with so much 11. industry that on the eleventh of July their report of an ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio was read for its fii'st time in congress. The ordinance embodied the best parts of the work of their predecessors. For the begiiming they made the whole north-western territory one district, of which all the officers appointed by congress were ' In thn Journals of C'onifross, iv. liad been refcrrod to tlie oommit- 751, for the lltli of July, nu-ntion tec. I find an cndorsomrnt in the is made that tlic report of a coin- State Department on one of the mittee toucliin<,' the teni])()rarY^'ov- papers tliat tlie day on ■which that erument for tlie Avesteru territory refereuce was made was July ninth. COLOIS'IAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. 113 to take an oatli of fidelity as well as of office. JefFer- chap. son, in his ordinance for tlie sale of lands, had taken .^.^^ care for the equal descent of real estate, as well as ^Jf^- . . July- other property, to children of both sexes. This was adopted and expressed in the forms of the laws of Massachusetts. The rule of Jefferson was followed in requii'ing no property qualification for an elector ; but was not extended, as Jefferson had done, to the officers to be elected. The committee then proceeded to establish articles of compact, not to be repealed except by the consent of the original states and the people and states in the territory. Among these, as in Massachusetts and Virginia, were fi'eedom of religious worship and of religious sentiments; and various articles from the usual bills of ri2:hts of the states. The next clause bears in every word the impress of the mind of Eichard Henry Lee. " No law ought ever to be made in said territory that shall in any manner whatever interfere with or conflict with pri- vate contracts or engagements, hona fide and without fraud 2^reviously formed." " This regulation related particularly to the abuse of paper money." * ^ ' ' Cette disposition porte par- tion : "a proposition that I have ticulierement sur Tabus du papier not heard mentioned." Compare monnaie." Otto to Montmorin, Lee to Washington, in Sparks's successor of Vergennes at Ver- Letters to Washington, iv. 174. sailles, 20 July, 1787. MS. R. More than forty-two years later H. Lee to George Mason, Chantil- Dane claimed for himself ' ' orig- ly, 15 May, 1787. Life of Richard inality " in regard to the clause Henry Lee, ii. 71-73. He hated against impairing contracts [Mas- paper money, and therefore had sachusetts Historical Society Pro- entreated his friends in the con- ceedings, 1867 to 1869, p. 479], vention at Philadelphia to take but contem2:)orary evidence points from the states the right of issuing to R. H. Lee as one with whom it. Moreover, he piqued himself he must at least divide the hon- upon the originality of his sugges- or. VOL. II. 8 114 THE FEDERAL CONYENTIOlSr. Tlie tliird article recognised, like the constitution of Massachusetts, and like the letter of Eufus Put- nam of 1788,* that religion, morality, and knowledge are necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, and declared that schools and the means of education shall forever be encoui'ao;ed. The utmost good faith was enjoined toward the Indians ; theii' lands and property, their rights and liberty, were ordered to be protected by laws founded in justice and humanity ; so that peace and friend- ship with them might ever be preserved. The new states, by compact which neither party alone could change, became, and were forever to re- main, a part of the United States of America. The waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between them, according to the successful motion of Grayson and King, were made common highways and forever free. The whole ter- ritory was divided into three states Only, the popu- lation requu'ed for the admission of any one of them to the union was fixed at sixty thousand ; but both these clauses were subject to the future judgment of congress. The prayer of the Ohio company had been but this : " The settlers shall be under the im- mediate government of congress in such mode and for such time as congress shall judge 2">i'oper ; " the ordinance contained no allusion to slavery ; and in that form it received its first readino; and was or- dered to be printed. Grayson, then presiding officer of congress, had al- ways opposed slavery. Two years before he had * The proposals presented by Culler are in the handwriting of Parsons. COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UXITED STATES. 115 wisliecl success to the attempt of King for its restric- chap. tion ; and everything points to him * as the immediate .^^^^ cause of the tranquil spirit of disinterested states- ■^.^f'^- manship which took possession of every southern man in the assembly. Of the members of Virginia, Richard Henry Lee had stood against Jefferson on this very question ; but now he acted ^\'ith Grayson, and from the states of which no man had yielded be- fore, every one chose the part which was to bring on their memory the benedictions of all coming ages. Obeying an intimation from the south, Nathan Dane copied from Jefferson the prohibition of involuntary servitude in the territory, and quieted alarm by add- ing from the report of King a clause for the deliv- ering up of the fugitive slave. This at the second readino; of the ordinance he moved as a sixth article of compact, and on the thirteenth day of July, 1787, the great statute forbidding slavery to cross the river Ohio was passed by the vote of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, ^ William Grayson voted for Monroe to obtain that consent. King's motion of reference, by The consent was not obtained, which the prohibition of slavery Though in shattered health, he was to be immediate ; he expressed then became a member of the next the hope that congress would be Virginia legislature, and was con- liberal enough to adopt King's spicuous in obtaining the assent of motion ; he gave, more than any Virginia. Add to this in the de- other man in congress, efficient bate on excluding slavery from attention to the territorial ques- the territory of Arkansas, Hugh . tions ; in 1785 he framed and car- Nelson, of Virginia, was quoted ried through congress an ordinance as having ascribed the measure to for the sale of western lands ; his Grayson. Mr. Austin Scott fell influence as president of congress upon, and was so good as to point was great ; his record as against out to me, this passage in Annals slavery is clearer than that of any of Congress for February, 1819, other southern man who was pres- column 1225. Thus far no direct ent in 1787. The assent of Vir- report of Nelson's speech has beea ginia being requisite to the valid- found, ity of the ordinance, he entreated 116 THE FEDERAL COJ^fVENTION. CHAP. New Jersey, New York, and Massacliusetts, all tlie ^.^^-^^^ states that were tlien present in congress. Pennsyl- 1 " s V. vauia and three states of New Ensjland were absent ; July. ° ' Maryland only of tlie South. Of the eighteen mem- bers of congress who answered to their names, every one said " aye " excepting Abraham Yates, the young- er, of New York, who insisted on leaving to all fu- ture ages a record of his want of Judgment, right feel- ing, and common sense. Thomas Jefferson first summoned congress to pro- hibit slavery in all the territory of the United States ; Rufus King lifted up the measure when it lay almost lifeless on the ground, and suggested the immediate instead of the prospective prohibition; a congress composed of five southern states to one from New England, and two from the middle states, headed by William Grayson, supported by Richard Henry Lee, and using Nathan Dane as scribe, carried the measure to the goal in the amended form in which King had caused it to be referred to a committee ; and, as Jef- ferson had proposed, placed it under the sanction of an irrevocable compact.* The ordinance being passed, tlie terms of a sale between the United States and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, as agents of the Ohio company, were rapidly brought to a close, substantially on the basis of the report of Carrington." Tiie occupation of the purchased lands began im- mediately, and proceeded with the order, courage, and ' See vol. i., pages 417-410. See " Compare Carrington's report also Niitliiin Diiiic to Rufus King, with its amended form in Jouruals in N. Y. Tribune of 2S Felj., 1805, of Cougre.ss, iv. Appendix 17. or below, jjage.H A'-iO, 431. COLONIAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES. 117 regularity of men accustomed to tlie discipline of chap. soldiers. " No colony in America," said Washington ^.^-r^ in his joy, " was ever settled under such favorable ^j^ufy!" auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the set- tlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the w^elfare of such a commu- nity." ' Before a year had passed by, free labor kept its sleepless watch on the Ohio. But this was not enough. Virginia had retained the right to a veiy large tract north-west of the Ohio; and should she consent that her own sons should be forbidden to cross the river with their slaves to her own lands ? It was necessary for her to give her consent be- fore the ordinance could be secure ; and Grayson earnestly entreated Monroe to gain that consent be- fore the year should go out. But Monroe was not equal to the task, and nothing was accomplished. At the next election of the assembly of Virginia, Grayson, who was not a candidate in the preceding or the following year, was chosen a delegate ; and then a powerful committee, on which were Carring- ton, Monroe, Edmund Eandolph, and Grayson, suc- cessfully brought forward the bill by which Virginia confirmed the ordinance for the colonization of all the territory then in the possession of the United States by freemen alone. The white men of that day everywhere held them- selves bound to respect and protect the black men in > Sparks, is. 385. 118 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, their liberty and property. Tlie suffrage was not as >-^v^^ yet regarded as a right incident to manliood, and IV 87. could be extended only according to tlie judgment of those who were found in possession of it. AVhen 1785. in 1785 an act providing for the gradual abolition of slavery within the state of New York, while it placed the children born of slaves in the rank of citizens, deprived them of the j)rivileges of electors, the coun- cil of revision, Clinton and Sloss Hobart being pres- ent, and adopting the report of Chancellor Living- ston, negatived the act, because, " in violation of the rules of justice and against the letter and spirit of the constitution," it disfranchised the black, mu- latto, and mustee citizens who had heretofore been entitled to a vote. The veto prevailed ; ' and in the state of New York the colored man retained his im- partial right of suffrage till the constitution of 1821. Vii'ginia, which continued to recognise free negroes 17 8 8. as citizens, in the session in which it sanctioned the north-western ordinance, enacted that any person who should be convicted of stealing or selling any free person for a slave shall suffer death without benefit of clergy.' Tliis was the protection which Virginia, when the constitution was forming, extended to the black man. * street's New York Council of ^ Ilening, xii. 531. Revision, 268, 200. CHAPTER VII. THE COITSTITUTIOX IX DETAIL. THE POWEKS OF CON- GRESS. 6 August to 10 Septembee, 1787. The twenty-three resolutions of the convention chap. . . . Vll were distributed by the committee of detail into as ^^-^-1^ many articles, which included new subjects of the ^l^J- gravest moment. On the sixth of August every 6.° member of the convention received a copy of this draft of a constitution, printed on broadsides in large type, with wide spaces and margin for minutes of amendments.* The experience of more than two months had inspu^ed its members with the courage and the disposition to make still bolder grants of power to the union. The instrument " opens with the new and sublime words : " We, the people of the states," enumerating New Hampshire and every other of the thirteen, " do ordain, declare, and establish the following constitu- * Of these copies six have been as is believed, that of its secre- examined, including that of the tary. president of the convention, and, ^ Gilpin, 1226 5 Elliot, 376. 120 THE FEDERAL CONVElSTTIOl^. tion for tlie government of ourselves and our pos- terity." ' AYlien " the good people " of thirteen colonies, each having an organized separate home government, and each hitherto forming an integral part of one common empire, jointly prepared to declare themselves free and independent states, it was their first care to as- certain of whom they were composed. The question they agreed to investigate and decide by a joint act of them all. For this end congress selected from its num- bers five of its ablest jurists and most trusted states- men: John Adams of Massachusetts, Thomas Jef- ferson of Virginia, Edward Rutledge of South Caro- lina, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, and Kobert R. / Livingston of New York ; the fairest representation j that could have been made of New England, of the ' South, and of the central states. The committee thought not of embarrassing themselves \^dth the introduction of any new theory of citizenship ; they looked solely for existing facts. They found colonies with well-kno^vn territorial boundaries; and inhabi- tants of the territory of each colony ; and their unani- mous report, unanimously accepted by congress, was : "All persons abiding within any of tlie United Colo- nies, and deriving protection from the la^vs of the same, o^ve allegiance to the said laws, and are members of sucii colony."' From "persons making a visita- tion or temporary stay," only a secondary allegiance was held to be due. * "We the people of Mnssnclm- tcrity." Preamble to the first con- sotts — do — ordain iuulcstablisii tlio stitution of Massachusetts, followinjf — constitution of civil *■' Journals of Congress for 5, 17, government for ourselves and pos- and 24 June, 1770. THE POWERS OF CONGEESS. 121 When the articles of confederation were framed cttap. VII with the grand principle of intercitizenship, which . — ^ gave to the American confederation a superiority over ^^J^r^' every one that preceded it, the same definition of 6. membership of the community was repeated, except that intercitizenship was not extended to the pauper, or the vagabond, or the fugitive from Justice, or the slave. And now these free inhabitants of every one of the United States, this collective people, proclaim their common intention, by their own innate life, to institute a general government, to whose existence they set no limit. For the name of the government they chose " The United States of America"; language, w^hich ex- pressed unity in plurality and was endeared by usage, being preferred to any new description. That there might be no room to question where paramount allegiance would be due, the second arti- cle declared : " The government shall consist of su- preme legislative, executive, and judicial powers." ' To maintain that supremacy, the legislature of the United States was itself authorized to carry into exe- cution all powers vested by this new constitution in the government of the United States, or in any of its departments or offices.'' The name congress was adopted to mark the two branches of the legislature, which were now named the house of representatives and the senate ; the house still taking precedence as the first branch. The executive was henceforward known as " the President." The scheme of erecting a general government on » Gilpin, 1236; Elliot, 377. =" Gilpin, 1233; Elliot, 379. 122 THE FEDEEAL COITV^ENTION'. CHAP, tlie autliority of tlie state lesrislatures was discarded : VII . . . .^ r-i^ and the states were enjoined to prescribe for the elec- '^'J^'^- tion of tlie members of each branch, resfulations sub- 6. ject to be altered by the legislature of the United States ; but the convention itself, in its last days, unanimously reserved to the states alone the right to establish the places for choosing senators/ To ensure the continuous succession of the gov- ernment, the legislature was ordered to meet on the first Monday in December in every year,'' "unless," added the convention, "congress should by law ap- point a different day." To complete the independence of congress, pro- vision needed to be made for the support of its mem- bers. The committee of detail left them to be paid for their services by their respective states ; but this mode would impair the self-sustaining character of the 14. government. Ellsworth, avowing a change of opin- ion, moved that they should be paid out of the Treas- ury of the United States." "If the general legisla- ture," said Dickinson, " should be left dependent on the state legislatures, it would be happy for us if we had never met in tins room." The motion of Ells- worth was carried by nine states against Massachu- setts and South Carolina.* The compensation which he and Sherman would have fixed at five dollars a day, and the same for every thirty miles of travel, was left " to ])e ascertained by law." " In tlie distribution of representatives among the ' Gilpin, 1220, 1270, 1281, 12S2, = Gilpin, 931, 132G; Elliot, 226, 1540, 10(W; Elliot, 877, 401, 402, 425. 550. * Gilpin, 1320; Elliot, 427. . " Gilpin, 1227; Elliut, 377. " Gilpiu, 1330; Elliot, 427. THE POWERS OF CONGRESS. 123 states no cLau2:e was made ; but to tlie mle of one cnAP. • VII member of the house for every forty thousand inhab- ^ itants Madison oblected that in the comius; increase i ^ s 7. of population it would render the number excessive. 8. "The government," replied Gorham, "will not last so long as to produce this effect. Can it be supposed that this vast country, including the western territory, will one hundred and fifty years hence remain one nation ? " ' The clause was for the time unanimously made to read: "not exceeding one for eveiy forty thousand." As the first qualification for membership of the legislature, it was agreed, and it so remains, that the candidate at the time of his election should be an in- habitant of the state in which he should be chosen. It is not required that a representative should reside in the district which he may be elected to represent. Citizenship was indispensable ; and, before a comer from a foreign country could be elected to the house, he must, according to the report, have been a citizen of the United States for at least three years ; before eligibility to the senate, for at least four. " I do not choose," said Mason, "to let foreigners and adven- turers make laws for us and govern us without that local knowledge which ought to be possessed by the representative." And he moved for seven years in- stead of three.^ To this all the states agreed except Connecticut. Fi'om respect to Wilson, who was born and edu- is. cated in Scotland, the subject was taken up once more. Gerry, on the thirteenth, wished none to be ^ GUpin, 1263; Elliot, 392. " Gilpin, 1256, 1257; Elliot, 389. 124 THE FEDERAL COISTENTION. CHAP, elected but men born- in the land. AYilliamson pre- — .-i, ferred a residence of nine years to seven.* Hamilton ^A ^ '^' P^'oposed to require only citizenship and inhabitancy/ 13. and Madison seconded him. In proof of the advan- tao'e of encourao'inoj emi<2:ration, Wilson cited Penn- sylvania, the yoimgest settlement on the Atlantic except Georgia, yet among the foremost in popula- tion and prosperity ; almost all the general officers of her line in the late army and three of her deputies to the convention — Kobert Morris, Fitzsimons, and himself — were not natives." But Connecticut, Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, which voted with Plamilton and Madison, were overpowered by the seven other states, of which, on this question, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Georgia were the most stubborn." Gouverneur Morris desired that the proviso of seven years should not affect any person then a citizen. On this candid motion New Jersey joined the four more liberal states ; but Putledge, Charles Pinckney, Mason, and Bakhvin spoke mth inveterate tenacity for the dis- franchisement against Gorham, Madison, Morris, and Wilson ; and the motion was lost by five states to six.' For a senator, citizenship for nine years was re- quired; Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland iG. alone finding the number of years excessive.' Three days later, power was vested in the legislature of the United States to establish a uniform rule of naturali- zation throu2:hout the United States.' ' Cilpln, 1309; Elliot, 411. " Gilpin, 1301-1305; Elliot, 412- Mlilj.iii, 12!)0, 1800; Elliot, 411. 414. » Gilpin, 1:51)0, 1:501 ; Elliot, 412. ° Gilpin, ISO.-); Elliot, 414. * Gilpin, 1;J01; Elliot, 412. '' Elliot, i. 245. TIIE POWEES OF CONGRESS. 125 Tlie committee of detail Lad evaded tlie ques- chap. tion of a property qualification for tlie members of v^-^-^ the federal lesrislature and other branches of the 2:ov- i *? s 7. . . .... Aug. ej'nmeut by referring it to legislative discretion, lo! Charles Pinckney, who wished to require for the president a fortune of not less than a hundred thou- sand dollars, for a judge haK as much, and a like pro- portion for the members of the national legislature, ventured no more than to move generally that a prop- erty qualification should be requii'ed of them all.* Franklin made answer : " I dislike everything that tends to debase the spirit of the common people. If honesty is often the companion of wealth, and if poverty is exposed to peculiar temptation, the posses- sion of jDroperty increases the desire for more. Some of the greatest rogues I was ever acquainted with were the richest rogues. Remember, the scripture requires in rulers that they should be men hating covetousness. If this constitution should betray a great partiality to the rich, it will not only hurt us in the esteem of the most liberal and enlightened men in Europe, but discourage the common people from removing to this country." ' The motion was rejected by a general " no." The question was for a while left open, but the constitution finally escaped wdthout imposing a property qualification on any person in the public employ. Various efforts were made by Gorham, Mercer, King, and Gouverneur Morris to follow the precedent of the British parliament, and constitute a less num- ber than a majority in each house sufficient for a ^ Gilpin, 1283; Elliot, 402, 403. " Gilpin, 1284,1285; Elliot, 403. 1 V8 126 THE FEDERAL C0I5TENTI0TT. CHAP, quorum, lest tlie secessiou of a few members sliould VII . -^r^ fatally inteiTupt tlie course of public business. But, by the exertions of Wilson and Ellsworth, Randolph lu" and Madison, power was all but unanimously given to each branch to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house might provide. Moreover, each house received the power, unkno^\Ti to the confederacy, to expel a member with the concurrence of two thirds of those voting/ What should distinguish the "electors" of the United States from their citizens? the constituency of the house of representatives of the United States from the people ? The report of the committee ran thus : " The qualifications of the electors shall be the same, from time to time, as those of the electors in the several states of the most numerous branch of their own legislatures." " Gouverneur Morris desired to restrain the ri2:ht of suif ra2:e to freeholders ; and he thought it not proper that the qualifications of the national legislature should depend on the will of the states. "Tlie states," said Ellsworth, "are the best judges of the circumstances and temper of their own jieople."' "Eight or nine states," remarked IVIason, " liave extended the right of suffrage beyond the freeholders. AVhat will the people there say if any shouhl be disfranchised?"' "Abridgments of the rii^ht of suft'rao:e ," declared Butler, " tend to revolution." " Tlie freeholders of the country," re- plied Dickinson, " are the best guardians of liberty ; ■ Ciliiin, 1201; Elliot, 407. •'' Cilpiii, 1250; Elliot, 386. =■ Gili.in, 1227; Elliot, 377. " Ibid. THE POWERS OF CONGRESS. 127 and tlie restriction of tlie rio-lit to tliem is a neces- chap. . VII sary defence against the dangerous influence of tliose .^-^-^ multitudes without property and without principle, ^l^J- with which our country, like all others, will in time 7.° alwund. As to the unpopularity of the innovation, it is chimerical. The great mass of our citizens is composed at this time of freeholders, and will be pleased with it." " Ought not every man who pays a tax," asked Ellsworth, "to vote for the representa- tive who is to levy and dispose of his money?"* "The time," said Gouverneur Morris, "is not distant when this country Avill abound with mechanics and manufacturers, who will receive their bread from their employers. AVill such men be the secure and faithful guardians of liberty — the impregnable bar- rier against aristocracy? The ignorant and the de- pendent can be as little trusted with the public interest as children. Nine tenths of the people are at present freeholders, and these will certainly be pleased mth the restriction." ' " The true idea," said Mason, " is that every man having evidence of attach- ment to the society, and pennanent common interest with it, ought to share in all its rights and privi- leges." "In several of the states," said Madison, "a freehold is now the qualification. VieA\dng the sub- ject in its merits alone, the freeholders of the country woiild be the safest depositories of republican lib- erty. In future times, a great majority of the people will not only be without property in land, but prop- erty of any soi-t. These will either combine under the influence of their common situation, in which case the ' Gilpin, 1351; Elliot, 386. " Gilpin, 1232; Elliot, 3SC, 387. 128 THE FEDEEAL COITVElS^TIOlSr. ciTAP. riglits of property and the public liberty will not be -—-.-L secure in tlieir liands, or, wliat is more probable, they 17 8JI. -^yjj[ become the tools of opulence and ambition ; in 7° which case, there "will be equal danger on another side."^ Franklin reasoned a2;ainst the restriction fi'om the nobleness of character that the possession of the electoral franchise inspires.' "The idea of re- straining]: the ri2:ht of suffras-e to the freeholders," said Butledge, '' would create division among the people, and make enemies of all those who should be ex- cluded."' The movement of Morris toward a free- hold qualification gained no vote but that of Dela- ware; and the section as reported was unanimously approved. Each state was therefore left to fix for itself with- in its own limits its conditions of suffrage ; but where, as in New York and Maryland, a discrimination was made in different elections, the convention applied the most liberal rule adopted in the state to the elec- tions of members of congress, accepting in advance any extensions of the suffrage that in any of the states might grow out of the development of republi- can institutions. Had the convention established a freehold or otlier qualification of its own, it must have taken upon itself the introduction of this restric- tion into every one of the states of the union. On the question of representation the only embar- rassment that remained gi'ew out of that pail of the report of the committee of detail which sanctioned the perpetual continuance of the slave-trade. Every- Tlilpin, 1253; P^lliot, 3S7. ^Gilpin, 1255; Elliot, 388. '■' Giipin, 1254; Elliot, 388. THE POWERS OF COXGEESS. 129 where, always, by everybody, iii statutes alike of cnAP. Virginia and South Carolina, in speeches, in letters, .^,-i^ slavery in those days was spoken of as an evil. ^^^J'- Everywhere in the land, the free negro always, the 7- slave from the instant of his emancipation, belonged to the class of citizens, though in Vii'ginia, South Carolina and Georgia, and in Delaware, for all ex- cept those who before 1787 had abeady acquired the elective franchise,' color baiTed the way to the ballot- box. The convention did nothino- to diminish the rights of black men ; and, to the incapacities under which they labored in any of the states, it was care- ful to add no new one. Madison, in the following February, recommending the constitution for ratifi- cation, writes : " It is admitted that, if the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away, the negroes could no longer be refused an equal share of representation with the other inhabitants.'"' The convention had agreed to the enumeration of two fifths of the slaves in the representative popula- tion ; but a new complication was introduced by the sanction which the committee of detail had lent to the perpetuity of the slave-trade. King had hoped for some compromise on the sub- 8- ject of the slave-trade and slavery. "I never can agree," said he, " to let slaves be imported without limitation of time, and then be represented in the na- tional leo-islature." ' Gouverneur Morris then moved that there should be no representation but of "free inhabitants." "I » I so interpret the Delaware stat- ^ Gilpin, 1361, 1262 ; Elliot, 391, ute of 1787. 393. ' Federalist, No. liv. VOL. II. 9 130 THE FEDEEAL CONVEISTTIO]!?^. CHAP, never will concur in upliolding domestic slavery. It is a nefarious institution. It is tlie curse of Heaven on the states where it prevails. Compare the free regions of the middle states, where a rich and noble cultivation marks the prosperity and happiness of the people, with the misery and poverty which overspread the barren wastes of Virginia, Maryland, and the other states havius: slaves. Travel throuo;h the whole continent, and you behold the 'prospect continually varying with the appearance and disappearance of slavery. The moment you leave the eastern states and enter New York, the effects of the institution become visible. Passing through the Jerseys and entering Pennsylvania, every criterion of superior improvement witnesses the change ; proceed south- wardly, and every step you take through the great regions of slaves presents a desert increasing with the increasing proportion of these wretched beings. Upon what principle shall slaves be computed in the representation ? Are they men ? Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property? "VYhy, then, is no other property included? The houses in this city are worth more than all the wretched slaves who cover the rice-swamps of South Carolina. The admission of slaves into the represen- tation, wlien fairly explained, comes to this : that the inhabitant of Georgia and South Carolina who goes to the coast of Africa, and in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity tears away his fellow-creat- ures from their dearest connections and damns them to the most cruel bondage, shall have more votes in a govermnent instituted for protection of the rights of THE POWERS OF CONGRESS. 131 mankind tlian tlie citizen of Pennsylvania or New chap. . VII Jersey, who views with a laudable horror so nefarious .— ^ a practice. I will add, that domestic slavery is the ^^ ^ '^• most prominent feature in the aristocratic counte- 8. nance of the proposed constitution. The vassalage of the poor has ever been the favorite offspring of aris- tocracy. And what is the proposed compensation to the northern states for a sacrifice of every principle of riglit, of every impulse of humanity ? They are to bind themselves to march their militia for the de- fence of the southern states against those very slaves of whom they complain. They must supply vessels and seamen, in case of foreigrn attack. The leg-isla- ture will have indefinite power to tax them by ex- cises and duties on imports ; both of which will fall hea\aer on them than on the southern inhabitants. On the other side, the southern states are not to be restrained from importing fresh supplies of wretched Africans, at once to increase the danger of attack and the difficulty of defence ; nay, they are to be encour- aged to it by an assurance of having their votes in the national government increased in proportion ; and are, at the same time, to have their exports and their slaves exempt from all contributions for the public service. I mil sooner submit myself to a tax for paying for all the negroes in the United States than saddle posterity mth such a constitution." ' Dayton seconded the motion, that his sentiments on the sub- ject might appear, whatever might be the fate of the amendment." Charles Pinckney " considered the fish- eries and the western frontier as more burdensome to ' Gilpin, 1363-5; Elliot, 393-3. " Gilpin, 1365; Elliot, 393. 132 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTIOlNr. CHAP, tlie United States than the slaves." ' AVilson thouerht VII. s — ^ an asfreement to the clause avouIcI be no bar to the ^Au^-^' ^^j^^^ o^ ^^^ motion, which itself was premature. 8. Kew Jersey voted aye, ten states in the negative. So ended the skirmish preliminary to the struggle on the continuance of the slave-trade. 16. Great as was the advance from the articles of the confederacy, the new grants, not less than the old ones, of power to the legislature of the United States to lay taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, and collect them ; to regulate foreign and domestic commerce ; alone to coin money and regulate the value of foreign coin ; to fix the standard of weights and measures ; and establish post-offices, were accepted, with little difference of opinion.'' No one disputed the necessity of clothing the United States with power " to borrow money." The committee of detail added a continuance of the per- mission " to emit bills on the credit of the United States." ' Four years before, Hamilton, in his careful enumeration of the defects in the confederation, pro- nounced that this authority "to emit an unfunded paper as the sign of value ought not to continue a formal part of the constitution, nor ever, hereafter, to be employed ; being, in its nature, pregnant with abuses, and liable to be made the engine of imposi- tion and fraud ; holding out temptations equally per- nicious to the integrity of government and to the morals of the people." * 15. Gouverneur Morris one day recited the history of ' riilpin, 1205-0; Elliot, .^OS-T. ' r,ili)in, 1233; Elliot, 378. " (jlilpin, 1343; Elliot, 434. * lluiniltou'a Works, ii. 271. THE POWEES OF CONGEESS. 133 paper emissions aucl tlie perseverance of tlie legisla- chap. tive assemblies in repeating tliem, though well aware ^^ of all their clistressino- efl'eets, and drew the inference i '^ ^ 7. that, were the national legislature formed and a war is. to break out, this ruinous expedient, if not guarded asrainst, would be asrain resorted to.* He moved to 16. strike out the power to emit bills on the credit of the United States. " If the United States," said he, " have credit, such bills will be unnecessary ; if they have not, they will be unjust and useless." * Butler was urgent for disarming the government of such a power, and seconded the motion.' It obtained the acquiescence of Madison. Mason, of Vii'ginia, " had a mortal hatred to paper money, yet, as he could not foresee all emergencies, he was unwilling to tie the hands of the legislature. The late war could not have been carried on had such a prohibition existed."' "The power," said Gorham, " as far as it will be necessaiy or safe, is in- volved in that of borrowing money."' Mercer, of Maryland, was unwilling to deny to the government a discretion on this point ; besides, he held it impoli- tic to excite the opposition to the constitution of all those who, like himself, were friends to paper money." "This," said Ellsworth, "is a favorable moment to shut and bar the door against paper money, which can in no case be necessary. Give the government credit, and other resources will offer. The power may do harm, never good."' Randolph, notwith- ' Gilpin, 1334; Elliot, 429. » Gilpin, 1344; Elliot, 435. " Gilpin, 1343; Elliot, 434. • Gilpin, 1344, 1345; Elliot, 435. " Gilpin, 1345; Elliot, 434. ' Gilpin, 1345; Elliot, 435. * Gilpin, 1344^5 ; Elliot, 434-5. 134 THE FEDEEAL CONYENTIOIS". CHAP, standing Ms antipathy to paper money, could not f ore- V— v^ see all tlie occasions tliat miglit arise.' "Paper ^2yt^' money," said AVilson, " can never succeed wMle its 10. mischiefs are remembered; and, as long as it can be resorted to, it will be a bar to other resources." * " Kather than give the power," said John Langdon, of New Hampshii'e, " I would reject the whole plan." ' With the full recollection of the need, or seeming need, of paper money in the revolution, Avith the men- ace of danger in future time of war from its prohibi- tion, authority to issue bills of credit that should be legal-tender was refused to the general government by the vote of nine states against New Jersey and Maryland. It was Madison who decided the vote of Virginia ; and he has left his testimony that " the pre- text for a paper cuiTency, and particularly for making the bills a tender, either for public or private debts, was cut off." This is the interpretation of the clause, made at the time of its adoption alike by its authors and by its opponents,* accepted by all the statesmen ^ Gilpin, 1345; Elliot, 435. was the report on tliis system, as ^ Ibid. made by the committee of detail. ' Gilpin, 134G; Elliot, 435. When we came to this part of the * For Madison's narrative and report, a motion w.is made to strike opinion, see Gil])in, 1344-134G, out the words 'to emit bills of and note on 1340 ; Elliot, 434, credit.' Against the motion we 435. The accuracy of the histori- urged that it would be improper cal sketch of Luther Martin, oth- to deprive the congress of that cially addressed, 27 January, 1788, power ; that it would be a novelty to the sjjeakcr of the house of dele- unprecedented to establish a gov- gatjes of Maryland, has never been ernmcnt which should not have questioned. It may be found in such authority ; that it was impos- EUiot, i. 3G9, 370, and is as fol- sible to look forward into futurity lows : so far as to decide that events "By our original Articles of might not happen that should ren- Confederation, the congress have der the exercise of such a ])0wer power to borrow money and emit absolutely necessary ; and that we bills of credit on the credit of Ihe douiited whether, if a war should United Status ; agreeably to which take place, it would be possible THE POWEES OF CONGRESS. 135 of tliat age, not open to dispute because too clear for chap. argument, and never disputed so long as any one man v_~^ who took 1 )art in framins; the constitution remained ^ .^ ^ '^• i o Aug. aliv^e. ^*'- History can not name a man who has gained en- during honor by causing the issue of paper money. Wherever such paper has been employed, it has in every case thrown upon its authors the burden of ex- culpation under the plea of pressing necessity. Paper money has no hold, and from its very na- ture can acquire no hold, on the conscience or affec- tions of the people. It impairs all certainty of pos- session, and taxes none so heavily as the class who earn their scant possession by daily labor. It injures the husbandman by a twofold diminution of the ex- chano-eable value of his harvest. It is the favorite of those who seek gain without willingness to toil ; it is the deadly foe of industry. No powerful po- litical party ever permaoently rested for support on for this country to defend itself lavishing the most unlimited pow- without having recourse to paper ers of taxation, and to the mercy credit, in which case there would of which they were willing blind- be a necessity of becoming a prey ly to trust the liberty and property to our enemies or violating the of the citizens of every state in the constitution of our government; union ; and they erased that clause and that, considering the adminis- from the system." tration of the government would With regard to the paper money be principally in the hands of the issued during the late civil war, wealthy, there could be little rea- congress healed the difficulty by son to fear an abuse of the power obtaining, in the fourteenth amend- by an unnecessary or injurious ex- ment, from the whole country what ercise of it. But, sir, a majority may he regarded as an act of in- of the convention, being wise be- demnity ; and, while the country yond every event, and being will- made itself responsible for the debt ing to risk any political evil rather which was contracted, the amend- than admit the idea of a paper ment preserves the original clause emission in any possible case, re- of the constitution in its full in- fused to trust this authority to a tegrity and vigor. government in which they were I 136 THE FEDEEAL CONVElSTTIOlSr. ciiAP. tlie tlieoiy tliat it is wise and riglit. No statesman lias been tliouglit well of by his kind in a succeeding generation for having been its promoter.* In the plan of government, concerted between the members from Connecticut, especially Sherman and Ellsworth, there was this further article : '' That the legislatures of the individual states ought not to pos- sess a right to emit bills of credit for a cuiTency, or to make any tender laws for the payment or discharge of debts or contracts in any manner different from the agreement of the parties, or in any manner to obstruct or impede the recovery of debts, whereby the inter- ests of foreigners or the citizens of any other state may be affected."' The committee of detail had reported : No state, without the consent of the leoislature of the United 28. States, shall emit bills of credit. With a nobler and safer trust in the power of truth and right over opin- ion, Sherman, scorning compromise, cried out : " This is the favorable crisis for crushing paper money," and, joining "Wilson, they two j)roposed to make the pro- hiljition absolute. Gorham feared that the absolute jorohibition would rouse the most desperate oj^tposi- tion ; but four northern states and four southern * This paraf^raph is a very feeble peciallj' if it be a tender, will de- abstract of the avowed convictions stroy what little credit is left; will of the fXTQiit statesmen and jurists bewilder conscience in the mazes who made the constitution.^ Their of dishonest speculations; will al- words are homely and direct con- lure some and constrain others into demnation ; and tlieycome not from tlie peqietration of knavish tricks ; onr; j)arfy. liicliard Henry Lee isas Avill turn vice into a lepd virtue ; strong in his denunciation as Wasli- and sanctify iniquity by law," etc. in;rtf)n, Sherman, or Robert H. \Av- —From the. holograph of William inj^ston. William Paterson, of New Paterson. Jersey, wrote in 1780 as follows : '■' Sherman's Life, in "Biography "An increase of paper money, cs- of the Signers," ii. 43. THE POWERS OF CONGEESS. 137 states, Maryland being divided, New Jersey absent, chap. and Virginia alone in the negative, placed in tlie con- ^^^ stitntion these unequivocal words: "No state shall ^l^J- emit bills of credit." The second part of the clause, 28. " No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts," was accepted without a dissentient state. So the adoption of the constitution is to be the end forever of paper money, whether issued by the several states or by the United States, if the constitution shall be rightly interpreted and honestly obeyed. It was ever the wish of Sherman and Ellsworth to prohibit " the discharge of debts or contracts in any manner different from the agreement of the parties." Among the aggressions made by the states on the rights of other states, Madison, in his enumeration,* names the enforced payment of debts in paper money, the enforced discharge of debts by the conveyance of land or other property, the instalment of debts, and the " occlusion " of courts. For the last two of these Avrongs no remedy was as yet provided. King moved to add, as in the ordinance of congress for the establishment of new states, "a prohibition on the states to interfere in private contracts." "^ "This would be going too far," interposed Gouver- neur Morris. " There are a thousand laws relating to bringing actions, limitations of actions, and the like, which affect contracts. The judicial power of the United States will be a protection in cases within their jurisdiction ; within the state itself a majority must rule, whatever may be the mischief done among * Madison, i. 321. ' Gilpin, 1443; Elliot, 485. 138 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION-. CHAP, themselves." * " Why, then, prohibit bills of credit ? " ^^ — r^ inquii'ed Sherman. Wilson was in favor of King's 17 8 7. motion. Madison admitted that inconveniences misrht Aug. ^ ... 2s. arise from such a prohibition, but thought on the whole its utility would overbalance tliem. He con- ceived, however, that a negative on the state laws could alone secure the end. Evasions might and would be devised by the ingenuity of legislatures.'' His colleague Mason replied : " The motion " of King " is carrying the restraint too far. Cases will happen that cannot be foreseen, where some kind of interfer- ence will be proper and essential." He mentioned the case of limiting the period for bringing actions on open account, that of bonds after a lapse of time, asking w^hether it was j^roper to tie the hands of the states from making provision in such cases.^ "The answer to these objections is," Wilson ex- plained, " that retrospective interferences onl}^ are to be prohibited." " Is not that already done," asked Madison, " by the prohibition of ex post facto laws, which will oblige the judges to declare such interfer- ences null and void ? " ' But the prohibition which, on the motion of Gerry and McHenry, had been adopted six days before, was a limitation on the powers of congress. Instead of King's motion, llut- ledge advised to extend that limitation to the indi- vidual states;" and accordingly they, too, were now forljidden to pass bills of attainder or ex j>ost facto 'Gilpin, 1443; Elliot, 485. "^Ir ;)o.s«_/>/c?r>, not retrospective, ' Ibid. was the form used by Kutledge. ' l])id. Correct Gilpin, 1444, by the Jour- * Gilpin, l;3i)9, 1444; Elliot, 4G2, nal of the Convention, i'n Elliot, i. 485. .271, and compare Elliot, i. 257. THE POWERS OF CONGEESS. 139 laws by tlie vote of seven states against Connecticut, cn.vp. Maryland, and Virginia, Massachusetts being absent. ^^-^-^ So the motion of Kins^, wliicli had received hearty ^?^'^- P . "^ Aug. support only from Wilson, was set aside by a very 28. great majority. The next morning "Dickinson mentioned to the 29. house that, on examining Blackstone's Commentaries, he found that the term ex post facto related to crimi- nal cases only ; that the words would consequently not restrain the states from retrospective laws in civil cases ; and that some further provision for this pur- pose would be requisite," ' Of this remark the con- vention at the moment took no note ; and the clause of Rutledge was left in the draft then making of the constitution, as the provision against the " stay laws and occlusion of coui'ts " so much warned against by Madison, " the payment or discharge of debts or con- tracts in any manner different from the agreement of the parties," as demanded by Sherman and Ells- worth." Among the prohibitions on the states which the committee of detail reported was that of laying du- ties on imports. " Particular states," observed Mason, 28. "may wish to encourage by impost duties certain manufactures for which they enjoy natural advau- * Gilpin, 1450 ; Elliot, 488. of a motion preserved among the " That no other motion in form records of the convention in the or substance was adopted by the state department, of the debates convention till after tlie draft went of the convention as rejDorted by into the hands of the committee of Madison, and of the several copies style and revision, appears from a of the broadside which were used most careful comparison of the for the entry of amendments by printed journal of the convention, AVashington, by Madison, byBrear- of its journal as jireserved in man- ley, by Gilman, by Johnson, and uscript, of every scrap of paper another, which seems to be that of containing any motion or sketch the secretary, Jackson. 140 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, tages, as Virginia tlie manufacture of liemp, etc."* — r-i^ Madison replied : " The encouragement of manufac- ^A t^' ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ mode requires duties, not only on im- 28? ports directly from foreign countries, but from tlie other states in the union, which would revive all the mischiefs experienced from the want of a general government over commerce." "^ King proposed to ex- tend the prohibition not to imports only, but also to exports, so as to prohibit the states from taxing either. SheiTQan added, that, even with the consent of the United States, the several states should not levy taxes on importations except for the use of the United States. This movement Gouverneur Morris suj^ported as a regulation necessary to prevent the Atlantic states fi'om endeavoring to tax the western states and promote their separate interest by oppos- ing the navigation of the Mississippi, which would drive the western people into the arms of Great Brit- ain. George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, "thought the encouragement of the western country was suicide on the part of the old states. If the states have such different interests that they cannot be left to regulate their own manufactures, without encountering the in- terests of other states, it is a proof that they are not fit to compose one nation." ' King did not wish to " interfere too much with the policy of states respect- ing their manufactures," holding that such a policy of protection in a separate state might be necessary. " Revenue," he reminded the house, " was the object of the general legislature." * By a la^rge majority the » rJilpin, 1445; Elliot, 486. ' Cilpin, 1440, 1447; Elliot, 487. ••' Ibid. * Gilpin, 1447; Elliot, 487. THE POWEES OF CONGEESS. 141 prohibition on tlie several states of taxing imports chap. was made dependent on tlie consent of the legislature — ^-^ of the United States ; and with this limitation it was ^ .^ ^ '^• . . . -^"s* carried without a dissentient vote. The extendino; 28. of the prohibition to exports obtained a majority of but one. That taxes on imports or exports by the states, even mth the consent of the United States, should be exclusively for the use of the United States, gained every state but Massachusetts and Maryland. The power to protect domestic manufactui-es by im- posts was taken away from the states, and, so far as it is incident to the raising of revenue, was confined to the United States. The country had been filled with schemes for a 6. division of the thirteen states into two or more sepa- rate groups ; the convention, following its committee of detail, would suffer no state to enter into any confederation, or even into a treaty or alliance mth any confederation. The restriction was absolute. To make it still more clear and peremptory, it was re- peated and enlarged in another article, which declared not only that " no state shall enter into any agree- ment or compact with any foreign power," but that " no state shall enter into any agreement or compact with any other state." * Each state was confined in its government strictly to its own duties within itself. As to slavery, it was by unanimous consent treat- ed as a sectional interest ; freedom existed in all the states ; slavery was a relation established within a state by its owti law. Under the sovereignty of the king of Great Britain the laws of a colony did not on 'Article xiii. Gilpin, 1239; Elliot, 381. 142 TITE FEDERAL COISTYEISTTIOTT. CHAP. Britisli soil prevail over the imperial law. The slave, — r^ so it was finally accepted, became free on touching 1 J ^ "^^ the soil of Eno'land. In like manner in America, a Aug. , o ^ ^ ^ 7 6. slave in one American colonv, findino; himself on the soil of another, was subject only to the laws of the colony in which he might be found. It remained so on the declaration of independence ; not as an innova- tion, but as the continuance of an established fact. The articles of confederation took no note of slaveiy, except by withholding the privileges of intercitizen- ship from the slave. The enumeration of slaves was in the distribution of political power a matter of in- difference so long as congress voted by states and pro- portioned its requisitions of revenue to vv'ealth alone. In framing a constitution in which representation in one branch of the legislature was made to depend on population, it became the political interest of the states in which slaves abounded to have them included in the enumeration of the population equally with the free negroes and the w^hites. They so far succeeded that the slave inhabitants were held to be a part of the grand aggregate of the people of the United States, and as such were entitled to bring a proportional in- crease of representation to the state in which they abode. For the purpose of representation the slaves were by a compromise allowed to be counted, but only as three out of five ; should the master see fit to liber- ate the slave, he became at once a free inhabitant and citizen with tlie right of intercitizenship, and of being counted equally in the representative po]nilation. Intercitizenship ^Nas the life-blood of the union. The report of the connuittee of detail, changing only 28. THE POWEES OF COJSTGRESS. 143 tlie words "free inhabitants" for "citizens," followed chap. VII the articles of confederation in declaring that "the .^..-^L- citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privi- i v s 7. Aug. leges and immunities of citizens in the several states."* e. The slave remained a slave, but only in states whose local laws permitted it. Cotesworth Pinckney avowed himself not satisfied with the article ; he wished that " some provision should be included in favor of property in slaves." The article was nevertheless adopted, but not unanimously ; South Carolina voted against it, and Georgia was divided, showing that discontent with the want of the protection of slavery was seated in their breasts, even so far as to impugn the great principle which was a necessary condition of union.'^ The convention proceeded with its work, and pro- posed that any person who should flee from justice should be delivered up on the demand of the execu- tive of the state from which he fled. Butler and Charles Pinckney moved, as an amendment, to require fugitive slaves to be delivered up like criminals. "This," answered Wilson, "would oblige the execu- tive of the state to do it at the public expense." " The public," said Sherman, " can with no more pro- priety seize and surrender a slave or servant than a horse." Butler withdrew his motion ; and the article as proposed was unanimously adopted.^ The convention was not unprepared to adopt a fugitive slave law, for such a clause formed a part of the ordinance of 1787, adopted in the preceding July * Gilpin, 1240; Elliot, 381. » Gilpin, 1447, 1448; Elliot, 487. 'Gilpin, 1447; Elliot, 487. 144 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION". CHAP, for tlie froverument of tlie noi'tli-western territory. VII . Ou the next day Butler, after the opportunity of re- flection and consultation, offered a proposal : " That the fugitive slaves escaping into another state shall be delivered 'up to the person justly claiming their service or labor." This for the moment was agreed to without dissent.* The trouble and expense of making the claim fell on the slave-holder; the lan- guage of the article did not clearly point out by whom the runaway slave was to be delivered up. * Gilpin, Uo6; Elliot, 493. Compare Gilpin, 1558; Elliot, 5C4. CHAPTER VIIL THE CONSTITUTION IN DETAIL. THE POWERS OF CON- GRESS, CONTINUED. On the eio-liteentli of Aiio-ust, Rutledo-e insisted that chap. ^ . . VIII. it was necessary and expedient for the United States ^^^,~^ to assume "all the state debts." A committee of ^J^"^- Aug. eleven, to whom the subject was refeired, on the is. twenty-first re^^orted a grant of power to the United 21. States to assume " the debts of the several states in- curred duriuo^ the late war for the common defence and general weKare." But the states which had done the most toward discharojino; their oblio-ations were unwilling to share equally the burdens of those which had done the least. And the convention, adopting 25, the language of Randolph, affirmed no more than that the eno-asfements of the confederation should be equally valid against the United States under this constitution.' The convention agreed with its committee in giv- 11. ing jurisdiction to the United States over the crime of counterfeiting their coins and over crimes commit- ted on the high seas, or against the laws of nations.' ' Gilpin, 1426; Elliot, 476. ' Gilpin, 1349; Elliot, 437. VOL. U. 10 146 THE FEDERAL CONVENTIOlSr. CHAP. The report of the committee of detail gave power . — ,-L. to congress " to subdue a rebellion in any state on the ^Au^^' application of its legislature." Martin approved the 17. limitation to which Charles Pinckney, Gouverneur Morris, and Langdon objected.' Ellsworth moved to dispense with the application of the legislature of the rebellious state when that body could not meet. " Geny was against letting loose the myrmidons of the United States on a state without its o\^ti consent. The states will be the best judges in such cases. More blood would have been spilt in Massachusetts in the late insurrection, if the general authority had intermeddled." ' The motion of Ellsworth was adopt- ed ; but it weighed down the measure itself, which obtained only four votes against four.' We come to a regulation where the spiiit of repub- licanism exercised its humanest influence. The world had been retarded in civilization, impoverished and laid waste by wars of the personal ambition of its kings. The committee of detail and the convention, in the interest of peace, entrusted the power to de- clare war, not to the executive, but to the deliberate decision of the two branches of the legislature,' each of them having a negative on the other; and the executive retaining his negative on them both. 18. On the eighteenth Madison offered a series of prop- ositions, granting j)o^vers to dispose of the lands of the United States; to institute temporary govern- ments for new states ; to regulate affairs with the In- dians ; to exercise exclusively legislative authority at » Gilpin, l:WO; Elliot, 4:17. "Gilpin, 13.51; Elliot, 438. " Gilpin, i:r)(); Elliot, 4:58. Elliot, i. 247. •Gilpin, 1:j;j1; Elliot, 438. THE POWEES OF CONGRESS. 14? the seat of general government ; to grant charters of chap. incorporation where the public good might re(}uii'e them and the authority of a single state might be in- competent ; to secure to authors their copyrights for a limited time ; to establish a university ; to encour- aa:e discoveries and the advancement of useful knowl- edge/ In that and the next sitting Charles Pinckney proposed, among other cessions, to grant immunities for the promotion of agriculture, commerce, trades, and manufactures. They were all unanimously re- ferred to the committee of detail. The power to raise and support armies was accept- ed unanimously, with no " fetter on " it, except the suggestion then made by Mason and soon formally adopted, that "no appropriation for that use should be for a longer term than two years." Gerry would have an army of two or three thousand ' at the most ; a number in proportion to population greater than the present army of the United States. The idea of a navy was welcome to the country. Jefferson thought a small one a necessity.' The convention accepted unanimously the clause giving power " to build and equip fleets." The report gave to the general government only power to call forth the aid of the militia.* Mason moved to grant the further power of its regulation and discipline, for "thirteen states would never con- cur in an}^ one system " ; ' but he reserved " to the > Gilpin, 1353, 1354, 1355; El- 592, 606; ii. 211, 218; Madison, Hot, 439, 440. i. 196. * Gilpin, 1360; Elliot, 443. " Gilpin, 1233; Elliot, 379. ' Notes on Virginia, end of the ^ Gilpin, 1355 ; Elliot, 440. answer to query 22; Jefferson, i. 148 THE FEDEKAL CONYEXTIOlSr. CHAP, states the appointmeut of tlie officers.'" In tlie •^^r-^ opinion of Ellswortli, tlie motion went too far. " The 17 87. militia should be under rules established by the 18. general government when in actual service of the United States. The whole authority over it ought by no means to be taken fi'om the states. Their consequence would pine away to nothing after such a sacrifice of power. The general authority could not sufficiently pervade the union for the purpose, nor accommodate itself to the local genius of the people.'" Sherman supported him. "My opinion is," said Dickinson, " that the states never ought to give up all authority over the militia, and never will." ' Swayed by Dickinson, Mason modified his original motion, which Cotesworth Pinckney instantly re- newed. A grand committee of eleven, to which this 21 among other subjects w^as refeiTcd, soon reported* that the legislature should have j)ower " to make laAvs for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States." Ellsworth and Sherman accepted the latter part of 23 the clause, but resisted the former. " The discij)line of the militia," answered Madison, " is evidently a national concern, and ought to be pi'ovided for in the national constitution." ' And the clause was adopted by nine states against Connecticut and Maryland." Madison always w^ished to reser^^e to the United States the appointment of general officers in the militia. This Sherman pronounced absolutely inad- ' r.il|)iii, 1:501; Elliot, 443. ' Gilpin, 1378; Elliot, 451. ' Il.id. •Gili)in, 1400; Elliot, 400. » Gilj)in, 1302; Elliot, 444. • Gilpin, 1407; Elliot, 400. THE POWEES OF CONGEESS. 149 missible. "As the states are not to be abolislied," cttap. said Gerry, " I wonder at tlie attempts to give pow- «--^ ers inconsistent with tlieir existence/ A civil war i^sY. Aug. may be produced by the conflict between people who 23. will support a plan of vigorous government at every risk and others of a more democratic cast." " The greatest danger," said Madison, "is disunion of the states ; it is necessary to guard against it by sufficient powers to the common government ; the greatest dan- ger to liberty is from large standing armies ; it is best to prevent them by an effectual provision for a good militia." ' Madison gained for his motion only New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Georgia.^ The appointment of officers by the states was then agreed to ; and the states were to train the militia, but according to the discipline prescribed by the United States.* The power " to make all laws necessary and proper 20. for carrying into execution the powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof," was so clearly necessary that, without cavil or remark, it was unani- mously agreed to.^ The definition of treason against the United States, thou2:h made in languao-e like that of the English law, took notice of the federal character of the Ameri- can government by defining it as levying war against the United States or any one of them ; thus reserving to the United States the power to punish treason, whether by war against the United States or by war • Gilpin, 1407; Elliot, 460. " Gilpin, 1408; Elliot, 466. * Gilpin, 1407; Elliot, 466, 467. » Gilpin, 1370; Elliot, 447. " Gilpin, 1407, 1408; Elliot, 407. 150 THE FEDEEAL CONYENTIOlSr. CHAP, against a state. Johnson was of opinion that there — ^ could be no treason against a particular state even ^l^"^' under tlie confederation, niucli less under the pro- 20! posed system. Mason answered : " The United States \Yill have a qualified sovereignty only ; the individual states will retain a part of the sovereignty." " A re- bellion in a state," said Johnson, " would amount to treason against the supreme sovereign, the United States." " Treason against a state," said King, " must be treason as-ainst the United States." Sherman dif- f ered fi'om him, saying : " Resistance against the laws of the United States is distinguished fi'om resistance against the laws of a particular state." Ellsworth added : " The United States are sovereign on one side of the line dividing the jurisdictions, the states on the other. Each ought to have power to defend their respective sovereignties."' "War or insmrec- tion against a member of the Union," said Dickinson, " must be so against the whole body." The clause as amended, evading the question, spoke only of trea- son by levying war against the United States or ad- hering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort. No note was taken of the falsification of election returns, or the dangers peculiar to elective govern- ments. Martin relates that he wished an amendment excepting citizens of any state from the penalty of treason, when they acted expressly in obedience to the authority of their own state ; but seeing that a motion to that effect would meet with no favor, he at the time shut up the thought within, his own breast." • CJilpin, 1375; Elliot, 4.10. Die Vcreinifjton Stnatcn von Nord- ' Elliot, i. 383, 3b3; lleiiiuinii, amcrika im Dbcryaiigc vom Staat- THE POWERS OF COIS^GEESS. 151 Tlie members of tlie convention long; held in " recol- chap. . VIII lection tlie pain and difficulty whicli tlie subject of .--^ slavery caused in that body," and which " had well- ^^u '^' nigh led southern states to break it up without com- 20. ing to any determination." ' The members from South Carolina and Georgia were moved by the extreme de- sire of preserving the union and obtaining an efficient government; but as their constituents could not be reconciled to the immediate prohibition of the slave- trade by the act of the United States, they demanded that their states should retain on that subject the lib- erty of choice which all then possessed under the con- federation. Unwilling to break the union into frag- ments, the committee of detail proposed limitations of the power of congress to regulate commerce. No tax might be laid on exports, nor on fhe importation of slaves. As to the slave-trade, each state was to remain, as under the articles of confederation, free to import such persons as it " should think proper to admit." The states might, one by one, each for itself, prohibit the slave-trade ; not the United States by a general law. This decision was coupled with no demand of pri\nleges for the shipping interest. Ellsworth, in the committee, had consented, uncon- ditionally, that no navigation act should be passed without the assent of two thirds of the members present in each house. enbund zum BuncTesstaat, 216, again: "But this provision was note. I think Martin did not not adopted." Here is no direct make the motion, as it is found assertion that he made the mo- neither in tlie journal nor in Mad- tion. Reimann's short history is ison. His narrative is, perhaps, fair and accurate, equivocal. His words are: "I ^ Baldwin's Speech in the House, wished to have obtained"; and 13 Feb., 1790. 152 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP. The j)roliibition to tax exports was carried by Massa- chusetts and Connecticut with the five most southern states/ Thus absolute free trade as to exports be- came a part of the fundamental law of the United States. The vote of Virginia was due to Mason, Ran- dolph, and Blair ; Washington and Madison were al- ways unwilling to seem to favor a local interest, espe- cially a southern one, and were ready to trust the subject to the general government." From Maryland came a voice against the slave-trade. For three reasons Martin proposed a prohibition or tax on the importation of slaves : the importation of slaves affects the apportionment of representation; weakens one part of the union which the other parts are bound to protect ; and dishonors the princij)les of the revolution and the American character.' Rutledge answered : " Religion and humanity have nothing to do with this question ; interest alone is the governing principle with nations. The true question at present is, whether the southern states shall or shall not be parties to the union ? The increase of slaves will increase the commodities, of which the northern states will become the carriers.'" Ells- worth, speaking consistently with the respect which he had always shown for the rights of the states, answered : " I am for leaving the clause as it stands. Let every state import what it pleases. The morality or wisdom of slavery are considerations belonging to the states themselves. The old confederation did not meddle with this point ; and I do not see any « Cilpin, 1388; Elliot, 450. " Gilpin, 1888; Elliot, 457. ■' ibid. * Gilpiu, 1389 ; Elliot, 457. THE POWERS OF CONGRESS. 153 . greater necessity for bringing it witliiu the policy of chap. the new one." * " South Carolina," said Charles Piuck- ,^i. ney, " can never receive the plan if it prohibits the 1 7 ^ 7. slave-trade." Sherman was perplexed between his Aug. belief in the inherent rii>:ht of man to freedom and the tenet of the right of each state to settle for itself its internal affairs, and said : "I disapprove of the slave-trade ; yet, as the states are now possessed of the right to import slaves, and as it is expedient to have as few objections as possible to the proposed scheme of government, I think it best to leave the matter as we find it." ' Mason, compressing the observation of a long life into a few burning words, replied : " This infernal traffic originated ki the avarice of British merchants ; the British government constantly checked the at- tempts of Virginia to put a stop to it. The present question concerns not the importing states alone, but the whole union. Maryland and Virginia have already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly ; North Carolina has done the same in substance. All this would be in vain if South Carolina and Georgia be at liberty to import them. The western people are already calling out for slaves for their new lands, and will fill that country with slaves if they can be got through South Carolina and Georgia. Slavery dis- courages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the emigration of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. Every master of slaves is born a i)etty ^ Gilpin, 1389; Elliot, 457. '^ Gilpin, 1390; Elliot, 457. .154 • THE FEDEEAL CO]STENTIO]Sr. CHAP, tji'ant. Tliey bring tlie judgment of Heaven on a ^.^-.-^ country. ^ As nations cannot be rewarded or punished ^l^J^' in tlie next world, tliey must be in tliis. By an in- 22. evitable chain of causes and effects, Providence pun- ishes national sins by national calamities. I lament that some of our eastern brethren have, from a lust of gain, embarked in this nefarious traffic. As to the states being in possession of the right to import, this is the case with many other rights, now to be proper- ly given up. I hold it essential in every point of view, that the general government should have power to prevent the increase of slavery."* Mason spoke from his inmost soul, anxious for the happiness of his country and the welfare of mankind. To words of such intense sincerity Ellsv/orth an- swered with almost mocking irony : " As I have never owned a slave I cannot judge of the effects of slaveiy on character. If, however, it is to be con- sidered in a moral light, w^e ought to go further and free the slaves already in the country. Besides, slaves multiply so fast in Virginia and Maryland, that it is cheaper to raise than import them, whilst in the sickly rice-swamps foreign supplies are neces- sary; if we go no further than is urged, we shall be unjust toward South Carolina and Georgia. Let us not intermeddle. As population increases, poor laborers will be so plenty as to render slaves use- less. Slavery, in time, will not be a speck in our country. Provision is made in Connecticut for abol- ishing it ; and the abolition has already taken place in Massachusetts."' ' Gilpin, 13!)0, 1391; Elliot, 458. ^ Gilpin, 1392; Elliot, 458. THE POWERS OF CONGEESS. 155 " If tlie soutliem states are let alone," said Cliarles chap. VIII Pinckney, " tliey will probably of tliemselves stop im- s ^ portations. I would myself, as a citizen of Soutli ^l^J' Carolina, vote for it." 2^- In the same vein Coteswortli Pinckney remarked : " If I and all my colleagues were to sign tlie consti- tution and use our personal influence, it would be of no avail toward obtaining the consent of our constitu- ents. South Carolina and Greorgia cannot do with- out slaves. Virginia will gain by stopping the im- portations. Her slaves will rise in value, and she has more than she wants. It would be un'equal to re- quire South Carolina and Georgia to confederate on such terms. Slaves should be dutied like other im- ports ; but a rejection of the clause is the exclusion of South Carolina from the union." ' Baldwin, with opinions on the rights of the states like those of Ells- worth and Sherman, continued : " The object before the convention is not national, but local. Georsfia cannot purchase the advantage of a general govern- ment by yielding the abridgment of one of her favor- ite prerogatives. If left to herseK, she may probably put a stop to the evil." ^ "If South Carolina and Georgia," observed "Wil- son, " are themselves disposed to get rid of the im- portation of slaves in a short time, they will never refuse to unite because the importation might be pro- hibited."' To this Cotesworth Pinckney made an- swer : " I think myself bound to declare candidly, that I do not believe South Carolina will stop her impor- » Gilpin, 1392, 1393; Elliot, 459. » Gilpiu, 1393; Elliot, 459. ' Gilpin, 1393; Elliot, 459. IT 8 7. Aus. 156 THE FEDEEAL CO]STE]SrTIO]!ir. CHAP, tatious of slaves iu any sliort time, except occasion- VIII. — r^ ally as slie now does." ' " On every principle of honor and safety," said Dickinson, "it is inadmissible tliat tlie importation of slaves should be authorized to the states by the con- stitution. The true question is whether the national happiness will be promoted or impeded by the impor- tation; and this question ought to be left to the national government, not to the states particularly interested. I cannot believe that the southern states will refuse to confederate on that account, as the power is not likely to be immediately exercised by the general government." ' . Here was the first open- ing to a grant of the power, coupled with a prospect of delay in using it. AVilliamson, himself no friend of slavery, distinctly intimated that ^N^orth Carolina would go Avith her two neighbors on the south. Cotes worth Piuckney now moved to commit the clause, that slaves might be made liable to an equal tax with other imports.' " If the convention," said Rutledge, " thinks that ^N^orth Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will ever agree to the plan, unless their right to import slaves be un- touched, the expectation is vain ; " and he seconded the motion for a commitment. Gouverneur Morris wished the whole subject to be committed, including the clauses relating to taxes on exports and to a naviga- tion act. These things might form a bargain among the northern and southern states. "Rather than to part with the soutliern states," said Sherman, " it is • fJilpin, 1.305; Elliot, 400. " Gilpin, 1305; Elliot, 460. » Gilpin, 13'J4; Elliot, 400. THE POWERS OF CO:^rGEESS. 157 better to let tliem import slaves. But a tax on slaves chap. imported makes tlie matter worse, because it implies they are property." " Two states," said Kandolpli, " may be lost to tlie union ; let us, then, try the chance of a commit- ment."* The motion for commitment was adopted by the votes of Connecticut, New Jersey, and the five southernmost states, against New Hampshire, Penn- sylvania, and Delaware; Massachusetts was absent. Charles Pinckney and Langdon then moved to com- mit the section relating to a navigation act." " I de- sire it to be remembered," said Gorham, remotely hint- ing at possible secession, "the eastern states have.no motive to union but a commercial one." ' Ellsworth, maintaining the position which he had deliberately chosen, answered : " I am for taking the plan as it is. If we do not aixree on this middle and moderate ground, I am afraid we shall lose two states wdth others that may stand aloof ; and fly, most probably, into several confederations, not without bloodshed."* Had the convention listened to no compromise on the slave-trade, Georgia and South Carolina would not have accepted the new constitution ; North Carolina would have clung to them, from its internal condition ; Yu'ginia, however earnest might have been the pro- test against it by Madison and Washington, must have acted with North Carolina, and, as a conse- quence, there would from the beginning have been a federation of slave-holding states. The committee to which the whole subject of restriction on the power • Gilpin, 1396; Elliot, 461. = Gilpin, 1397; Elliot, 461. "Gili^m, 1897; Elliot, 461. * Ibid. 158 THE FEDEEAL CONVElSTTTOlSr. CHAP, over commerce was refeiTed consisted of Lanardon, VIII -r. .... r> 7 v^,-^!. King, Jolmson, tlie aged William Livingston of New J ^J- Jersey, Clymer, Dickinson, Martin, Madison, William- Au; 22. son, Coteswortli Pinckney, and Baldwin,* a large ma- jority of tliem venerable for upriglitness and ability. 24. Tlieii' report, made on tlie third day, granted to the United States tke power to lay a tax of ten dollars on every imported slave/ and the power to prohibit the slave-trade after the year 1800. 23. On the twenty -fifth, when the report of the commit- tee of eleven was taken up, Sherman once more resist- ed the duty " as acknowledging men to be property " by taxing them as such under the character of slaves ; and Madison supported him, saying : " I think it wrong to admit in the constitution the idea that there can be property in men." ' But the clause was unani- mously held fast as a discouragement of the traffic. Cotesworth Pinckney then moved to extend the time allowed for the importation of slaves till the year 1808. Gorham was his second. Madison spoke earnestly against the j)i'oloiig^tion ; * but, mthout further debate, the motion prevailed by the votes of the three New England states, Maryland, and the three southernmost states, against New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia.' " It ought to be considered," wrote ]\Iadison at the time, " as a great point gained in favor of humanity, that a period of twenty years may terminate forever ' fJil])'!!!, 1:397; Elliot, 4G1. proposed on all articles of import. ' The slave was deemed to have Gilpin, 1415; Elliot, 471. an aveiiiffe value of two hundred 'Gilpin, 142!), 14:50; Elliot, 478. dollars, so that the impost was of * Gilpin, 1437; Elliot, 477. five per cent, the rate at one time * Ibid. THE POWERS OF CONGEESS. 159 witliin these states a traffic wliicli has so lous; and so crap. . VIII loudly upbraided the barbarism of rcodern pohcy. ^^^ Happy would it be for the unfortunate Africans, if ^l^fj' an equal prospect lay before them of being redeemed 25. from the oppressions of their European brethren ! " ' The confederation granted no power to interfere \vith the slave-trade. The new constitution gave power to prohibit it in new states immediately on their admission, in existing states at the end of the year 1807. Louisiana, by annexation to the union, lost the license to receive slaves from abroad. On the second day of December, 1806, Thomas Jeffer- son, president of the United States of America, ad- dressed this message to congress : ^ "I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of the period at which you may interpose your authority constitution- ally to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights w^hich have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and w^hich the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country have long been eager to proscribe." Unanimous legislation followed the words from the president, and as the year 1808 broke upon the United States, the importation of slaves had ceased. And did slavery have as peaceful an end ? Philanthropy, like genius and like science, must bide its time. Man can- not hurry the march of the supreme power, to which years are as days. Two members of the convention, with the sincere integrity which clears the eye for prophetic vision, * The Federalist, No. xlii. " Jom-nals of Congress, v. 4G8. 160 THE FEDEEAL COIfVENTION. CHAP, read tlie doom of slavelioldins:. Mason, fourteen VIII . . . .^.-^ years before, in a paper laid before the legislature ^l^"^- of Virginia, liad given his opinion that as the nat- 25? ural remedy for political injustice the constitution should by degrees work itself clear by its o^vn innate strength, the virtue and resolution of the commu. nity ; and he added : " The laws of imjoartial Provi- dence may avenge upon our posterity the injury done to a set of wretches whom our injustice hath debased almost to a level with the brute creation. These remarks were extorted by a kind of iiTesistible, j)erhaps an enthusiastic, impulse ; and the s athor of them, conscious of his ovm good intentions, cares not whom they please or offend." ' July During a debate, in July, on the value of slaves. Mason observed of them that they might in cases of emergency themselves become soldiers."" On another ^"?- day' he called to mind that Cromwell, v/hen he sent commissioners to Virginia to take possession of the countiy, gave them power to arm servants and slaves. He further pointed out that the British might have prevailed in the South in the war of the revolution had they known how to make use of the slaves ; that in Vii'ginia the royal governor invited them to rise at a time when he was not in possession of the country, and, as the slaves were incapable of self-organization and direction, his experiments by proclamation, ad- dressed to them in regions not within his sway, totally * George Mason's extracts from its arcliivos. IMj- copy, Avliich is, the Virjrinia rliartors, with some poiha]>s, the ojily one now in exist- remarks on tlicin, made in tlic year ence, I owe to tlie kindness of the 177:}. MS. The ])ii])(T, tlionyh Uite James M. Mnson. commnnieatcd to the; lcf,nsliitnre " Gilpin, lOnS; Elliot, 2flG. of YiigiiiJa, lias not been found in ' Gilpin, lOUO ; Elliot, 458. 11. 22. THE POWEES OF COJSTGRESS. 161 failed ; but that in Soutli Carolina, wliere the British chap. . . • VIII were ui the full possession of the countiy, they might -^^-r-^L have enfranchised and enrolled the slaves for the con- i "^ s 7. Aug. solidation and« establishment of British power. But 22. the civil and military officers in those days of abject conniption chose rather to enrich themselves by ship- ping the slaves to the markets of the West Indies. Five months later Madison, in a paper addressed to the country, remarked : " An unhappy species of pop- ulation abounds in some of the states who, during the calm of the regular government, are sunk below the level of men ; but who, in the tempestuous scenes of civil violence, may emerge into the human character, and give a superiority of strength to any party with which they may associate themselves." * Slavehold- ing was to be borne do^vn only on the field of battle. The dignity and interests of the United States alike 29. demanded a grant of power to the general govern- ment for the reo:ulation of foreis^n as well as domestic trade. AVithout it the navigation of the country would have been at the mercy of foreign restrictions. For this regulation the new constitution required, as in all other acts of legislation, no more than a majority of the two houses of congress. A strong opposition started up in the South under the lead of Charles Pinckney and Martin, inflamed by Ma- son and by Randolph; but it was in vain. Madi- son, Spaight, and Rutledge defended the report of the eleven like statesmen, free from local influences or prejudice. It was clearly stated that the ships of nations in treaty with the United States would * Madison in the Federalist, No. xliii, published 23 Jan., 1788. VOL. II. 11 162 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, share in tlieii* carrying trade ; tliat a rise in freight could be but temporary, because it would be attend- ed by an increase of southern as well as of north- em shipping ; that the West India trade was a great object to be obtained only through the pressure of a navigation act. Cotesworth Pinckney owned that he had been prejudiced against the eastern states, but had found their delegates as liberal and as candid as any men whatever. On the question, Dela- ware and South Carolina joined the united North against Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. After this vote the convention accepted unanimously the proposition to grant to the majority in the two branches of congress full power to make laws regulating commerce and navigation. Randolph was so much dissatisfied that he expressed a "doubt whether he should be able to agree to the constitu- tion." Mason, more deeply in earnest, as yet held his emotions in check. Of new states, the Virginia plan knew those only "lawfully arising within the limits of the United States," and for their admission vaguely required less than a unanimous vote ; the committee of detail de- manded the consent of two thirds of each house of congress, as well as the concuiTence of the states witliin whose "limits" the new states should arise. At this stage Gouverneur Morris enlarged the scope and simplified the language of the article. The con- federation had opened the door to Canada at its own choice alone, and to any otlier territory that could obtain the consent of two thirds of congress. It was no longer decent to hold out to Canada an THE POWERS OF COIS-GEESS. 163 invitation to annex itself to tlie union ; but the chap. vni American mind, in tlie streugtli of independence, .^-^ foresaw its expansion. The rising states beyond the ^J^J' mountains were clamorous for the unobstructed na\d- 29^ gation of the Mississippi, which might lead to the acquisition by treaty of all the land east of that river; and the boundary on the south, as well of Georgia as of Florida, had never been adjusted with Spain. Gouverneur Morris had at an early day de- sired to restrict the limits of the United States ; he now gave his ancient fears to the winds, and, acceding in advance to the largest eventual annexations, he proposed these few and simple words : " New states may be admitted by the legislature into the union," ' with the full understandino; * and intention that an ordinary act of legislation should be sufficient by a bare majority to introduce foreign territory as a state into the union. This clause the convention accepted without a debate, and without a division. Maryland, impelled by a desire to guard the right so. of the United States to the back lands, and to be the champion of Kentucky, of Maine, of Vermont, and of the settlements on the Tennessee river and its branches, would have granted to the legislature of the United States unlimited power to dismember old states, but was supported only by Delaware and New Jersey. Vermont might once have been included within " the limits " of New York, but certainly re- mained no longer within its jurisdiction. By chang- ing the word " limits " to " jurisdiction," the conven-. * Gilpin, 1458 ; Elliot, 493. neur Morris bv Sparks, iii. 183,\ "Life and Writings of Gouver- 185,290. Cooley's Story, 1383, etc. ' 164 THE FEDEKAL CONVEISTTION. CHAP, tion, still following Gouverneur Morris, provided for v^-,.,^. its future admission to the union without the con- 1 "^ 8 Y. sent of New York. In resrard to the south-western Aug. . . o 30. settlements, the preliminary consent of the states of w^hich they then formed a part was not dispensed with. In like manner no state could be formed by the junction of two or more states or parts thereof without the concurrence of such states. The country north-west of the Ohio ha\dng already been provided for, the rule for the admission of new states was thus completed for every part of the territory of the states or of the United States. The convention, still using the lano-uasre of Gouverneur Morris, and no one but Maryland dissenting, assigned to the legislature the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States. Every word in the constitution bearing on the sub- ject of slavery was chosen v\dth the greatest caution ; every agreement was jealously guarded. After the section relating to the slave-trade, the committee of detail inserted : " No capitation tax shall be laid un- less in proportion to the census hereinbefore directed to be taken.'" This was intended to j^revent con- gress from enforcing a general emancipation by the special taxation of slaves." * Gilpin, 1234, 1415 ; Elliot, 379, * Speech of Baldwin in the house 471. of representatives, 12 Feb., 1790. CHAPTER IX. THE PRESIDENT. How to call forth one of the people to be their chap. executive chief for a limited period of years, and — r^ how to clothe him with just sufficient powers, long i "^ § v. baffled the convention. Federal governments, in Greece, in Switzerland, and in Holland, like the confederation of the United States, had been with- out a separate executive branch ; and the elective monarchies of Poland, of the Papal states, and of Germany, offered no available precedents. The re- Aug. port of the committee of detail introduced no im- provement in the manner of selecting a president; and it transferred to the senate the power to make treaties and to appoint ambassadors and judges of the supreme court.' Questions relating to his du- ties long remained in doubt ; the mode of his elec- tion was reached only just before the close of the convention. The Virginia plan confided the choice of the ex- July ecutive to the national legislature. , " An election by the national legislature," objected Gouverneur Morris, » Gilpin, 1234; ElHot, 379. 166 THE FEDEEAL COI^VENTION. CHAP, on the seventeentli of July, "will be the work of intrigue, of cabal, of corruption, and of faction ; it T\'ill be like tlie election of a j^ope by a conclave of cardinals ; of a king by tlie diet of Poland ; real merit will rarely be the title to the appointment." He moved for an election by the " citizens of the United States." * Sherman preferred a choice by the national legislature. Wilson insisted on an elec- tion by the people ; should no one have a majority, then, and then only, the legislature might decide be- tween the candidates.'^ Charles Pinckney opposed the election by the people, because it would sur- render the choice to a combination of the populous states led by a few designing men." " To refer the choice of a proper character for a chief magistrate to the people," protested Mason, " w^ould be as unnatural as to refer a trial of colors to a blind man." * " An election by the people," observed Williamson, " is an a]3pointment by lot." On the first vote Pennsylvania stood alone against nine states. Martin proposed to entrast the appointment to the legislatures of the states ; and was supported only by Delaware and Maryland. On the mode of choosing the president, the length of his period of office and his re-eligibility would be made to depend. The convention, in committee, had fixed tliat period at seven years with a prohibi- tion of re-election. Oh the motion of William Hous- ton, of Georgia, supported by Sherman and Gouver- neur Morris, tliis compulsory rotation was struck out » r.ilpin, 1120; 7':iliot, 322. » Gilpin, 1121; Elliot, 323. =" CJilpin, 1121; Elliot, 323. * Gili)iu, 1123; Elliot, 324. TIIE PEESIDENT. 167 by six states, against Delaware, Virginia, and tlie chap. two Carolinas.' Tlie executive becoming re-eligible, ^^ Broom revived tlie idea of a shorter period of ser- ij^^^- vice/ McClurg held that the independence of the iv. executive was no less essential than the independence of the judiciary ; that a president, elected for a small number of years by the national legislature, and look- ing to that body for re-election, would be its depend- ent. To escape from corrupt cabals and yet preserve a good officer in place, he moved that the tenure of office should be good behavior." Gouvemeur Morris beamed with joy. Broom found all his difficulties obviated. " Such a tenure," interposed Sherman, " is neither safe nor admissible ; re-election will depend on o-ood behavior."* Madison, who to the last refused with unabated vigor to entrust the choice of the national executive to the national legislature, and at heart would not have been greatly disinclined to the longest period of service for the executive, if " an easy and effectual removal by impeachment could have been settled," " argued from the necessity of keeping the executive, legislative, and judiciary powers independent of each other, that the tenure of good behavior for the ex- ecutive was a less evil than its dependence on the national leg^islature for re-election. Mason replied : "An executive during good behav- ior is only a softer name for an executive for life; the next easy step w^ill be to hereditary monarchy. Should the motion succeed, I may myself live to see » Gilpin, 1125; Elliot, 325. " Gilpin, 1126; Elliot, 325. " Ibid. * Compare Madison's Writings, i. «Ibid. 345, and Gilpin, 1127; Elliot, 32G. 168 THE FEDEEAL CONVEISTTION". such a revolutiori."* "To prevent tlie introduction of monarcliy," rejoined Madison, " is, with me, tlie ^j^^'^- real object. Experience proves a tendency in our 17- governments to throw all power into the legislative vortex. The executives of the states are in general little more than ciphers ; the legislatures omnipo- tent. If no effectual check be devised on the en- croachments of the latter, a revolution will be in- evitable." ' After explanations by McClui'g, four states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia, Madison voting with McClurg — expressed their preference for the tenure of good behavior to the tenure of seven years with a perpetual re-eligi- bility by the national legislature.' Massachusetts was among the six states in the negative, though to 20. King, who " relied on the vigor of the executive as a great security for the public liberties," * the tenure of good behavior would have been most agreeable, " provided an independent and effectual forum could be devised for the trial of the executive on an im- peachment." ^ 19. This discussion brouo'ht the convention unanimous- ly* to the opinion that if the executive was to be chosen by the national legislature, he ought not to be re-eligible. Those, tlierefore, who agreed with Sher- man, that the statesman who had proved himself most fit for an office ought not to be excluded by the con- • Gil2)in, 1137, 1128; Elliot, opinion, the very essence of tyran- 320. ny, if tliere be any such thing," ''Gilpin, 1128; Elliot, 327. Com- Gilpin, 7GC; Elliot, 142. pare with tlii.s what Sherman said " (iilpin, 112i); Elliot, 327. on (he first day of June: "An MJiljjin, Ilf)?; Elliot, 342. independence of the executive on " Ibid, the HU])reuie leyLslaturc is, in my " Gilpin, 1147; Elliot, 337 THE PRESIDENT. 169 stitution from lioldlno: it, were bound to devise some cn.vp. ^ . IX. other acceptable mode of election. s. — ^ The first thought was an immediate choice by the ^j^^'^' people. But here Madison pointed out that "the i9- right of suffra2:e was much more diffusive in the northern states than in the southern; and that the latter would have no influence in the election on the score of the negroes." * To meet this difficulty, King revived Wilson's proposition for the appointment of the executive by electors chosen by the people ex- pressly for the purpose ; " and Madison promptly ac- cepted it as, " on the whole, liable to fewest objec- tions." ' So, too, in part, thought the convention, which, on the motion of Ellsworth, decided, by six states to three, that the national executive should be appointed by electors; and, by eight states to two, that the electors should be chosen by the state legis- latures.^ A preliminary proportional distribution of the electors among the states, as proposed by Gerry, was accepted. From confidence in the purity of the electoral body thus established, the re-eligibility of the executive was again afiii'med by a vote of eight states against the two Carolinas ; ' and in consequence of the re-eligibility, the term of office was, at Ells- worth's motion, reduced by the vote of all the states but Delaware from seven years to six.' So the con- vention hoped to escape fi'om the danger of a cor- rupt traffic between the national legislature and can- didates for the executive by assembling in one place one grand electoral college, chosen by the legislatures * Gilpin, 1148; Elliot, 337. ■• Gilpin, 1150; Elliot, 338. " Gilpin, 1147; Elliot, 336. » Gilpin, 1150, 1151; Elliot, 338. « Gilpin, 1148; Elliot, 337. « Gilpin, 1151, 1152; Elliot, 339. 170 THE FEDEEAL COXVENTION. CHAP, of tlie several states at tlie moment for the sole piir- — ^r^ pose of electing that officer. 17 87. To this system Caleb Strong, of Massachusetts, 24. started this grave objection : " A new set of men, like the electors, will make the government too complex; nor will the first characters in the state feel suffi- cient motives to undertake the office." * On the pre- vious day Houston, of Georgia, had directed the thoughts of the convention "to the expense and ex- treme inconvenience of drawino; too-ether men from all the states for the single purpose of electing the chief magistrate." ' To him, likewise, it now seemed improbable that capable men would undertake the ser- vice. He was afraid to trust to it. Moved by these considerations, but still retaining its conviction of the greater j)urity of an electoral college, the convention, by seven votes against four, Id the weariness of vacil- lation, returned to the plan of electing the national executive by the national legislature.' But the vote was sure to reopen the question of his re-eligibility. The convention was now like a pack of hounds in full chase, suddenly losing the trail. It fell into an anarchy of opinion, and one crude scheme trod on the heels of another. Williamson, pleading the essen- tial difference of interests between the northern and southern states, particularly I'elatiiig to the cariying trade, " wished the executive power to be lodged in three men, taken from three districts, into which the states should be divided." * " At some time or other," said he, " we shall have a king ; to postpone the event • Gil))in, 1180; Elliot, .Sr)8. « Gilpin, linO; Elliot, 3.")0. " Gilpin, liyO; Elliot, 357. " Gilpin, llb'J; Elliot, 358, THE PRESIDENT. l7l as long as possible, I would render tlie executive chap. ineligible." * — . — In tlie event of tlie ineligibility of tlie executive, ^J^^*^- Martin, forgetting tlie state of anarcliy and faction 24. tliat would attend a long period of service by an in- competent or unwortliy incumbent, proposed tliat tlie term of executive service should be eleven years.* " From ten to twelve," said Williamson.' " Fifteen," said Gerry ; and King mocked tliem all by proposing " twenty years, the medium life of princes." ' Wil- son, seeing no way of introducing a direct election by the people, made the motion,' that the executive should be chosen by electors to be tahen from the national legislature by lot. Ellsworth pointed out that to secure a candidate 25. for re-election against an improper dependence on the legislature, the choice should be made by electors.' Madison liked best an election of the executive by the qualified part of the people at large. " Local consid- erations," he said, " must give way to the general interest. As an individual fi^om the southern states, I am willino; to make the sacrifice." ' And now came into consideration an element which exercised a constant bias on the discussion to the last. Ellsworth complained that the executive would invariably be taken from one of the larger states. " To cure the disadvantaiie under which an election by the people would place the smaller states," Wil- liamson proposed that each man should vote for three 'Gilpin, 1189, 1190; Elliot, « Gilpin, 1101; Elliot, 360. 359. ^Gilpin, 1196; Elliot, 363. ^ Gilpin, 1191; Elliot, 300. « Gilpin, 1198; Elliot, 363. ' Gilpin, 1190; Elliot, 359. ' Gilpin, 1201; Elliot, 365. 172 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. candidates.* Gouverneiir Moms accepted tlie princi- ple, but desired to limit the choice of the voters to ^ ^ ? '^- two, of whom at least one should not be of his own July ' ^ ^ 25. state. This Madison approved, believing that the citizens would give their second vote with sincerity to the next object of theii* choice.'' We shall meet the proposition again. Lastly, Dickinson said : " Insuperable objections lie against an election of the executive by the national legislature, or by the legislatures or executives of the states. I have long leaned toward an election by the people, which I regard as the best and the purest source. Let the people of each state choose its best citizen, and out of the thirteen names thus selected an executive magistrate may be chosen, either by the national legislatui-e or by electors." ' From hopelessness of an agreement, Gerry and Butler were willing to refer the resolution relating to the executive to a committee, but AVilson insisted that a general principle must first be fixed by a vote of the house.* 2G. On the morning of the next day,' Mason recapitu- lated all the seven different ways that had been pro- posed of electing the chief magistrate : by the people at large ; by the legislatures of the states ; by the executives of the states ; by electors chosen by the people ; by electors chosen by lot ; by the legislature on the nomination of three or two candidates by each several state ; by tlie legislature on the nomination of one candidate from each state. After reviewing them ' r;ilpin, 1204; Elliot, 300. * Gilpin, 1207; Elliot, 308. MJiipin, l-iO.T; Elliot, :}«7. • Ibid. ' Ciiipin, 1200; Elliot, yU7. THE PEESIDENT. 173 all, he concluded tliat au election by the national leg- chap. islature, as originally proposed, was the best. At the — 'r^ same time he held it to be the very palladium of civil ^ J^^^ '^• liberty, that the great officers of state, and particular- 26, ly the executive, should at fixed periods return to that mass from which they were taken. Led for the moment by this train of thought, the convention by six states, against Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mary- land, with Vii'ginia equally divided, resolved, that a national executive be instituted ; to consist of a single person ; who should be chosen by the national legis- lature ; for the term of seven years ; and be ineligible a second time.^ Foremost in undiminished disapproval of the choice of the executive by the legislature were Washington, Madison, Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and Gerry; foremost for the election by that body were Rutledge, Mason, and, in a moderate degree. Strong. During the debate Gouverneur Morris had declared : " Of all possible modes of appointing the executive, an elec- tion by the people is the best ; an election by the legislature is the worst." I prefer a short period and re-eligibility, but a different mode of election." ' In this he spoke the mind of Pennsylvania ; and he re- fused to accept the decision of that day as final. On the twenty-fourth of August the report of the Aug. committee of detail relating to the executive came before the convention. All as-reed that the executive power should be vested in a single person, to be styled : the President of the United States of Ameri- » Gilpin, 1211; Elliot, 370. " Gilpin, 1195; ElUot, 363. . « Gilpin, 1193, 1204; ElUot, 361, 366. 174 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. ca ; aud none qnestioned that Ms title mlglit be : His Excellency.' According to the rej)ort, he was to be elected by ballot by the legislature for a term of seven years, but might not be elected a second time.'' The strife on the manner of his election revived. Daniel Carroll, of Maryland, seconded by Wilson, re- newed the motion, that he should be elected by the people ; but the house was weary or unprepared to reopen the subject, and at the moment the motion re- ceived only the votes of Pennsylvania and Delaware.* Rutledge then moved that the election of the presi- dent be made by the legislature in " joint ballot." The conducting of business, especially of elections, by the two branches of the legislature in joint session was fi'om early days familiar to the states, and was at that time established in every one of them which had 2:)repared a constitution of its own with two branches of the legislature, so that the regulations for that mode of choice were perfectly well understood. New Hampshu'e had had the experience of both methods ; many of its officers were chosen annually by joint ballot, while its representatives to congress were ap- pointed by the concurrent vote of the two houses. Unhappily, throughout this part of the work, the equal vote of the smaller states with the larger ones in the senate persistently biassed the movements of the convention. In the special interest of the smaller states Sher- man objected to a vote of the two houses in joint ballot, because it would deprive the senate of a nega- . ' (Jilpin, 1417; Elliot, 472. " Gilpin, 1418;' Elliot, 47&. '' Gilpin, 12^0; Elliot, 473. THE PEESIDEXT. l75 tive on tlie more numerous brancli. "It is ^\Tong," cnAP. said Gorliam, "to be considering at every turn whom tlie senate will represent ; the public good is the ob- ject to be kept in view ; delay and confusion will en- sue, if the two houses vote separately, each having a negative on the choice of the other." Dayton and Brearley, following in the wake of Sherman, opposed a joint ballot, as impairing the power of the smaller states ; ' but Langdon, of New Hampshire, enlightened by experience at home, dwelt on the great difficulties of which the mode of separate votes by the two houses was productive ; and, like a good patriot as he was, he approved the joint ballot, " though unfavor- able to New Hampshire as a small state." Wilson remarked " that the senate might have an interest in throwing dilatory obstacles in the way, if its separate concurrence should be required." On the same side spoke Madison ; and the motion of Rutledge prevailed by seven states, against Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, and Georgia.'' These four states, joined by Delaware, then de- manded that, on the joint ballot, the vote should be taken by states ; the decision turned on New Hamp- shire ; and foUomng the patriotic opinion of Lang- don, it joined the five larger states and negatived the proposal. For an election of president, a majority of the votes of the members present was required, New Jersey alone dissenting.^ "In case the votes of the two highest should be equal," Read, of Delaware, taking a clause fi'om the constitution of his own state, ' Gilpin, 1419; Elliot, 472. ^ Gilpin, 1420; ElUot, 473. . 'Gilpin, 1419; Elliot, 473. 176 THE FEDERAL COTTV^ENTIOIT. CHAP, moved that tlie president of tlie senate should have x--v^ an additional vote; but it was disagreed to by a ^l^J- general negative. 2^. At this moment Gouverneur Morris intei'jjosed Tv-ith decisive effect. He set forth the danger of legis- lative tyranny that would follow from leaving the executive dependent on the legislature for his elec- tion ; he dwelt once more on the " cabal and corrup- tion " ' which would attach to that method of choice. The plan of choosing the j)resident by electors, which he now revived, had made such progress that five states voted with him, among them Pennsylvania and Virginia. A reference of the subject to a committee was lost for the moment by a tie vote, Connecticut being divided." But opinion ripened so fast that, on 31. the thirty-first of August, the mode of choosing the president, his powers, and the question of his re- eligibility, was wdth other unfinished business referred to a grand committee of one from each state. The Eleven, appointed by ballot, were Gilman, King, Sherman, Brearley, Gouverneur Morris, Diehinson, Carroll, Madison, AYilliamson, Butler, and Bald\\^n.' Gouverneur Morris had loudly put forward his wish to make of the senate a thoroughly aristocratic body, and of the president a tenant for life. It agi'eed with this view to repose the eventual election of the president in the senate. The electoral colleges, in the want of all means of rapid intercommunica- tion, would have rarely cast a majority for one man ; and tlie requisition on the electors to vote each for » nilpin, 1120; Elliot, 473. " Gilpin, 1478; Elliot, 503. "Gilpin, 1421; Elliot, 474. THE PEESIDEI^T. 177 two men increased tlie chances tliat there would be chap. IX no election, and that one of the candidates at least ^^^^ would be a citizen of a smaller state. He was aware i ,^ ^ v. Aug. that the outgoing president would be apt to be a can- 31. didate for re-election ; and desired nothing better than such a junction between the president and senate as would secure a re-election during life. Sherman hated aristocracy; but he was specially- watchful of the equal power of the smaller states, and saw that, on the first ballot of the election, the large states, having many votes, would always bring for- ward their candidates with superior strength. To gain a chance for electing a president from the small states, they insisted that in case there should be no election by the colleges, not less than five names should be reported as candidates for the eventual election, and among five names there was a great probability that there would be one from the smaller states. They therefore insisted that the eventual election should be made by the senate ; and this was carried by a coalition of aristocratic tendencies in Gouvemeur Morris and others from the large states with the pas- sion of the small states for disproportionate chances for power. The committee, having considered the subject in Sept. all its bearings, made their report on tlie fourth day of September.* The term of the presidency was lim- ited to four years ; and the election was confided to electors to be appointed in each state as its legisla- ture might direct ; and to be equal to the whole num- ber of its senators and representatives in congress ; 'Gilpin, 1485-1488; Elliot, 507. VOL. n. 12 4. 178 THE FEDEEAL COISTVEISTIOK CHAP. SO tliat tlie electoral colleges collectively were to be tlie exact counterpart of the joint convention of tlie legislature. The electors of eacli state were to meet' in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two per- sons, of whom one, at least, should not be an inhabi- tant of the same state with themselves. A certified list of these votes, under the seal of the electoral col- lege, was to be transmitted to the president of the senate.* " The president of the senate," discharging a purely ministerial ofiice, " shall in that house open all the certificates, and the votes shall be then and there counted. The person having the greatest num- ber of votes shall be the president, if such number be a majority of that of the electors; and if there be more than one who has such a majority and an equal number of votes — a case that would most rarely, per- haps never, occur — then the senate shall ' choose by ballot one of them for president ; but if no person has a majority, then, from the five highest on the list, ' the senate,' " in which body the smallest state had an equal vote with the largest, " shall clioose by ballot the president." " x\fter the choice of the president, the person having the greatest number of votes," whether a majority of them or not, " shall be vice- president" — an ofiicer now for the first time intro- duced ; " but if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, then the senate shall choose from them the vice-president." * * Gilpin, 1480; Elliot, 507. Soc Gilpin; 1509; Elliot, 5tS, and " Ihid. i. 28;}. 280. ' "Immndiately,"notin oriji^inal * Gilpin, 1480, 1487; Elliot, report. It was inserted iSept. 507. THE PEESrDENT. 179 Mason, who tlionc^lit the insulated electoral col- cfap. . . IX leores would almost never unite their votes on one v^.-^ man, spoke earnestly: "The plan is liable to this y^"^- strong objection, that nineteen times in twenty the 4. president will be chosen by the senate, an improper body for the purpose." To the objection of Charles Pinckney, that electors would be strangers to the several candidates, and unable to decide on their comparative merits, Baldwin answered : " The in- creasing intercourse among the people of the states will render important characters less and less un- known." * " This subject," said Wilson, " has great- ly divided the house, and will divide the people. It is, in truth, the most difficult of all on which we have had to decide. I have never made up an opinion on it entirely to my own satisfaction." The choice by electors " is, on the whole, a valu- able iinprovement on the former plan. It gets rid of cabal and corruption ; and continental characters will multiply as we more and more coalesce, so as to enable the electors in every part of the union to know and judge of them. It clears the way for a discussion of the question of the re-eligibility of the president on its own merits, which the former mode of election seemed to forbid. It may, how- ever, be better to refer the eventual appointment to the legislature than to the senate, and to con- fine it to a smaller number than five of the can- didates." ' "I wish to know," asked Randolph, chiming in with "Wilson, " why the eventual election is referred » GUpin, 1491; Elliot, 509. '^ Gilpin, 1491, 1492; Elliot, 509. 180 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, to tlie senate, and not to the leo-islature ? I see no IX . • . • v.^-,-^. necessity for tliis, and many objections to it." * 11 8 1. Qu the fifth, Mason, supported by Gerry, attempt- 5. ed to reduce the number of candidates to be voted for from five to three ; ' but the small states, who saw their best chance of furnishing a president in the larger number, were humored by the convention, and to the last the number of five was not changed. One great objection of Mason would be removed by depriving the senate of the eventual election.' Wilson proposed the capital amendment, to transfer the eventual election from the senate to the " legis- lature.'" This change Dickinson aj^proved. But the convention was not yet ripe for the motion, all the smaller states, except New Hampshire, voting against it. " The mode of appointment as now regulated," said Mason at the close of the day, " is utterly inadmis- sible. I should prefer the government of Prussia to one which will put all power into the hands of seven or eight men " — a majority of a quorum of the senate — " and fi_x an aristocracy worse than absolute mon- archy." ' 6. On the sixth, Geny, supported by King and Wil- liamson, proposed that the eventual election should be made by the legislature. Sherman, sedulously supporting the chances of the small states, remarked, that if the legislatui-e, instead of the senate, were to have the eventual a2)pointment of the president, it ought to vote by states.* » Gilpin, 1402; Elliot, 510. ■• Gilpin, ir,00; Elliot, 513. MJilpin, 1502; Elliot, 514. * (Jilpin, 150:5; Elliot, 515. » GJIpiu, 1498, M'J'J; Elliot, 513. • Gilpin, 1504; Elliot, 516. THE PRESIDENT. 181 "Wilson himself, on the same morning, spoke with ciiap. singular energy, disapproving alike the eventual -^^^ choice of the president by the equal vote of the ^^^,'^' states and the tendency to clothe the senate with 6. special powers : " I have weighed carefully the report of the committee for remodelling the constitution of the executive ; and, on combining it with other parts of the plan, I am obliged to consider the whole as having a dangerous tendency to aristocracy, as throw- ing a dangerous power into the hands of the senate. They will have, in fact, the appointment of the presi- dent, and, through his dependence on them, the vir- tual appointment to offices — among others, the officers of the judiciary department ; they are to make trea- ties ; and they are to try all impeachments. The legislative, executive, and judiciary powers are all blended in one branch of the government. The power of making treaties involves the case of sub- sidies ; and here, as an additional evil, foreign influ- ence is to be dreaded. According to the plan as it now stands, the president will not be the man of the people, as he ought to be, but the minion of the sen- ate. He cannot even appoint a tide-waiter without it. I have always thought the senate too numerous a body for making appointments to office. With all their powers, and the president in their interest, they will depress the other branch of the legislature, and aggrandize themselves in proportion. The new mode of appointing the president by electors is a valuable improvement ; but I can never agree to purchase it at the price of the ensuing parts of the report." ' 'Gilpin, 1504, 1505; Elliot, 516. 182 THE FEDERAL COISTENTIOIS'. CHAP. " Tlie mutual connection of tlie president and sen- -^^ — '- ate," said Hamilton, " will perpetuate the one and ag- ^SeV" g^'^^t^i^^ botli. I see no better remedy tlian to let 6. the higliest number of ballots, wlietlier a majority or not, appoint tlie president." * The same motion had the day before been offered by Mason," but the con- vention, especially the smaller states, inflexibly re- quired a majority. Williamson, to avoid favoring aristocracy in the sen- ate, and yet to secure the assent of the small states, wished to transfer the eventual choice to the legisla- ture, voting by states. To the legislature, Sherman preferred the house of representatives, the members from each state having one vote ; ^ and the convention so decided by ten states out of eleven. Nor would the convention entnist the counting of the votes to the senate alone. By amendments adopt- ed on the sixth,' it was thus finally established : " The president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the cer- tificates, and the votes shall then be counted." In eveiy stage of the proceeding the convention suffered no chance for the failure of an election, and had specially guarded against the failure of an election by the negative of one house upon the other, leaving the rules for the conduct of the electoral colleges, or of the two houses when in presence of each other, to be supplied by the familiar experience of the states. On one point, and on one point only, the several states of that day differed in their manner of counting votes. ' flilpin, ir)07; Elliot, 517. ' Gilpin, 1510; Elliot, 519. » Gilpin, 14'J8, 1499 ; Elliot, * Gilpin, 1509, 1513 ; Elliot, 513. 518, 520. THE PEESIDENT. 183 In Virginia tlie ballot of botli houses was taken in eacli liouse respectively, and tlie boxes examined joint- ly by a committee of eacli house. In Massachusetts the whole work was done by the senators and repre- sentatives assembled in one room. On this point, therefore, and on this point only, there was need of a special regulation ; and, accordingly, the constitution enjoined the counting of the votes in the presence of the senate and house of representatives after the manner of Massachusetts.* The language of the constitution is a concise, clear, and imperative command : " The votes shall then be counted." The convention is left with no one but itself to interpret its duties and prescribe its rules of ' Constitution of Virginia, of 1776. B. P. Poore's edition, 1910, 1911. A governor, or cliief ma- gistrate, shall be chosen annual- ly by joint ballot of both houses (to be taken in each house re- spectively) deposited in the con- ference room ; the boxes exam- ined jointly by a committee of each house, and the numbers sev- erally reported to them that the ap- pointments may be entered (which shall be the mode of taking the joint ballot of both houses, in all cases). . . A privy council, or council of state, consisting of eight members, shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of assembly. The delegates for Virginia to the continental congress shall be chosen annually, or superseded in the mean time, by joint ballot of both houses of assembly. The two houses of assembly shall, by joint ballot, appoint judges of the supreme court of appeals, and general court, judges in chancery, judges of admii-alty, secretary, and the attorney-general, to be commis- sioned by the governor, and con- tinue in office during good be- havior. Constitution of Massachusetts, of 1780. B. P. Poore's edition, 9G7, 969. Ch. II, Art. II. Nine councillors shall be annually chosen from among the persons returned for councillors and senators, on the last Wednesday in May, by the joint ballot of the senators and representatives assembled in one room. Ch. II, Art. I. The secretary, treasurer, and receiver-general, and the commissary-general, notaries public, and naval officers, shall be chosen annually, by joint ballot of the senators and representatives, in one room. Ch. IV. The delegates of this commonwealth to the congress of the United States shall, some time in the month of June, annually, be elected by the joint ballot of the senate and house of representa- tives assembled together in one room. CnAP. IX. 17 87. Sept. 6. 184 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. action. No power whatever over the counting of tlie votes is devolved on the house of representatives or on the senate ; whatever is granted is granted to the two houses " in the presence of " each other ; representing the states and the people according to the compro- mise adopted for the electoral colleges. And now the whole line of march to the arrival at the election of a president can be surveyed. The convention at first reluctantly conferred that office on the national legislature ; and to prevent the possi- bility of failm'e by a negative of one house on the other, to the legislature voting in joint ballot. To escape from danger of cabal and corruption, it next transferred full and final power of choice to an elec- toral college that should be the exact counterpart of the joint convention of the two houses in the repre- sentation of the states as units, as well as the popula- tion of the states, and should meet at the seat of gov- ernment. Then, feariuo^ that so laro-e a number of men would not travel to the seat of government for that single j)urpose, or might be hindered on the way, they most reluctantly went back to the choice of the president by the two houses in joint convention. At this moment the thoug-ht arose that the electors mi^-ht cast their votes in their own several states, and transmit the certificates of their ballots to the seat of govera- ment. Accordingly, the work of electing a president was divided ; the convention removed the act of voting from the joint session of the two houses to electoral colleges in the several states, the act of voting to be followed by the transmission of autlienticated certifi- cates of the votes to a branch of the general legis- THE PEESIDENT. 185 lature at tlie seat of p-overnment ; and tlien it re- ch.vp. . IX. stored to tlie two houses in presence of eacli other — ^ the same office of countiuc: the collected certificates ^ J ^J- o « Sept, which they would have performed had the \vhole duty 6. of choosing the president remained w ith them. Should no one have a majority, the eventual election of the president, to satisfy the rising Jealousy of the preroga- tives of the senate, was assigned to the house of rep- resentatives, and, to please the small states, to the representatives voting by states. And the house of representatives was in the clearest language ordered " immediately " to choose by ballot one of two, when their vote was equal, one of five where no person had a majority. In this way a collision between the two houses, by a negative vote of one on the other, was completely guarded against in every stage of the pro- cedure.* ^ When, thirteen years later, this ness of Miss Sarah Nicholas Ran- clause came up for consideration, dolph, granddaujrhter of Gover- Madison and Baldwin, two^surviv- nor Wilson Gary Nicholas, of Vir- ing members of the grand commit- ginia, and great-granddaughter of tee to whom the federal convention Thomas Jefferson, I have been al- had referred everything relating low^ed to take from the holograph to the choice of the president, left of Jefferson a copy of his paper on on record their interpretation of this subject, written by him for the clause. For the opinion of the use of W. C. Nicholas when Madison, see Madison to Jefferson, senator from Virginia in congress 4 April, 1800, in writings of Madi- in 1800. son, ii. 158, where the name "Ni- The question as voted upon in cholson's " is erroneously printed congress in 1800 was decided not for "Nicholas's," as appears from by any bearing on the selection of a comparison which has been made Jefferson or Burr for the presi- of the printed letter with the ori- dency, for the party opposed to ginal. The opinion of Baldwin Jefferson had a majority in each is found in "Counting Electoral branch, but on the unwillingness Votes," page 19. Baldwin gives of the senate to give to the house his vote with Langdon and Pinck- of representatives superior weight ney, both of whom had been mem- in the decision of elections. Jeffer- bers of the federal convention, for son, iv. 322. Tlie vice-president the right of the joint convention was never charged with the power to count the votes. By the kind- to count the votes. The person 186 THE FEDEEAL COIT^ENTION^. CHAP. Tlie almost certain election of tlie vice-president s.^-^ was secured by declaring tlie candidate having the 17 8 1. most votes to be duly elected. In tlie extremely im- 6. probable case, that two persons should lead all the candidates with an exactly equal number of votes, the election was to devolve on the senate. '7- " Such an officer as vice-president," said William- son, " is not wanted." * To make an excuse for his existence, the convention decreed that he should be president of the senate. " That," said Mason, " is an encroachment on the senate's rights ; and, moreover, it mixes too much the leo:islative and the executive." It was seen that the vice-president brings to the chair of the senate the dignity of one of the two highest officers in the land chosen by the whole country ; and yet that he can have no real iufl aence in a body upon which he is imposed by an extraneous vote. That the vice-president should, in the event of a va- cancy, act as president, prevents the need of a new election before the end of the regular teiin ; but an immediate appeal to the people might give a later and tnier expression of its Avishes. AVhile the method to be adopted for the election of •who counted tho first votes for Edmunds, 20 Nov., 1877. The president iind vice-president was laws of historical criticism require no vice-president, but a senator the historian to study tlie words elected by the senate as its officer of the state constitutions from for tliat act under ii special autlior- which the article in the United ity conferred Ijy the constitution States constitution is taken, and for that one occasion when tlie con- the practice of the state legisla- Btitution was to be set in motion. tures of that day under the orii^inal On any pretence of a riijht in articles in the state constitutions ; the vice-president to count the and these nuist decide on llie rifi;ht votes, compare tlie words spoken interpretation of the language em- in the senate by Senator ('onkiiiig, ployed. 23uud 24 Jan., 1877, and Senator ^"Uiipin, 1517; Elliot, 523. THE PEESIDENT. 187 the president still engaged tlie untiring efforts of tlie chap. convention, it proceeded in the ascertainment of liis ^^^^ powers. His style was declared to be " the President ig^^^^*^- of the United States of America ; " the clause that his 7. title should be " His Excellency " was still suffered to lino-er in the draft. He was to be the minister to carry out the will of the legislature, and see that the laws are executed. It was made his duty to give in- formation of the state of the union ; and to recom- mend necessary and expedient measures. He could not prorogue the two branches of the legislature nor either of them ; nor appeal to the people by dissolving them. They alone had the power to adjourn ; but on extraordinary occasions to him belonged the preroga- tive to convene them, or to convene the senate alone. Wilson was most apprehensive that the legislature, Aug. by swallowing up all the other powers, would lead to a dissolution of the government ; no adequate self- defensive power having been granted either to the executive or judicial department.* To strengthen the president and raise a strong barrier against rash legis- lation, Gouverneur Morris would have granted the president a qualified veto on the repeal of a law, an absolute veto on every act of legislation.'' At the instance of Williamson and Randolph, the Sept. convention at first required three fourths of each house to overrule his dissent to a bill, or a joint reso- lution ; ' but a two thirds vote was now held sufficient after the plan for choosing the president by electors was definitely settled." » Gilpin, 1336, 1337; Elliot, 430. ' Gilpin, 1337, 1338; Elliot, 431. » Gilpin, 1335; Elliot, 439. * Gilpin, 15G4, 15G5; Elliot, 538. 188 TIIE FEDERAL CONVENTIOlSr. Slierman had proposed that pardons should require the consent of the senate ; but no state except his ^Au-^' ^^^^ ^^^^ mlling thus to restrict the clemency of the 25! president/ All acrreed that he should be commander-in-chief 2'j^ of the army and the navy ; but, at Sherman's instance, he was to command the militia only when it should be called into the actual service of the United States." The men who made the constitution had taken to heart the lesson that the three great powers, legisla- tive, judicial, and executive, should be lodged in dif- ferent hands. "Executing the laws and appointing oiScers," Wilson had said, so early as the first of June, " are strictly executive powers." ' Yet it seemed need- ful to keep watch over the president, and Gerry ' and Sherman had favored the appointment of an execu- tive council,^ Charles Pinckney proposed that the president should consult the heads of the principal departments.* " A suj)erfl.uous proposition," said Hamilton, " for the president will at any rate have 14. that right." Mercer, on the fourteenth of August, suggested "a council composed of members of both houses of the leirislature to stand between the aris- tocracy and the executive." ' But the thought did not take root. The convention was anxious to reconcile a discreet watchfulness over the executive Avith his indepen- dence. In Auirust Ellsworth had recommended a o council to be composed of the president of the ' nilpin, Ur,n; Elliot, 480. "Gilpin, 783; Elliot, 150. ' (Jilpin, 14:54; Elliot, 4S0. "Gilpin, 811; Elliot, l(i.5. " (;ilpin, 70;j; Elliot, 141. ' Gilpin, 1318; Elliot, 421. ♦ Ibid. THE PEESLDENT. 189 senate, tlie cliief justice, and tlie ministers, or sec- chap. retaries as Gouvernem^ Morris named them, of tlie — r^ foreign, the interior, war, treasury, and navy depart- ^^uV' ments, " to advise, but not conclude the president." ' is. Gerry pronounced the nomination of the chief justice particularly exceptionable.' Dickinson urged that the great appointments of the heads of departments should be made by the legislatui'e, in which case they might properly be consulted by the executive. The elaborate plan of a council of state which Gouver- neur Morris proposed on the twentieth differed fi'om 20. that of Ellsworth mainly in its exclusion of the presi- dent of the senate. The persistent convention next consulted its com- 22. mittee of detail, which on the twenty-second re- ported : that " the privy council of the president of the United States shall consist of the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representa- tives, the chief justice of the supreme court, and the princij)al officer in each of five departments as they shall fi'om time to time be established; their duty shall be to advise him in matters which he shall lay before them ; but their advice shall not conclude him, nor affect his responsibility."' The report did not satisfy the convention, which, still hopeful and per- severing, referred the subject to the grand committee of the eleven states. The report of the committee, made on the fourth ^^pt of September, did no more than pennit the executive to "require the opinion in writing of the principal ' Gilpin, 1358, 1359; Elliot, 442. = Gilpin, 1398, 1399; Elliot, " Gilpin, 1359; Elliot, 442. 462. 4. 190 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, officer in eacli of tlie executive departments, upon — ^ any subject relating to liis office." * " In rejecting a ^ ' ^ '^- council to the president," such were the final words '?• of Mason, "we are about to try an experiment on which the most despotic government has never ven- tured ; the Grand Seignior himself has his Divan ; " and he proposed an executive council to be appointed by the legislature or by the senate, and to consist of two members from the Eastern, two from the Middle, and two from the Southern states ; with a rotation and duration of office similar to those of the senate/ He was seconded by Franklin, who " thought a coun- cil would be a check on a bad president, a relief to a good one." ' Wilson " approved of a council, in preference to making the senate a party to appoint- ments." So did Dickinson and Madison ; but the motion gained only three states ; * and then by a unanimous vote the president was authorized to take WTitten opinions of the heads of departments," who thus became his constitutional advisers. The failure to establish an efficient council led the convention most reluctantly to vest the senate with some control over acts of the executive. On the sev- enth it was agreed* " that the president shall have the power to make treaties by and with the advice and consent of the senate." ' " And of the house of repre- sentatives," AYilson would have added ; saying : " As treaties are to have tlie operation of laws, they ought to have the sanction of laws." But Sherman repre- sented that the necessity of secrecy, forbade a refer- • Gilpin, 1488; Elliot, 507. * Gilpin, 1524; Elliot, 526. ' Cilpin, 1523; Elliot, 525. " Ibid. » Ibid. • Gilpin, 1518; Elliot, 523. THE PRESIDENT. 191 ence to botli houses, and every state assented except chap. Pennsylvania.^ — . — It has already been related that to diminish the ^g^^^^"^- temptation to war, the power to declare it was con- 7- fided to the legislature. In treaties of peace, Madi- son, fearing in a president a passion for continuing war, proposed to dispense with his concurrence. " The means of carrying on the war," said Gorham, " will not be in the hands of the president, but of the legislature." "No peace," insisted Gouverneur Mor- ris, "oui^ht to be made without the concurrence of the president, who is the general guardian of the na- tion." And Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia alone voted for the amendment.'' On the seventh, the advice and consent of the sen- ate was, by a unanimous vote, required for the appoint- ment of ambassadors, other public ministers, consuls, and judges of the supreme court ; ' and for all other officers of the United States by nine states against Pennsylvania and South Carolina." But eight days 15. later the legislature was authorized to vest the ap- pointment of inferior officers in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.' All agreed in giving the president power to till up, 1. temporarily, vacancies that might happen during the recess of the senate.' Had the consent of the senate been made necessary to displace as well as to appoint, the executive would have suffered degradation; and the relative impor- > Gilpin, 1518; Elliot, 523. " Gilpin, 1520; Elliot, 524. ^ Gilpin, 1521, 1522; Elliot, 524, » Gilpin, 1588, 1589 ; ElHot, 525. 550. " Gilpin, 1520; Elliot, 523, 524. « Gilpin, 1520; Elliot, 524. 192 THE FEDEEAL CO^TVENTIOTT. CHAP, tance of tlie liouse of representatives a grave diminu- tion. To change the tenure of office from the good opinion of the president, who is the employer and needs efficient agents in executing the laws, to the favor of the senate, which has no executive powers, would create a new fealty alien to the duties of an officer of the United States. " The three distinct powers, legislative, judicial, and executive," said Ellsworth, as senator, in 1789, explaining the constitution which he had done so much to frame, " should be placed in diiferent hands. He sJiall take care that the latvs he faithfully executed, are sweeping words. The officers should be attentive to the president, to whom the senate is not a council. To turn a man out of office is an exercise neither of legislative nor of judicial power; it is like a tree growing upon land that has been granted. The ad- vice of the senate does not make the ap2:)ointment ; the president appoints : there are certain restrictions in certain cases, but the restriction is as to the ap- pointment and not as to the removal." ' Ang. One question on the qualifications of the president was among the last to be decided. On the twenty- second of August the committee of detail, fixing the requisite age of the president at thirty-five, on theii* OA\'n motion and for the first time required only that the president should be a citizen of the United States, and should have been an inhabitant of them for Sept. twenty-one years." On the fourth of September the committee of states who were charged with all un- ' MS. rfi)ort of Ellswortli's speech =" Gilpin, 1308; Elliot, 4G3. by William rater.son. THE PEESIDEl^T. 193 finished business limited the years of residence to ckap. IX fourteen. * It was tlien objected that no number of .^^ years could properly prepare a foreigner for tliat ^1^^' place ; but as men of other lands had spilled their 4. blood in the cause of the United States, and had assisted at every stage of the formation of their insti- tutions, on the seventh of September it was unani- '^^ mously settled that foreign-born residents of fourteen ■ years who should be citizens at the time of the for- mation of the constitution are eligible to the office of president." No majorities of the legislature could force a presi- dent to retu^e before the end of his term ; but he might be impeached by the house of representatives for trea- son, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The tribunal for his arraignment was at first the su- preme court of the United States ; but they would be few in number ; the president, after condemnation, would come before them on his acts ; and besides, they would be of his appointment. Hamilton had sug- gested a forum composed of the chief justice of each state.' Contrary to the opinion of Madison, the Eng- lish precedent was followed, and the senate was made the court to try all officers liable to impeachment ; and, on conviction by a two thirds vote, to remove them. As the vice-president, on the president's removal, would succeed to his place, the chief justice was di- rected to preside on the trial. At so late a day as the fourteenth of September, i4. Rutledge and Gouvemeur Morris moved that per- > Gilpin, 1487; Elliot, 507. " Gilpin, 892, 1158; Elliot, 205, ' Gilpin, 1516; Elliot, 531. 342. VOL. u. 13 194 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, sons impeaclied be suspended from tlieir offices until .-^^ they be tried and acquitted ; but Madison defeated 1 ^ ^ '^- tlie proposition by pointing out that this intermediate 14. suspension would put it in the power of one branch only to vote a temporary removal of the existing magistrate/ Judgment in cases of impeachment could extend only to removal from office and disqualification ; but the party remained liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, could be only by jury. ^Gilpin, 1572; Elliot, 543. CHAPTER X. THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY. The resolution on tlie federal judiciary which went chap. X. 17 87. Aug. from the convention to the committee of detail pur- posely described the extent of its jurisdiction in vague and general terms. The very able lawyers on that committee, Rutledge, Wilson, Randolph, and Ellsworth, proceeding mth equal boldness and pre- cision, shrinking from aggressions on the rights of the states and yet entertaining efficient and compre- hensive designs, brought in a report, which caused little diversity of opinion, and was held to need no essential amendment. But on one point they kept silence. A deeply-seated dread of danger from hasty legislation pervaded the mind of the convention ; and Mason, Madison, and others persistently desired to vest in the supreme court a revisionary power over the acts of congress, with an independent negative, or a negative in conjunction with the executive. Though the measure had been repeatedly brought forward and as often put aside, Madison, on the fifteenth of August, proposed once more that "Every i5. bill which shall have passed the two houses shall. 196 THE FEDERAL C0NVENTI01S-. CHAP, before it becomes a law, be severally presented to tlie — r^ president of the United States, and to tlie judges of ^2 ^^- the supreme court, for the revision of each ; " ' the 15. veto of the judges not to be overthrown by less than two thirds, nor, if the president joined them, by less than three fourths of each house. He was seconded by Wilson. Charles Pinckney opposed the interference of the judges in legislation, because it would involve them in the conflict of parties and tinge their opinions be- fore their action in court. "The judiciary," said John Francis Mercer, of Maryland, " ought to be sep- arate from the legislative and independent of it. I disaj^prove the doctrine that the judges should, as ex- positors of the constitution, have authority to declare a law void. Laws ought to be well and cautiously made, and then to be uncontrollable." ' To the re- gret of Gouverneur Morris, the motion of Madison caiTied only Maryland, Delaware, and Virgiuia. Dick- inson was strongly impressed with the objection to the power of the judges to set aside the law. He thought no such power ought to exist, but was at a loss for a substitute. "The justiciary of Aragon," he observed, " became by degrees the law-giver." ' 20. On the morning of the twentieth Charles Pinckney submitted numerous propositions ; among them was one that " Each branch of the legislature, as well as the supreme executive, shall have authority to re- quire the opinions of the supreme judicial court upon important questions of law, and upon solenm occa- ' r;il,,in, 1332; Elliot, 428. • Gilpin, 1334; Elliot, 439. " Gilpiu, 1333; Elliot, 429. THE FEDERAL JTJDICIAEY. 197 sions." * This article, as well as the rest, was referred chap. to the committee of detail, without debate or consid- ^^,1^ eration by the house, and was never aciain heard of. i *? » 7- .... ■'^"g- On the twenty-seventh the article on the judiciary 27. reported by the committee of detail was taken up; and it was agreed that "the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme court, and such inferior courts as shall, when necessary, fi'om time to time, be constituted by the legislature of the United States." ' " The judges of the supreme court, and of the inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior. They shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished duriuo- their continuance in office." ' Judges of inferior courts were clothed with the same independence of the two other branches of the government as the judges of the supreme court. Dickinson thousiht that the tenure of office was made too absolute ; and, following the example of Great Britain and Massachusetts, he desired that the judges should be removable by the executive on ap- plication of the senate and the house of representa- tives." "If the supreme court," said Rutledge, "is to judge between the United States and particular states, this alone is an insuperable objection to the motion." The clause gained no vote but that of Connecticut, Massachusetts being absent. In Eng- land the highest judicial officer is liable to change with every change of administration, and eyery one ' Gilpin, 1365; Elliot, i. 249. section 3, it is omitted here. El- » Gilpin, 1435. As the phrase liot, 481. "law and equity" is repeated in ' Gilpin, 1437; Elliot, 482. * Gilpin, 1436; Elliot, 481. 198 THE FEDEEAL CONVEXTIOIS'. CHAP, may be removed on tlie request of a majority in eacli -^ ^-^ house of parliament; every judge of the United ^5^'^- States, fi'om the highest to the lowest, is an officer Aug. , ' o / , 27. for life ; unless on impeachment convicted with the concuiTence of two thirds of the senate. The judicial power was by a motion of Johnson extended to cases in law and equity. He further proposed to extend it " to all cases arising under the constitution ; " and the motion was agreed to without dissent, because in the opinion of the convention the jurisdiction given was constmctively limited to cases of a judiciary nature.* In this way Madison's scheme of restraining uncon- stitutional legislation of the states by reserving to the legislature of the union a veto on every act of state legislation was finally abandoned ; and the power of revisinoj and reversino; a clause of a state law that conflicted mth the federal constitution was confided exclusively to the federal judiciary, but only when a case should be properly brought before the court. Tlie decision of the court in all cases within its juris- diction is final between the parties to a suit, and must be carried into effect by the proper officers ; but, as an interpretation of the constitution, it does not bind the president or the legislature of the United States. Under the same qualification the constitution gives to the judges the power to com- pare any act of congress with the constitution. But the supreme bench can set aside in an act of congress or of a state only that which is at variance with the constitution ; if it be merely one clause, or even but » Gilpin, 1438, 1439; Elliot, 483. THE FEDEEAL JUDICIARY. 199 one word, they can overrule that word or that clause, chap. and no more. The whole law can never be set aside ^ — ,~- unless every part of it is tainted with unconstitution- ^^u^ '^' ality.' 27^* Rutledge next added that the jurisdiction of the court should extend to treaties made, or to be made, under the authority of the United States ; and this proposal was readily adopted." The proposition that the courts should conduct the trial of impeachments was put aside, and that duty was afterward assio-ned to the senate. Two clauses in the report of the committee of detail, which, after a precedent in the confederacy, confided to the senate the settlement of all controversies bet^yeen two or more states respecting jurisdiction or territory, and all controversies concerning grants of the same lands by two or more states, were in the course of the dis- cussion removed from the senate and made over to the federal courts. In constructing the judiciary, extreme care was taken to keep out of the United States courts all questions which related to matters that began and ended Avithin a separate commonwealth. This inten- tion is stamped alike on the federal proposals of Vir- ginia, of New Jersey, and of Connecticut ; it was carefully respected in those clauses which limit the action of the individual states. The original jurisdiction of the supreme court em- braces only cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls. Cases in which a state should be a party were added for the single purpose of » Curtis in Howard, xix. 628. * Gilpin, 1439 ; Elliot, 483. 200 THE FEDERAL CONYENTIOX. CHAP, auttorizlng a state as plaintiff to seek justice in .^^.^J!^ a federal court ; it was as little intended to permit 17 8 7. individuals to brins^ a state there as a defendant as 27'' to arraign an ambassador. The appellate power in- cluded cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. In these three classes the jurisdiction of the court, original in two of them, appellate in the third, is in imperative language extended " to all cases." But as " to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more states ; between a state and citizens of another state ; between citizens of different states ; between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of dif- ferent states, and between a state or the citizens thereof and foreign states, citizens or subjects," the judicial power is limited. The section implies that only a part of the controversies in each of the enu- merated classes may come under the jurisdiction of the federal courts ; and it was left to the federal legislature to make the discrimination which in its judgment public policy might dictate.* Here con- gress, and congress alone, selects the controversies to which the appellate judicial power may extend, and at its own judgment limits the right of appeal. The ■ convention purposely made it the duty of congress to watch over tlie development of the system, and restrict accordingly the appellate jurisdiction. By reserving to the tribunals of the states jurisdiction over cases that may properly belong to them, it may rescue the federal court from the danger of losing its efficiency beneath unmanageable masses of business. ' Story in Curtis, iii. 5G9 ; Ellsworth in Curtis, i. 343. THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY. 201 Tlie metliod of clioosing tlie federal judiciary was chap. settled without strife. The motion for its appoint- — ^-^ ment by the executive, with the advice and consent i "^ » '7- of the senate, when first proposed, gained an equal vote ; and on the seventh of September was agreed Sept. to without a division.' The supreme court was to be the "bulwark of a limited constitution against legislative encroach- ments." ' A bench of a few, selected with care by the president and senate from the nation, seemed a safer tribunal than a multitudinous assembly elected for a short period under the sway of passing currents of thought, or the intrepid fixedness of an uncom- promising party. There always remains danger of erroneous judgments, arising from mistakes, imper- fect investigation, the bias of previous connections, the seductions of ambition, or the instigations of sur- rounding opinions ; and a court from which there is no appeal is apt to forget circumspection in its sense of security. The passage of a judge from the bar to the bench does not necessarily divest him of preju- dices ; nor chill his relations to the particular politi- cal party to which he may owe his advancement; nor blot out of his memory the great interests which he may have professionally piloted through doubtful straits; nor quiet the ambition which he is not re- quired to renounce, even though his appointment is for life ; nor cure predilections which sometimes have their seat in his own inmost nature. But the constitution retains the means of protect- ing itself against the errors of partial or interested ' Gilpin, 1520 ; Elliot, 524. » Federalist, Ixxviii. 202 THE FEDERAL COISTVENTION. CHAP, judgments. In the first place, tlie force of a judicial — ^ opinion of the supreme court, in so far as it is irre- ^^ ^t"^" versible, reaches only the particular case in dispute ; 7. and to this society submits, in order to escape from anarchy in the daily routine of business. To the de- cision on an underlying question of constitutional law no such finality attaches. To endure, it must be right. If it is right, it will approve itself to the universal sense of the impartial. A judge who can justly lay claim to integi'ity will never lay claim to infallibility ; but mth indefatigable research will add, retract, and correct whenever more mature consideration shows the need of it.' The court is itself inferior and sub- ordinate to the constitution ; it has only a delegated authority, and every opinion contrary to the tenor of its commission is void, except as settling the case on trial. The prior act of the superior must be pre- ferred to the subsequent act of an inferior ; otherwise it might transform the limited into an unlimited con- stitution. When laws clash, the latest law is rightly held to express tlie corrected will of the legislature ; but the constitution is the fundamental code, the law of laws ; and where there is a conflict between the constitution and a decision of the court, the original permanent act of the superior outweighs the later act of tlie inferior, and retains its own supreme energy unaltered and unalterable except in the manner pre- scribed by the constitution itself. To say that a court, having discovered an error, should yet cling to it because it has once been delivered as its ojiinion, is to invest caj)rice with inviolability and make awron^^: ' Wilson's Works, i. 29. THE FEDEKAL JUDICIAEY. 203 judgment of a servant outweigli tlie constitution to chap. wMcli lie lias sworn obedience. An act of tlie legis- — ,-^ lature at variance with tlie constitution is pronounced ^g^^^^*^- void; an opinion of tlie supreme cornet at variance ?• witli tlie constitution is equally so. Next to tlie court itself, tlie men wlio framed tlie constitution relied upon tlie power and tlie readi- ness of congress to punish through impeachment the substitution of the personal will of the judge for the law. A third influence may rise up " as the rightful in- terpreter of this great charter " of American rights and American power in " the good sense " ' of the land, wiser than the judges alone, because it includes within itself the wisdom of the judges themselves ; and this may lead either to the better instruction of the court, or to an amendment of the constitution by the collective mind of the country. The consolidation of the union was to be made visible to the nation and the world by the establish- ment of a seat of government for the United States under their exclusive jurisdiction ; and like authority was to be exercised over all places purchased for forts, dock-yards, and other needful buildings." It was not doubted that the government of the union should defend each state asjainst forei^rn enemies and concurrently against domestic violence; and should guarantee to every one of the states the form of a republic* ' Cooley's Constitutional Law, ' Gilpin, 734, 861, 1141, 1241, 224; Curtis, iv. 390. 1621; Elliot, 128, 190, 333, 381, ^Gilpin, 740, 1218, 1295, 1612; 564. Elliot, 130, 374, 409, 561. 204 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP. Sherman hesitated about granting power to estab- v^^'^ lisli uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, lest 1^^''- they might be made punishable even with death. 3. " This," said Gouverneur Morris, " is an extensive and delicate subject. I see no danger of abuse of the power by the legislature of the United States." * On the question the clause was agreed to, Connecticut alone beins; in the neo:ative. 8. So soon as the small states secured an equal repre- sentation in the senate, they ceased to be jealous of its influence on money bills; finally, on the eighth of September, it was settled unanimously that, while the initiative of bills for raising revenue should be confined to the house of representatives, the senate might propose amendments as on other bills, and origi- nate bills for appropriations."* On the same da}^, just before the adjournment, Wil- liamson strove to increase the number of the first house of representatives ; and was seconded by Mad- ison. Hamilton spoke with earnestness and anxiety for the motion. "I am," said he, "a friend to a vigorous government; at the same time I hold it essential that the pojiular branch of the government should rest on a broad foundation. The house of representatives is on so narrow a scale as to warrant a jealousy in the people for their liberties. The con- nection between the president and the senate will tend to perpetuate him by corrupt influence ; on this account a numerous representation in the other branch of the legislature should be established." The motion ' riilpin, 1181; Elliot, 504. Hot, 510, 529; Elliot, i. 285, 294, 'Gilpin, 1494, 1530, 1531; El- 295. THE FEDEKAL JUDICIAEY. 205 was lost by one majority ; Pennsylvania and the four cnAP. states nearest her on the south being outvoted by .--V^ New Jersey and the New England states at one ex- ^^^^^' treme, and South Carolina and Georgia at the other/ 8. It remained to mark out the way in which the new lo. constitution should be ratified. The convention had shown a disinclination to ask for it the approbation of cono-ress. Hamilton saw in the omission an inde- corum, and made the rash motion that congress, if they should agree to the constitution, should trans- mit it for ratification to the legislatures of the several states. Gerry seconded him." Wilson strongly dis- approved "the suspending the plan of the conven- tion on the approbation of congress." He declared it worse than folly to rely on the concurrence of the Ehode Island members of congress. Maryland had voted, on the floor of the convention, for requiring the unanimous assent of the thirteen states to the change in the federal system ; for a long time New York had not been represented ; deputies from other states had spoken against the plan. "Can it then be safe to make the assent of congress necessary ? We are our- selves, at the close, throwing insuperable obstacles in the way of its success." ' Clymer thought the pro- posed mode would fetter and embarrass congress ; and King and Kutledge concurring with him, Hamil- ton's motion was sup^Dorted only by Connecticut.' It was then voted, in the words of the report of the committee of detail : " This constitution shall be laid before the United States in congress assembled ; and » Gilpin, 1533; Elliot, 530. = Gilpin, 1540; Elliot, 534. * Gilpin, 1539; Elliot, 533. * Gilpin, 1541; Elliot, 534. 206 THE FEDEEAL COlSTYENTIOlSr. CHAP, it is the opinion of this convention that it should be .-.-A- afterward submitted to a convention chosen in each ^J ^ '^- state, under the recommendation of its le2:islature, in bept. ' , ^ ^ . 10. order to receive the ratification of such convention." In substance this method was never changed; in form it was removed fi'om the constitution and em- bodied in a directory resolution.* Randolph now began to speak of the constitution as a plan which would end in tyranny ; and proposed that the state conventions, on receiving it, should have power to adopt, reject, or amend it ; after which an- other general convention should meet with full power to adopt or reject the proposed alterations, and to establish finally the government. Franklin seconded the motion.' Out of respect to its authors, the propo- sition was allowed to remain on the table ; but by a unanimous vote it was ordered that the constitution should be established on its ratification by the con- ventions of nine states." Finally, a committee of five was appointed to revise its style and the arrange- ment of its articles. ' Art. xxii. of draft of the con- "" Gilpin, 1542 ; Elliot, 535. stitution suhmittcd to the commit- ^ Gilpin, 1571; Elliot, 541. tee of revision, Sept. 10th. Gil- pin, 1570; Elliot, 541. CHAPTER XI. the last days of the convention. September 12 to September 17, 1787. The committee to whom tlie constitution was re- chap. ferred for the arrangement of its articles and the — .-L. revision of its style were Johnson, Hamilton, Gouver- ^^^^' neur Morris, Madison, and King. The final draft of 12. the instrument was written by Gouverneur Morris,' who knew how to reject redundant and equivocal ex- pressions, and to use language with clearness and vigor ; but the convention itself had given so minute, long-continued, and oft-renewed attention to every phrase in every section, that there scarcely remained room for improvement except in the distribution of its parts. Its first words are : " We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, pro- vide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our- selves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this » G. Morris to T. Pickering, 22 Dec, 1814, in Life by Sparks, iii. 323. 208 ■ THE FEDERAL COITVENTIOIT. constitution for tlie United States of America." Here is no transient compact between parties : it is tlie institution of government by an act of the liigli- est sovereignty ; tlie decree of many who are yet one ; their law of laws, inviolably supreme, and not to be changed except in the way which their forecast has provided. The names of the thirteen states, so carefully enu- merated in the articles of confederation and in the treaty of peace, were omitted, because the constitu- tion was to go into effect on its acceptance by nine of them, and the states by which it would be ratified could not be foreknown. The deputies in the con- vention, representing but eleven states, did not pre- tend to be " the people ; " and could not institute a general government in its name. The instrument which they framed was like the report of a bill be- ginning with the words " it is enacted," though the binding enactment awaits the will of the legislatui*e ; or like a deed drawn up by an attorney for several parties, and awaiting its execution by the principals themselves. Only by its acceptance could the words " we the people of the United States " become words of truth and power. The phrase " general welfare," * adopted from the articles of confederation, though seemingly vague, was employed in a rigidly restrictive sense to signify " the concerns of the union at large, not the particular policy of any state." ' The word " national " was ex- cluded from the constitution, because it might seem * Gilpin, 1543; Elliot, 558. " Wasliinj^ton to William Gor- don, 8 July, 1783. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION. 209 to present the idea of tlie union of tlie people with- chap. out at the same time bringing into \4ew, that the one -^-r-^ republic was formed out of many states. Toward for- ^ ^ ^ '^• eign powers the country presented itself as one nation. 12. The arrano-ement of the articles and sections is faultless ; the style of the whole is nearly so. The branches of the legislatui^e are definitively named senate and house of representatives, the senate, at last, having precedence; the two together take the historic name of consress. The veto of the president could still be overruled only by thi'ee fourths of each branch of congress ; the majority of the convention, fearing lest so large a re- quisition would impose too great a difficulty in repeal- ing bad laws,^ at this last moment substituted the vote of two thu'ds. Williamson pointed out the necessity of providing for.jui'ies in civil cases." "It is not possible," said Gorham, " to discriminate equity cases from those in which juries would be proper ; and the matter may safely be trusted to the representatives of the peo- ple." ' Gerry urged the necessity of juries as a safe- guard against corrupt judges. " A general principle laid down on this and some other points would be sufficient," said Mason, and he joined with Gerry in moving for a bill of rights. The declaration of American independence, by the truths which it announced, called forth s}Tnpathy in all parts of the world. Could the constitution of the United States have been accompanied by a like sol- 1 Gilpin, 1563; Elliot, 537. = Gilpin, 1565; Elliot, 538. * Gilpin, 1565; Elliot, 538. VOL. u. 14 210 THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. CHAP, emn declaration of tlie principles on wMcli it rested, ■S-r^ tlie states would have been held together by the holi- ^SeV* ^®* ^^^ strongest bonds/ But, in the absence of 12. Massachusetts, the motion was lost by a unanimous vote. The style of the executive, as silently carried for- ward from the committee of detail, was still "his Excellency ; " this vanished in the committee of re- vision, so that he might be known only as the presi- dent of the United States. IS. Following a precedent of the first congress. Mason, on the thirteenth, seconded by Johnson, moved for a committee to report articles of association for encour- aging economy, frugality, and American manufac- tures.' It was adopted without debate and without opposition. The proposal was referred to Mason, Franklin, Dickinson, Johnson, and William Living- ston ; but no report was made. ' Here manuscrii^ts and printed texts differ in an astonishing manner. Manuscript Journal. Text in Elliot, i. 806. It "was moved and seconded to It was moved and seconded to appoint a committee to prepare a appoint a committee to prepare a bill of rights, which passed in the bill of rights ; which passed UNAJSf- negative. imously in the negative. Manuscript of Madison. Text in Gilpin, 15GG. Elliot, 5d8. On the question for a committee On the question for a committee to prejmre a bill of rights — to prepare a bill of rights — N. II. no, Mas. abst., Ct. no. New Hampshire, Connecticut, N. J. no. Pa. no, Del. no, Md. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- no, Va. no, N. C. no, S. C. no, ware, aye — 5 ; Maryland, Virginia, Geo. no. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, no — 5 ; Massachusetts, absent. The manuscript of Madison, which is plainly written, represents the motion as negatived unanimously ; the printed edition, as lost by a jmroly geogriipiiical division. The change remains as yet a mystery. ^ Gilpin, 1508; Elliot, 510. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION. 211 From tlie work of tlie committee of detail the chap. word " servitude " survived as applied to tlie engage- J^A^ ment to labor for a term of years ; on tlie motion of "^^ ^^• RandolplL the word " service " was unanimously sub- i3. stituted for it, servitude being thought to express the condition of slaves, service an obligation of free per- sons.' On the same day Johnson, from the committee on style, reported ' resolutions for the ratification of the constitution through congress by conventions of the people of the several states ; and then for the elec- tion of senators, represejitatives, and electors, and through them of president. Nothing was omitted to make it certain that at a fixed time and place the government under the constitution would start into being. On the fourteenth it was confirmed without dis- i4. sent that congress should have no right to change the places of the election of senators. The appointment of the treasurer as the keeper of the purse had thus far been jealously reserved to the two houses of congress.' It marks the confidence of the convention in its own work, that at this period the selection of that officer was confided to the presi- dent and senate. On the same day Franklin, seconded by Wilson, moved to add, after the authority to establish post-of- fices and post-roads, a power " to provide for cutting canals."* "The expense," objected Sherman, "wdU fall on the United States, and the benefit accrue to the ' Gilpin, 1233, 1544, 1569; El- 'Gilpin, 1574; Elliot, 542. Uot, 879, 540, 559. " Gilpin, 1576 ; Elliot, 543. * Gilpin, 1570, 1571 ; Elliot, 541. 212 THE FEDEEAL COIH^ENTION. CHAP, places wliere tlie canals are cut." "Canals," replied Wilson, "instead of being an expense to tlie United States, may be made a source of revenue." Madison, supported by Randolph, suggested an enlargement of the motion into a warrant to grant charters of incorpo- ration which might exceed the legislative provisions of individual states, and yet be required by the in- terest of the United States ; political obstacles to an easy communication between the states being re- moved, a removal of natural ones ought to follow.^ The necessity of the power was denied by King. " It is necessary," answered Wilson, " to prevent a state from obstructing the general welfare." " The states," rejoined King, " will be divided into parties to grant charters of incor]3oration, in Philadelphia and New York to a bank, in other places to mercantile mo- nopolies."' Wilson insisted on the importance of facilitating by canals the communication with the western settlements.' The motion, even when limited to the case of canals, gained no votes but those of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Georgia.* Madison and Charles Pinckney asked for congress permission to establish a university in which no prefer- ences should be allowed on account of religion. " The exclusive power of congress at the seat of govern- ment will reach the object," said Gouverneur Morris. The motion was sustained only by Pennsylvania, Vir- ginia, and North and South Carolina ; in Connecticut, Johnson divided ai^ainst Sherman.* In framing the constitution, Madison kept in mind ' Gilpin, 1576; Elliot, 544. * Gilpin, 1577; Elliot, 544. ' ll.id. 'Gilpin, 1577, 1578; Elliot, » Gilpin, 1577; Elliot, 544. 544. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION. 213 that tlie functions of the general government should chap. extend to the prevention of "trespasses of the states on the rights of each other." ' " The rights of individu- als," he said in the convention, " are infringed hj many of the state laws, such as issuing paper money, and instituting a mode to discharge debts differing from the form of the contract."* It has already been told how the delegates from Connecticut had agreed among themselves " that the legislatures of the in- dividual states ought not to possess a right to make any laws for the discharge of contracts in any man- ner different from the agreement of the parties."' Stringent clauses in the constitution already pro- hibited paper money. For the rest. King, as we have seen, proposed a clause forbidding the states to in- terfere in private contracts ; but the motion had been condemned as reaching too far ; and instead of it, at the instance of Rutledge, the convention denied to the states the power " to pass bills of attainder or esc post facto laws."* In this manner it was supposed that laws for closing the courts, or anthorizing the debtor to pay his debts by more convenient instal- ments than he had covenanted for, were effectually prohibited. But Dickinson, as we have seen, after consulting Blackstone, mentioned to the house that the term ex post facto relsited. to criminal cases only; and that restraint of the states from retrospective laws in civil cases wonld require some further pro- vision.' Before an explanatory provision had been ^ Madison, i. 321. ' Sherman by J. Evarts in Bi- ^ Yates's Minutes, Elliot, i. 424, ogrraphy of the Signers, ii. 43. 425. Compare Gilpin, 898 ; Elliot, ^ Elliot, i. 271. 208. "Gilpin, 1450; Elliot, 488. 214 THE FEDEEAL CONTENTION. CHAP, made, tlie section came into the liands of tKe commit- XI . . •^ r^ tee on revision and style. That committee had no ^o^'^' authority to bring forward any new proposition, H- but only to make corrections of style. Gouver- neur Morris retained the clause forbidding ex ])ost facto laws ; and^ resolute not " to countenance the issue of paper money and the consequent viola- tion of contracts," * he of himself added the words : "No state shall pass laws altering or impaiiing the obligation of contracts." The convention reduced the explanatory words to the shorter form : " No state shall pass any law imj)airing the obligation of con- tracts."^ In this manner an end was designed to be made to barren land laws, laws for the instalment of debts, and laws closing the courts against suitors. Sherman and Ellsworth, in their official letter recom- mending the constitution to Connecticut, explained the intent of the convention by saying : " The restraint on the legislatures of the several states respecting emitting bills of credit, making anything but money a tender in payment of debts, or impau'ing the obli- gation of contracts by ex post facto laws, was thought necessary as a security to commerce, in which the interest of foreigners as well as of the citizens of dif- ferent states may be affected." ' 15 From fresh information it appeared to Sherman that North Carolina was entitled to another represen- tative ; and Langdon moved to allow one more mem- ber to that state, and likewise one more to Rhode ' G. Morris by Sparks, iii. 333. worth, delegates from Connecticut ' Gilpin, 1552, 15bl; Elliot, 540, in the federal convention, to the gov- 501. ernor of said state. New Loudon, ' Roger Sherman and Oliver Ells- 30 Sept., 1787. Elliot, i. 491, 493. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION. 215 Island/ "If Rhode Island is to be allowed two chap. members," said King, " I can never sign the constitu- tion." Charles Pinckney urged separately the just claim of North Carolina ; on which Bedford put in a like claim for Rhode Island and for Delaware ; and the original proposition was hopelessly defeated." Randolph and Madison disliked leaving the pardon for treason to the president alone ; but the conven- tion would not suffer the legislature or the senate to share that power." The committee of revision had described a fugitive slave as " a person legally held to service or labor in one state." The language seemed to imply that slavery was a " legal " condition ; the last word of the convention relating to the subject defined the fugi- tive slave to be " a person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof," making it clear that, in the meaning of the constitution, slavery was local and not federal.* The convention gave the last touches to the modes of amending the constitution. In August the com- mittee of detail had reported that, " on the applica- tion of the legislatures of two thirds of the states in the union, the legislature of the United States shall call a convention for that purpose." ' On the thirtieth day of August, Gouverneur Morris had suggested that congress " should be at liberty to call a conven- tion whenever it pleased." ° " An easier mode of in- lo. > Gilpin, 1583; Elliot, 547. * Gilpin, 1558, 1589, 1G30 ; El- * GUpin, 1583, 1584 ; Elliot, liot, 550, 564. 547. * Gilpin, 1241 ; Elliot, 381. => Gilpin, 1587; Elliot, 549. " Gilpin, 1468; Eillot, 498. 216 THE FEDEEAL CONVENTION. CHAP, troducing amendments," said Hamilton, reviving the — ^ question, "is desirable. Tlie state legislatures will ^g^ ^^- not apply for alterations but with a view to increase 10. tlieir own powers. The national legislature will be the first to perceive the necessity of amendments ; and on the concurrence of each branch ought to be em^ powered to call a convention, reserving the final de cision to the people." * Madison supported Hamilton Here Sherman suggested an alternative : the legis lature may propose amendments directly to the sev eral states, not to be binding until consented to by them all.' " To be binding when consented to by two thirds of the several states," interposed Wilson. To facilitate amendments, the convention authorized two thirds of congress to introduce amendments to the con- stitution ; but, to prevent hasty changes, required for their ratification the assent of three fourths of the leo^islatures or conventions of the states. Madison, summing up the ideas that had found favor, moved that the legislature of the United States, upon a vote of two thirds of both houses, or upon the application of two thirds of the legislatures of the states, shall propose amendments to the constitution which shall be valid when they shall have been rati- fied by three fourths at least of the several states in their legislatures or conventions, as one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the legis- lature of the United States." This motion was accepted, but not till it had been agreed tliat the clauses in the constitution forming ' Gilpin, in?A; Elliot, mi. " Gilpin, 1535; Elliot, C31. ' Gil])in, 1535; Elliot, 531. THE LAST DAYS OF THE COl^VENTIOlSr. 217 special covenants with tlie South on slavery should chap. not be liable to change. Five days later the fears of ^^^ the small states were quieted by a proviso that no \?.^ Z^* state mthout its own consent should ever be deprived is- of its equality in the senate/ Finally, on maturest reflection, the proposition of the committee of detail, obliging congress to call a convention on application of two thirds of the states, was restored. Amendments to the consti- tution might proceed from the people as represent- ed in the legislatures of the states ; or from the people as represented in congress ; or from the peo- ple as present in a convention ; in every case to be valid only with the assent of three foui^ths of the states. Mason, in sullen discontent at the grant of power to a bare majority of congress to pass navigation acts, and di'eadino; that "a few rich merchants in Philadel- phia. New York, and Boston " might by that means monopolize the staples of the southern states and re- duce their value perhaps fifty per cent, moved " that no law in the nature of a navigation act be passed before the year eighteen hundred and eight, without the consent of two thirds of each branch of the legis- lature ; " but he was supported only by Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia." Next, Kandolph, whose weight as governor of Vir- ginia might turn the scale in that state, declared his intention to withhold his signature from the consti- tution that he might retain freedom as to his ultimate action; and, agreeing exactly with Richard Henry » Gilpin, 1592; Elliot, 553. " Gilpin, 1593; Elliot, 553. 218 THE FEDERAL CONTENTION. CHAP. Lee/ lie moved " tliat state conventions miglit have XI ... tlie power to offer to the constitution which was to be laid before them as many amendments as they pleased; and that these amendments, together with the constitution, should be submitted to another gen- eral convention " ' for a final decision. He was sec- onded by Mason, who said: "The government as established by the constitution will surely end either in monarchy or a tyrannical aristocracy. As it now stands, I can neither give it my support in Virginia, nor sign it here. With the expedient of another con- vention I could sign." ' "I, too," said Charles Pinckney, "object to the power of a majority of congress over commerce ; but, apprehending the danger of a general confusion and an ultimate decision by the sword, I shall give the plan my support." Then Gerry counted up eight objections to the constitution, "all" of which he could yet get over, were it not that the legislature had general power to make " necessary and proper " laws, to raise "armies and money" without limit, and to establish " a star chamber as to civil cases ; " and he, too, contended for a second general convention. On the proposition for another convention all the states answered "No." "Washington then put the question of agreeing to the constitution in its present form; and all the states present answered "Aye." The constitution was then ordered to be engrossed, and late on the evening of Saturday the house ad- journed.* > Compare R. II. Lcc to Chan- "" Cilpin, 1503; Elliot, 553. Cfllor Pciullcton, 22 May, 1788, in = (}ili)in, 15!)4; Elliot, 552, 55 Life, ii. 03, 94. * Gilpiu, 15i)5; Elliot, 553. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTIOI^. 219 One morning Washington, in a desultory conver- chap. sation with members of the convention before the >— ,-1^ chair was taken, observed how unhappy it would be i *? s 7. should any of them oppose the system when they re- turned to their states.* On Monday, the seventeenth Sept. of September, Franklin made a last effort to van over the dissenting members. "Mr. President," said he, "■ several parts of this constitution I do not at pres- ent apj)rove, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. It astonishes me to find this system approach- ing so near to perfection. I consent to this consti- tution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the public good. " On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wdsh that every member of the convention, who may still have objections to it, would with me on this oc- casion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and, to manifest our unanimity, put his name to this iustni- ment."° He then moved that the constitution be signed by the members ; and he offered as the form of signature a simple testimony that the constitution had received "the unanimous consent of the states present." ' But this ample concession induced neither Mason, nor Gerry, nor Randolph to relent. Before the question was put, Gorham, obeying an intimation fi'om Washington, proposed to render the house of representatives a more popular body by al- lowing one member for every thirty thousand inhabi- ^ Luther Martin in Maryland = Gilpin, 1597, 1598; Elliot, 554, Journal of 21 March, 1788. 555. ' Gilpin, 1598 ; Elliot, 555. 220 THE FEDERAL COTT^ENTIOIT. CHAP, tants. He was warmly seconded by King and Car- Ji^ roU/ ^^ ^ '^- Rising to put tlie question, tlie president, after an i*?- apology for offering his sentiments, said : " I would make objections to tlie plan as few as possible. The smallness of the number of representatives has been considered by many members as insufficient security for the rights and interests of the people ; and to my- self has always appeared exceptionable ; late as is the moment, it will give me much satisfaction to see the amendment adopted unanimously."* And at his word it was so adopted. On the question to agree to the engrossed constitu- tion, all the states answered " Aye." ' Randolph then apologized for refusing to sign the constitution, " notwithstanding the vast majority and the venerable names which gave sanction to its wis- dom and its worth. I do not mean by this refusal," he continued, " to decide that I shall oppose the con- stitution without doors ; I mean only to keep myself free to be governed by my duty, as it shall be pre- scribed by my future judgment." * " I, too, had objections," said Gouverneur Moms ; "but considering the present plan the best that can be obtained, I shall take it with all its faults. The moment it goes forth, the great question will be : ' Shall there be a national government, or a general anarchy ? ' " " I am anxious," said Hamilton, " that every mem- ber should sign. A few by refusing may do infinite > Gilpin, I.-jOO; Elliot, 555. ' Gilynn, IGOO; Elliot, 556. " Gilpin, lyO'J, 1000; Elliot, 555, * Ibid. 550. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CONVENTION. 221 miscliief. No man's ideas are more remote from the ceap. plan tlian my own are known to be ; but is it possible to deliberate between anarchy and convulsion on the one side, and the chance of good to be expected from the plan on the other ? " ' " I," said Gerry, " fear a civil war. In Massachu- setts there are two parties : one devoted to democra- cy, the worst, I think, of all political evils ; the other as violent in the opposite extreme. From the colli- sion of these, confusion is greatly to be feared." " I shall sign the constitution with a view to sup- port it with all my influence," said Cotesworth Pinck- ney, " and I wish to pledge myself accordingly." "" Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, considered the sign- ing as a recommendation of what, all things con- sidered, was the most eligible. The form proposed by Franklin was accepted mth no dissent, except that South Carolina was impatient at its want of an affirmative expression of unhesitat- ing approval. The journals and papers of the con- vention were confided to the care of the president, subject to the order of the new government when it should be formed." Plamilton, in a bold, plain hand, successively inscribed on the great sheet of parch- ment the name of each state, as the delegations one after the other came forward in geographical order and signed the constitution. When it appeared that the unanimous consent of all the eleven states pres- ent in convention was recorded in its favor, Franklin, looking toward a sun which was blazoned on the » Gilpin, 1601 ; Elliot, 556. ^ Gilpin, 1605 ; Elliot, 558. * Gilpin, 1603, 1604; Elliot, 558. 222 THE FEDEEAL COTfVENTIOIT. CHAP, president's chair, said of it to tliose near Mm : " In ^-^^.^^ the vicissitudes of hope and fear I was not able to ^ J ^ '^- tell whether it is risino; or setting; ; now I know that Sept. ^ ^ , . '^ ° ' 17. it is the rising sun." ' The members were awe-struck at the result of their councils ; the constitution was a nobler work than any one of them had believed it possible to devise. They all on that day dined together, and took a cor- dial leave of each other. Washington at an early hour of the evening retii^ed " to meditate on the mo- mentous work which had been executed.'" » Gilpin, 1634 ; Elliot, 565. ^ Diary of Washington for the day. BOOK I Y. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATES IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. 1787-1788. CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION IN CONGRESS AND IN VIRGINIA. September to Noyembee, 1787. ") On the twentietli of September, tlie letter of chap. Wasliington, as president of tlie convention, to tlie — .^^ president of congress, tlie full text of tlie proposed ^g^^^' constitution, and tlie order of tlie convention, were 20. laid before congress, and on tlie next day appeared 21. in tlie daily papers of New York. Tlie letter plainly said : The powers necessary to be vested in " the gen- eral government of the union " are too extensive to be delegated to " one body of men." " It is imprac- ticable, in the federal government of these states, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all ; it is difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered and those which may be reserved ; on the present occasion this difficulty was increased by a difference among the several states as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests. " We kept steadily in view the consolidation of our VOL. II, 15 226 THE PEOPLE nf JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, union, in wliicli is involved our prosperity, felicity, .--^ safety, perhaps our national existence. And tlius tlie ^Sc^t'^" constitution wMch we now present is the result of tliat 21. mutual deference and concession, wMcli the peculiar- ity of our political situation rendered indispensable." ' The constitution instantly met with opposition fi'om the indefatigable Richard Henry Lee," support- ed by Nathan Dane' and all the delegates from New York, of whom Melancthon Smith was the ablest. Till Madison returned, the delegates from Vii'ginia were equally divided, Grayson opposing the govern- ment because it was too feeble, and Lee because it was too strong.* Already the New York faction was actively scattering the seeds of opposition, and Ham- ilton dauntlessly opposing them in the public papers by arguments for union.^ It was only out of the ashes of the confederation •that the new constitution could sj^ring into being; and the letter of the convention did indeed invite congress to light its o^vn funeral pyre. On the 26. twenty-sixth it was first contended that congress could not properly give any positive countenance to a measure subversive of the confederation to which they owed their existence. To this it was answered, that in February congress itself had recommended the convention as "the most probable means of estab- lishing a film national government," and that it was not now more restrained from acceding to the new plan than the convention from proposing it. If the * New York Daily Advertiser, 20 = Gilpin, 643,050; Elliot, 560, 508. and 21 Se])t., 1787; New York * Carrington to Jefferson, 23 Packet, 21 Sept., 17H7. Oct., 1787. MS. " Carriiifrtou to Madison, Sun- ' Carringtou to Madison, 23 day, 23 Sept., 1787. MS. Sept., 1787. THE CONSTITUTION IN CONGEESS. 227 plan was within tlie powers of the convention, it was chap. within those of congress ; if beyond those powers, the .^^^ necessity which Justified the one wonld justify the ^^^Y' other ; and the necessity existed if any faith was due 26. to the representations of congress themselves, con- firmed by twelve states in the union and by the gen- eral voice of the people. Lee next attempted to amend the act of the con- vention before it should go forth from congress to the people. " Where," said he, " is the contract be- tween the nation and the government ? The consti- tution makes no mention but of those who govern, and never speaks of the rights of the people who are governed."^ He wished to qualify the immense power of the government by a bill of rights, which had always been regarded as the palladium of a free people. The bill of rights was to relate to the rights of conscience, the fi'eedom of the press, the trial by jury in civil cases as well as criminal, the prohibition of standing armies, freedom of elections, the inde- pendence of the judges, security against excessive bail, fines, or punishments, against unreasonable searches or seizure of persons, houses, papers, or property; and the right of petition. He further proposed amendments to the constitution ; a council of state or privy council, to be joined with the presi- dent in the appointment of all officers, so as to pre- vent the blending of legislative and executive powers; no vice-president ; an increase of the number of the representatives ; and the requisition of more than a majority to make commercial regulations. ' Minister Otto to Count Montmorin, New York, 23 Oct., 1787. 228 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGEMENT ON THE C0:N"STITUTI0N'. CHAP. The restraint on tlie power of regulating commerce v--,!^ and navigation would have been fatal to the wealth ^^ ^ '^- and prosperity of New York. Nevertheless, the prop- 26. ositions of Lee were supported by Melancthon Smith, who insisted that congress had the undoubted right and the duty to amend the plan of the federal con- stitution, in which the essential safeguards of liberty had been omitted. To this it was replied that con- gress had certainly a right of its own to 2^1'opose amendments, but that these must be addressed to the legislatures of the states, and would require ratifica- tion by all the thirteen ; but that the act of the fed- eral convention was to be addressed to conventions of the several states, of which any nine might adopt it for themselves. So the first day's debate ended without admitting the proposed amendments to con- sideration.* 27. The next day Lee, seconded by Smith, offered a resolution that congress had no power whatever to assist* in creating a "new confederacy of nine" states ; and therefore he would do no more than, as a mark of resj)ect, forward the acts of the convention to the executives of every state to be laid before their respective legislatures. On the instant Abra- ham Clarke, of New Jersey, seconded by Nathaniel Mitchell, of Delaware, proposed to add : " In order to be by them submitted to conventions of delegates to be chosen agreeably to the said resolutions of the convention." On the question, Georgia and the two Carolinas voted unjinimously against Lee ; so did * Madison to Washington, Now Oct., 1787; Life of R. 11. Lee, ii. York, 80 S(;i)t., 17«7; K. U. Lee 74, 76. to Samuel Adams, New York, 5 '■' Gilpin, 643; Elliot, 566. THE CONSTITUTION IN CONGEESS. 229 Delaware and the only member from Maryland, witli chap. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massacliu- A— setts, New Hampshire. Virginia, on the return of ^^J^*^- Madison, joined them by the inflexible majority of 27. Madison, Carrington, and Henry Lee, against Gray- son and Richard Henry Lee. All the states except New York were for the motion ; and all except New York and Virginia w^ere unanimously so. The ma- jority in congress was impatient to express its ap- proval of the acts of the convention in still stronger language ; Carrington, of Virginia, therefore, second- ed by Bingham, of Pennsylvania, proposed that it be recommended to the legislatures of the several states to cause conventions to be held as speedily as may be, to the end that the same may be adopted, ratified, and confirmed.' In this stage of the business congress adjourned. The friends of the new constitution desired to send it to the states by the unanimous vote of congress. The members from New York would not consent to any language that implied approval. To win their vote the resolution of congress must be neutral. On the other hand, the idea of unanimity required the eif acement of every motion adverse to the reference of the constitution. Accordingly, congress, when it next assembled, expunged from its journal the j^roposed amendments of Richard Henry Lee, and the vote of the preceding day;' and having obliterated every record of opposition, it resolved on the twenty-eighth 28. unanimously, eleven states being present, Maryland ^ MS. Journals of Congress in ' MS. Journals of Congress. State Department. 230 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, having one delegate, Rliode Island being alone alto- v---,!^ getlier unrepresented, that tlie said report, with the i^^''- resolutions and letter accompanying the same, be 23. transmitted to the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each state by the people thereof in conformity to the re- solves of the convention/ Oct. Baffled within the convention, Richard Henry Lee appealed to the world through the press in a series of "Letters from the Federal Farmer," of which many thousand copies were scattered through the central states. He acknowledged the necessity of reforming the government, but claimed to discern a strong ten- dency to aristocracy in every part of the proposed constitution, which he slighted as the work of vision- ary young men,"* w^ho mshed to change the thirteen distinct independent republics under a federal head into one consolidated government." He waylaid Ger- ry when bound for home, and assisted him in prepar- ing an official letter to explain his refusal to sign the constitution. He addi-essed himseK to Samuel Adams, the " dear friend with whom he had long toiled in the vineyard of liberty," submitting to his wisdom and j)atriotism the ol^jections to the new constitution which he had proposed in congress in the form of amendments, but disingenuously substituting other words for his remonstrance aG:ainst vestins; cono^ress with power to regulate commerce. He extended his intrigues to Pennsylvania and Delaware, hoping to delay their decisions. ' Journals of Conprosn, iv. 782. ' Letters from the Federal Farm- ' Letters from the Federal Farm- er, 6. or, 8. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRGINIA. 231 " I am waiting witli anxiety for tlie eclio from Vir- chap. ginia, but witli very faint hopes of its coiTesponding with my wishes," wrote Madison from New York city to Washington/ The party in power in New York was passionately opposed to the constitution ; but abeady day had begun to scatter the dusk of earliest morning. In the first moment after his return to Mount Vernon, Washington sent a copy of the constitution to Patrick Henry," to Harrison, and to Nelson, each of whom had been governor of Virginia. In a pro- pitiatory letter he appealed to their experience of the difficulties which had ever arisen in attempts to reconcile the interests and local prejudices of the sev- eral states. "I wish," he continued, "the constitu- tion which is offered had been more perfect; but it is the best that could be obtained at this time, and a door is opened for amendments hereafter. The po- litical concerns of this country are suspended by a thread. The convention has been looked up to by the reflecting part of the community with a solicitude which is hardly to be conceived ; and if nothing had been agreed on by that body, anarchy would soon have ensued, the seeds being deeply sown in every soil." A visitor at Mount Vernon, just after this letter was sent out, wiites of Washington : " He is in per- fect health, and looks almost as well as he did twenty years ago. I never in my life saw him so keen for anything as he is for the adoption of the new form * Madison to Washington. Gil- " Washington to Henry, 24 Sept., pin, 646; Elliot, 567. 1787. Sparks, ix. 265. 232 THE PEOPLE LN JUDGMENT ON TIIE CONSTITUTION". CHAP, of govemment." ' Througliout tlie wliole country lie — ^ Tras the centre of interest; in Virginia of power. 1 Ysv. 'pjie leaders of opposition answered him frankly, but mth expressions of deference and affection. " The seeds of civil discord," replied Hamson, " are plentifully sown in very many of the powers given both to the president and congress. If the constitu- tion is carried into effect, the states south of the Potomac will be little more than appendages to those to the northward of it. My objections chiefly lie against the unlimited powers of taxation, the regula- tion of trade, and the jurisdictions that are to be established in every state altogether independent of their laws. The sword and such powers will, nay, must, sooner or later establish a tyranny." * Avowing very sincerely " the highest reverence " for Washington, Patrick Henry answered vaguely but positively ; " I cannot bring my mind to comply with the proposed constitution." ^ George Mason, who had rendered the highest and vnsest service in shaping the constitution, now from wounded pride resisted his inmost convictions, enu- merating his objections, of which the grant to con- gress of power to regulate commerce by a bare ma- jority was the capital one.* Next came a letter from Richard Henry Lee, who avowed himself " compelled by uTesistible conviction of mind after long reflection to doubt about the new system for federal government," and to express the ' A. Donald to Jefferson, 13 " S])arks, ix. 2CG. Note. Nov., 1787. MS. * Geor^jc Mason to Washington, » Sparks, ix. 206, 267. Note. 7 Oct., 1787. Sparks, ix. 267,^268. Note. THE CONSTITUTION EST VIRGINIA. 233 wish " that such amendments as would give security chap. to the rio;hts of human nature and the discordant in- 1^ terests of the different parts of this union mio;ht em- 1 7 s 7. . „ ^ Oct. ploy another convention. ' But the influence of Washington outweighed them all. He was embosomed in the affections and en- shrined in the pride of the people of Virginia ; and in all their waverino;s during; the nine months follow- ing the federal convention he was the anchor of the constitution. His neighbors of Alexandria to a man agreed with him ; and Fairfax county unanimously instructed its representatives, of whom George Mason was one, " that the peace, security, and prosperity of Vii'ginia and of the United States depended on the speedy adoption of the federal constitution." ' In the close division of parties in the state it was of vital imj^ortance to secure the influence of Edmund Randolph, its governor ; and his old military chief in due time received from him an elaborate paper which he had prepared in the form of an address to the speaker of the house of delegates. In this letter, not yet pledging himself to the unconditional support of the constitution, he avowed that he prized the inti- mate and unshaken friendship of Washington and Madison as among the happiest of all his acquisi- tions ; but added ; " Dreadful as the total dissolution of the union is to my mind, I entertain no less horror at the thought of partial confederacies. The utmost limit of any partial confederacy, which Virginia could expect to form, would comprehend the three south- * E. H. Lee to Washington, New ^ Meeting of Fairfax county, York, 11 Oct., 1787. Letters to Tiiesdav, 2 Oct., 1787. Carey's W., iv. 180, 181. Museum, ii. 392, 393. 234 THE PEOPLE EST JUDG3IENT ON TIIE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, ern and lier nearest northern neighbor. But they, v--^ like ourselves, are diminished in their real force ^Oc^t*^' ^^ ^^^ mixture of an unhappy species of popula- tion." ' Monroe ^vrote to Madison that his " strong objec- tions " to the constitution " were overbalanced by the arguments in its favor." ^ The legislature of Virginia was to hold its reg- ular meeting on the third Monday of October ; tliis year there was a quorum on the fii'st day of the session, which had not happened since the revo- lution. 19. On the nineteenth, the vote of congress transmit- ting the constitution came before the house ; Patrick Henry, refusing to make an issue where he would have met with defeat, declared that the constitution must go before a convention, as it transcended the power of the house to decide on it.' 25. But when, on the twenty-fifth, Francis Corbin pro- posed "a convention to be called according to the recommendation of congress," Henry objected that under that limitation its members " would have pow- er to adopt or reject the new plan, but not to propose amendments " of its " errors and defects." His mo- tion to give this power to the convention of the state was seconded by Mason, who added : " I declare that from the east of New Hampshire to the south of Georgia tliere is not a man more fully convinced of the necessity of establishing some general govern- * Edmund Ilandoljih to tlic ' Monroe to Madison, 13 Oct., Bpcakcr of tlio lioiise of dcl('<:(ate3 1787. MS. of Virginia, 10 Oct., 1787. Elliot, " Buslirod Washington to G. W., i. 487. 19 Oct., 1787. Sparks, ix. 273. THE' CONSTITUTION EST VIRGINIA. 235 ment than I am ; that I regard our perfect union as chap. the rock of our political salvation." ' After some debate, John Marshall, of Hichmond, conceding the point as to " leaving the door open for amendments,"" pleaded that the legislatui^e should not seem to disapprove the new federal government, and, for the form of the resolution, proposed that "the new constitution should be laid before the convention for their fi'ee and ample discussion." ' This form was silently accepted by Henry, while Mason declared " that the house had no right to suggest anything to a body paramount to itself." The vote was unani- mous, the form of the resolution being that of ]\Iar- shall ; while in its substance it yielded up all that Henry and Mason required.* From " unfriendly in- tentions toward the constitution," ' the choice of the convention was postponed till the court days in March, and its time of meeting to the first Monday in June. Should many of the states then be found against the constitution, Vii'ginia could assume the office of mediator between contending parties, and dictate to all the rest of the union." Since amendments had been unanimously author- ized, it seemed fair that any expense of an attempt to make them should be provided for with the other ' Eeport of Debate in Packet, ^ Edward Carrington to T. Jef- 10 Nov., 1787. ferson, 10 Nov., 1787. Bushrod ^ Madison, i. 363, 364. Washington was inexperienced, ' Report of the Debate from and at first judged the disposition Penn. Packet, 10 Nov., 1787. of the legislature too favorably ; * Compare George Mason to G. Carrington had keeuer-eyed corre- W., 6 Nov., 1787, in Letters to G. spondents. W., iv. 190. Report of Debates in ''Monroe to Madison, 7 Feb., Penn. Packet, 10 Nov., 1787. 1788. MS. Carrington to Madi- Bushrod Washington in Sparks, son, 18 Jan., 1788. MS. Wash- is. 287. ington to Carter, 14 Dec, 1787. 236 THE PEOPLE IIST JUDGJIENT ON THE CONSTITUTION CHAP, cliaro-es of tlie convention.' A letter from Eicliard I. — 'r — Henry Lee, a representative from Virginia in con- ^o«'^' S^^^^j ^*^ ^^ governor of tlie commonwealth, recom- 25. mended, as a policy open to " no objection and prom- ising great safety and mncli good," "" that amendments adopted severally by the states should all be defini- tively referred to a second federal convention. ^^^' To carry out this policy, resolutions were on the last day of November introduced into the house, and supported by Henry and Mason, pledging the general assembly to defray the expense of a deputy or depu- ties which the convention of the commonwealth in the following June might think proper to send to confer with a convention of any one or more of the sister states, " as well as the allowance to be made to the deputies to a federal convention, in case such a convention should be judged necessary." The friends of the constitution, who now perceived the direction in which they were drifting, made a rally ; but they Dec. were beaten by a majority of about fifteen. A bill pursuant to the resolutions, reported by a committee composed mainly of the most determined "malcon- 12. tents," soon became a law." Friends of the consti- tution who had been jubilant at the first aspect of the legislature now doubted whether it any longer had a majority in its favor ; its enemies claimed a de- cisive victory. Early in December, Monroe reported to Madison : " The cloud which hath hung over us for some time past is not likely soon to be dispelled." * But on AVashington's mind no cloud rested. " If ' Sparks, ix. 287. ' Ilening, xii. 4G3. « Lee's Life, ii. 81 ; Elliot, i. 505. * Monroe to Madison, 6 Dec. MS. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRGINLl. 237 there are characters who prefer disunion, or separate chap. confederacies, to the general government which is ^^^-^-^ offered to them, their opposition may, for aught I ^^^'^• know, proceed from principle ; but, as nothing, ac- 3o. cording to my conception of the matter, is more to be deprecated than a disunion or three distinct con- federacies, as far as my voice can go it shall be offered in favor of the general government." * Nor did he lose heart or trust ; but as Vii'ginia has delayed her convention till June, our narrative must turn to the state which was the first to meet in convention. * In Sparks, ix. 284, for ' ' tliese distinct confederacies " read ' ' three distinct confederacies." CHAPTEE II. THE COXSTITUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, AND NEW JERSEY ; AND IN GEORGIA. From IS Septembee, 1787, to 2 Januaey, 1788. CHAP. OuE happy tlieme leads from one great act of uni- .^,-1^ versal interest to another. A new era in tlie life of ^Sept"^' ^^® ^^'^^ begins: a people select their delegates to state conventions to pronounce their judgment on the creation of a federal republic. One more great duty to his fellow-citizens and to mankind is to be fulfilled by Franklin; one more honor to be won by Philadelphia as the home of union ; one new victory by Pennsylvania as the cita- del of the love of the one indivisible country. That mighty border commonwealth, extending its line from Delaware bay to the Ohio, and holding convenient passes through the Alleghanies, would not abandon the South, nor the West, nor the North ; she would not hear of triple confederacies nor of twin confedera- cies ; but only of one government embracing all. Its people in their multifarious congruity had nothing ad- verse to union ; the faithful of the proprietary party THE CONSTITUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 239 were zealous for a true general government ; so too chap. was every man in public life of the peoj^le called v^^ Quakers ; * so was an overwhelming majority of the ^^ ^ '^• Germans ; ' so were the Baptists, as indeed their syn- od authoritatively avowed for every state. The per- fect liberty of conscience prevented religious differ- ences from interfering with zeal for a closer union. In the first period of the confederacy, the inhabi- tants of Philadelphia did not extend their plans for its reform beyond the increase of its powers; but after the flight of congress fi'om their city, they be- gan to say to one another that "it would be more easy to build a new ship of state than to repair the old one ; " that there was need of a new constitution with a legislature in two branches. Merchants, bank- ers, holders of the national debt, the army officers, found no party organized against this opinion ; Dick- inson was magnanimous enough to become dissatis- fied with the confederation which he had greatly assisted to fi'ame; and he and Mifflin and McKean and George Clymer and Rush manifested no opposi- tion to the policy of Wilson, Robert Morris, Gouver- neur Morris, and Fitzsimons ; although remoter coun- ties, and especially the backwoodsmen on each side of the mountains, loved their wild personal liberty too dearly to welcome a new supreme control. At eleven in the morning of -the eighteenth, Benja- is. min Franklin, then president of Pennsylvania, more than fourscore years of age, fulfilling his last great public service, was ushered into the hall of the as- * Independent Gazetteer, 15 Jan., ^ Independent Gazetteer. 1788. 240 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, sembly, followed by liis seven colleagues of the con- v—- ^-^ vention. After expressing in a sliort address their 1Y8 7. hope and belief that the measure recommended by IS. that body would produce happy effects to the com- monwealth of Pennsylvania as well as to every other of the United States, he presented the constitution and accompanying papers. For the next ten days the house, not willing to forestall the action of congress, confined itself to its usual business ; but as it had resolved to adjourn sine die on Saturday, the twenty-ninth, Clymer, on the 28. morning of the last day but one of the session, pro- posed to refer the acts of the federal convention to a convention of the state. That there might be time for reflection, Eobert Whitehill, of Carlisle, on behalf of the minority, requested the postponement of the ques- tion at least until the afternoon. This was conceded ; but in the afternoon the minority, nineteen in num- ber, did not attend, and refused to obey the summons of the speaker delivered by the sergeant-at-arms, so that no quorum could be made. This factious seces- sion so enraged the inhabitants that eai'ly the next morning a body of " respectable men " made a search for the delincjuents ; and finding two of them, just sufficient to foiTn a house, dragged them into the as- sembly, where, in spite of their protests, they were compelled to stay. Meantime a fleet messenger, sent from New York by William Bingham, a delegate in congress from Pennsylvania, arrived with an authen- tic copy of a resolution of congress of the preceding day, unanimously recommending the l^eference of the constitution to conventions of the several states ; and THE CONSTITUTIOlSr IN PENNSYLVANIA. 241 witliin twenty hours ' fi'om the adoption of the reso- cn.vp. lution, the Pennsylvania assembly called a convention v--v^ of the state for the third Tuesday in November." i^^*^- The vote was received by the spectators with three as. heartfelt cheers ; the bells of the churches were rung ; and signs of faith in the speedy return of prosperity were everywhere seen. But the minority, trained in resistance to what were thouo;]it to be aristocratic in- fluences, refused to be reconciled, and became the seed of a permanent national party. Richard Henry Lee had disseminated in Philadel- phia the objections of himself and George Mason to the constitution ; and seventeen of the seceding mem- bers embodied them in an appeal to their constitu- ents." But the cause of the inflammation in Pennsyl- vania was much more in their state factions than in the new federal system.* The efforts of Richard Henry Lee were counter- Oct. acted in Philadelj^hia by Wilson, whom Washington at this time called '^as able, candid, and honest a member as was in the convention." On the sixth of October, at a great meeting in Philadelphia, he held up the constitution as the best which the world had as yet seen. To the objection derived fi*om its want of a bill of rights, he explained that the government of the United States was a limited government, w^hich had no powers except those which were specially granted to it. The speech was promptly reprinted ^ Carey's Museum, vol. ii.,Chron- ^Washington to Madison, 10 icle, pp. 6, 7. Oct., 1787, in Letter Book at State ° Lloyd's Debates of Pennsyl- Department, vania Legislature, p. 137. P. Bond * Madison to Jefferson, 19 Feb., to Lord Carmarthen, Philadelphia, 1788, in Madison, i. 377. 29 Sept., 1787. VOL. n. 16 242 THE PEOPLE US" JUDGMENT ON" THE CONSTITUTION'. CHAP, in New York as a reply to tlie insinuations of Lee ; V ^-^ and through the agency of Washington it was repub- i^s'i'- lishecl in Richmond/ But the explanation of the 6. want of a bill of rights satisfied not one state. Great enthusiasm was awakened among the people of Pennsylvania in the, progress of the election of their delegates ; they rejoiced at the near consumma- tion of their hopes. The convention was called to meet on Tuesday, the twentieth of November ; a Nov. quorum appeared on the next day. Before the week was over the constitution on two successive days received its first and second reading. Its fiiends, who formed a very large and resolute majority, were intensely in earnest, and would not brook procras- tination. 24. On Saturday, the twenty-fourth,** Thomas McKean, of Philadelphia,, seconded by John Allison, of Frank- lin county, offered the resolution in favor of ratifying the constitution; and Wilson, as the only one present who had been a member of the federal convention, opened the debate. " The United States exhibit to the world the fii'st instance of a nation unattacked by external force, unconvulsed by domestic insurrections, assembling voluntarily, deliberating fully, and deciding calmly concerning tliat system of government under which they and their posterity should live. To form a good system of government for a single city or an inconsid- erable state has been thouglit to require the strong- * Sparks, ix. 271. in the same, 4 Dec. Mr. W. [Wil- ' CorniCt the (lute in Elliot, ii. son] in a speech on Sat., 24 inst., 417, by Independent Gazette of 29 Pa. Packet of 27 Nov. Nov., 1787. Especially, Ccutiucl THE CONSTITUTION EST PENNSYLVANIA. 243 est efforts of human genius ; tlie views of tlie conven- cn^p. tion were expanded to a large portion of tlie globe. — ,^ " The difficulty of the business was equal to its ^^q/* magnitude. The United States contain already thir- 2-1. teen governments mutually independent ; their soil, climates, productions, dimensions, and numbers are different ; in many instances a difference and even an opposition subsists among their interests, and is im- agined to subsist in many more. Mutual concessions and sacrifices, the consequences of mutual forbearance and conciliation, were indispensably necessary to the success of the great work. "The United States may adopt any one of four different systems. They may become consolidated into one government in which the separate existence of the states shall be entirely absolved. They may act as unconnected states. They may form two or more confederacies. Neither of these systems found advocates in the late convention. The remaining system is a union in one federal republic." " The expanding quality of a government by which several states agree to become an assemblage of so- cieties that constitute a new society, capable of in- creasing by means of further association, is peculiarly fitted for the United States. But this form of gov- ernment left us almost without precedent or guide. Ancient history discloses, and barely discloses, to our view some confederate republics. The Swiss cantons are connected only by alliances ; the United Nether- lands constitute no new society ; from the Germanic body little useful knowledge can be dra^vn. ^ Elliot, ii. 437, 438. 244 THE PEOPLE m JUDGMEISTT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP. " Since states as well as citizens are represented in .^v^ the constitution before us, and form the objects on 1^8 7. wliicli tliat constitution is proposed to operate, it is 24. necessary to mention a kind of liberty which has not yet received a name. I shall distinguish it by the appellation of federal liberty. The states should re- sign to the national government that part, and that part only, of their political liberty which, placed in that government, will produce more good to the whole than if it had remained in the several states. While they resign this part of their political liberty, they retain the free and generous exercise of all their other faculties, so far as it is compatible with the wel- fare of the general and superintending confederacy. " The powers of the federal government and those of the state governments are drawn from sources equally pure. The principle of representation, un- known to the ancients, is confined to a narrow corner of the British constitution. For the American states were reserved the glory and happiness of diffusing this vital principle throughout the constituent parts of government. "The convention found themselves embarrassed with another diiliculty of peculiar delicacy and im- portance ; I mean that of drawing a proper line be- tween the national government and the governments of the several states. Whatever object of govern- ment is confined in its operation and effects within the bounds of a particular state should be considered as belonging to the government of that state ; what- ever object of government extends in its operation or effects beyond the bounds of a particular state should THE CONSTITUTION EST PENNSYLVANIA. 245 be considered as belonging to tlie government of tlie chap. United States. To remove discretionary construe- s— ^ tion, the enumeration of particular instances in which ^ J- ^ '^• the application of the principle ought to take place 24. will be found to be safe, unexceptionable, and accu- rate. " To control the power and conduct of the legisla- ture by an overruling constitution limiting and super- intending the operations of legislative authority was an improvement in the science and practice of gov- ernment reserved to the American states. Oft have I marked with silent pleasure and admiration the force and prevalence through the United States of the principle that the supreme power resides in the people, and that they never part with it. There can be no disorder in the community but may here re- ceive a radical cure. Error in the legislature may be corrected by the constitution ; error in the constitu- tion, by the people. The streams of power run in different directions, but they all originally flow fi'om one abundant fountain. In this constitution all au- thority is derived from the people." Already much had been gained for the friends of the constitution. " I am sensible," said John Smilie, of Fayette county, " of the expediency of giving addi- tional strength and energy to the federal head." The question became on the one side the adoption of the constitution as it came from the convention ; on the other, with amendments. Smilie spoke against a sys- tem of precipitancy which would preclude delibera- tion on questions of the highest consequence to the happiness of a great portion of the globe. " Is the 246 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, object," lie asked, "to bring on a hasty and total .^-^.i^ adoj^tion of tlie constitution? The most common i^,s7. business of a legislative body is submitted to re- 24. peated discussion upon different days." Robert AATiitehill, of Carlisle, in Cumberland county, fear- ing a conveyance to the federal government of rights and liberties which the people ought never to suiTen- der, asked a reference to a committee of the whole. 26. He was defeated on the twenty -sixth, by a vote of forty-three to twenty-four; but each member ob- tained leave to speak in the house as often as he pleased. When it was observed that the federal con- vention had exceeded the powers given to them by their respective legislatures, Wilson answered : " The federal convention did not proceed at all upon the powers given to them by the states, but upon origi- nal principles ; and having fi^amed a constitution which they thought would promote the happiness of their country, they have submitted it to theii' con- sideration, who may either adopt or reject it as they please." ^ 27. On the twenty-seventh, AVhitehill, acting in con- cert with the Virginia opposition and preparing the way for entering on the journals a final protest against the proceedings of the majority, proposed that upon all questions where the yeas and nays were called any member might insert the reason of his vote upon the journal of the convention. This was argued all the day long, and leave was refused by a veiy large majority." ' Independent Gazetteer, 29 * Independent Gazetteer for 3 Nov., 1787. Dec. ; and especially for 7 Dec, 1787. THE CONSTITUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 247 The fiercest day's debate, and the only one wliere chap. the decision of the country was finally in favor of the ^^-r^. minority, took place on the twenty-eighth of Novem- ^^^^'^' ber. There was a rising discontent at the omission 28. of a declaration of rights. To prove that there was no need of a bill of rights, "Wilson said : " The boast- ed Magna Charta of England derives the liberties of the inhabitants of that kingdom from the gift and grant of the king, and no wonder the people were anxious to obtain bills of rights; but here the fee simple remains in the people ; and by this constitu- tion they do not part with it. The preamble to the proposed constitution, ' We the people of the United States do establish,' contains the essence of all the bills of rights that have been or can be devised." The defence was imperfect both in sentiment and in public law. To the sentiment, Smilie answered: " The words in the preamble of the proposed system, however superior they may be to the terms of the great charter of England, must yield to the expres- sions in the Pennsylvania bill of rights and the mem- orable declaration of the fourth of July, 1776." As a question of public law, the answer of Smilie was equally conclusive : " It is not enough to reserve to the people a right to alter and abolish government, but some criterion should be established by which it can easily and constitutionally ascertain how far the government may proceed and when it transgresses its Jurisdiction." " A bill of rights," interposed McKean, " though it can do no harm, is an unnecessary instru- ment. The constitutions of but five out of the thir- teen United States have bills of rights." The speaker. 248 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, was ill informed. Soutli Carolina and Georgia had > ^-^ alone declined the opportunity of establishing a bill ^,T ^ '^- of rio-hts ; every state to the north of them had one 28. except Rhode Island and Connecticut, which as yet adhered to their original charters, and New Jersey, which still adhered to its government as established just before the declaration of independence. New York had incorporated into its constitution the whole of that declaration. Wilson asserted that in the late convention the de- sire of " a bill of rights had never assumed the shape of a motion." Here his memory was at fault ; but no one present could correct him. " In civil govern- ments," he proceeded, " bills of rights are useless, nor can I conceive whence the contrary notion has arisen. Virginia has no bill of rights." Smilie interrupted him to cite the assurance of George Mason himself that Virginia had a bill of rights ; and he repeated the remark that Mason* had made in the conven- tion : " The laws of the general government are para- mount to the laws and constitutions of the several states ; and as there is no declaration of rights in the new constitution, the declarations of rights in the constitutions of the several states are no security. Every stipulation for the most sacred and invaluable privileges of man is left at the mercy of government." " D'c- On Saturday, the first of December, William Find- ](^y, the third leading member of the opposition, in a long and elaborate argument endeavored to prove that the proposed plan of government was not a con- > Gilnin, l.^OO; Elliot, 588. the Constitutions by De La Croix, '■' Ina(;|)cn(lcnt (Jazettoor, Dec. Eii^-lish tnuislation, ii. 386, note. 10, 13, 1«, 20, 24, 27. Uevicw of ElliuL's Debutes, ii. 434-439. THE COI^STITUnON EfT DELAWAEE. 249 federation of states, but a consolidation of govern- chap. ment. lie insisted that tlie constitution formed a contract between individuals entering into society, not a union of independent states ; tliat in the legis- lature it established the vote by individuals, not by states ; that between two parties in the same com- munity, each claiming independent sovereignty, it granted an unlimited right of internal taxation to the federal body, whose stronger will would thus be able to annihilate the power of its weaker rival ; that it conceded a right to regulate and judge of elections ; that it extended the judicial power as widely as the legislative ; that it raised the members of congress above their states, for they were paid not by the states as subordinate delegates, but by the general government ; and finally, that it requii'ed an oath of allegiance to the federal government, and thus made the allegiance to a separate sovereign state an ab- surdity/ Meantime the zeal of the majority was quickened by news from " the Delaware state," whose people were for the most part of the same stock as the set- tlers of Pennsylvania, and had grown up under the same proprietary. On the proposal for the federal convention at Philadelphia, its general assembly de- clared that " they had long been fully convinced of the necessity of revising the federal constitution," " being willing and desirous of co-operating with the commonwealth of Viro-inia and the other states in the confederation."' Now that an equality of vote in ^ Independent Gazetteer, 6 Dec. , ^ Laws of Delaware, page 893, in 1787. edition of 1797. 250 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMEISTT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CH.vp. the senate had been conceded, the one single element' II . . . — -,J^ of opposition disappeared. The legislature of Dela- 17 8 7. ware met on the twenty -fourth of October, and fol- 24. lowing " the sense and desire of great numbers of the people of the state, signified in petitions to their gen- eral assembly," " adopted speedy measures to call to- gether a convention." ' Dec. The constituent body, which met at Dover in the fii^st week of December, encountered no diiSculty but how to find language strong enough to express their 6. joy in what had been done. On the sixth " the deputies of the people of the Delaware state, fully, freely, and entirely approved of, assented to, ratified, and confirmed the federal constitution," to which they *?• all on the next day subscribed their names.^ When it became known that Delaware was leading the way at the head of the grand procession of the 10- thirteen states, McKean, on Monday, the tenth of December, announced to the Pennsylvania conven- tion that he should on the twelfth press the vote for ratification. 11. On the next day Wilson summed up his defence of the constitution, and repeated : " This system is not a compact ; I cannot discern the least trace of a compact ; the introduction to the work is not an un- meaning flourish ; the system itself tells you what it is, an ordinance, an establishment of the people."^ The opposition followed the line of conduct marked 12. out by the opposition in Virginia. On the twelfth, before the question for ratification was taken. White- ' Packet, 17 Nov., 1787. » Elliot, ii. 497, 499. " Journ.'ila of Congress, iv. Ap- pendix, 40. THE CONSTITUTION IN PENNSYLVANLi. 251 hill presented petitions from seven liundred and fifty chap. inhabitants of Cumberland county against adopting s^^^ the constitution without amendments, and particular- ^^^^^'^• ly without a bill of rights to secure liberty in matters 12. of religion, trial by jury, the freedom of the press, the sole power in the individual states to organize the militia ; the repeal of the executive power of the sen- ate, and consequent appointment of a constitutional council ; a ^prohibition of repealing or modifying laws of the United States by treaties ; restrictions on the federal judiciary power; a confirmation to the several states of their sovereignty, with every power, jurisdiction, and right not expressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled. To secure this end, he showed a concert with the measure which Mason and Randolph had proposed in the federal convention and Richard Henry Lee in congress, and which led the Virginia legislature on that very day to pass the act for communicating with sister states/ The amendments which Whitehill proposed were not suffered to be entered in the journal. His mo- tion v^'^as rejected by forty-six to twenty-three; and then the new constitution vras ratified by the same majority. On Thursday the convention marched in proces- 13. sion to the court-house, where it proclaimed the rati- fication. Returning to the place of meeting, the forty-six subscribed their names to their act. The opposition were invited to add their names as a fair and honorable acquiescence in the principle that the majority should govern. John Harris refused ; yet ^ Heniog, xii. 463. 252 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMEIST ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, held himself bound by the decision of the majority. — ,^^ Smilie answered : " My hand shall never give the lie ^l^'^- to my heart and tongue." Twenty-one of the minor- 13. ity signed an exceedingly long addi'ess to their con- stituents, complaining that the extent of the country did not admit of the proposed form of government without danger to liberty ; and that the powers vest- ed in congress would lead to an iron-handed despot- ism, with unlimited control of the purse and the sword. The ratification gave unbounded satisfaction to all Pennsylvania on the eastern side of the Susquehanna ; beyond that river loud murmurs were mingled mth 15. thi'eats of resistance in arms. On the fifteenth the convention dissolved itself, after offering a permanent and a temporary seat of government to the United States. The population of New Jersey at that time was almost exclusively rural ; in the west chiefly the de- scendants of Quakers, in the east of Dutch and Scot- tish Calviuists. This industrious, frugal, and pious people, little agitated by political disputes, received the federal constitution with joy, and the conscious- ness that the deeds of its own sons had contributed essentially to the result.* Oct On the twenty-sixth of October its lesrislature called 26. . . a state convention by a unanimous vote. On the elev- Doc. enth of December the convention of New Jersey, com- ])08ed of accomplished civilians, able judges, experi- enced generals, and fair-minded, intelligent husband- 12. men, assembled in Trenton. The next day was spent ' Penn. Journal, 7 Nov., 1787. 11. THE CONSTITUTION IN NEW JEESEY. 253 in orcranizino: tlie house, all tlie elected members beino; chap. present save one. Jolin Stevens was chosen president -^^^^^ by ballot; Samuel Whitham Stockton, secretary, ^l^*^- The morning began with prayer. Then with open 12. doors the convention proceeded to read the federal constitution by sections, giving opportunity for de- bates and for votes if called for ; and after a week's deliberation, on Tuesday, the eighteenth, determined is. unanimously to ratify and confirm the federal consti- tution. A committee, on which appear the names of Brearley, a member of the federal convention, "VVith- erspoon, Neilson, Beatty, former members of congress, was appointed to draw uj) the form of the ratifica- tion; and the people of the state of New Jersey, " by the unanimous consent of the members present, agreed to, ratified, and confirmed the proposed con- stitution and every part thereof." ' On the next day, the resolve for ratification having 19. been engrossed in duplicate on parchment, one copy for the congress of the United States and one for the archives of the state, every member of the convention present subscribed his name. In the shortest possible time, Delaware, Pennsyl- vania, and New Jersey, the three central states, one by a majority of two thirds, the others unanimously, accepted the constitution. The union of the central states was of the best omen. Before knowing their decision, Georgia at the extreme south had independently taken its part ; its legislatm'e chanced to be in session when the message from congress amved. All its relations to the United * Penn. Journal and Penn. Packet, 22 and 29 Dec. 254 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTIOIS . CHAP. States were favorable ; it was in possession of a terri- tory abounding in resources and large enough to con- stitute an empire ; its people felt the need of protec- tion against Spain, which ruled along their southern frontier from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, and against the savages who dwelt in their forests and huno' on the borders of their settlements. A conven- 23. tion which was promptly called met on Christmas-day, ^^dth power to adopt or reject any part or the whole of the proposed constitution. Assembled at Augus- Van^" ^^' ^^^ members, finding themselves all of one mind, 2. on the second day of the new year, unanimously, for themselves and for the people of Georgia, fully and entirely assented to, ratified, and adopted the pro- posed constitution. They hoped that their ready com- pliance would " tend to consolidate the union " and "promote the happiness of the common country." The completing of the ratification by the signing of the last name was announced by a salute of thu'teen guns in token of faith that every state would accede to the new bonds of union.* * Stevens, History of Georgia, ii. 387. CHAPTER III. THE CONSTITUTION IN CONNECTICUT AND MASSACHU- SETTS. On the twenty-sixtli of September Roger Sherman chap. and Oliver Ellswortli, two of tlie delegates from Connecticut to the federal convention, transmitted to Samuel Huntington, then governor of the state, a printed copy of the constitution to be laid before the legislature. In an accompanying letter they ob- served that the proportion of suffrage accorded to the state remained the same as before ; and they gave the assurance that the " additional powers vested in con- gress extended only to matters respecting the com- mon interests of the union, and w^ere specially de- fined ; so that the particular states retained their sov- ereignty in all other matters." * The restraint on the legislatures of the several states respecting bills of credit, or making anything but money a tender in payment of debts, or impairing the obligation of con- tracts by ex post facto laws, was a security to the commercial interests of foreigners as well as of the citizens of different states." ' Compare the remark of Wilson, * For the letter, see Carey's Mu- supra, 344, 245. seum, ii. 434, and Elliot, i. 491, 493. 256 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP. Tlie governor was a zealous friend of tlie new III . . — r^ constitution. The legislature, on tlie sixteenth of ^Ort^' ^c^o^^r? unanimously' called a convention of the 1*5. state. To tliis were cliosen the retired and the pres- ent highest officers of its government ; the judges of its courts ; " ministers of the Gospel ; " and nearly sixty who had fought for independence. Connecti- cut had a special interest in ratifying the constitu- tion ; the compromise requiring for acts of legislation a majority of the states and a majority of the repre- sentatives of the people had prevailed through its own delegates. 178 8. jjQ January, 1788, the convention, having been or- ganized in the state house in Hartford, moved imme- diately to the North Meeting House, where, in the presence of a multitude, the constitution was read and debated section by section, under an agreement that no vote should' be taken till the whole of it should have been considered." 4. On the fourth, Oliver Ellsworth explained the ne- . cessity of a federal government for the national de- fence, for the management of foreign relations, for preserving peace between the states, for giving en- ergy to the public administration. He pointed out that a state like Connecticut was specially beneHted by the restraint on separate states from collecting duties on foreign importations made through their more convenient harbors. Johnson added : While under the confederation states in their political capacity could be coerced by nothing but a military force, the constitution iutro- • Madison, i. 359. '''Penu. racket for 18 Jan., 1788. THE CONSTITUTION IN CONNECTICUT. 257 duces tlie mild and equal energy of magistrates for chap. tlie execution of the laws. " By a signal intervention — ,-i^ of divine providence, a convention from states differ- ^ ! ^^" ing in circumstances, interests, and manners, have 4. hannoniously adopted one grand system ; if we reject it, our national existence must come to an end." ' The grave and weighty men who listened to him approved his words ; but when the paragraph which gave to the general government the largest powers of taxation was debated, James Wadsworth, who had served as a general officer in the war, objected to ?• duties on imports as partial to the southern states. "Connecticut," answered Ellsworth, "is a manufac- turing state ; it already manufactures its implements of husbandly and haK its clothes." Wadsworth further objected, that authority which unites the power of the sword to that of the purse is despotic. Ellsworth replied : " The general legislature ought to have a revenue ; and it ought to have power to de- fend the state against foreign enemies ; there can be no government without the power of the purse and the sword." " So well guarded is this constitution," observed Oliver Wolcott, then lieutenant-governor, " it seems impossible that the rights either of the states or of the people should be destroyed." When on the ninth the vote was taken, one hundred and 9. twenty-eight appeared for the constitution ; forty only against it." The people received with delight the announce- ment of this great majority of more than three to one ; at the next election the " wrong-headed " James ^ Penn. Packet, 34 Jan., 1788. "^ Penn. Packet, 24 Jan., 1788. VOL. n. 17 258 THE PEOPLE m JLTDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTIOlSr. CHAP. Wadsworth was left out of the government ; and < — .-L- opposition grew more and more faint till it wholly ^Od;^* ^^^^ away, n. The country from the St. Croix to the St. Mary's now fixed its attention on Massachusetts, whose ad- verse decision would inevitably involve the defeat of the constitution. The representatives of that great state, who came together on the seventeenth of Oc- tober, had been chosen under the influence of the recent insurrection ; and the constitution, had it been submitted to their judgment, would have been re- jected.* In communicating it to the general court, the governor most wisely avoided provoking a dis- cussion on its merits, and simj)ly recommended its reference to a convention from regard to the worth of its authors and their unanimity on questions affecting the prosperity of the nation and the com- plicated rights of each separate state." Following his recommendation with exactness, the senate, of which Samuel Adams was president, prompt- ly adopted a resolve to refer the new constitution to a convention of the commonwealth. On motion of Theophilus Parsons, of Newbuiyport, a lawyer des- ' B. Lincoln to Washington, Bos- Jan., 1788, the darkest hour, places ton, 19 March, 1788. MS. Hancock and Bowdoin foremost ' There is no ground whatever in the list of the managers of the for an insinuation that Hancock cause of the constitution, uam- Tvas at any time o])]X)sed to an ap- ing them with equal confidence, proval of the constitution. His Hancock, who Avas not wanting iu conduct on that subject was from sagacity, may hjive seen, and oth- beginning to end consistent ; and ers may have let him know that 80 wise that the aftcrthouglit of they too saw, how much the sup- the most skilful caviller can not ])ort of the constitution would point out where it could be im- strengthen his' jiosition in public proved. Nathani(!l Gorhani, who life; biit at tliat time he had noth- nad known Hancock long and ing to fear from the rivalry of Bow- well, in a letter to Madison of 37 doiu, who had deliuitively retired. THE CONSTITUTION IN MASSACHTSETTS. 259 tined to attain in liis state the highest professional chap. honors, the resolve of the senate was opened in the A- house. Spectators crowded the galleries and the ^1^'^' floor. Signs of a warm opposition appeared ; the n. right to supersede the old confederation was denied alike to the convention and to the people ; the adop- tion of a new constitution by but nine of the thir- teen states would be the breach of a still valid com- pact. An inalienable power, it was said in reply, resides in the people to amend their form of govern- ment. An array of parties was avoided ; and with little opposition a convention was ordered. The choice took place at a moment when the coun- try people of Massachusetts were bowed down by cumulative debts, and quivering in the agonies of a suppressed insurrection; the late disturbers of the peace were scarcely certain of amnesty ; and they knew that the general government, if established, must array itself against violence. The election re- sulted in the choice of at least eighteen of the late insurgents. The rural population were disinclined to a change. The people in the district of Maine, which in territoiy far exceeded Massachusetts, had never mllingly accepted annexation; the desire for a government of their own outweighed their willing- ness to enter into the union as a member of Massa- chusetts ; and one half of their delegates were ready to oppose the constitution. On the other hand, the commercial ' towTis even of Maine, all manufacturers, men of wealth, the lawyers, including the judges of all the courts, and nearly all the officers of the late army, were in favor of the new form of general gov- 260 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION'. ernment. Tlie voters of Cambridge rejected El- bridge Gerry in favor of Francis Dana ; in Beverly, Xathan Dane was put aside ' for George Cabot ; but the members from Maine were exactly balanced ; of those from Massachusetts proper a majority of per- haps ten or twelve was opposed to the ratification of the constitution. Among the elected were King, Gorham, and Strong, who had been of the federal convention ; the late and present governors, Bowdoin and Hancock; Heath and Lincoln of the army; of rising statesmen, John Brooks and Christopher Gore ; Theophilus Parsons, Theodore Sedgwick, John Da- vis, and Fisher Ames ; and about twenty ministers of various religious denominations. So able a body had never met in Massachusetts. Full of faith that the adoj)tion of the constitution was the greatest question of the age, the federalists were all thor- oughly in earnest, and influenced by no inferior mo- tives ; so that there could be among them neither cabals in council, nor uncertainty in action. They obeyed an immovable determination to overcome the seemingly adverse majority. As a consequence, they had discipline and concerted action. It was consistent with the whole public life of Samuel Adams, the helmsman of the revolution at its origin, the truest representative of the home rule of Massachusetts in its town meetings and general court, that he was startled when, on entering the new " build- ing, he met with a national government "instead of a federal union of sovereign states ; " but, in direct an- tagonism to George Mason and Richard Henry Lee, • lud. Gazetteer, 8, 9 Jan., 1788. THE COJfSTITUTION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 261 he had always approved granting to the general gov- chap. emnient the power of regulating commerce/ Before v--^-^ he had declared his intentions, perhaps before they i J ^ 8. had fully ripened, his constituents of the industrial classes of Boston, which had ever been his main sup- port, came together, and from a crowded hall a cry went forth that on the rejection of the constitution " navigation " would languish and " skilful mechanics be compelled to emigrate," so that "any vote of a delegate from Boston against adopting it would be contrary to the interests, feelings, and wishes of the tradesmen of the town." The morning betokened foul weather, but the heavy clonds would not join together. The enter- prising and prosperous men of Maine, though they desired separation from Massachusetts, had no sym- pathy with the late insurrection ; and the country people, though they could only by slow degi'ees ac- custom their minds to untried restraints on their rus- tic liberty, never wavered in their attachment to the union. The convention was organized with the gov- ernor of the commonwealth as its president.* The federalists of Philadelphia had handled their oppo- nents roughly; the federalists of Massachusetts re- solved never in debate to fail in gentleness and courtesy. A motion to request Elbridge Gerry to u. take a seat in the convention, that he might answer * The activity and wise and effi- is thoroughly supported by the cient support of the constitution record. by Samuel Adams I received from ' Debates and Proceedings in the my friend John Davis, who was a Convention, etc., published by the member of the convention, and legislature of Massachusetts, edited who was singularly skilful in by B. K. Petrce and C. Hale. The weighing evidence. His statement best collection on the subject. 262 THE PEOPLE ITS' JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, questions of fact, met no objection ; and lie was -^-r-^ left to gi'ow sick of sitting in a house to wliicli lie ^l^^- had failed of an election, and in whose debates he Jan. ^ ^ ' 14- could not join. On motion of Caleb Strong, no vote was to be taken till the debate, which assumed the form of a free conversation, should have gone over the several paragraphs of the constitution.* Massachusetts had instructed its delegates in the federal convention to insist on the annual election 15. of representatives; Samuel Adams asked why they were to be chosen for two years. Strong explained that it was a necessary compromise among so many states ; and Adams answered : " I am satisfied." " This remark the federal leaders entreated him to repeat ; he did so, when all gave attention, and the objection was definitively put to rest. Refemng to the power of congress to take part in regulating the elections of senators and represen- 16. tatives, Phineas Bishop, of Rehoboth, proclaimed " the liberties of the yeomanry at an end." It is but " a guarantee of free elections," said Cabot. " And a security of the rights of the people," added Theophilus Parsons. " Our rulers," observed Widgery, of Maine, "ought to have no power which they can abuse."" "All the godly men we read of," added Abraham White, of Bristol, " have failed ; I would not trust a flock, though every one of them should be a Moses." 17. On the seventeenth an official letter from Connec- ticut announced the very great majority by which it had adopted the constitution; but its enemies in » Elliot, ii. 3. " Elliot, ii. 28. ' From Joliu Davis. THE CONSTITUTION EST MASSACHUSETTS. 263 Massachusetts were unmoved. Samuel Thompson, ^^y^^- of Maine, condemned it for not requiring of a repre- sentative some property qualification, saying : " Men who have nothing to lose have nothing to fear." " Do you wish to exclude from the federal government a good man because he is not rich ? " asked Theodore Sedgwick. "The men w^ho have most injured the country," said King, " have commonly been rich men." The compromise respecting the taxation and rep- is. resentation of slaves was cried as-ainst. Thomas Dawes, of Boston, answered : " Congress in the year 1808 may wholly prohibit the importation of them, leaving every j)articular state in the mean time its own option totally to prohibit their introduction into its own tenitories. Slavery could not be abolished by an act of congress in a moment ; but it has re- ceived a mortal wound." * On the nineteenth, a farmer of AVorcester county 19. complained : " There is no provision that men in powd- er should have any religion ; a Papist or an infidel is as eligible as Christians." John Brooks and Parsons spoke on the other side ; and Daniel Shute, the minis- ter of Hingham, said : " No conceivable advantage to the whole will result from a test." William Jones, of Maine, rejoined : " It would be happy for the United States if our public men w^ere to be of those who have a good standing in the church." Philip Payson, the min- ister of Chelsea, retorted : " Human tribunals for the consciences of men are impious encroachments upon the prerogatives of God. A religious test, as a quali- fication for office, would have been a great blemish." » EUiot, ii. 41, 149. 264 THE PEOPLE m JUDG3IENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP. William Jones, of Maine, objected to tte long pe- .^^^r^ riod of office for the senators. "One third of the 178 8. senators," observed Fisher Ames, "are to be intro- Jan. ' ... 19. duced every second year ; the constitution, m prac- tice as in theory, will be that of a federal republic." "We cannot," continued Jones, "recall the senators." "Their duration," answered King, "is not too long for a right discharge of their duty." 21. On the twenty-first, King explained the nature of the transition ' from a league of states vrith only authority to make requisitions on each state, to a re- public instituted by the people with the right to ap- ply laws directly to the individual members of the states. He showed that without the power over the purse and the sword no government can give security to the people ; analyzed and defended the grant of revenue alike from indirect and direct taxes, and in- sisted that the proposed constitution is the only effi- cient federal government that can be substituted for the old confederation. Thomas Dawes, of Boston, defended the power of laying imposts and excises in this wise : " For want of general laws of prohibition through the union, our coasting trade, our whole commerce, is going to ruin. A vessel from Halifax with its fish and whalebone finds as hearty a welcome at the southern ports as though built and navigated and freighted from Salem or Boston. South of Delaware three fourths of the exports and three fourths of the re- turns are made in British bottoms. Of timber, one half of the value — of other produce shipped for Lon- ' Elliot, ii. 54-57. THE CONSTirUTION ES" MASSACHUSETTS. 265 don from a soutliem state, tliree tenths — pro to tlie Brit- chap. . .Ill isli canier in tlie names of freight and charges. This — ^ is money which belongs to the New England states, ^j^^^' because we can furnish the ships much better than 21. the British. Our sister states are willing that these benefits should be secured to us by national laws ; but we are slaves to Europe. We have no unifonn- ity in duties, imposts, excises, or prohibitions. Con- gress has no authority to mthhold advantages from foreigners in order to obtain reciprocal advantages from them. Our manufacturers have received no encoui'agement by national duties on foreign manu- factures, and they never can by any authority in the confederation. The very face of our country, our numerous falls of water and places for mills, lead to manufactures : have they been encouraged ? Has con- gress been able by national laws to prevent the importation of such foreign commodities as are made fi'om such raw materials as we ourselves raise ? The citizens of the United States within the last three years have contracted debts mth the subjects of Great Britain to the amount of near six millions of dollars. If we wish to encourage our own manufactures, to pre- serve our own commerce, to raise the value of our own lands, we must give congress the power in question." * Every day that passed showed the doubtfulness of the convention. "The decision of Massachusetts either way," wrote Madison from congress, " will in- volve the result in New York," and a negative would romse the minority in Pennsylvania to a stubborn resistance. Langdon, of New Hampshire, and men ' ElUot, ii. 57-60. 266 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, fi'om Newport and Providence who came to watch III .^.^-L_- the course of the debates, reported that New Hamp- 17 8 8. gliipe and Rhode Island would accept the constitution Jan. . ^ 21. should it be adopted by Massachusetts. Gerry, under the influence of Richard Henry Lee, had written a letter to the two houses of Massachusetts, insinuating that the constitution needed amendments, and should not be adopted till they were made. These same views it was attempted to diffuse throughout Vii^ginia and Maryland ; but Washington threw himself into the discussion. "If another federal convention is attempted," so he wrote to Charles Cai^ter, of Fred- ericksburg, "its members wiU be more discordant; will agree upon no general plan. The constitution is the best that can be obtained at this time ; it is fi'ee fi'om many of the imperfections with which it is charged. The constitution or disunion is before us to choose from. If the constitution is our election, a constitutional door is open for amendments, and may be adopted in a peaceable manner without tu- 23. mult or disorder." * This advice reached Boston in season to be published in the Boston Centinel of the twenty-third of January. In the convention the ma- jority still seemed adverse to the constitution. To win votes from the ranks of its foes, its friends re- solved to combine with its ratification a recommen- dation of amendments. For this end Bowdoin and Hancock, Theophilus Parsons and Gorham, Samuel Adams, Heath, and a very few other resolute and trusty men, matured in secret council a plan of action." * Wfishinfjton to Charles Car- ' Kinj^j to Madison, quoted in tor, 14 I)(!C., 1787, in Penn. Madison's Writings, i. 373. Packet of 11 Jan., 1788. THE CONSTITUTION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 267 Meantime Samuel Thompson could see no safety chap. but in a bill of rights. Bowdoin spoke at large for ^^ the new government with its ability to pay the pub- ^ ] ^ ^• lie debts and to regulate commerce. " Power inade- 23. quate to its object is worse than none ; checks are provided to prevent abuse. The whole constitution is a declaration of rights. It will complete the tem- ple of American liberty, and consecrate it to justice. May this convention erect Massachusetts as one of its pillars on the foundation of perfect union, never to be dissolved but by the dissolution of natui'e." ' Parsons recapitulated and answered the objections brought against the constitution, and closed his re- marks by saying : " An increase of the powers of the federal constitution by usurpation will be upon thir- teen completely organized legislatui^es having means as well as inclination to oppose it successfully. The people themselves have power to resist it without an appeal to arms. An act of usurpation is not law, and therefore is not obligatory ; and any man may be jus- tified in his resistance. Let him be considered as a criminal by the general government : his own fellow- citizens are his jury ; and if they pronounce him inno- cent, not all the powers of congress can hurt him." "" On the morning of the twenty-fourth, Nason, of 24. Maine, an implacable enemy of the constitution, pro- posed to cease its discussion by paragraphs so as to open the whole question. This attempt " to hurry the mat- ter" was resisted by Samuel Adams in a S23eech so effec- tive that the motion was negatived without a division. On the next day, Amos Singletary, of Sutton, a 25. » Elliot, ii. 81, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88. » Elliot, ii. 94. 268 THE PEOPLE IN JTJDGMElSrT OTT THE CONSTTTUTIOlsr. CHAP, husbandman venerable from age and from patriotic s-^^ service from tlie very beginning of tlie troubles v^^itli 178 8. England, resisted tlie constitution as an attempt to 25. tax and bind tlie people in all cases wliatsoever. Jonathan Smith, of Lanesborough, speaking to men who li'ke himself followed the plough for their livelihood, began a reply by arguments drawn from the late insurrection, when he was called to order. Samuel Adams instantly said with authority : " The gentleman is in order ; let him go on in his ovm way." The "plain man" then proceeded in homely words to show that faiTQers in the western counties, in their great distress during the insurrection, would have been glad to snatch at anything like a govern- ment for protection. " This constitution," he said, " is just such a cure for these disorders as we wanted. Anarchy leads to tyranny." Attention was arrested by the clause on the slave- trade. " My profession," said James Neal, of Maine, "obliges me to bear witness against anything that favors making merchandise of the bodies of men, and unless this objection is removed I cannot put my hand to the constitution." " Shall it be said," cried Samuel Thompson, "that after we have established our own independence and freedom we make slaves of others ? How has Washington immortalized him- self ! but he holds those in slavery who have as good 20. a right to be free as himself." Dana and Samuel Adams rejoiced that a door was to be opened for the total annihilation of the slave-trade after twenty years ; Ijut hatred of slavery influenced the final vote.' » Elliot, ii. 107, 120. THE CONSTITUTION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 269 On tlie morning of the thirty-first of January, Han- chap. cock, wlio till then had been kept from his place by ..^-v-w. painful illness, took the chair, and the concerted move- ^ ? ^ ^* ment began. Conversation came to an end; and Par- si. sons proposed " that the convention do assent to and ratify the constitution.'" Heath suggested that in ratifying it they should instruct their members of congress to endeavor to provide proper checks and guards in some of its paragraphs, and that the con- vention should correspond with their sister states, to request theii' concuiTcnce." ' Hancock then sj)oke earnestly for the necessity of adopting the proposed form of government ; and brought forward nine general amendments. Taken fi'om the letters of Richard Henry Lee, the remon- strance of the minority in Pennsylvania, and the ob- jections made in the Massachusetts debates, "they were the production of the federalists after mature deliberation," and were clad in terse and fittest words, which revealed the workmanship of Parsons. "All powers not expressly delegated to congress," so ran the most important of them, " are reserved to the several states." "I feel myself happy," thus Samuel Adams ad- dressed the chair, "in contemplating the idea that many benefits will result from your Excellency's con- ciliatory proposition to this commonwealth and to the whole United States. The objections made to this constitution as far as Virginia are similar. I have had my doubts ; other gentlemen have had theii's ; the proposition submitted will tend to re- * Elliot, ii. 120. « Elliot, ii. 133. 270 THE PEOPLE US" JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, move such doubts, and conciliate the minds of tlie III . .^-.^^ convention and of the people out-of-doors. The 1Y8 8. measure of Massachusetts v^ill from her importance 31. have the most salutary effect in other states where conventions have not yet met, and throughout the union. The people should be united in a federal government to withstand the common enemy and to preserve their rights and liberties ; I should fear the consequences of large minorities in the several states. " The article which empowers congress to regulate commerce and to form treaties I esteem particularly valuable. For want of this power in our national head our friends are grieved ; our enemies insult us ; our minister at the court of London is a ci2:)her. A power to remedy this evil should be given to con- gress, and applied as soon as possible.' I move that the paper read by your Excellency be now taken into consideration." Feb. On the next day Samuel Adams invited members to propose still further amendments ; but Nason, of Maine, and the foremost in opposition, stubbornly refused to take part in supporting a constitution which, they said, " destroyed the sovereignty of Mas- sachusetts." " The measure was referred to a committee formed on the principle of selecting from each county one of its friends and one of its opponents ; but as both of 'Elliot, ii. 124. Let no one be its ratification a recommendation of misletl 1)3' tlie words " coiidilional amendments; the ratification to be amendments" in the rejiort of Mr. valid wliatever fate mi<^ht await the Adams's s])eech. lie spoke not of amendments. f]n>^ is exactly the nmendments ofTered as the condi- proposition concerted between Par- tion of the acce))tance of the con- sons, Hancock, and himself. Rufus fititution ]>y Massachusetts, but that Kin^jto Knox, in Drake's Knox, ''"■\ Massachusetts should connect with "Elliot, ii. 133, 134. 1. THE CONSTITUTION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 271 the two delegates from Dukes county were federalists chap. and only one of them took a place in the committee, ^^ thirteen of its twenty -five members were federalists ^1^^^- from the beginning. During the discussions three i. converts were gained ; a fourth member absented himself ; and a fifth declined to vote ; so that in the afternoon of Monday, the fourth of February, Bow- 4. doin as chairman of the committee could report its approval of the constitution with the recommenda- tion of amendments by a vote of fifteen to seven. At this result opposition flared anew. Thomas Lusk, of West Stockbridge, revived complaints of the slave-trade, and of opening the door to popery and the inquisition by dispensing with a religious test.' But Isaac Backus, the Baptist minister of Middleborough, one of the most exact of New Eng- land historians, replied : " In reason and the holy scriptures religion is ever a matter between God and individuals ; the imposing of religious tests hath been the greatest engine of tyranny in the world." Re- buking the importation of slaves with earnestness, he trusted in the passing away of slaveiy itself, saying : "Slavery grows more and more odious to the world."' " This constitution," said Fisher Ames, on the next 5. day, "is comparatively perfect; no subsisting gov- ernment, no government which I have ever heard of, will bear a comparison mth it. The state gov- ernment is a beautiful structure, situated, however, upon the naked beach ; the union is the dike to fence out the flood." ' 1 Elliot, ii. 148. =" Elliot, ii. 154-159. ^ Elliot, ii. 148-151. 272 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION". John Taylor, of Worcester county, objected tliat tlie amendments might never become a part of the ^Feb^" ®y^^®^> ^^^ ^^^^ there was no bill of rights.* " No 5. power," answered Parsons, " is given to congress to infi'inge on any one of the natural rights of the peo- ple ; should they attempt it without constitutional authority, the act would be a nullity and could not be enforced.'" Gilbert Dench, of Middlesex, coin- ciding mth the wishes of the opposition in Virginia, and with a motion of Whitehill in the convention of Pennsylvania, proposed an adjournment of the conven- tion to some future day. A long and warm contest ensued; but Samuel Adams skilfully resisted the motion, and of the three hundred and twenty-nine members who were present, it obtained but one hun- dred and fifteen votes.' 6. On the next day the office of closing the debate was by common consent assigned to Samuel Still- man, a Baptist minister of Boston. Recapitulating and weighing the arguments of each side, he said, in the words of the governor of Virginia ; " Cling to the union as the rock of our salvation, and finish the salutary work which hath been begun." He closed with the praise of education, solid learning, ]3iety, and morality, as the life and soul of republican gov- ernment and liberty." Before putting the question, Hancock spoke words that were remembered : " I give my assent to the constitution in full confidence that the amendments proposed will soon become a part of the system. The people of this commou- * Elliot, ii. 101. 8 Elliot, ii. 162. ^ Elliot, ii. IGl, 162. * Elliot, ii. 102-170. THE CONSTITUTION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 273 wealth will quietly acquiesce in the voice of the ma- chap. jority, and, where they see a want of perfection in — y-L. the proposed form of government, endeavor, in a con- ^11^' Btitutional way, to have it amended." ' 6. The question being taken, the counties of Dukes, Essex, Suffolk, and Plymouth, and in Maine of Cum- berland and Lincoln, all counties that touched the sea, gave majorities in favor of the constitution; Middlesex and Bristol, the whole of Massachusetts to the west of them, and the county of York in Maine, gave majorities against it. The majority of Maine for the constitution was in proportion gi'eater than in Massachusetts. The motion for ratifying the constitution was de- clared to be in the affii'mative by one hundred and eighty-seven votes against one hundred and sixty- eight.* The bells and artillery announced the glad news to every part of the town. With the declaration of the vote, every symptom of persistent opposition vanished. No person even wished for a protest. The convention, after dissolv- ing itself, partook of a modest collation in the senate chamber, where, merging party ideas in mutual con- gratulations, they all "smoked the calumet of love and union." " The Boston people," wrote Knox to Livingston, " have lost their senses with joy." ' The Long Lane by the meeting-house, in which the con- vention held its sessions, took from that time the name of Federal street. The prevailing joy diffused itself through the commonwealth. In New York, at ' Elliot, ii. 174-176. ' Knox to Livingston, 13 Feb., * ElUot, ii. 181. 1788. VOL. n. 18 274 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON TILE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, noon, men lioisted the pine-tree flag witli an appro- — r^ priate inscription. Six states liad ratified, and six ^ '^ ^ ^- salutes, eacli of thirteen guns, were fired. The example of Massachusetts proved worthy of imitation. "A conditional ratification or a second April convention," so wrote Madison to Randolph in April, "aj^pears to me utterly irreconcilable with the dic- tates of prudence and safety. Recommendatory al- terations are the only ground for a coalition among the real federalists." ' Jefferson, while in congress as the successor of Madison, had led the way zealously toward render- 11 SI. ing the American constitution more perfect." " The 30.' federal convention," so he wi'ote to one correspond- ent on hearing who were its members, " is really an assembly of demigods ; " ' and to another : " It consists of the ablest men in America." He hoped fi'om it a broader reformation, and saw mth satis- Sept. faction "a general disposition through the states to adopt what it should propose."' To Washington he soberly expressed the opinions from which dur- Aug. ing his long life he never departed : " To make our states one as to all foreign concerns, preserve them several as to all rnerely domestic, to give to the federal head some peaceable mode of enforcing its just authority, to organize that head into legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, are great de- siderata." ' Nov. Early in November Jefferson received a copy of the new constitution, and approved the great mass of ' Madison's Works, i. 38G, and » JcfTorson, ii. 200. Conij>ar(! ;j7«-379. * JeiTorson, ii. 149, 264. » Jefferson, i. 349. » Jefferson, ii. 250, 251. JEFFEESON Am) ADAMS. 275 its provisions.' But once lie called it a kite set up chap. to keep the lien-yard in order;' and witk three or ^--v-^ four new articles lie would have preserved the vener- ^^ ^ ^' able fabric of tlie old confederation as a sacred relic. i3. To Madison " he explained himself in a long and deliberate letter. A house of representatives elected dii'ectly by the people he thought would be far infe- rior to one chosen by the state legislatures ; but he accepted that mode of election from respect to the fundamental principle that the people are not to be taxed but by representatives chosen immediately by themselves. He was captivated by the compromise between the great and smaller states, and the meth- od of voting in both branches of the legislature by persons instead of voting by states ; but he utterly condemned the omission of a bill of rights, and the abandonment of the principle of rotation in the choice of the president. Nor was he "a fiiend to a veiy Dec. enero;etic o-overnment ; " for he held that it would be "always oppressive." He presumed that Virginia would reject the new constitution;* for himself he said : " It is my principle that the will of the major- 20. ity should prevail; if they approve, I shall cheer- fully concur in the proposed constitution, in hopes they will amend it whenever they shall find that it works vn:'onQ;."' Two months later he wTote to Mad- 1 "jsa ison' and at least one more of his correspondents: 6. " I wish v^dth all my soul that the nine first conven- 7. tions may accept the new constitution, to secure to * Jefferson, i. 79, and ii. 586. " Jefferson, ii, 832. ' Jefferson, ii. 319. ' Jefferson to Madison, 6 Feb., ^ Jefferson, ii. 328-331. 1788. MS. * Jefferson, ii. 325. 276 THE PEOPLE m JUDG^IENT ON THE CONSTITUTION". CHAP. US the good it contains ; but I equally wish that the ^^^-^ four latest, whichever they may be, may refuse to 1^?^- accede to it till a declaration of rights be annexed: Feb. , . *-• ' ''• but no objection to the new form must produce a schism in our union." This was the last word from him which reached America in time to have any in- May fluence. But so soon as he heai'd of the method 27 adopted by Massachusetts he declared that it was far preferable to his own, and wished it to be followed July by every state, especially by Virginia.* To Madison he said : " The constitution is a good canvas on which some strokes only want retouching.'"' To a friend 17 8 9. in Philadelphia he wrote with perfect tiiith : " I am not of the party of federalists ; but I am much fur- ther from that of the anti-federalists." ' The constitution was to Adams more of a sui'prise than to Jefferson; but at once he formed his un- changing judgment, and in December, 1787, he wrote of it officially to Jay : " The public mind cannot be occupied about a nobler object than the proposed plan of government. It appears to be admii-ably calculated to cement all America in affection and in- terest, as one great nation. A result of compromise cannot perfectly coincide with every one's ideas of perfection ; but, as aU the great principles necessary to order, liberty, and safety are respected in it, and provision is made for amendments as they may be found necessary, I hope to hear of its adoption by aU the states." * > Jellerson, ii. 398, 399, 404. * John Adams's Works, viii. 467 ; ' Jefferson, ii. 445. Dip. Corr., v. 350. ' Jefferson, ii. 585, 580. CHAPTER IV. THE CONSTITUTION IN NEW HAlVrPSHIRE, MARYLAND, AND SOUTH CAROLINA. Langdon, the outgoing chief magistrate of New chap. Hampshire, and Sullivan, his successful competitor, J:^ vied with each other in zeal for federal measures ; 1 7 8 8. Feb. but when in February, 1788, the convention of the state came together there appeared to be a small ma- jority against any change. In a seven days' debate, Joshua Atherton, of Amherst ; William Hooper, the minister of Marbury ; Matthias Stone, deacon of the church in Claremont ; Abiel Parker, from Jaffrey, re- produced the objections that had been urged in the neighboring state ; while John Sullivan, John Lang- don, Samuel Livermore, Josiah Bartlett, and John Pickering explained and defended it with concilia- tory moderation. When zealots complained of the want of a religious test, Samuel Langdon, lately president of Harvard College, but now a minister of the gospel at Hampton Falls, demonstrated that re- ligion is a question between God and man in which no civil authority may interfere. Dow, from Weare, spoke against the twenty years' sufferance of the for- 278 THE PEOPLE m JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, eign slave-trade ; and to the explanation of Langdon that under the confederation the power exists with- out limit, Atherton answered : " It is our full purpose to wash oui' hands clear of becoming its guarantees even for a term of years." The fiiends of the constitution won converts enough to hold the balance ; but these were fet- tered by instructions from their towns. To give them an opj^ortunity to consult their constituents, the friends of the constitution proposed an adjourn- ment till June ; saying, with other reasons, that it would be very prudent for a small state like New Hampshire to wait and see what the other states would do. This was the argniment which had the greatest weight.' The place of meeting was changed from Exeter, a stronghold of federalism, to Concord ; and the adjournment was then carried by a slender majority.' ^^^^J- The assembly of Maryland in November, 1787, summoned its delegates to the federal convention to give them information of its proceedings ; and Martin rehearsed to them and published to the world his three days' arraignment of that body for having ex- ceeded its authority. He was answered by McHenry, who, by a concise analysis of the constitution, drew to himseK the sympathy of his hearers. The legisla- ture unanimously ordered a convention of the people of the state ; it copied the example set by Virginia of leaving the door open for amendments ; ' and by a majority of one the day for the choice, and the day ' Report in the IVIass. Spy, co])iecl ' Ind. Gazetteer, 17 March, 1788. into Ind. Gazetteer of 9 April, ° ]\Iadisou to Jefferson, 9 Dec., 1788. 1787 ; Madison, i. 303, 304. Nov. THE CONSTITUTION IN MARYLAND. 279 for the meeting of its convention, were postponed till chap. the next April. ^-^ The long delay gave opportunity for the cabalings 1 7 8 7. of the anti-federalists in Virginia.' Richard H. Lee was as zealous as ever ; and Patrick Henry dissemi- nated propositions for a southern confederacy ; ' but Washington, who felt himself at home on the Mary- land side of the Potomac, toiled fearlessly and faith- fully, with Madison at his side, for the immediate and unconditioned ratification of the constitution by the South. Charles Carter, of Virginia, had written a congrat- ulatory letter to Washington as president of the late federal convention; there soon appeared in the news- papers his reply, all the more interesting because written mth unguarded frankness: "My decided opinion is, that there is no alternative between the adoption of the proceedings of the convention and anarchy. If one state, however important it may conceive itself to be," meaning Virginia, " or a minority of them should suppose that they can dictate a con- stitution to the union (unless they have the power of applying the ultima ratio to good effect), they will find themselves deceived. All the opposition to it that I have yet seen is addressed more to the passions than to reason ; and clear I am, if another federal convention is attempted, that the sentiments of the members will be more discordant or less accommo- dating than the last. In fine, they will agree upon no general plan. General government is now suspended ^ Letters to Washington, iv. ^ This is repeatedly told of Henry 196. by Carrington. 280 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGJIENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, by a thread ; I miglit go further, and say it is really — A- at an end ; and what will be the consequence of a ^l^''- fruitless attempt to amend the one which is offered, before it is tried, or of the delay of the attempt, does not, in my judgment, need the gift of prophecy to pre- dict. The constitution or disunion is before us to choose from. If the first is our election, when the defects of it are experienced, a constitutional door is opened for amendments, and may be adopted in a peaceable manner, without tumult or disorder." ' In the three months' interval before the election, the fields and forests and towns of Maryland were alive with thought ; the merits of the constitution 17 8 8. were scanned and sifted in every public meeting and at every hearth ; and on the day for choosing dele- gates, each voter, in designating the candidate of his preference, registered his own deliberate decision. In fifteen counties, and the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, there was no diversity of sentiment. Two counties only returned none but anti-federalists ; Har- ford county elected thi^ee of that party and one trimmer. April The day before the convention was to assemble, Washington, guarding against the only danger that remained, addressed a well-considered letter to Thom- as Johnson: "An adjournment of your convention will be tantamount to the rejection of the constitu- tion. It cannot be too much deprecated and guarded against. Great use is made of the postponement in New Hampshire, although it has no reference to the » Washington to Charles Carter, 14 Dec., 1787; Penn. Packet, 11 Jan., 1788. THE CONSTITTTION m MARYLAND. 281 convention of this state. An event similar to this in chap. Maryland would have the worst tendency imagin- ^ able ; for indecision there would certainly have con- y ^ 8. siderable influence upon South Carolina, the only 20. other state which is to precede Virginia ; and it sub- mits the question almost wholly to the determination of the latter. The pride of the state is already touched, and will be raised much higher if there is fresh cause." * The advice, which was confirmed by similar letters from Madison, was communicated to several of the members ; so that the healing influence of Virginia proved greater than its power to wound. But the men of Maryland of themselves knew their duty, and Washington's advice was but an encouragement for them to proceed in the way which they had chosen. On Monday, the twenty-first of April, a quomm of 21. the convention assembled at Annapolis. The settle- ment of representation in the two branches of the federal legislature was pleasing to all the representa- tives of fifteen counties, and the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis agreed with each other perfectly that the main question had ali*eady been decided by the people in their respective counties ; and that the ratification of the constitution, the single transaction for which they were convened, ought to be speedily completed. Two days were given to the organiza- tion of the house and establishing rules for its gov- ernment ; on the third the constitution was read a > Washington to Thomas John- McHenry, 27 April, 1788, MS. ; son, 20 April, 1788; T. Johnson to Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, to Washington, 10 Oct., 1788. 27 April, 1788, MS.; to Jame3 Compare Washington to James Madison, 2 May, 1788, MS. 282 TIIE PEOPLE LN" JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, first time, and tlie motion for its ratification was IV s--v^ formally made. Tlie plan of a confederacy of slave- V rif " folding states found not one su^^porter ; not one 21. suggested an adjournment for the pm^^ose of consul- tation with Vii'ginia. The malcontents could embar- rass the convention only by proposing pernicious amendments. 24. On the morning of the fourth day Samuel Chase took his seat, and at the second reading of the con- stitution began from elaborate notes the fiercest oppo- sition : The powers to be vested in the new govern- ment are deadly to the cause of liberty, and should be amended before adoption; five states can now force a concession of amendments which after the national government shall go into operation could be carried only by nine.' He spoke till he was exhaust- ed, intending to resume his argument on the follow- ing day. In the afternoon, William Paca, of Harford coun- ty, a signer of the declaration of independence, ap- peared for the first time and sought to steer between the clashing opinions, saying : " I have a variety of objections ; not as conditions, but to accompany the ratification as standing instructions to the representa- tives of Maryland in congress." To Johnson the re- quest seemed candid ; and on his motion the conven- tion adjourned to the next morning.* The interval was employed in preparing a set of amendments to the constitution, which were adapted to injure the cause of federalism in Virginia.' ' Notes of Chase on tlie consti- " Ilanson's MS. narrative, tution, ]\I8. ; and tlie liistoriciil ad- * James McIIenry to Wasliing- dreas of Alex, C. Uauson, MS. ton, 18 May, 1788. MS. THE CONSTITUTION IN MAEYLAND. 283 On Friday morning, a member from each, of eleven cn^iP. several counties and the two cities, one after the >— v-^ other, declared " that he and his colleas-ues were ^!J ^.^ ' , . •=> April under an obligation to vote for the government;" 25. and almost all declared fui-ther that they had no authority to propose amendments which theii' con- stituents had never considered, and of coui^se could never have dii^ected/ When Paca began to read his amendments, he was called to order by George Gale, of Somerset county, the question before the house being still "on the ratification of the consti- tution." Chase once more "made a display of all his eloquence ; " John F. Mercer discharged his whole " artillery of inflammable matter ; " and Martin rioted in boisterous " vehemence ; " " but no converts were made ; no, not one." " The fi'iends to the federal government " remained inflexibly silent." The malcontents having tired themselves out, between two and thi'ee o'clock on Satui'day, the twenty-sixth, the constitution was rati- 26. fled by sixty-three votes against eleven, Paca voting with the majority. Proud of its great majority of nearly six to one, the convention fixed Monday, at three o'clock, for the time when they would all set theii' names to the instrument of ratification. Paca then brought forward his numerous amend- ments, saying that -with them his constituents would receive the constitution, without them would oppose it even with arms." After a short but perplexed de- bate he was indulged in the appointment of a com- ' Alex, C. Hanson. MS. El- "" Washington to Madison, 2 May, liot, ii. 548. 1788. MS. ' Hanson. MS. 284 THE PEOPLE m JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTIOlSr. CEAP. mittee of tliii'teen, of wliicli lie liimself was the chair- IV v-^ man ; but they had power only to recommend amend- y rif " ^^^^® "^^ "t^® consideration of the people of Maryland. ^•3. The majority of the committee readily acceded to thii'teen resolutions, explaining the constitution ac- cording to the construction of its friends, and re- straining congi'ess fi'om exercising power not ex- pressly delegated. The minority demanded more ; the committee fell into a wrangle ; the convention on 23. IMonday sent a summons for them ; and Paca, taking the side of the minority, would make no report. Thereupon the convention dissolved itseK by a gi'eat majority. The accession of Maryland to the new union by a vote of nearly six to one brought to the constitution the majority of the thirteen United States, and a great majority of their free inhabitants. The state which was cradled in religious liberty gained the un- disputed victory over the first velleity of the slave- holding states to form a separate confederacy. " It is a thorn in the sides of the leaders of opposition in this state ! " ^\Tote Washington to Madison.' His words of congratulation to Jenifer, of Maryland, were : " Seven affirmative without a nescative would almost convert the unerring sister. The fiat of your convention will most assuredly raise the edifice." ' In his hours of meditation he saw the movement of the divine power which gives unity to the universe, and order and connection to events : " It is impracti- cable for any one who has not been on the spot to * Washington to Madison, 3 ^ Washington to Daniel of St. May, 17«8. MS. Thomas Jenifer, 27 April, 1788. MS. THE CONSTITTTION m SOUTH CAEOLmA. 235 realize tlie change in men's minds, and tlie progress chap. toward rectitude in thinking and acting. >— ^^ " The plot thickens fast. A few short weeks will ^ ^.^• determine the political fate of America for the pres- 2s. ent generation, and probably produce no small influ- ence on the hapf)iness of society through a long suc- cession of ages to come. Should everything proceed with harmony and consent according to our actual wishes and expectations, it will be so much beyond anything we had a right to imagine or expect eigh- teen months ago that it will, as visibly as any possi- ble event in the course of human affairs, demonstrate the finger of Providence." * In South Carolina the new constitution awakened fears of oppressive navigation acts and of disturbance in the ownership of slaves. The inhabitants of the upper country, who suffered from the undue legisla- tive power of the city of Charleston and the lower counties, foreboded new inequalities from a consolida- tion of the union. A part of the low country, still suffering from the war, had shared the rage for instal- ment laws, paper money, and payment of debts by appraised property ; and to all these the new consti- tution made an end. The opposition from Virginia* intrigued for a southern confederacy, while Madison, in entire unison with Washington, wrote to his fiiends in behalf of union.' They both knew that there was to be resist- ance to the constitution, with Rawlins Lowndes for ^ Washington to the Marquis de propositions there for a southern la Fayette, 28 May, 1788. MS, confederacy." - Jefferson' to Shippen, 14 July, ° Madison to Washinorton, 10 1788. *':&Ir. Henry disseminated April, 1788. Works, i. 384, 385. 286 THE PEOPLE EN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, its spokesman ; and as lie could by no possibility be elected into the convention, the chief scene of the opposition could only be the legislature/ In January, 1788, the senate unanimously voted thanks to the members from their state in the fed- eral convention for their faithfulness. On the six- teenth, in the committee of the whole house of rep- resentatives, Charles Pinckney gave a history* of the formation and the character of " the federal re- public ; " which was to operate upon the people and not upon the states. At once Lowndes' objected that the interests of South Carolina were endanscered by the clause in the constitution according to which a treaty to be made by two thirds of the senate, and a president who was not likely ever to be chosen from South Carolina or Georgia, would be the su- preme law of the land. Cotesworth Pinckney con- demned the reasoning as disingenuous. "Every treaty," said John Kutledge, " is law paramount and must operate," * not less under the confederation than under the constitution.^ " If treaties are not superior to local laws," asked Ramsay, " who mil trust them ? " ' Lowndes proceeded, saying of the confederation: " We are now under a most excellent constitution — a blessing from Heaven, that has stood the test of time, and given us liberty and independence ; yet we are impatient to pull down that fabric which we raised at the expense of our blood." ' Now, Rawlins Lo^vndes had pertinaciously resisted the declaration of inde- ' ^raflison, i. 383. " Elliot, iv. 308. » I-:iliot, iv. 25:3-363. " Elliot, iv. 270. » Elliot, iv. 203-205. '' Elliot, iv. 271, 273. * Elliot, iv. 207. THE CONSTITUTION IN SOUTH CAEOLINA. 287 pendence; and, wlien in 1778 South Carolina had chap. made him her governor, had in her reverses sought -^^^^ British protection. He proceeded : "When this new ^J^^- constitution shall be adopted, the sun of the southern ig. states will set, never to rise again. What cause is there for jealousy of our importing negroes ? Why confine us to twenty years ? Why limit us at all ? This trade can be justified on the principles of relig- ion and humanity. They do not like our slaves be- cause they have none themselves, and, therefore, want to exclude us from this great advantage." " Every state," interposed Pendleton, " has prohib- ited the importation of negroes except Georgia and the two Carolinas." Lowndes continued : " Without negi'oes this state would degenerate into one of the most contemptible in the union. Negroes are our wealth, our only nat- ural resource ; yet our kind friends in the North are determined soon to tie up our hands, and drain us of what we have." "Against the restrictions that might be laid on the African trade after the year 1808," said Cotesworth Pinckney, " your delegates had to contend with the religious and political prejudices of the eastern and middle states, and with the interested and inconsist- ent opinion of Virginia. It was alleged that slaves increase the weakness of any state which admits them ; that an invading enemy could easily turn them against ourselves and the neighboring states ; and that, as we are allowed a representation for them, our influence in government would be increased in proportion as we were less able to defend ourselves. 288 THE PEOPLE m JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. ' Sliow some period,' said the members from the east- ern states, ' when it may be in our power to put a ^jan^" ^^^P> ^ ^^ please, to the importation of this weak- 16. ness, and we will endeavor, for your convenience, to restrain the religious and political prejudices of our people on this subject.' The middle states and Vir- ginia made us no such, proposition ; they were for an immediate and total prohibition. A committee of the states was appointed in order to accommodate this matter, and, after a great deal of difficulty, it was settled on the footing recited in the constitu- tion. "By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of negroes for twenty years. The gen- eral government can never emancipate them, for no such authority is granted, and it is admitted on all hands that the general government has no powers but what are expressly granted by the constitution. We have obtained a right to recover our slaves in whatever part of America they may take refuge, which is a right we had not before. In short, con- sidering all circumstances, we have made the best terms in our power for the security of this species of property. We would have made better if we could ; but, on the whole, I do not think them bad." ' " Six of the seven eastern states," continued Lowndes, " form a majority in the house of representa- tives. Their interest will so predominate as to divest us of any pretensions to the title of a republic. They draw their subsistence, in a great measure, from their shipping ; the regulation of our commerce thi'ows » Elliot, iv. 277-28G. TIIE CONSTITUTION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 289 into tlieir hands the carrying trade under payment of chap. whatever freightage they think proper to impose.' s.-^^ Why should the southern states allow this without ^7,^^- the consent of nine states ? If at any future period i6. we should remonstrate, ' mind your business ' will be the style of language held out toward the southern states." " The fears that the northern interests will prevail at all times," said Edward Rutledge, " are ill- founded. Carry your views into futurity. The northern states are already full of people ; the migra- tions to the South are immense ; in a few years we shall rise high in our representation, while other states will keep their present position." * The argument of Lowndes rested on the idea that iv. the southern states are weak. " We are weak," said Cotesworth Pinckney ; " by ourselves we cannot form a union strong enough for the purpose of ef- fectually protecting each other. Without union with the other states. South Carolina must soon fall. Is there any one among us so much a Quixote as to sup- pose that this state could long maintain her indepen- dence if she stood alone, or was only connected with the southern states ? I scarcely believe there is. As, from the nature of our climate and the fewness of our inhabitants, we are undoubtedly weak, should we not endeavor to form a close union ^\ath the eastern states, who are strong ? We certainly ought to en- deavor to increase that species of strength which mil render them of most service to us both in peace and war. I mean their navy. Justice to them and hu- manity, interest and policy, concur in prevailing upon ' Elliot, iv. 288. " Elliot, iv. 276, 277. VOL. II. 19 290 THE PEOPLE n«" JUDGMENT 01^ THE CONSTITUTIOIf. CHAP. US to submit tlie regulation of commerce to the gen- -^-^ eral government." * 17 88. Lo^Yndes renewed liis eulogy on the old confedera- ls, tion. " The men who signed it were eminent for pa- triotism and virtue ; and theu^ wisdom and prudence particularly appear in their care sacredly to guarantee the sovereignty of each state. The treaty of peace expressly agreed to acknowledge us fi-ee, sovereign, and independent states ; but this new constitution, being sovereign over all, sweeps those privileges away. 18. Cotesworth Pinckney answered : " We were inde- pendent before the treaty, which does not grant, but acknowledges our independence. We ought to date that invaluable blessing^ from a much older charter than the treaty of peace ; from a charter which our babes should be taught to lisp in their cradles ; which our youth should learn as a carinen necessai'ium, or indispensable lesson ; which our young men should regard as their compact of freedom ; and which our old should repeat with ejaculations of gratitude for the bounties it is about to bestow on theii* posterity. I mean the declaration of independence, made in congress the 4th of July, 177G. This admirable manifesto, which for importance of matter and ele- gance of composition stands unrivalled, sufficiently confutes the honorable gentleman's doctrine of the individual sovereignty and independence of the sev- eral states. " The separate independence and individual sover- eignty of the several states were never tliought of by » Elliot, iv. 283, 284. " ElUot, iv. 287. THE CONSTITUTION IN SOUTH CAEOLINA. 291 the enlightened band of patriots who framed this chap. declaration. The several states are not even men- v_^ tioned by name in any part of it ; as if to impress on ^j^^^^' America that our freedom and independence arose is. from om' union, and that without it we could neither be free nor independent. Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this union by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy which can never bene- fit us, but may bring on us the most serious dis- tresses." * Lowndes sought to rally to his side the friends of paj)er money, and asked triumphantly : " What harm has paper money done ? " " What harm ? " retorted Cotesworth Pinckney. " Beyond losses by deprecia- tion, paper money has corrupted the morals of the people ; has diverted them from the paths of honest industry to the ways of ruinous speculation ; has de- stroyed both public and private credit; and has brought total ruin on numberless widows and or- phans." ' James Lincoln, of Ninety-six, pressed the objection that the constitution contained no bill of rights." Cotesworth Pinckney answered : " By delegating ex- press powers, we certainly reserve to ourselves every power and right not mentioned in the constitution. Another reason weighed particularly with the mem- bers from this state. Bills of rights generally begin with declaring that all men are by nature bom free. Now, we should make that declaration with a very ' Elliot, iv. 301, 303. ' Elliot, iv. 313. « Elliot, iv. 306. 292 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, bad grace when a large part of our property consists in men who are actually born slaves." * Lo\vndes, following the desii'e of tlie opposition of Viro;inia, had recommended another convention in which every objection could be met on fair grounds, and adequate remedies applied.'' The proposal found no acceptance ; but he persevered in cavilling and ob- is, jecting. At last John Rutledge impatiently expressed a hope that Lownides would find a seat in the coming convention, and pledged himself there to prove that all those grounds on which he dwelt amounted to no more than mere declamation ; that his boasted confed- eration was not worth a farthing; that if such in- struments were piled up to his chin they would not shield him from one single national calamity ; that the sun of this state, so far from being obscured by the new constitution, would, when united with twelve other suns, astonish the world by its lustre.' The resolution for a convention to consider the constitution was unanimously adopted.* In the ri- valry between Charleston and Columbia as its place of meeting, Charleston carried the day by a majority of one vote.* The purest spii'it of patriotism and union and ven- eration for the men of the revolution pervaded South Carolina at the time of her clioice of delegates. Foremost amonG^ them were the venerable Christo- pher Gadsden and John Rutledge, Moultrie and Motte, William AVashington, Edward Rutledge, the thi'ee Pinckneya, Grimkc, and Ramsay ; the chancel- » Elliot, iv. 315, 310. * Elliot, iv. 316. ^ Klliot, iv. 2!m. * Elliot, iv. 317. » Klliot, iv. 312. THE CONSTITUTION IN SOUTH CAEOLINA. 293 lor and tlie leading judges of the state ; men chiefly chap. of English, Scotch, Scotch-Irish, and Huguenot de- — ^ scent ; a thorough representation of the best ele- i "^ ^ 8, ments and culture of South Carolina. The convention orc!:anized itself on the thirteenth of May 13 May,' with Thomas Pinckney, then Governor of South Carolina, as president. The ablest man in the oppo- sition was Edanus Burke ; but the leader in support of the Yir2:inia malcontents was Sumter. A week's quiet consideration of the constitution by paragraphs showed the disposition of the convention, when on 21. the twenty-first Sumter, as a last effort of those who wished to act with Virginia, made a motion for an adjournment for five months, to give time for the further consideration of the federal convention." A few gave way to the hope of conciliating by modera- tion ; but after debate the motion received only eighty -nine votes against one hundi^ed and thirty-five.' Three or four amendments were recommended ; and then, at five o'clock in the evening of the twenty- 23. thii'd, the constitution was ratified by one hundred and forty -nine votes against seventy-three — more than two to one." As the count was declared, the dense crowd in attendance, carried away by a wild trans- port of joy, shook the air with their cheers. "When order was restored, the aged Christopher Gadsden said : " I can have but little expectation of seeing the happy effects that will result to my coun- try from the wise decisions of this day, but I shall say with good old Simeon : Lord, now lettest thou » Elliot, iv. 318. ' Elliot, iv. 338. " Elliot, iv. 838. " Elliot, iv. 338-340. 294 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMET^T ON THE COISTSTITUTIOK CHAP, tliy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes liave seen tlie salvation of my country." * Tlie delegates of South Carolina to the federal convention received a vote of thanks. Those in the opposition promised as good citizens to accept the result. In 1765 South Carolina was one of the nine states to meet in convention for resistance to the stamp act ; and now she was the eighth state of the nine required for the adoption of the constitution. AVhen the astonishing tidings reached New Hamp- shire, her people grew restless to be the state yet needed to assure the new bond of union ; but for that palm she must run a race with Virginia. » Pcnn. Packet, 14 June, 1788. CHAPTER y. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRGINIA AND IN NEW HAMP- SHIRE. Feom Virginia proceeded the soutliern opposition chap. to the consolidation of the union. A strife in con- .^^ gress, in which the North was too much in the wrong to succeed, united the five southernmost states togeth- er in a struggle which endangered the constitution. In May, 1785, Diego Gardoqui arrived, charged ^^^^^• with the affairs of Spain, and seemingly empowered to fix the respective limits and adjust other points * between two countries which bordered on each other from the Atlantic to the headspring of the Missis- sippi. Negotiations began : but Jay was required by July congress to submit to them every proposition made or received, to sign no treaty without their previous approval, to maintain the territorial bounds of the United States as set forth in the treaty of peace with England, and to assert the right of the free naviga- tion of the Mississippi from its source to the ocean.* Jay held the friendship of Spain most desirable as a ' Dip. Cor., vi. 81-97. Secret ' Secret Journals, iii. 586. Journals, iii. 569, 570. 296 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. neiglibor ; as a force tliat could protect the United States fi'om tlie piracies of tlie Barbary powers and conciliate tlie good- will of Portugal and Italy ; as a restraint on tlie influence of I ranee and of Great Brit- ain ; and as the ruler of dominions of which the trade offered tempting advantages. He therefore proposed that the United States, as the price of a treaty of reciprocity in commerce, should forego the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty-five or thii'ty years. 1 7 8 6. On the third of August, Jay appeared before con- 3.° gress and read an elaborate paper, in which he en- deavored to prove that the experiment w^as worth trying.' The proposal sacrificed a vitally important right of one part of the union to a commercial in- terest of another; yet the instruction which made the right to the navigation of the Mississippi an ultimatum in any treaty with Spain was, after three weeks reflection, repealed by a vote of seven north- ern states against Maryland and all south of it. 28. The members of the southern states were pro- foundly alarmed. On the report of the committee to the house, Charles Pinckney, supported by Carring- ton, souii;lit to transfer the nesfotiation to Madrid; 29. but in vain. The delegates of Virginia, Grayson at their head, strove to se2:>arate the commercial ques- tions from those on boundaries and navigation. " The surrender or proposed forbearance of the navi- gation of the Mississippi," they said, "is inadmis- sible upon the principle of the i%ht, and u^^on the highest 2)rinci2^1es of national expedience. In the present state of the powers of congress, every wise » Dip. Cor., vi. 177. THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 297 statesman should pursue a system of conduct to gain chap. the confidence of the several states in the federal «— ^—^ council, and thereby an extension of its powers. This ^^if.*^' act is a dismemberment of the government. Can the 29. United States then dismember the government by a treaty of commerce ? "' But the North persisted.* Monroe still loyally retained his desire that the Sept. recrulation of commerce should be in the hands of the United States, and his opinion that without that power the union would infallibly tumble to pieces ; but now he looked about him for means to strengthen the position of his own section of the country ; and to Madison he wrote : " I earnestly wish the admis- sion of a few additional states into the confederacy in the southern scale." ' " There is danger," reported Otto to Vergennes,' "that the discussion may be- lo- come the germ of a separation of the southern states." Murmurs arose that plans were forming in New York for dismembering the confederacy and throwing New York and New England into one gov- ernment, with the addition, if possible, of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. "Even should the measure tri- umph under the whole thu'teen states," wrote Madi- son, "it is not expedient because it is not just."* The next legislature of Vii'ginia unanimously resolved " that nature had given the Mississippi to the United States, that the sacrifice of it would violate justice, contravene the end of the federal government, and destroy confidence in the federal councils necessary to a proper enlargement of their authority." * Secret Journal, iv. 87-110. ' Otto to Vergennes, 10 Sept., ^ Monroe to Madison, 3 Sept., 1786. 1786. * Madison, i. 350. 298 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMENT OlST THE COIS-STITUTIO]^. The plan could not succeed, for it never had the consent of Spain, and if it should be formed into a 17 8 6. treaty, the treaty could never obtain votes enough for its ratification. In the new congress, New Jersey left the North ; Pennsylvania, of which a large part lay in the Mississippi valley, became equally divided ; and Rhode Island began to doubt. But already many of Virginia's "most federal" statesmen were 17 8V. extremely disturbed ; Patrick Henry, who had hith- erto been the champion of the federal cause, refused to attend the federal convention that he might re- main free to combat its result ; and an uncontrollable spii'it of distrust drove Kentucky to listen to Richard Henry Lee, and imperilled the new constitution. 17 8 8. The people of Virginia, whose undisputed territory had ample harbors convenient to the ocean, and no western limit but the Mississippi, had never aspired to form a separate republic. They had deliberately surrendered their claim to the north-west territory ; and true to the idea that a state should not be too large for the convenience of home rule, they seconded the desire of Kentucky to become a commonwealth by itself. The opinion of Washington that the constitution would be adopted by Virginia was not Jan. shaken.' Relieved from anxiety at home, he found time to watcli tlie jxatherino; clouds of revolution in Europe, and sha})ed in his own mind the foreign pol- icy of tlie republic. His conclusions, which on New Year's day, 1788, he confided to Jefferson, his future adviser on the foreign relations of the coun- ' Wasliinrrton to Knox, 10 to Samuel Powell, 18 Jan., 1788, Jan., 1788. MS. WaahiugtoQ MS. 1 "7 8 8. Jan. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIEGINIA. 299 try, were in substance precisely as follows : The chap, American revolution has spread through Europe a -^-^^ better knowledge of the rights of mankind, the privi- leges of the people, and the principles of liberty than has existed in any former period ; a war in that quar- ter is likely to be kindled, especially between France and England ; in the impending struggle, an ener- getic general government must prevent the several states from involving themselves in the political dis- putes of the European powers. The situation of the United States is such as makes it not only unne- cessaiy but extremely imprudent for them to take part in foreign quarrels. Let them wisely and prop- erly improve the advantages which nature has given them, and conduct themselves with circumspection. By that policy, and by giving security to property and liberty, they will become the asylum of the peace- ful, the industrious, and the wealthy from all parts of the civilized world.* Nor did AVashington cease his vigilant activity to confirm Virginia in federal opinions. Especially to Edmund Randolph, then governor of Virginia and in the height of his popularity, he addressed himself * with convincing earnestness, and yet with a delicacy that seemed to leave the mind of Randolph to its o^vn workings. Madison likewise, in his zeal to see " a, coalition among all the real federalists," ' kept up with Ran- dolph a most friendly and persuasive correspondence. * Washington to Jefferson, 1 dolph, 8 Jan., 1788. Sparks, ix. Jan., 1788. Compare Washington 297. to Knox, 10 Jan., 1788. MS. ' Madison to E, Randolph. * Washington to Edmund Ran- Works, i. 386. 300 THE PEOPLE ES" JUDGMENT OlST THE CONSTITUTIOIS'. CHAP. As a natural consequence, the governor, wlio began to s^-A- see the impossibility of obtaining amendments witb- ^1^^- out endano'erins: tbe success of tbe constitution, soon Jan. o o J planted himself among its defenders ; while Monroe, leaving his inconsistency unexplained, was drawn toward the adversaries of Madison. The example of Massachusetts had great influence by its mere recommendation of amendments ; and still more by the avoAved determination of the de- feated party honestly to support the decision of the majority. But while the more moderate of the mai- ls, contents " appeared to be preparing for a decent sub- mission," and even Richard Henry Lee set bounds to his opposition,* the language of Henry was : " The other states cannot do without Virginia, and we can dictate to them what terms we please." " His plans extended contingently even to foreign alliances." ' The report from the federal convention agitated the people more than any subject since the first days of the revolution ; but with a greater division of opinion.^ It was remarked that while in the seven northern states the principal officers of gov- ernment and largest holdei's of property, the judges and lawyers, the clergy and men of letters, were almo.st without exception devoted to the constitu- tion, in VirjT-inia the bar and the men of the most culture and property wei^e divided. In Virginia, too, where the mass of the people, though accustomed to be guided by their favorite statesmen on all new and * Compiirc Cyrus CJriflin to ^ Carrinfrton to Madison, 18 Jan., Tlioiiias Fit/simons, 18 Feb., 1788. 1788. MS. MS. ' Monroe to Madison, 13 Oct., 1787. MS. THE CONSTITUTIOlSr I]^ VIEGESTIA. 301 intricate questions, now, on a question wliicli sur- chap. passed all otliers in novelty and intricacy, broke -^^^^^ away from their lead and followed a mysterious and ^J*^^- prophetic influence wliicli rose from the heart. The is. phenomenon was the more wonderful, as all the ad- versaries of the new constitution justified their oppo- sition on the ground of danger to the liberties of the people.* And over all discussions, in private or in public, there hovered the idea that Washington was to lead the country safely along the untrodden j)ath. In the time preceding the election, the men of Kentucky w^ere made to fear the surrender of the Mississippi by the federal government ; and the Bap- tists, the reunion of church and state." The election of Madison to the convention was held to be indis- pensable.' "He will be the main pillar of the con- stitution," thought Jefferson; "but though an im- mensely powerful one, it is questionable whether he can bear the weight of such a host." * But the plan for a southern confederacy ^vas crushed by the fidel- ity of South Carolina; and Washington, who had foreseen the event, cheered Madison on with the good words : " The eloquence of eight aflarmatives for the constitution ought to cause even ' the unerring sister ' to hesitate." ' On the day appointed for the meeting of the con- ^"-^^^ vention a quorum was present in Richmond. It was auspicious that Edmund Pendleton, the chancellor, was unanimously chosen its president. The building * Madison, i. 365, 366. ' Washington in Rives, ii. 547. " James Madison, Sr., to his ■• Jefferson, Randolph's ed., ii. son, 30 Jan., 1788, MS.; Sem- 270 ; in Rives, ii. 558. pie's Baptists in Virginia, 76, ^ Washington to Madison, 3 77. May, 1788. MS. 302 THE PEOPLE nr judgment on the constitution. wliicli would hold tlie most listeners was made tlie place of meeting, but Henry was alarmed at the pres- ence of short-hand reporters from the Philadelphia press, as he wished "to speak the language of his soul " * without the reserve of circumspection. Dur- ing the period of the confederation, which had exist- ed but little more than seven years, it had become known that slavery and its industrial results divided the South from the North; and this conviction ex- ercised a subtle influence. Georsre Mason, followins^ the advice of Eichard Henry Lee," and the precedent of Massachusetts, proposed that no question relating to the consti- tution should be propounded until it should have been discussed clause by clause; and this was ac- quiesced in unanimously. The debates which ensued cannot be followed in the order of time, for Henry broke through every rule; but an outline must be given of those which foreshadowed the future. Patrick Henry dashed instantly into the battle, say- ing : " Tlie constitution is a severance of the confed- eracy. Its language, 'We the people,' is the institu- tion of one great consolidated national government of the people of all the states, instead of a government by compact with the states for its agents. The people gave the convention no power to use their name." ' " The question," said Randolph, " is now between union and no union, and I would sooner lop off my right arm than consent to a dissolution of the union." * ' Perm. Packet, 13 June, 1788. ' Elliot, iii. 23. ' K. J I. Lee to G. Mason, 7 May, * Elliot, iii. 25, 26. 1788. Letter in Life of li. IL L., ii. 89. THE COlSfSTITUTION IN YIEGESTIA. 303 " It is a national government," said George Mason, chap. losing his self-control and becoming inconsistent. " It — ^-^ is ascertained by history that there never was one ij^^- '' '' . . June government over a very extensive country without 4. destroying the liberties of the peo2:>le. The power of laying direct taxes changes the confederation. The general government being paramount and more pow- erful, the state governments must give way to it ; and a general consolidated government is one of the worst curses that can befall a nation." ' " There is no quarrel between government and lib- 5. erty," said Pendleton ; " the former is the shield and protector of the latter. The expression ' We the peo- ple ' is a common one, and with me is a favorite. AVho but the people can delegate powers, or have a right to form government? The question must be between this government and the confederation ; the latter is no government at all. Common danger, union, and the spmt of America carried us through the war, and not the confederation of which the mo- ment of peace showed the imbecility. Government, to be effectual, must have complete powers, a legisla- ture, a judiciary, an executive. No gentleman in this committee would agree to vest these three powers in one body. The proposed government is not a con- solidated government. It is on the whole complexion of it a government of laws and not of men.""" Madison explained at large that the constitution is in part a consolidated union, and in part rests so com- pletely on the states that its very life is bound up in theirs. And on another day he added : " The powers il ^ ElUot, iii. 29-33. * Elliot, ui. 35^1. 304 THE PEOPLE IlSr JUDGMENT 0^ THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, vested in tlie proposed government are not so mucli — ,-1^ an augmentation of powers in the general government, ^ ^ ^ ^- as a change rendered necessary for the purpose of giv- 11. ing efficacy to those which were vested in it before." * 10. The opposition set no bounds to their eulogy of the British constitution as compared with the pro- posed one for America. " The wisdom of the English constitution," said Monroe, " has given a share of the legislation to each of the three branches, which en- ables it to defend itself and to preserve the liberty of the people. In the plan for America I can see no real checks." " " AVe have not materials in this coun- 11. try," said Grayson, "for such a government as the British monarchy ; but I w^ould have a president for life, choosing his successor at the same time ; a senate for life, with the powers of the house of lords ; and a triennial house of representatives, with the powers of 14. the house of commons in England." ' " How natural it is," said Henry, " when comparing deformities to beauty, to be struck with the superiority of the Brit- ish government to the proposed system. In England self-love, self-interest stimulates the executive to ad- vance the prosperity of the nation. Man cannot be depended on without self-love. Your president will not have the same motives of self-love to impel him to favor your interests. His political character is but transient. In the British government the sword and purse are not united in tlie same hands ; in this sys- tem they are. Does not infinite security result from a separation ? " * ' Elliot, iii. 80-97, and 259. = Elliot, iii. 279. =■ Elliot, iii. 218, 219. ♦ Elliot, iii. 387, 388. 17 88. June THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRGINIA. 305 Madison replied : " There never was, tliere never chap will be, an efficient government in whicli both tlie sword and purse are not vested, though they may not be given to the same member of government. i4, The sword is in the hands of the British king ; the purse in the hands of the parliament. It is so in America, as far as any analogy can exist. When power is necessary and can be safely lodged, reason commands its cession. From the first moment that my mind was capable of contemplating political sub- jects I have had a uniform zeal for a well-regulated republican government. The establishment of it in America is my most ardent desire. If the bands of the government be relaxed, anarchy will produce despotism. Faction and confusion preceded the revo- lutions in Germany ; faction and confusion produced the disorders and commotions of Holland. In this commonwealth, and in every state in the union, the relaxed operation of the government has been suffi- cient to alarm the friends of theii' country. The rapid increase of population strongly calls for a re- publican organization. There is more responsibil- ity in the proposed government than in the English. Our representatives are chosen for two years, in Eng- land for seven. Any citizen may be elected here ; in Great Britain no one without an estate of the an- nual value of six hundred pounds sterling can repre- sent a county; nor a corporation without half as much. If confidence be due to the government there, it is due tenfold here."* Against the judiciary as constituted by the consti- 20. » Elliot, iii. 393-395. VOL. II. 20 306 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, tution Henry exceeded liimself in vehemence, finding .--^ dangers to the state courts by tlie number of its tri- 1788. bunals, by appellate jurisdictions, controversies be- 20. tween a state and tlie citizens of another state ; dan- gers to the trial by jury ; dangers springing out of the clause against the imj)airment of the obligations of a contract. Of the judiciary system, Marshall, follo^ying able speakers on the same side, summed up the defence. " Tribunals for the decisions of controversies, which were before either not at all or improperly provided for, are here appointed.' Federal courts wiU deter- mine causes with the same fairness and impartiality as the state courts. The federal judges are chosen with equal wisdom, and they are equally or more independent. The power of creating a number of courts is necessary to the perfection of this system." The jurisdiction of the judiciary has its limit. The United States court cannot extend to everything, since, if the United States were to make a law not warranted by any of the enumerated powers, the judges would consider it as an infringement of the constitution. The state courts are crowded with suits ; if some of them should be carried to a federal court, the state courts will still have business enough.' To the judiciary you must look for protection from an infringement on the constitution. No other body can aifcH'd it.' The jurisdiction of the federal courts over disputes between a state and the citizens of an- other state has been decried with un^isual vehemence.* ' Elliot, iii. r>r)i. * Elliot, iii. 554. " Elliot, iii. 553. • Elliot, iii. 555. • Ibid. TiiE coNSTrruTiON m Virginia. 307 There is a difficulty in making a state defendant chap. which does not prevent its being plaintiff. It is not .^-^^^ rational to suppose that the sovereign power should i ^ ^ 8, be dragged before a court. The intent is to enable ^o. states to recover claims asjainst individuals residing: in other states. This construction is warranted by the words." * On the clause relating to impairing the obligation of contracts, Marshall said this : " A suit instituted in the federal courts by the citizens of one state asfainst the citizens of another state will be instituted in the court where the defendant resides, and will be determined by the laws of the state where the contract was made. The laws which govern the contract at its formation govern it at its decision." Whether this man or that man succeeds is to the gov- ernment all one thing." Congi^ess is empowered to make exceptions to the appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court, both as to law and as to fact ; and these exceptions certainly go as far as the legislature may think proper for the interest and liberty of the people."* The planters of Virginia were indebted to British merchants to the amount of ten millions of dollars ; and the Viro-inia leo-islature, under the influence of Henry, had withheld from these creditors the right to sue in the courts of Virginia until England should have fulfilled her part of the treaty of peace by sur- rendering the western posts and by making compen- sation for slaves that had been carried away ; he now censured the federal constitution for granting in the » Elliot, iii. 555. ' Elliot, iii. 558. ' ElUot, iii. 556, 557. * ElUot, iii. 560. 308 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, case retrospective jurisdiction. Marshall replied : ,J^ "There is a difference between a tribunal which ^J^^- shall give effect to an existino; rio-ht, and creatine; June '^ , o o 7 o 20. a right that did not exist before. The debt or claim is created by the individual ; a creation of a new court does not amount to a retrospective law." ' Questions on the powers which it would be wise to grant to the general government, and on what powers had been granted, divided the convention. The decision of Maryland and South Carolina dashed the hope of proselyting Virginia to propose a sep- 9. arate southern confederacy ; but Henry still said : " Compared with the consolidation of one power to reign with a strong hand over so extensive a country as this is, small confederacies are little evils. Vir- ginia and North Carolina could exist separated from the rest of America.'" But he limited himself to 7. proposing that Virginia, " the greatest and most mighty state in the union," ' followed by North Caro- 9- lina and by New York, which state he announced as being in high 02:>position,* should hold the constitu- tion in suspense until they had compelled the other states to adopt the amendments on which she should insist. He cited Jefferson as advising " to reject the 10. government till it should be amended." * Randolph interpreted the letter which Henry had cited as the expression of a strong desire that the government might be adopted by nine states, with Virginia for one 12. of the nine ;' and Pendleton cited from the same let- ' Klliot, iii. 530, 54G, 501. * Elliot, iii. 157, 183. " Elliot, iii. Kil. » Elliot, iii. 152. ' Elliot, iii. 142. • Elliot, ui. 200. THE COITSTITUTION LJf VIRGINIA. 309 ter tlie words that " a schism in our union would be chap. V. an incurable evil."* " Under the royal government," said Mason, in- troducing a new theme, "the importation of slaves was looked upon as a great oppression ; but the African merchants prevented the many attempts at its prohibition. It was one of the great causes of our separation from Great Britain. Its exclusion has been a principal object of this state and most of the states in this union. The au2;mentation of slaves weakens the states. Such a trade is diabolical in itself and disgraceful to mankind ; yet by this consti- tution it is continued for twenty years."* Much as I value a union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union unless they agree to its discontinuance. And there is no clause in this con- stitution to secure the property of that kind which we have acquired under our former laws, and of which the loss would bring ruin on a great many people ; ' for such a tax may be laid as will amount to manumission." * Madison equally abhorred the slave-trade ; but an- swered, with reserve : " The gentlemen of South Carolina and Georgia argued, ' By hindering us from importing this species of property the slaves of Vir- ginia will rise in value, and we shall be obliged to go to your markets.' I need not expatiate on this sub- ject ; great as the evil is, a dismemberment of the union would be worse. Under the articles of con- federation the traffic might be continued forever ; by » Elliot, iii. 304. » Elliot, iii. 270. ' Elliot, iU. 269. * Elliot, iii. 452. 310 THE PEOPLE ITf JUDGMENT Olf THE COTs'STITUTION. CHAP, tliis clause an end maybe put to it after twenty years. v-^-^-L^ From the mode of representation and taxation, con- 178 8. m-ess cannot lay sucli a tax on slaves as will amount June '^ ... n. to manumission. At present, if any slave elopes to any of those states where slaves are fi'ee, he becomes emancipated by their laws ; in this constitution a clause was expressly inserted to enable owners of slaves to reclaim them." ' Tyler, an anti-federalist, spoke at large and with warmth : " This wicked traffic is impolitic, iniquitous, and disgraceful. It was one cause of the complaints against British tyranny ; nothing can justify its re- vival. But for this temporary restriction, congress could have prohibited the Afiican ti'ade. My earnest desire is that it should be handed down to posterity, that I have opposed this wicked clause." ' 24. Heniy raised a new cry on the danger of emanci- pation : " The great object of national government is national defence ; the northern states may call forth every national resource ; and congress may say, ' Every black man must fight.' In the last war acts of assem- bly set fi'ee every slave who would go into the army. Slavery is detested ; we feel its fatal effects ; we de- plore it with all the pity of humanity. Let that urbanity ^\'hich I trust will distinguish Americans, and the necessity of national defence, operate on their minds ; they have the power, in clear, unequivocal teiTus, to pronounce all slaves free, and they will cer- tainly exercise the power. Much as I deplore sla- very, I see that the general goverqment ought not to set the slaves free ; for the majority of con- ' Elliot, iii. 453. " Elliot, iii. 454, 455. THE CONSTITUTIOISr EST VrRGDTIA. 311 gress is to the North and tlie slaves are to tlie chap. Soutli.'" J^_ The governor of Vii^ofinia first showed that the eon- i J s s. June stitutiou itself did not, even in the opinion of South 24. Carolina, menace enfranchisement ; and thus pro- ceeded : " I hope that there is no one here who, con- sidering the subject in the calm light of philosophy, will advance an objection dishonorable to Virginia ; that, at the moment they are securing the rights of their citizens, there is a spark of hope that those un- fortunate men now held in bondage may, by the operation of the general government, be made free."" The representative from Augusta county, Zacha- 25. riah Johnson, complained that the bill of rights which the convention was preparing as an amendment to the constitution did not acknowledge that all men are by nature equally free and independent. " Gentle- men tell us," he said, "that they see a progressive danger of bringing about emancipation. The total abolition of slaveiy would do much good. The prin- ciple has begun since the revolution. Let us do what we may, it will come round."' To the declamations of Henry that the adoption of the constitution woidd be the renunciation of the right to navigate the Mississippi, Madison, after a candid relation of what had transpired in congress, 12. and giving the information that New Jersey and Penn- sylvania were now strenuous against even any tempo- rary cession of the navigation of that river, made the further irrefragable reply ; " The free navigation of ' Elliot, iii. 590-593. » Elliot, iii. 648. " Elliot, iii. 598, 599. 312 THE PEOPLE EST JUDGMEITT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, tlie Mississippi is our riglit. The confederation is so weak that it has not formed, and cannot fonn, a treaty which will secure to us the actual enjoyment of it. Under an efficient government alone shall we be able to avail ourselves fully of our right. The new government will have more strength to enforce it." 13. " Should the constitution be adopted," said Monroe, " the northern states will not fail to relinquish the Mississippi in order to depi'ess the western countiy and prevent the southern interest from preponder- ating." ' " To preserve the balance of American power," continued Henry, " it is essentially necessary that the right of the Mississippi should be secured, or the South will ever be a contemj)tible minority."* 14. " This contest of the Mississippi," said Grayson, " is a contest for empire, in which Virginia, Kentucky, the southern states are deeply interested. It involves this great national question, whether one part of the continent shall govern the other. From the extent of tenitory and fertility of soil, God and nature have intended that the weight of population should be on the southern side. At present, for various reasons, it is on the other. If the Mississippi be shut up, emi- grations will be stopped entirely ; no new states will be formed on the western waters ; ' and this govern- ment will be a government of seven states." * To the last Grayson said: "The seven states, which are a majority, being actually in possession, will never ad- mit any southern state into the union so as to lose that majority." ' ' Elliot, iii. 340. * Elliot, iii. 3G5, 3GG. MOlliot, iii. ;{r)2. » Elliot, iii. 585. ' Elliot, iii. 305, 23 THE CONSTriTJTION IN VIRGEN^IA. 313 The power of the government to establish a naviga- chap. tion act by a bare majority was bitterly complained of by George Mason ; ' by Grayson, who complained that the interests of the carrying states would govern the producing states ; ' by Tyler, who mourned over his own act in having proposed to cede the regulation of commerce to the confederation, since it had led to the grant of powers too dangerous to be trusted to any set of men whatsoever.' Complaint was further made that treaties were to go into effect ^vithout regard to the opinion of the house of representatives ; and espe- cially that there was no bill of rights, and that there was no explicit reservation of powers not delegated to the general government. In some parts of the country the settlers were made to dread a resuscitation of old land companies through the federal judiciary. The prohibition on the states to issue paper money weighed on the minds of the debtor class ; but it was not much discussed, for on that point George Mason and Richard Henry Lee were the great leaders in favor of the suppression of paper money " as founded upon fraud and knavery." * And Mason had forced the assembly of Virginia in their last session to adopt a series of resolutions declaring that paper currency created scarcity of real money, and substituted for the real standard of value a standard variable as the commodities themselves, ruining trade and commerce, weakening the morals of the people, destropug public and private credit and all faith between man and man, and aggravating the very evils which it was in- ' Elliot, iii. 604. * Geo. Mason to Washington, 6 ' Elliot, iii. 616. Nov., 1787, in Letters to G. W., * Elliot, iii. 640. iv. 190. 314 THE PEOPLE IN" JUDGMENT OX THE CO]S[STITUTIOX. c^^^- tended to remedy/ And yet there were tliose in tlie ^^. — convention wliose votes were swayed by tlie consider- y.me^" ation that, if the constitution should be established, 2^- there would be an end of inconvertible bills of credit forever. But that which affected the decision more than anything else was that the constitution would brin^c with it to British creditors a rio;ht to recover through the federal courts claims on Virginia plant- ers for about ten millions of dollars. The discussions had been temperately conducted till just at the last, when for a moment pretending that the acceptance of the constitution would make 20. an end of the trial by jury, Henry said : " Old as I am, it is probable I may yet have the appellation of rebel. But my neighbors will protect me." * This daring drew out the reply that Yii'gluia would be in 25. arms to support the constitution ; and James Innes, of Williamsburg, quoting against him his own words, said : " I observe with regret a general spirit of jeal- ousy with respect to our northern brethren. If we had had it in 1775 it would have prevented that unanimous resistance which triumphed over our ene- mies ; it was not a Virginian, a Carolinian, a Pennsyl- vanian, but the glorious name of an American, that extended from one end of the continent to the other." ' But the feeling was soon pacified, and the last words of Henry himself were: "If I shall be in the minor- ity, I shall yet be a peaceable citizen, my head, my liand, and my heart being at liberty to remove the defects of the system in a constitutio|nal way."' The > In(l(;i)fn(lent Giizettecr, 17 ' Elliot, iii. 033. Nov., 1787. * Elliot, iii. 053. ' Elliot, iii. 510. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIRGINIA. 315 last word was fi'orn the governor of Virginia : " The chap. accession of eisrht states reduces our deliberations to the single question of union or no union." ' For more than tln^ee weeks the foes of the constitu- tion had kept up the onset, and day after day they had been beaten back as cavahy that tries in vain to break the ranks of infantry. For more than three weeks Henry and Grayson and Mason renewed the onslaught, feebly supported by Monroe, and greatly aided by the weight of character of Benjamin Harri- son and John Tyler ; day by day they were triumph- antly encountered by Madison, on whom the defence of the constitution mainly rested ; by Pendleton, who, in spite of the infirmities of his later age, was moved even more deeply than in the beginning of the revo- lution ; and by the popular eloquence of Eandolph. These three champions were well seconded by George Nicholas, John Marshall, James Innes, Henry Lee, and Francis Corbin.'' On the twenty-fifth, after debates for three weeks, the malcontents had no heart for further resistance. The convention was willing to recommend a biU of rights in twenty sections, with twenty other more questionable amendments. The first motion was: "Ouo-ht the declaration of rights and amendments of the constitution to be referred by this convention to the other states in the American confederacy for theii* consideration previous to the ratification of the new constitution of government?" It was lost, having only eighty voices against eighty-eight. Then the main question was put, that the constitution be rati- * Elliot, iii. 653. " Compare Rives, ii. 561. 316 THE PEOPLE IN JUDGMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION. CHAP, fied, referrino; all amendments to tlie first con^jress V . . . . v^v-1^ under tlie constitution. The decision would be mo- ^june^' ^^^tous, uot for America only, but the whole world. 25. Without Vii'ginia, this great country would have been shivered into fragmentary confederacies, or separate independent states. The roll was called ; and from the cities of Kich- mond and Williamsburg, from counties near the ocean, from the northern neck, from the northwestern border counties, and fi'om the counties between the Blue Kidge and the Alleghanies, eighty-nine delegates voted for the constitution. From other central and southern border counties, and from three fourths of the counties of Kentucky, seventy-nine cried No. The committee for reporting the form of ratifica- tion were Randolph, Nicholas, Madison, Marshall, and Corbin, all from among the stanchest supporters of the constitution. In the form which was adopted they connected with the ratification " a few declaratory truths not affecting the validity of the act ; " * and shielded the rights of the states by the assertion " that every power not granted by the constitution remains for the people of the United States and at their will." ' After the vote was taken, the successful party were careful not to ruffle their opponents by exultation. Henry sho^ved his genial nature, free from all malig- nity. He was like a billow of the ocean on the first briglit day after the storm, dashing itself against the rocky cliif, and tljen, sparkling with light, retreating ' Maflison to Washington, in " Elliot, iii. G56. Rivea, ii. 008. THE CONSTITUTION IN VIEGINIA. 317 to its home. It was more difficult for Mason to calm chap. the morbid sensibility of his nature and to heal his .--^ sorrow at havino* abandoned one of the hisrhest places i J § ^• o ... June of honor amona: the fathers of the constitution which 25. he had done so much to initiate, to form, and to im- prove. He was pacified by words from Harrison and from Tyler, who held it the duty of good citizens to accept the decision of the majority, and by precept and example to promote harmony and order and union amons; theu* fellow-citizens. But that which did most to soothe the minority was their trust in Washington. " For the president," said Mason, " there seldom or never can be a majority in favor of one, except one great name, who will be unanimously elected." ' " Were it not for one great character in America," said Grayson, " so many men would not be for this government. We do not fear while he lives ; but who beside him can concentrate the confidence and affections of aU America ? " ' And Monroe re- ported to Jefferson : " Be assured, Washington's in- fluence carried this government." ' Nor was that influence confined to Virginia alone. The country was an instrument with thirteen strings, and the only master who could bring out all theii' harmonious thouo-ht was AVashinirton. Had he not attended the federal convention, its work would have met a colder reception and more strenuous opponents. Had the idea prevailed that he would not accept the presidency, it would still have proved fatal.' * Elliot, iii.493; and compare 134. ^ Gouverneur Morris to Wash- » Elliot, iii. 616. ington, 30 Oct., 1787, in Life of ' Monroe to Jefferson, 13 July, Morris by Sparks, i. 289, 290. 1788. MS. 318 TIIE PEOPLE m JUDGMENT OIT THE COITSTITUTIOK. Vii'ginia lost the opportunity of being the ninth state to constitute the union. While the long winter of New Hampshire intercepted the labors of hus- bandry, the fireside of the freeholders in its hundreds of to^\Tiships became the scene for discussing the mer- its of the federal constitution with the delegates of their choice and with one another. Their convention reassembled in June. Four days served them to discuss the constitution, to prepare and recommend twelve articles of amendment, and, by fifty-seven 21. voices against forty-six, to ratify the constitution. They took care to insert in their record that their vote was taken on Saturday, the twenty-first of June, at one o'clock in the afternoon, that Virginia by a vote at a later hour of the same day might not dis- pute with them the honor of giving life to the con- stitution." By their decision, accompanied by that of Virginia, the United States of America came formally into ex- istence. As the glad tidings flew through the land, the heart of its people thrilled with jo}'- that at last the tree of union was fiiTuly planted. Never may its trunk be riven by the lightning ; nor its branches crash each other in the maddening storm ; nor its beauty A\ather ; nor its root decay. * Tobias Lear to Washington, 23 June, 1788. Letters to Washington, iv. 225. BOOK Y. THE FEDERAL GOA^ERNMENT. June, 1787. CHAPTER I. THE CONSTITUTION. 1787. " The American constitution is the most "wonderful chap. work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and ^^^^ purpose of man ; " but it had its forerunners. 17 8 7. England had suffered the thirteen colonies, as free states, to make laws each for itself and never for one of the others ; and had established their union in a tempered subordination to the British cro-wn. Among the many guides of America, there had been Winthrop and Cotton, Hooker and Ha}Ties, George Fox and William Penn, Koger Williams and John Clarke ; scholars of Oxford and many more of Cam- bridge ; Gustavus Adolphus and Oxenstiern ; the merchants of the United Netherlands ; Southampton and Baltimore, with the kindliest influences of the British aristocracy ; Shaftesbury with Locke, for evil as well as for good ; all the great slave-traders that sat on thrones or were fostered by parliament ; and the philanthropist Oglethorpe, who founded a colony exclusively of the free on a territory twice as large VOL. II. 21 322 THE FEDEEAL GOVEENMENT. ciiAP. as France, and t]iou2:]i lie liacl to mourn at tlie over- I. . . . > — r — throw of his plans for liberty, lived to see his planta- '^"^^'i- tion independent. There were other precursors of the federal govern- ment ; but the men who framed it followed the lead of no theoretical writer of their o^^^l or preceding times. They harbored no desire of revolution, no craving after untried experiments. They A\Tought from the elements which were at hand, and shaped them to meet the new exigencies which had arisen. The least possible reference was made by them to abstract doctrines ; they moulded their design by a creative power of their own, but nothing was intro- duced that did not already exist, or was not a natural development of a well-known principle. The mate- rials for building the American constitution were the gifts of the ages. Of old, the family was the rudiment of the state. Of the Jews, the organization was by tribes. The citizens of the commonwealths of the Hellenes were of one blood. Amono; the barbarous tribes of the fourth continent, the governments and the confed- eracies all rested on consanguinity. Nations, as the word implied, were but large communities of men of one kin ; and nationalities survive to this day, a source of strengtli in their unity, and yet of strife, where they exist in their original separateness and are nev- ertheless held in sul)jection under one ruler. Rome first learned to cherish the human race by a common name and transfomi the vanquished into citizens. Tlie process of assimilation which Home initiated by war, received its perfect development in the land THE COlSrSTITUTION. 323 where the Dutch and the Swedes, and in the country chap. northwest of the Ohio the French, competed in plant- ^.^ ing colonies ; where the English, the Irish, the Scotch ^ '^ ® '^• for the most part came over each for himself, never reproducing their original nationality ; and where, from the first, fugitives from persecution of all na- tions found a safe asylum. Though subjects of the English , king, all were present in America as indi- viduals. The Ensrlish lansfuasre maintained itself without a rival, not merely because those speaking it as their mother tongue very greatly outnumbered all others, and because all acknowledged English supremacy; but for the simplicity of its structure; its logical order in the presentment of thought; its suitable- ness for the purposes of every-day life ; for the dis- cussion of abstract truths and the apprehension of Anglo-Saxon political ideas ; for use as the instru- ment of the common law ; for science and descrip- tion ; for the debates of public life ; for every kind of poetry, from humor to pathos, from nature to the heart and mind. But the distinctive character of the new people as a whole, their nationality, so to say, was the prin- ciple of individuality which prevailed among them as it had nowhere done before. This individuality was strengthened by the struggles with Nature in her wildness, by the remoteness from the abodes of an- cient institutions, by the war against the traditions of absolute power and old superstitions, till it devel- oped itself into the most perfect liberty in thought and action ; so that the American came to be marked I. 1V87 324 THE FEDEEAL GOVEENMENT. CHAP, by tlie readiest versatility, the spiiit of enterprise, and tlie faculty of invention. In the declaration of independence the representatives of the United States called themselves "the good people of these colo- nies." The statesmen who drew the law of citizen- ship in 1776 made no distinction of nationalities, or tribes, or ranks, or occupations, or faith, or wealth, and knew only inhabitants bearing allegiance to the governments of the several states in union. Again, this character of the people appeared most clearly in the Joint action of the United States in the federal convention, where the variant prejudices that still clung to separate states eliminated each other. The constitution establishes nothino- that interferes with equality and individuality. It knows nothing of differences by descent, or opinions, of favored classes, or legalized religion, or the political power of property. It leaves the individual alongside of the individual. No nationality of character could take form, except on the principle of individuality, so that the mind might be free, and every faculty have the unlimited opportunity for its development and cul- ture. As the sea is made up of drops, American so- ciety is composed of separate, free, and constantly moving atoms, ever in reciprocal action, advancing, receding, crossing, struggling against each other and with each other; so that the institutions and laws of the country rise out of the masses of individual thought, which, like the waters of the ocean, are roll- in i:^ evermore^ The rule of individuality was extended as never before. The synod of the Presbyterians of New THE CONSTITUTION 325 York and Philadelphia, a denomination inflexibly citap. devoted to its own creed, in their pastoral letter of .^.^^ May, 1783, published their joy that "the rights of i'^^'^- conscience are inalienably secured and interwoven wdth tlie very constitutions of the several states." Religion was become avowedly the attribute of man and not of a corporation. In the earliest states known to history, government and religion w^ere one and indivisible. Each state had its special deity, and of these protectors one after another might be overthrown in battle, never to rise again. The Pelo- ponnesian war grew out of a strife about an oracle. Rome, as it sometimes adopted into citizenship those whom it vanquished, introduced in like manner, and with good logic for that day, the worship of their gods. No one thought of vindicating religion "for the conscience of the individual till a voice in Judea, breaking day for the greatest epoch in the life of humanity by establishing a pure, spiritual, and uni- versal religion for all mankind, enjoined to render to Caesar only that which is Caesar's. The rule was up- held during the infancy of the gospel for all men. No sooner was this religion adopted by the chief of the Roman Empire, than it was shorn of its character of universality and enthralled by an unholy connec- tion with the unholy state ; and so it continued till the new nation — the least defiled with the barren scoffings of the eighteenth century, the most general believer in Christianity of any people of that age, the chief heir of the reformation in its purest form — when it came to establish a government for the United States, refused to treat faith as a matter to be regu- 326 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. CUAF. lated by a corporate body, or liaving a headsliip in a ■^^-^-^ Bionarcli or a state. 1 7 s 7. Vindicating the riglit of individuality even in re- ligion, and in religion above all, the new nation dared to set the example of accepting in its relations to God the principle first divinely ordained in Judea. It left the management of temporal things to the temporal power; bnt the American constitution, in harmony with the people of the several states, withheld from the federal government the power to invade the home of reason, the citadel of conscience, the sanctuaiy of the soul ; and not from indifference, but that the infi- nite spirit of eternal truth might move in its fi'eedom and purity and power. With this perfect individuality extending to con- science, freedom should have belonged to labor. What though slaveiy existed and still exists in the older states known to history, in Egypt, in China, coming down continuously from an unknown date ; what though Aristotle knew no mode of instituting a republican household but with a slave ; and Julius CsBsar, when Italy was perishing by the vastness of its slave estates, crowded them with new hordes of captives ? What though the slave-trade was greedily continued under the passionate encouragement of the British parliament, and that in nearly all of the con- tinent of Europe slavery in some of its forms pre- vailed ? In America, freedom of labor was the moral princijile of the majority of the people ; was estab- lislied, or moving toAV'ard immediate establishment, in a majority of tlie states ; was by the old confedera- tion, with the promptest and oft-repeated sanction of THE coisrsTiTUTioisr. 327 tlie new government, irrevocably ordained in all tlie chap. territory for wliicli tlie United States could at that — l^^ time make the law. The federal convention could i *? § 7. not interfere with the slave laws of the separate states ; but it was careful to impose no new incapaci- tation on free persons of color ; it maintained them in all the rights of equal citizenship ; it gi^anted those rights to the emancipated slave ; and it kept to itself the authority to abolish the slave-trade instantly in any territory that might be annexed ; in all other states and lands, at the earliest moment for which it had been able to obtain power. The tripartite division of government into legisla- tive, executive, and judicial, enforced in theory by the illustrious Montesquieu, and practiced in the home government of every one of the American states, became a part of the constitution of the United States, which derived their mode of institut- ing it from their own happy experience. It was established by the federal convention with a rigid • consistency that Avent beyond the example of Britain, where one branch of the legislature still remains a court of appeal. Each one of the three departments proceeded from the people, and each is endowed with all the authority needed for its just activity. The president may recommend or dissuade from enact- ments, and has a limited veto on them ; but what- ever becomes a law he must execute. The power of the legislature to enact is likewise uncontrolled ex- cept by the paramount law of the constitution. The judiciary passes upon every case that may be present- ed, and its decision on the case is definitive ; but with- 328 THE FEDEEAL GOVEENMENT. CH.iP. out furtlier authority over the executive or the legis- V— ^ lature, for the convention had ^^isely refused to make ^'^^'^- the judges a council to either of them. Tripartite division takes place not only in the threefold powers of government ; it is established as the mode of legislation. There, too, three powers, proceeding from the people, must concur, except in cases jDrovided for, before an act of legislation can take place. This tripartite division in the power of leo:islation — so at the time wrote Madison, so thousrht all the great builders of the constitution, so asserted John Adams with vehemence and sound reasoning — is absolutely essential to the success of a federal re- public ; for if all legislative powers are vested in one man or in one assembly, there is despotism ; if in two branches, there is a restless antagonism between the t^vo ; if they are distributed among three, it will be hard to unite two of them in a fatal strife with the third. But the executive, and each of the two cham- bers, must be so chosen as to have a character and strength and popular support of its own. Tlie gov- ernment of the United States is thoroughly a govern- ment of the people. By the English aristocratic revo- lution of 1688, made after the failure of the popular attempt at reform, the majority of the house of com- mons was in substance composed of nominees of the house of lords, so that no ministry could prevail in it except by the power of that house ; and as the prime minister and cabinet depend on tlie majority in the house of commons, the house of lords directly con- trolled tlie government not only in its own branch but in the commons, and tlirough the commons in THE CONSTITUTION-. 329 tlie nomination of tlie ministry. All tliree branclies chap. of the government were in liarmony, for all tliree ._^,1^ branclies represented the aristocracy.' In the United 1 7 s y. States, on the other hand, all the branches of power — president, senators, and representatives — proceed dii'ectly or indirectly from the people. The govern- ment of the United States is a government by the peo- ple, for the people. To perfect the system and forever prevent revolu- tion, power is reserved to the people by amendments of their constitution to remove every imperfection which time may lay bare, and adapt it to unforeseen contingencies. But no change can be hastily made. An act of parliament can at any time alter the consti- tution of England ; no similar power is delegated to the congress of the United States, which, like parlia- ment, may be swayed by the shifting majorities of party. As to the initiation of amendments, it could not be entrusted to the president, lest it might lead him to initiate changes for his own advantage ; still less to a judiciary holding office for life, for, sucli is human nature, a tribunal so constituted and decid- ing by a majority, by whatever political party its members may have been named, cannot safely be invested with so transcendent a power. The legisla- tures of the states or of the United States are alone allowed to open the " constitutional door to amend- ments ; " and these can be made valid only through the combined intervention of the state legislatures and of congress, or a convention of all the states * The period to which this refers after the various reforms in the must be kept in mind; the British mode of electing the house of constitution is very diilerent now commons. 330 THE FEDEKAL GOVEENJIENT. CHAP, elected expressly for the purpose by tlie people of v^-^ tlie several states. In this way no cliange of tlie cou- 1 '^ ^ '^- stitution can be made in haste or by stealth, but only by the consent of three quarters of the states after a full and free and often-repeated discussion. There is no legal road to amendment of the constitution but through the consent of the people given in the form prescribed by law. America, being charged with the preservation of liberty, has the most conservative polity in the world, both in its government and in its people. The new nation asserted itself as a continental re- public. The discovery was made that the time had passed for little commonwealths with a single city and its environs. The great Frederick, who had scoffed at the idea of attempting to govern an imperial domain without a king, was hardly in his grave when a com- monwealth of more than twenty degrees in each di- rection, containing from the first an area six or seven times as lars-e as the whole of Great Britain and Ire- land, fifty or sixty times as great as the Netherlands or Switzerland, able to include more than a thousand confederacies as large as the Achaian, and ready to admit adjoining lands to fellowship, rose up in the best part of the temperate zone on a soil that had been collecting fertility for untold centuries. The day of the Greek commonwealth had passed forever ; and, after the establishment of the representative sys- tem, it was made known that a republican govern- ment thrives best in a vast territory. Monai'chy had held itself a necessity for the formation of large states ; but now it was found out that monarchy ca' THE CONSTITUTIOlSr. 331 be dispensed witli ; and the world was summoned to chap. gaze at the spectacle of a boundless society of repub- ^ ^ — lican states in union. 17 8 7. The United States of America are not only a re- public, they are " a society of societies," " a federal republic." ' Toward foreign powers the country has no seam in its gannent ; it exists in absolute unity as a nation, with full and undisputed national resources. At home it is " a union," or " one out of many ; " but still, within its own sphere, is supreme and self-sup- porting. For this end it has its own legislature to make enactments ; its own functionaries to execute them ; its own courts ; its own treasury ; and it alone may have an amiy and a navy. All-sufficient powers are so plainly given thai there is no need of striving for more by straining the words in which they are granted beyond their plain and natural import. The constitution, the laws of the United States made in pursuance of it, and all treaties framed by their authority, are the supreme law of the land, bind- ing the judges in every state even if need be in spite of the constitution and the laws of the state ; and all executive, legislative, and Judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, are to be sworn to its support. The constitution provides mthin itself for the redress of every wrong. The supreme court offers relief in a " case " of injustice or conflict with the constitution ; the remedy for a bad law is to be souofht throuo^h the freedom and fre- quency of elections ; a fault in the fundamental law through an amendment. * Words used by Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, livre Lx., ch. i. 332 THE FEDEEAL GOVEENMENT. CHAP. Aside from the spliere of the federal government, ~.^'. each state is in all things supreme, not by grace, but 17 8 7. of right. The United States may not interfere with any ordinance or law that begins and ends within a state. This supremacy of the states in the powers which have not been granted is as essentially a part of the system as the supremacy of the general gov- ernment in its sphere. The states are at once the guardians of the domestic security and the happiness of the individual, and they are the parents, the pro- tectors, and the stay of the union. The states and the United States are members of one great whole ; and the one is as needful as the other. The powers of government are not divided between them ; they are distributed ; so that there need be no collision in their exercise. The union without self-existent states is a harp without strings ; the states without union are as chords that are unstrunsr. But for state rio-hts the union would perish from the paralysis of its limbs. The states, as they gave life to the union, are neces- sary to the continuance of that life. Within their own limits they are the guardians of industry, of property, of personal rights, and of liberty. But state rights are to be defended inside of the union ; not from an outside citadel from which the union may be struck at or defied. The states and the United States are not antagonists ; the states in union form the federal republic ; and the system can have life and health and strength and beauty only by their harmonious action. In short, the constitution knows nothing of United States alone, 6t states alone ; it adjusts the parts hannoniously in an organized unity. THE CONSTITUTION. Impair tlie relations or the vigor of any part, and dis- chap, I. ease enters into the veins of the whole. Tbat there may be life in the whole, there must be healthy life i '^ § '^• in every j^art. The United States are the states in union ; these are so inwrought into the constitution that the one cannot perish without the other. Is it asked who is the sovereign of the United States ? The words " sovereign " and " subjects " are unknown to the constitution. There is no place for princes with unlimited power, or conquering cities, or feudal chiefs, or privileged aristocracies, ruling absolutely with their correlative vassals or subjects. The people of the United States have declared in their constitution that the law alone is supreme ; and have defined that supreme law. Is it asked who are • the people of the United States that instituted the " general government " ? The federal convention and the constitution answer, that it is the concurring people of the several states. The constitution is con- stantly on its guard against permitting the action of the aggregate mass as a unit, lest the whole people, once accustomed to acting together as an individual, mio-ht foro-et the existence of the states, and the states now in union succumb to centralization and absolutism. The people of the states demanded a federal convention to form the constitution ; the con- gress of the confederation, voting by states, author- ized that federal convention ; the federal convention, voting likewise by states, made the constitution ; at the advice of the federal convention the federal con- gress referred that constitution severally to the peo- ple of each state; and by their united voice taken 334 THE FEDEEAL GOVERNMENT. CHAP, severally it was made tlie binding form of govem- .^^.^ ment. The constitution, as it owes its life to the i'^^'^- concurrent act of the people of the several states, permits no method of amending itself except by the several consent of the people of the states; and within the constitution itself, the president, the only officer who has an equal relation to every state in the union, is elected not by the aggregate people of all the states, but by the people of the several states according to the number of votes allotted to each of them. Finally, there is one more great and happy fea- ture in the constitution. Rome, in annexing the cities around itself, had not given them equal influence with itself in proportion to their wealth and numbers, and consequently there remained a cause of dissatisfaction never healed. America has pro\'ided for admission of new states upon equal teiins mth tlie old ones. For Europe, there remained the sad necessity of revolution. For America, the gates of revolution are shut and barred and bolted down, never again to be tlirown open ; for it has found a legal and a peaceful way to introduce every amelioration. Peace and intercitizenship and perfect domestic free trade are to know no end. Tlie constitution is to the Amer ican people a possession for all ages ; it creates an indissoluble union of imperishable states. The federal republic will carry tranquillity, and freedom, and order throughout its vast domain. Will it, within less than a century, extend its limits to the capes of Florida, to the mouth of the Mississippi, to the region beyond the Mississippi, to California, to THE CONSTTTUTIOISr. 335 Oregon, to San Juan ? Will it show all tlie Spanish chap. colonies liow to transform, themselves into inclepen- — '^ — dent republics stretching along the Pacific till they i *? s 7. turn Cape Horn ? Will it be an example to France, teaching its great benefactor how to gain free institu- tions? Will it assist the liberal statesmen of the country from which it broke away to bring parlia- ment more nearly to a representation of the people ? Will it assist the birthplace of the reformation to gather together its scattered members and become once more an empire, with a government so entirely the child of the nation that it shall have but one hered- itary functionary, with a federal council or senate representing the several states, and a house elected • directly by universal suffrage ? Will it teach Eng- land herself how to give peace to her groups of colo- nies, her greatest achievement, by establishing for them a federal republican dominion, in one continent at least if not in more? And will America send manumitted dark men home to their native conti- nent, to introduce there an independent republic and missions that may help to civilize the races of Africa ? The philosophy of the people of the United States was neither that of optimism nor of despair. Be- lieving in the justice of " the Great Governor of the world," and conscious of their own honest zeal in the cause of freedom and mankind, they looked with as- tonishment at their present success and at the future with unclouded hope. CHAPTER II. THE LINGERING STATES. 1787-1789. When tlie constitution was referred to tlie states Hamilton revived a long clierislied plan, and, obtain- 17 8 7. jj^g ^]^g ^j(j Qf jg^y a^(j Madison, issued papers which lie called The Federalist, to prepare all the states and the people for accejDting the determinations of the federal convention. Of its eighty-five numbers. Jay wrote five, Madison twenty-nine, and Hamilton fifty-one.' They form a work of enduring interest, 'Mr. Miidison'9 lisr''^Vl- S"" In' f u ' No.2t;A.II. No.25;A.n. No.20;A.II. No 78, A. II. No.79,A.II. No.SO.A.U., No. 27, A. H. No. 2M, A. II. Vo. 2!>, A. II. ^"^^ *» the end. xt"- 'i'> *y !I" X'"- ol' '}■ II- v"- ^'^ ^ II- ^^of. in Mr. Mmllxon'i* own hand. No. 33, A.H. No. 34, A. II. No. 8!), A.H. .^ •, i. i x ht No.3(i,A. H. No.37,J. M. No. 3S,,T. M. ^^- 1*^' !« attributed to Mr. No. 3'.», J. .M. No. 40, J. M. No.41, J. .M. Hamilton and Mr. Madison jointly. No. 42, J. M. No. i:;, J. M. No. 11, J. M. A. II. had drawn U]i sonicthinir on No.45, J.M. No. 4G, J. M. No. 47, J. M. the subjects of this (No. 18j and THE FEDERALIST. 537 CITAP, II. 17 87. because tliey are tlie earliest commentary on tlie new experiment of mankind in establishing a republican government for a country of boundless dimensions ; and were written by Madison, who was the chief au- thor of the constitution, and Hamilton, who took part in its inception and progress. Hamilton dwelt on the defects of the confedera- i788 tion; the praiseworthy energy of the new federal government ; its relations to the public defence ; to the functions of the executive ; to the judicial depart- ment ; to the treasury ; and to commerce. Him- self a friend to the protection of manufactures, he condemned " exorbitant duties on imported articles," the two next Nos. (19 and 20). On finding that' J. M. was engaged in them with larger materials, and with a view to a more precise de- lineation, he put what he had writ- ten into the hands of J. M. It is possible, though not recollected, that something in the draught may have been incorjoorated into the numbers as printed. But it was certainly not of a nature or amount to affect the impression left on the mind of J. M. , from whose pen the papers went to the press, that they were of the class written by him. As the historical materials of A. H. , as far as they went, were doubt- less similar, or the same with those provided by J. M., and as a like application of them probably oc- curred to both, an impression might be left on the mind of A. H. that the Nos. in question were written jointly. These remarks are made as well to account for a statement to that effect, if made by A. H., as in justice to J. M., who, always regarding them in a different light, had so stated them to an enquiring friend, long before it was known or supposed YOL. U. 22 that a different impression exist- ed anywhere. (Signed) _ J. M." There exists no list of the au- thors of The Federalist by the hand of Hamilton. There exists no au- thentic copy of any list that may have been made by Hamilton. It is a great wrong to Hamilton's memory to insist that he claimed the autliorshij) of jiapers which were written for him at his request by another, and which the com- l^letest evidence proves that he could not have written. The list of the authors of the several pa- joers given above rests on the writ- ten authority of Madison. From this list Madison has never been known to vary in the slightest de- gree. The correctness of his statement is substantiated beyond room for a cavil by various evi- dence. Meeting an assertion that Madison in some paper in the de- partment of state had changed one figure in his list, I requested a former secretary of state to order a search to be made for it. A' search was made, and no such pa- per was found. Jan. 338 THE FEDERAL .GOVEENMEIfT. CHAP, because tliey " beget smuggling," are " always preju- — ^^ dicial to tlie fair trader, and eventually to tlie revenue ^1^8- itself ; " tend to render " other classes of tlie com- Jan. ■ , ' , 8. munity tributary in an improper degree to the manu- facturing classes," to " give tliem a premature monop- oly of the markets ; " to " force industry out of its most natural channels," and to " oppress the mer- chant." * Madison commented with severe wisdom on its plan ; its conformity to republican principles ; its pow- ers ; its relation to slavery and the slave-trade ; its mediating office between the union and the states ; its tripartite separation of the departments ; and its mode of constructing the house of representatives. Hamilton began the work by saying that a wrong decision would not only be " the dismemberment of the union," but "the general misfortune of man- kind ; " " he closed with the words : " A nation with- out a national government is an awful spectacle. The establishment of a constitution, in time of profound peace, by the voluntary consent of a whole people, is a prodigy, to the completion of which I look forward with trembling anxiety." ' During the time in which the constitution was in jeopardy Hamilton and Madi- son cherished for each other intimate and affectionate relations, differing in temperament, but one in pur- pose and in action. To the day of their death they both were loyally devoted to the cause of union. New York, having the most convenient harbor for world-wide commerce, rivers flowing directly to the ^ Tlio F(;floralist, xxxv. * The Federalist, Lxxxv. ' The Federalist, i. THE CONSTITUTIO]!?" IK NEW YOEK. 339 sea, to Delaware bay, to tlie Chesapeake, to tlie Mis- cn.vp. sissippi, and to the watercourse of the St. La\vrence, ^— ^^^ and having the easiest line of communication from 1*7 8 8, the ocean to the great West, needed, more than any other state, an efficient government; and yet of the thii'teen it was the most stubborn in opposition. More than haK the goods consumed in Connecticut, in New Jersey, in Vermont, and the western parts of Massachusetts, were bought within its limits and j)aid an impost for its use.' During the war it agreed to give congress power to collect a five per cent impost ; as soon as it regained possession of the city it pre- ferred to appropriate the revenue to its own pur- poses ; and as a consequence, the constitution called forth in New York the fiercest resistance that selfish interests could organize. To meet the influence of The Federalist, the repub- licans published inflammatory tracts, and circulated large editions of the Letters from the Federal FaiTaer by Richard Henry Lee. They named themselves fed- eral republicans. Their electioneering centre was the New York custom-house, then an institution of the state with John Lamb as collector. After the fashion of the days of danger they formed a commit- tee of correspondence and sought connections through- out the land. They sent their own emissaries to attend the proceedings of the Massachusetts conven- tion, and, if possible, to frustrate its acceptance of the union. Their letters received answers from Lowndes, from Henry and Grayson, from Atherton of New Hampshii'e, and from Richard Henry Lee who told * Williamson to Iredell, 7 July, 1788. McRee's Iredell, ii. 227, 238. 340 THE FEDEEAL GOVEENJIEl^fT. CHAP, tliem tliat "tlie constitution was an elective despot- II. . „ ^ W-, — ism. '^l^^- At the reofular meetins; of the leofislature in Janu- Jan. o DO ary, 1788, Clinton recommended the encouragement of commerce and of manufactm*es, but sent in the pro- ceedings of the federal convention without remark.' All others remaining silent for twenty days, Egbert 31. Benson, on the last day of January, proposed a state convention in the precise mode recommended by con- gress. Schoonmaker offered a preamble, condemning the federal convention for having exceeded its powers. Benson conducted the debate with rare ability, and the amended preamble gained but twenty-five votes against twenty-seven. In the senate the motion to postpone the question mustered but nine votes against ten. The convention was ordered ; but in its choice the constitutional qualifications of electors were thrust aside, and every free male citizen of twenty-one years of age, though he had been a resident but for a day, might be a voter and be voted for. According to the wish of the Virginia opposition the time for the meeting of the convention was de- layed till the seventeenth of June. Of its sixty-five members more than two thirds were enemies to the constitution." But it was found that the state was divided geographically. The seat of 02')position was in Ulster county, the home of Governor Clinton, and it extended to the counties above it. The southern counties on the Hudson river and on Long Island, and the city of New York, were so unanimously for union as to encourage the rumor that they ^vould at 'Ind. Gazetteer, 19 Jan., 1788. '^ Ilamilton, i. 454. THE CONSTITUTION IN NEW YOEK. 341 all events adhere to it. Clinton himself beofan to think cnAP. . II it absolutely necessary that the state should in some v^^^ form secure a representation under the new constitu- i ''' § s. tion/ The greater number of his friends were, like him, averse to its total rejection ; but, w^hile some were willing to be content with recommendatory amend- ments, and others with explanatory ones, to settle doubtful constructions, the majority seemed unwill- ing to be reconciled with less than previous amend- ments. All the while the people of the state were drifting toward union." Fifteen days after the organization of the Virginia June convention that of New York met at Poughkeepsie ^^' and unanimously elected Clinton as its president. Among the delegates of the city of New York were Jay, Chief-Justice Morris, Hobart, Livingston then chancellor of the state, Duane, and Hamilton. On the other side the foremost men were Georo-e Clin- ton, the governor; Yates and Lansing, who had deserted the federal convention under the pretence that it was exceeding its power ; Samuel Jones, a member of the New York bar, who excelled in clear- ness of intellect, moderation, and simplicity of charac- ter;' and Melancthon Smith, a man of a religious cast of mind, familiar with metaphysical discussions, of undaunted courage, and gifted with the power of moderation.* On the nineteenth the chancellor opened the debate, 19. * Cyrus Griffin, President of the * Thompson's Long Island, ii. Continental Congress, to Thomas 504, 505. Fitzsimons, 16 June, 1788. MS. * Thompson's Long Island, ii. » Compare Jay's Jay, i. 268. 495. 342 THE FEDEEAL GOYERjSTMEJS^T. CHAP. slioTving tlie superiority of a republic to a confederacy ; .— ,-^ mtliout a strong federal government and union Kew yss. York was incapable of self-defence, and tlie British 19- posts within the limits of the state would continue to form connections ^yiih. hostile tribes of Indians, and be held in defiance of the most solemn treaties.' In the course of the discussion every objection that had been made to the constitution either in Massa- chusetts or in Virginia was strongly stated ; and re- 20. plied to. Lansing, adhering to the system of the con- federation, loved union; but loved liberty more.* Melancthon Smith declared' himself most strongly impressed wdth the necessity of union, and refused to say that the federal constitution was at war ^Yit\l public liberty. Hamilton, sj)eaking in the spii'it of gentleness and wisdom, contrasted the method of requisitions to be enforced by coercion of the states, with general laws operating directly on individuals ; and he showed how greatly the new system excelled in simplicity, in efficiency, in resj)ect for personal rights, in the protection of the public liberty, and, above all, in humanity. 24. On the twenty-fourth swift riders, despatched by Langdon, brought to Hamilton the tidings that New Hampshire as the ninth state had assented to the con- stitution ; yet the vote did not decide New York. " Our chance of success depends upon you," wrote Hamilton to Madison. " Symptoms of relaxation in some of the leaders authorize a gleam of hope if you do well, but cei-taiuly I think npt otherwise." ' • Elliot, ii. 208-210. » Hamilton's Works, i. 4G3. ' Elliot, ii. 2 ID. THE COiSrSTTTUTIOX EST ]N'EW TOEK. 343 Clinton claimed tliat lie and liis own partisans were chap. " tlie fi'iends to tlie riglits of mankind ; " tlieii' oppo- v^-,^^ nents " the advocates of despotism ; " " the most that i ^ ^ 8. had been said by the new government men had been 24. but a second edition of The Federalist well delivered. One of the Kew York delegates," meaning Hamilton, " had in substance, though not explicitly, thrown off the mask, his arguments tending to show the neces- sity of a consolidated continental government to the exclusion of any state government." On the twenty-seventh Hamilton replied by a full 27. declaration of his opinions. " The establishment of a republican government on a safe and solid basis is the wish of every honest man in the United States, and is an object, of all others, the nearest and most dear to my o\Yn heart. This great pui^Dose requu'es strength and stability in the organization of the gov- ernment, aud vigor in its operations. The state gov- ernments are essentially necessary to the form and spirit of the general system.* With the representa- tive system a very extensive country may be gov- erned by a confederacy of states in which the supreme legislature has only general j)owers, and the civil and domestic concerns of the people are regulated by the laws of the several states. State governments must form a leading principle. They can never lose their powers till the whole people of America are robbed of their liberties." ' In answer to Hamilton on this and two other oc- June- casions, Clinton carefully set forth the principles on ' Elliot, ii. 301, 304. For Ham- [not of those in July], see Hamil- ilton's brief of Ms speeches in June ton, ii. 463^66. = Elliot, ii. 353-355. 344 THE FEDERAL GOVEENMENT. CHAP, wliicli lie reposed. During tlie war he Lad wished for a strong federal government ; he still wished a federal republic for the mutual protection of the states and the security of their, equal rights. In such a confederacy there should be a perfect representation ; but of that representation " the states are the creative principle," and, having equal rights, ought for their protection to be equally represented. The delegates and the senators of a state should be subject to its in- stnictions and liable to be recalled at its pleasure, for the representation should be an exact and continuous representation of its reflection and judgment and will. Moreover, the senators should vote in their place not as individuals, but collectively, as the representation of the state. He would further have the members of congress depend on the states for support. Above all he abhorred the idea of reducino: the states to the degraded situation of petty corporations and render- ing them liable to suits. "The sovereignty of the states he considered the only stable security for the liberties of the people against the encroachments of power." ' July On the third of July, while the convention was still en:xaj2:ed in considerinor the constitution, and notinsr the propositions of amendments, the decisive news of the unconditional ratification of the constitution by Virginia broke on its members ; and from that moment it was certain that they would not venture to stand alone against the judgment of every state in New England except Ilhode Island, and every other state * This summary of three speech- heard from, is fompilod from the cs made by Clinton, one in .lime, manuscripts of Clinton preserved two in July, uftcr Virginia wiis in the state library at Albany. 3. THE COlSrSTITUTIOlSr IN NEW YOEK. 345 except Nortli Carolina. The question at first became chap. whetlier the constitution should be accepted with or .^,-1^ without previous amendments. On the tenth Lansinor ^1^,^- . . . J"iy offered a bill of rights, to which no one objected ; and lo. numerous amendments/ of which the class relating to a standing army in time of peace, direct taxes, the militia, and elections to cono-ress were made condi- tions of the ratification. After they were read, the convention, on the proposal of Lansing, adjourned, leaving an informal committee of equal numbers of both parties to bring the business by compromise to a quick and friendly decision. In the committee Jay declared that the word " conditional " must be erased before any discussion of the merits of the amend- ments. As this point was refused, the committee was dissolved ; but already Melancthon Smith and Samuel Jones showed siojns of relentino-. On the eleventh Jay, taking the lead, moved the ii. ratification of the constitution and the recommenda- tion of amendments. After a long debate, IMelancthon Smith inteqoosed wdth a resolution which meant in substance that New York would join the union, re- servins: the risrht to recede from it if the desired amendments should not be accepted. Against this motion Hamilton, after vainly proposing a form of ratification ' nearly similar to that of Virginia, spoke on Saturday, the nineteenth, mth such prevailing 19. force, that Smith confessed himself persuaded to re- linquish it. At this Lansing revived the proposition to enter the union, but only with a reserved right * Pcnn. Packet, 18 July, 1788 ; " Hamilton, ii, 467-471. Ind. Gazetteer, 18 July, 1788. 346 THE FEDEEAL GOVEE]SrME:srT. CHAP, to witlidraw from it ; and on tlie following Monday the question miglit be taken/ Meantime Madison Laving resumed liis place in congress, Hamilton wrote in all haste for Ms advice. On Sunday, Madison speeded an answer to Pouglikeepsie, and on tlie morning of the twenty-first Hamilton read to the convention its words, which w^ere as follows : "My opinion is, that a reservation of a right to withdraw, if amendments be not decided on under the form of the constitution within a certain time, is a conditional ratification ; that it does not make New York a member of the new union, and, consequently, that she could not be received on that plan. The constitution requires an adoption m toto and forever. It has been so adopted by the other states. An adoption for a limited time would be as defective as an adoption of some of the articles only. In short, any condition whatever must satiate the ratification. The idea of reservins; a risfht to mthdraw was started at Richmond, and considered as a conditional ratifi- cation, which was itself abandoned as worse than a rejection."* The voice of Virginia, heard through Madison, was effective. Following the example of Massachusetts, and appropriating the words of its governor, on 23, the twenty-third Samuel Jones, supported by Me- lancthon Smith, proposed, like Hancock, to make no " condition " and to ratify the constitution " in full confidence " of the adoption of all needed ameud- 24. ments. Lansing's motion for conditions was nega- * For the liittor part of llu; con- pendent Gazetteer for July, 1788, vcntion tliore is need to resort to whore details are j^fiven. the Tcuu. Packet and the Inde- ^ Hamilton's Works, i. 4G5. THE COlSrSTITUTIOlS" ES" NEW YOEK. 347 tivecl in committee by a vote of tliirty-one to t^veuty- chap. eiglit, and on Friday, tlie twenty-fifth, the convention ^-.^ aofreed to the report of its committee of the whole in ^ ^ •? ^• O -L July favor of the fonn of Samuel Jones and Melancthon 23. Smith by thirty yeas to t^venty-five nays, the largest vote on any close division during the whole session. This vote was purchased at the price of consenting to the unanimous resolution, that a circular letter be prepared to be laid before the different legisla- tures of the United States recommending a general convention to act upon the proposed amendments of the different leo;islatures of the United States. On Saturday, the t^venty -sixth, the form of ratification of 26. the constitution was agreed to by a vote of thirty against twenty-seven. More persons were absent from the vote than would have been necessary to change it. On the folloAving Monday 'New York invited the 28. governors of the several states in the union to take immediate and effectual measures for calling a second federal convention to amend the constitution. " AYe are unanimous," said Clinton, " in thinking this meas- ure very conducive to national harmony and good government." Madison, as he read the letter, called the proposal a pestilent one, and Washington was touched ^^ath sorrow that just as the constitution was about to anchor in harbor it might be driven back to sea. But the city of New York set no bounds to its gladness at the acceptance of the constitution ; the citizens paraded in a procession unrivalled in splen- dor. The miniature ship which was drawn through the streets bore the name of Hamilton. For him 348 TILE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. CHAP, tills was liis liapinest moment of unclouded tri- — . — umpli. 1 7 s 8. Kortli Carolina held its convention before the result in New York was known. The state wanted geo- graphical unity. A part of its territory west of the mountains had an irregular separate organization un- der the name of Frankland. Of the rest there was no natural centre from which a general opinion could emanate ; besides, toward the general government the state was delinquent, and it had not yet shaken from itself the bewildering influence of paper money. June "In this crisis," wrote Washinsfton, "the wisest 28 . . way for North Carolina will be to adjourn untd the people in some parts of the state can consider the magnitude of the question, and the consequences in- volved in it, more coolly and deliberately.'" The convention, which consisted of two hundred and July eighty-four members, assembling on the twenty-first of July, elected as its president Johnston, then gov- ernor of the state ; organized itself with tranquillity and dignity ; and proceeded to discuss the constitu- tion in committee, clause by clause. The convention 23- employed eight days in its able debates, of which i°" veiy full and fair accounts have been preserved. First among the federalists,' and the mastermind of the convention, was James Iredell, who, before he was forty years old, was placed by Washington on the supreme bench of the United States. He was sup- ported by AVilliam Richardson Davie, who had gained honor in the Avar and at the bar, and afterward held ' Sparks, ix. 390, 391. ' McRec's Iredell, ii. 180-183 ; for instruction an invaluable work. 21. An THE CONSTITUTION IN NOETH CAROLINA. 349 liigli places in North Carolina and in tlie union ; Ly chap. Samuel Johnston, Archibald Maclaine, and Richard .^.-^ Dobbs Spaight. ij^s^s- The other side was led by Willie Jones, of Hali- 23- fax, noted for wealth and aristocratic habits and 1. " tastes, yet by nature a steadfast supporter of the principles of democracy.* He was sustained by Sam- uel Spencer, of Anson, a man of candor and modera- tion, and as a debater far superior to his associates ; by David Caldwell, from Guilford, a Presbyterian di\ane, fertile in theories and tenacious of them ; and by Timothy Bloodworth, a former member of con- gress ; who as a preacher abounded in offices of char- ity ; as a politician dreaded the subjection of southern to northern interests. The friends of the constitution had the advantage of spreading their arguments before the people ; on the other side Willie Jones, who held in his hand the majority of the convention, citing the wish of Jeffer- son that nine states might ratify the constitution, and July the rest hold aloof for amendments, answered in this wise : " We do not determine on the constitution ; we neither reject nor adopt it ; we leave ourselves at lib- erty ; there is no doubt we shall obtain our amend- ments and come into the union." At his word the convention deferred the ratifica- ^ys tion of the constitution, and proposed amendments by one hundred and eighty-four votes against eighty- four. But harmony between the state and the new federal government was pre-established l)y a rule that any impost which congress might ordain for the union » McRee's Iredell, ii. 232; Moore's N. C, i. 384. 1. 350 THE FEDERAL GOYEEIN-MENT. CHAP, slioiild be collected in North Carolina by tlie state .^,1^ " for tlie use of cono-ress." 1 7 s 8. The scales were ready to drop from the eyes of Rhode Island. That state, although it had taken no part in the federal convention and for a year and more had neglected to attend in congress, watched without disapprobation the great revolution that was taking place. Neither of the two states which lin- gered behind remonstrated against the establishment of a new government before their consent ; nor did they ask the United States to wait for them. The worst that can be said of them is, that they were late in arriving;. CHAPTER III. THE FEDERAL GOVERMEENT OF THE UNITED STATES. It was time for America to be known abroad as a ciiap. nation. The statesmen of France reproaclied lier s-,-,-^ unsparingly for failing in lier pecuniary engagements. 1 7 s 9. Boatmen wlio bore the flao; of the United States on the father of rivers were fearlessly arrested by Sj^ain, while Don Gardoqui, its agent, in private conversa- tion tempted the men of Kentucky " to declare them- selves independent " by the assurance that he was authorized to treat with them as a separate power re- specting commerce and the navigation of the Missis- sippi.' The colonists in Nova Scotia were already absorb- ing a part . of south-eastern Maine ; and inventing false excuses for doins: so. Great Britain declined to meet her own oblio^ations with res:ard to the slaves whom she had carried away, and who finally formed the seed of a British colony at Sierra Leone. She did not give up her negotiations with the men of Vermont. She withheld the interior posts, belong- ing to the United States ; in the commission for the ^ Letters to Washinsrton, iv. 248. 352 THE FEDEEAL GOVERNMENT. CHAP, government of Upper Canada slie kept out of siglit V ^ tlie line of boundary, in order that tlie commanding 17 8 9. officer might not scruple to crowd the Americans away from access to theii' inland w^ater line, and thus debar them from their rightful share in the fur- trade. She was all the while encourasrinoj the In- dian tribes within the bounds of New York and to the south of the western lakes to assert their indepen- dence. Hearino; of the discontent of the Kentuck- ians and the men of west North Carolina, she sought to foment the passions which might hurry them out of the union, as far as it could be done ^^ithout prom- ising them protection. 178 6. In England John Adams had vainly explained the expectation of congress that a British plenipotentiary minister should be sent to the United States.' The bills reo-ulatins: Newfoundland and intercourse with America were under the leadership of the same Jen- kinson who had prepared the stamp act ; and, with the acquiescence of Pitt, the men and the principles which had governed British policy toward America for most of the last twenty years still prevailed." In ^1^.^- 1788 the son of George Grenville, speaking for the 11. ministry in the house of commons, said : " Great Brit- ain, ever since the peace, has condescended to favor the United States." ' Moreover, the British govern- ment would take no notice of American remon- strances against the violations of the treaty of peace. Self-respect and patriotic pride forbade John Adams to remain. * Adams to Carmarthen, G Feb., ' Speech of Grenville, 11 Feb., 1780. 1788. Almon's Parliamentarj' Reg- ' Adams to Jay, 27 Feb., 1780. istcr, 33, p. 179. FEDERAL GOVERI^MENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 353 Adams and Jefferson liad exchanged with, each chap. other their portraits, as lasting memorials of friend- ^^^^^ ship ; and Adams, on leaving Europe, had but two i '^ ^ 8. regrets : one, the opportunity of research in books ; the other, that immediate correspondence with Jefferson which he cherished as one of the most agreeable events in his life. " A seven months' inti- macy with him here and as many weeks in London have given me opportunities of studying him close- ly," wrote Jefferson to Madison. " He is vain, irrita- ble, and a bad calculator of the force and probable effect of the motives which govern men. This is all the ill which can possibly be said of him. He is dis- interested ; profound in his views ; and accurate in his judgment, except where knowledge of the world is necessary to form a judgment. He is so amiable, that you will love him, if ever you become acquainted with him." * In America the new constitution was rapidly con- cDiating the affections of the people. Union had been held dear ever since it was formed ; and now that the constitution was its surest guarantee, no party could succeed which did not inscribe union, and with union the constitution, on its banner. In September, Sept. 1788, the dissidents of Pennsylvania held a conference at Harrisburg. With the delegates from beyond the mountains came Albert Gallatin, a native of Geneva, and educated there in a republic of a purely fede- ral form. Their proceedings bear the marks of his mind. They resolved for themselves and recom- mended to all others to acquiesce in the organization * Jefferson, ii. 107. VOL. n. 23 354 THE FEDEKAL GOVERISTMENT. CHAP, of the 2:overnment under "the federal constitution, III . . . . of which the ratification had formed a new era in the American world ; " they asked, however, for its speedy- revision by a general convention. All their actions were kept mthin the bounds of legality.* In Virginia there had been a great vibration of opinion. Its assembly, which met on the twentieth Oct. of October, 1T88, was the first to take into consider- 20. . ation the proposal for another federal convention. The enemies to the government formed a decided majority of the legislature.'' No one of its members was able to encounter Patrick Henry in debate, and his edicts were registered without opposition." He had only to say, "Let this be law," and it became law. Taking care to set forth that so far as it de- pended on Virginia the new plan of government would be carried into immediate operation, the as- 30. sembly proposed a second federal convention, and in- vited the concurrence of every other state.* Madison was the fittest man in the union to be of the senate of the United States : Henry, after pouring forth a ^^"^- declamation against his federal principles," nominated Richard Henry Lee and Grayson for the two sena- tors from Virginia, and they were chosen at his bid- ding. He divided the state into districts, cunningly restrictincc each of them to its own inhabitants in the choice of its representative, and taking care to com- pose the district in which Madison would be a candi- date out of counties which were thought to be un- ' Life of Gallatin by Henry Nov., 1788. MS. Tobias Loar to Adams, 77; Elliot, ii. 544. Laiif^^don, 31 Jan., 1787. MS. " Madi.Hon, i. 4:36, 4:57. * Hivcs's Madison, ii. 64G. » Wasbinglon to Madison, 17 * Madison, i. 443, 444. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 355 friendly to federalism. Assured by these iniquitous chap. preparations, Monroe, without scruple, took the field against Madison. In Connecticut the circular letter of New York had a reading among other public communications, but " no anti-federalist had hardiness enough to call it up for consideration or to speak one word of its sub- ject."' The legislature of Massachusetts concurred with i v 8 9. Hancock, the governor, that an immediate second e. federal convention might endanger the union." The legislature of Pennsylvania put the question at rest by saying : " The house do not perceive this constitu- tion wanting in any of those fundamental principles which are calculated to ensure the liberties of their country. The happiness of America and the har- mony of the union depend upon suffering it to pro- ceed undisturbed in its operation by premature amendments. The house cannot, consistently with their duty to the good people of this state or with their affection to the citizens of the United States at large, concur with Virginia in their application to congress for a convention of the states." This vote, MifBin, the governor, early in March, 1789, communi- cated to the governor of Virginia," and the subject was heard of no more. Congress as early as the second of July, 1788, was ivsa notified that the constitution had received the ap- "^* proval of nine states ; but they wasted two months * Trumbull to Washington, Oct., "^ New York Daily Gazette of 17 1788. Letters to Washington, iv. Feb., 1789. 238. ^ Pennsylvania Archives, xi, 557, 558. 356 THE FEDEEAL GOVEENMENT. CHAP, in wi'angling about tlie permanent seat of the federal government, and at last could agree only on New York as its resting place. Not till tlie thii-teentli of September was the first Wednesday of tlie following January appointed for tlie choice of electors of presi- dent in the several states ; and tlie first Wednesday in March, which in that year was the fourth, for commencing proceedings under the constitution. The states, each for itself, appointed the times and places for electing senators and representatives. The interest of the elections centred in New York, Yii'ginia, and South Carolina. In four districts out of the six into which New York was divided the fed- eralists elected theii' candidates. Having in the state legislature but a bare majority in the senate, while their opponents outnumbered them in the house, each branch made a nomination of senators ; but the senate refused to go into a joint ballot. For this there was the excuse that the time for a new election was close at hand. But the senate further refused to meet the house for the choice of electors of president, and this was an act of faction. The star of Hamilton was then in the ascendant, and he controlled the federalists ; but only to make his singular incapacity to conduct a j^arty as apparent as his swiftness and j^ower of thought. Instead of orecanizins: tlie sure friends of the constitution as a compact and permanent party, he planned only to defeat Clinton's re-election, and for that end led them to join with Aaron liurr in selecting for their can- didate ll(-)bert Yates, who had deserted his post in the federal convention, but had since avowed the FEDEEAL GOVEENMENT OF THE UinTED STATES. 357 opinion wliicli was held by every one in the state that chap. the new constitution should be supported. New York ^-w. at the moment was thoroughly federal, yet Clinton ^ ' ^ ^• escaped defeat through the fidelity of his own county i3." of Ulster and the insignificance of his opponent, while the federalists were left without any state organiza- tion. In the new legislatm^e both branches were federal, and Schuyler was readily chosen one of the two United States senators. After vain attempts to choose his colleague, Ruf us King, who but a few months before had removed to New York, was elected by a ma- jority in one house, by a unanimous vote in the other.* Ill Virginia, Madison went into the counties that were relied on to defeat him, reasoned with the vot- ers face to face, and easily won the day. Of the ten delegates from the state, seven were federalists, of whom one was from Kentucky. South Carolina elected avowed anti-federalists, except Butler, of the senate, who had conceded many points to bring about the union and yet very soon took the alarm that " the southern interest was imperilled." '' Under the constitution the house of representatives i t 8 9. formed a quorum on the first of April. The senate i]^ on the sixth chose John Langdon, of New Hampshire, 6. its president. The house of representatives was im- mediately summoned, and in the presence of the two branches he opened and counted the votes. Every one of the sixty-nine, cast by the ten states which * The result of the whole was ant elements in Xevr York support disastrous for Hamilton. Schuyler enou<;h to supersede Schuyler, having drawn the short term, in Hamilton's father-in-law, in the less than two years Aaron Burr senate of the United States. knew how to conciliate Clinton ^ Pierce Butler to Iredell, in Life and to collect out of the discord- of Iredell, ii. 264, 265. 358 THE FEDEEAL GOVERNMENT. CHAP, took part in the election, was for Washington. John V ,-w. Adams had thirty-four votes ; and as no other ob- ^!j^.?' tained more than nine, he was declared to be the April ^ ^ ' 6. vice-president. The house devolved upon the senate the office of communicatins: the result to those who had been chosen ; and proceeded to business. March " I foresee contentions," wrote Madison, " first be- tween federal and anti-federal parties, and then be- tween northern and southern parties, which give additional disagreeableness to the prospect."* The events of the next seventy years cast their shadows April before. Madison revived the bill which he had pre- sented to congress on the eighteenth of March, 1783, for duties on imports, adding to it a discriminating duty on tonnage. For an immediate public rev- enue, Lawrence, of New York, proposed a general duty ad valorem. England herself, by restraining and even prohibiting the domestic industry of the Americans so long as they remained in the condi- tion of colonial dependence, had trained them to con- sider the establishment of home manufactures as an 9. act of patriotic resistance to tyranny. Fitzsimons, of Pennsylvania, disapproved of a uniform ad valo- rem duty on all imports. lie said : " I have in con- templation to encourage domestic manufactures by protecting duties." Tucker, of South Carolina, en- forced the necessity of great deliberation by calling attention to the antagonistic interests of the eastern, middle, and southern states in the article of tonnage. Boudinot, of New Jersey, wished glass to be taxed, for there were already several manufactures of it in * Madison, i. 450, 451. FEDERAL GOVEE]S'MENT OF THE mOTED STATES. 359 tlie country. " AVe are able," said Hartley, of Pennsyl- chap. vania, " to f umisli some domestic manufactures in suf- ficient quantity to answer the consumption of tlie wliole union, and to work up our stock of materials even for exportation. In tliese cases I take it to be tlie policy of fi^ee, enliglitened nations to give tlieir manufactures tliat encouragement necessary to perfect tliem with- out oppressing the other parts of the community." "We must consider the general interests of the union," said Madison, " as much as the local or state interest. My general principle is that commerce ought to be free, and labor and industry left at large to find their proper object." But he admitted that " the interests of the states which are ripe for manufactures ought to have attention, as the power of protecting and cherishing them has by the present constitution been taken from the states and its exercise thrown into other hands. Regulations in some of the states have produced establishments which ought not to be allowed to perish from the alteration which has taken place, while some manufactures being once formed can advance toward perfection without any adventi- tious aid. Some of the propositions may be pro- ductive of revenue and some may protect our domes- tic manufactures, though the latter subject ought not to be too confusedly blended with the former." " I," May said Tucker, "am opposed to high duties because they will introduce and establish a system of smug- gling, and because they tend to the oppression of citizens and states to promote the benefit of other states and other classes of citizens." * * Annals of Congress, i. 291. 360 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Tlie election to tlie presidency found Wasliington prepared with a federal policy, which was the result of long meditation. He was resolved to preserve freedom, never transcending the powers delegated by the constitution ; even at the cost of life to uphold the union, a sentiment which in him had a tinge of anxiety from his thorough acquaintance with what Grayson called "the southern genius of America;" to restore the public finances ; to establish in the foreign relations of the country a thoroughly Ameri- can system; and to preserve neutrality in the im- pending conflicts between nations in Europe. April On the fourteenth of April he received the official 14. . announcement of his recall to the public service, and 16 was at ten o'clock on the morning of the sixteenth on his way. Though reluctant " in the evening of life to exchange a peaceful abode for an ocean of difficul- ties," he bravely said : " Be the voyage long or short, although I may be deserted by all men, integrity and firmness shall never forsake me." But for him the country could not have achieved its independence ; but for him it could not have formed its union ; and now but for him it could not set the federal government in successful motion. His journey to New York was one continued march of triumph. All the way he was met with addresses from the citizens of various towns, from societies, uni- versities, and churches. 16. His neighbors of Alexandria crowded round him ^vith the strongest personal affection, saying : " Fare- Avell, and make a grateful people happy ; and may the Beincr who maketh and unmaketh at his will, re- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 361 store to us aj^ain tlie best of men and the most beloved chap. . . Ill fellow-citizen." * ^ ^ Across the Atlantic Aliieri cried out to him : i *? s 9. " Happy are you, who have for the sublime and per- manent basis of yom' glory the love of country de- monstrated by deeds." To the citizens of Baltimore, Washincfton said : " I ^p"^ hold it of little moment if the close of my life shall be embittered, provided I shall have been instru- mental in securing the liberties and promoting the happiness of the American people." ' He assured the society for promoting domestic man- ufactures in Delaware that " the promotion of domes- tic manufactures may naturally be expected to flow from an energetic government ; " and he promised to give " a decided preference to the produce and fabrics of America." ' At Philadelphia, " almost overwhelmed' with a 20. sense of the divine munificence," he spoke words of hope : " The most gracious Being, who has hitherto watched over the interests and averted the perils of the United States, will never suffer so fair an inherit- ance to become a prey to anarchy or despotism." * At Trenton he was met by a party of matrons and 21. their daughters, di'essed in white ; singing an ode of welcome to "the mighty chief" who had rescued them from a "mercenary foe;" and strewing flowers before him. Embarkincr at Elizabeth Point in a new bari^e, 23. manned by pilots dressed in white, he cleaved his ^ Sparks, xii. 139, note. ^ Sparks, xii. 141. ' Sj/arks, xii. 140, 141. * Sparks, xii. 145. 362 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. CHAP, course swiftly across the bay, between gayly deco- rated boats, filled witli gazers who cheered him with instrumental music, or broke out in songs. As he touched the soil of New York he was wel- comed by the two houses of congress, by the governor of the state, by the magistrates of the city, by its people ; and so attended he proceeded on foot to the modest mansion lately occupied by the presiding offi- cer of the confederate congress. On that day he dined with Clinton ; in the evening the city was illuminat- ed. The senate, under the influence of John Adams and the persistency of Richard Henry Lee, would have given him the title of " Highness ; " but the house, supported by. the true republican simplicity of the man whom they both washed to honor, insisted on the simple words of the constitution, and pre- vailed. 30. On the thirtieth, the day appointed for the in- auguration, Washington, being fifty-seven years, two months, and eight days old, was ceremoniously re- ceived by the two houses in the hall of the senate. Stepping out to the middle compartment of a bal- cony, which had been raised in front of it, he found before him a dense throns: extendins; to Broad street, and filling AVall street to Broadway. All ^vere hushed as Livingston, the chancellor of the state, admmistered the oath of office ; but when he cried : " Long live George Washington, President of the United States ! " the air was rent with huzzas, which were repeated as Washinii'ton bowed to the multitude. Then returninii: to the senate chamber, ^vitli an aspect grave almost to sadness and a voice deep and FEDERAL GOVEEIS^MENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 3G3 tremulous, lie addressed the two houses, confessing: chap. . . . Ill his distrust of his own endowments and his inexpe- ^^-^-^ rience in civil administration. The ma2;nitude and ^J^.^- April difficulty of the duties to which his country had so. called him weighed upon him so heavily that he shook as he proceeded : " It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who presides in the councils of nations, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the peo- ple of the United States a government instituted by themselves. No people can be bound to acknowl- edge the invisible hand which conducts the aifairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. There exists in the economy of nature an indissoluble union between an honest and masinani- mous policy and public prosperity. Heaven can never smile on a nation that disreo-ards the eternal rules of order and right. The preservation of lib- erty, and the destiny of the republican model of gov- ernment, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the American people." At the close of the ceremony the president and both branches of consress were escorted to the church O of St. Paul, where the chaplain of the senate read prayers suited to the occasion, after which they all attended the president to his mansion. " Every one without exception," so reports the S64: THE FEDEKAL GOVEENMENT. .. CHAP. French minister to liis government/ " appeared pene- ■ — ^ trated with veneration for the illustrious chief of Vari?" *^^ republic. The humblest was proud of the ^0. virtues of the man who was to govern him. Tears of joy were seen to flow in the hall of the senate, at church, and even in the streets, and no sovereign ever reigned more completely in the hearts of his sub- jects than Washington in the hearts of his fellow- citizens. Nature, which had given him the talent to govern, distinguished him from all others by his ap- pearance. He had at once the soul, the look, and the figure of a hero. Tie never appeared embarrassed at homao;e rendered him, and in his manners he had the advantage of joining dignity to great simplicity." To the president's inaugural speech, one branch of the legislature thus responded : " The senate will at all times cheerfully co-operate in every measure which may strengthen the union, and perpetuate the liberties of this great confederated republic." May The representatives of the American people like- wise addressed him : " With you Ave adore the invisi- ble hand which has led the American people through so many difficulties ; and we cherish a conscious responsibility for the destiny of republican liberty. We join in your fervent supplication for our coun- try ; and we add our OT\m for the choicest blessings of heaven on the most beloved of her citizens." In the same moments of the fifth day of May, 1789, wlien these woi-ds were reported, the ground was trembling l)encath the arbitrary governments of Eu- * Mousticr's r('|Kirt on llic in- United States; nearly literally auguration of tlic ])ifsi(lLiit of the trauslated. FEDERAL GOVERlSrMENT OF TILE UNITED STATES. 365 rope, as Louis XVI. proceeded to open tLe states chap. general of France. The day of wrath, against which .— v— Leibnitz had warned the monarchs of Europe, was ^J^^^' beginning to break, and its judgments were to be the 5. more terrible for the long delay of its coming. The great Frederick, who alone of them all had lived and toiled for the good of his land, desciibed the degen- eracy and insignificance of his fellow-rulers mth c}ti- ical scorn. Not one of them had a surmise that the only sufficient reason for the existence of a king lies in his usefulness to the people. Nor did they spare one another. The law of morality was never suf- fered to restrain the passion for conquest. Austria preyed upon Italy until Aliieri could only say, in his despair, that despotic power had left him no country to serve ; nor did the invader permit the thought that an Italian could have a right to a country. The heir in the only line of protestant kings on the continent of Europe, too blind to see that he would one day be stripped of the chief part of his own share in the spoils, joined with two other robbers to divide the country of Kosciuszko. In Holland dynastic inter- ests were betraying the welfare of the republic. All faith was dying out ; and self, in its eagerness for pleasure or advantage, stifled the voice of justice. The atheism of the great, who lived without God in the world, concealed itself under superstitious observ- ances which were enforced by an inquisition that sought to rend beliefs from the soul and to suppress inquiiy by torments which surpassed the worst cruelties that savas-es could invent. Even in Great Britain all the branches of government were con- 366 THE FEDERAL G0YEKX3IEXT. CHAP, trolled by the aristocracy, of wliicli the more liberal party could in tliat generation have no hope of being summoned by the king to frame a cabinet. The land, of which every member of a clan had had some share of ownership, had been for the most part usurped by the nobility; and the people were starving in the midst of the liberality which their own hands had extorted from nature. The monarchs, whose imbe- cility or excesses had brought the doom of death on arbitrary power, were not only unfit to rule, but, while their own unlimited sovereignty was stricken with death, they knew not how to raise up states- men to take their places, and they awakened in skep- ticism the fearful passion to destroy. Even the wise and prudent were incensed at the unjust institutions which bore them down ; while the lowly classes, cloud- ed by despair, were driven sometimes to admit the terrible thought that religion, which is the poor man's consolation and defence, might after all be but an instrument of government in the hands of their oppressors. There was no relief for the nations but through revolution, and their masters had poisoned the weapons which revolution must use. In America a new people had risen up without king, or princes, or nobles, knowing nothing of tithes and little of landlords, the plough being for the most part in the hands of free holders of the soil. They were more sincerely religious, better educated, of serener minds, and of purer morals than the men of any former repul)lic. By calm meditation and friendly councils they had prepared a constitution which, in tlie union of freedom with strength and order, ex- FEDERAL GOVEKNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 367 celled every one known before : and wliich secured chap. . . . . Ill itself against violence and revolution by providing a — ^ peaceful method for every needed reform. In tlie I'^^o. liappy morning of tlieir existence as one of tlie pow- ers of tlie world, tliey had chosen justice for their guide ; and while they proceeded on their way with a well-founded confidence and joy, all the friends of mankind invoked success on their unexampled en- deavor to govern states and territories of imperial extent as one federal republic. LETTEES A:^D PAPEES ILLUSTRATKG THE FORMATION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. TOL. n. 24 APPENDIX. Temple to JOord Carmarthen, Keio Yorh, 7 July, 1786. Ex. It is with pleasure that I can inform your lordship what silver and gold is to be had in this country goes in his Majesty's packet boats to England. The last packet, the Tankerville, carried upward of three hundred thousand Spanish milled dollars, and the Carteret packet, to sail to-morrow, will, I believe, carry home near as much more. The French packets carry none. Monroe to Jefferson, New YorJc, 16 July, 1786. Dear Sir : I have not heard from you for several months past, the last being dated some time previous to your removal to London. Not knowing you would have stayed so long, I have wrote you by every packet to France. We have now present twelve states, and hope this will be the case for some time. Soon after my arrival here in the winter I suggested to you my apprehensions that the condition of the act of cession from Virginia, which respected the extent of the states to be erected over the ceded territory, was an unpolitic one, and that it might be proper to recommend it to the state to alter it. A prop- osition to this effect was submitted to congress, which ultimately passed, advising that it be vested in congress to divide the said terri- tory into not less than three nor more than five states ; but the investi- gation of the subject has opened the eyes of a part of the union, so as to enable them to vicAV the subject in a different light from what they have heretofore done. They have, therefore, manifested a desire 372 APPENDIX * to rescind everything they have heretofore done in it, particularly to increase the number of inhabitants which should entitle such states to admission into the confederacy, and to make it depend on their haying one thirteenth part of the free inhabitants of the United States. This, with some other restrictions they wish to impose on them, evinces plainly the policy of these men to be to keep them out of the confederacy altogether. I considered this as a dangerous and very mischievous kind of pol- icy, and calculated to throw them into the waters of Britain. I know not with certainty whether they will be able to carry this point, but if it is pressed, and a probability of being carried, we shall object to the power of the United States to determine the numbers without the consent of the state ; it having been left oj^en in the act does by no means put it in the power of the United States to make such restric- tions on this head as to defeat the condition altogether. If they do not, therefore, agree with the delegation to have it upon the ground of 23 April, 1784, we shall propose a subsequent convention between the parties as to that point, and deny the right of the United States to act otherwise in it. In my last I advised you of an intrigue on foot under the manage- ment of Jay to occlude the Mississippi, supported by the delegation of 3Iassachusetts. Since my last no further measures have been openly taken in the business, yet it is not relinquished. As yet there hath not been a fair trial of the sense of congress on the subject. I have a conviction in my own mind that Jay has managed this negotiation dishonestly ; on the other hand, I am persuaded that the minister here has no power on the subject, yet I am firmly persuaded that he has conducted himself in such a manner in this business as to give him and his court hopes which neither the sense of congress nor liis instruc- tions authorize. Having been on all the foreign committees latterly, indeed since you left us, I have had an opportunity of knowing him well, and this com- munication is founded in circumstances this opportunity hath given me. The Massachusetts delegates, except the president, whose talents and merits have been greatly overrated (though preferable greatly in the latter instance to his brethren), are without exception the most illiberal I have ever srcn from that state. Two of these men, Avhose names arc Dana and King, are eU'cted for the next year, which is my motive for making known to you this circumstance. It may possibly LETTERS AND PAPERS. 373 be of some service to you, her, but am so desirous of your sentiments as to risk mine without that cover. Sincerely your friend and servant, etc. Wfs/i/njton to Theodoric Bland, 15 Avgnst, 1786. Deap. Sir : I can only repeat what I have formally told my coun- trymen in a very serious manner, "that honesty will be found, on every expei-iment, the best policy." How far arguments deduced from this to])i(', and from the present alarming troul)les in Rhode Island, can with pertinency and force be made use of against any attempts to procure a paper currency in the state, I leave to your judgment to decide. The advantages which are to be derived from seminaries of LETTERS AND PAPEES. 381 learning, from the improvement of our roads, a proper establishment of our militia, the extension of inland navigation, etc., must have struck you in too forcible a manner to need a remembrancer. My sentiments respecting federal measures in general are so Avell known that it is unnecessary to reiterate them. I am, etc. Monroe to Jefferson, New Y^orJc, 19 August, 17 S6. Ex. Dear Sir : My last advised you of the progress of Spanish nego- tiation. Until that time the reference of Jay's letter to a committee was, I believe, the point at whigh it rested ; but to enable you to form a satisfactory idea of the object of that letter, I transcribe [the] only operative paragraph in it : "I take the liberty, therefore, of submitting to the consideration of congress whether it might not be advisable to appoint a committee with power to instruct and direct me on every point and subject rela- tive to the proposed treaty with Spain." You are to observe his only ultimata were respecting the Mississippi and the boundaries ; the com- mittee, consisting of a member from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and myself, kept it about two months, and at length two of them rej^orted that they be discharged, the letter referred to a committee of the whole, and himself ordered to attend. It was agreed to, with this alteration, that he attend congress to explain the difficulties stated in his letter, and to lay before them a state of the negotiation. He accordingly came, and, being aware that objections would be made to his entering into debate, produced a long written speech, which he read in virtue of his office, and which was in substance as follows : France, against our right to the navigation of the Mississippi, and in case of a variance with Spain upon that point against us, will be on good terms with Spain ; therefore, on that account as well as to avail ourselves of her * influence in the councils of Portugal, the Italian states, and the Barbary powers, as also in those of France herself ; that Great Britain would rejoice to see us at variance with SjDain, and therefore would foment dissensions between us ; that in case this treaty failed, Spain, mortified and disappointed in the eyes of all Europe, would enter into engagements with Britain (or in resentment) so as to exclude us from her ports. For these reasons, and fully to obtain the confidence ' Her, i. e., Spain's. The obscurity and incompleteness of expressiou here and else- »t here are in the MIS. of Monroe's letters. 382 APPENDIX. and good wishes of that power, as also her good services, in the lines aforesaid, he thought it wise to forbear the use of the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty-five years or thirty, if necessary, as a condition to obtain, at the same time, the following liberal articles as the basis of a commercial treaty : 1. All commercial confederation shall be reciprocal, Spanish merchants in the ports of [America] and American merchants in those of Spain and the Canaries to have the rights of native merchants of the two countries. 2. To establish consuls in their respective countries. 3. The hona fide manufactures and pro- ductions of -both parties, tobacco escepted, to be admitted into the ports aforesaid, in the vessels of both parties, on the same footing as if they were their own manufactures and productions ; and further, that all such duties and imposts as may mutually be thought necessary to lay on them by either party shall be regulated on principles of exact reciprocity by a tariff to be formed within one year from the ratification of this treaty ; and, in the mean time, they shall severally pay, in the ports of each other, those of natives only. 4. Masts and timber for the navy to be bought, provided they be as cheap as in other countries. This was the amount of his communications as to the project which he urged our adopting by all the arguments he could think of ; such as, we can't obtain the use, and therefore of no consequence. We must now decide ; must terminate in accommodation, war, or disgrace — the last, the worst; the second, unjDrepared for ; the first, the preferable course. That we should avail ourselves of the moment, or Britain would ; therefore, no [time] to lose, with others of the same kind. This subject hath, since the above communication, engaged the attention of congress for ten days past. The delegates of Massachusetts, who are his instruments on the floor, moved in committee to repeal his ulti- mata with a view of suffering him to proceed at pleasure, and upon tills point hath the debate turned. It hath been manifest they have had throughout seven states, and we, five, they to Pennsylvania inclu- sive and Delaware absent, the rest against him ; we deny the right in seven states to alter an instruction so as to make it a new one, but they will proceed, be that as it may ; the treaty in that event will be formed and soon presented for ratification. To prevent this, we have told them we would give notice to the secretary of iho incompetency of his powers, as also to the [minister?] resident of Spain, to justify congress in refusing to ratify if they LETTERS AND PAPERS. 383 should choose it. In this state it remained without any new propo- sition until yesterday, being Friday; we stated, however, in the close of the day that we would agree that a treaty be formed upon the fol- lowing conditions : That exports be admitted through the Mississippi, paying at New Orleans a duty of two and a half per cent ad valorem to Spain, to be carried thence in Spanish, American, and French bottoms ; that imports be prohibited in that line. If this should be adopted, we pro- pose to change the scene of negotiation and to carry it to Madrid, to take it out of the present and put it into yours and Adams's hands. We fear, however, and with too much reason, that this will fail ; noth- ing could have been more unfortunate than even the agitation of this subject ; it hath lessened the ground on which we stood, and given Spain hopes she had no reason to calculate on. "What prospect to the general interest might be calculated on as resulting from the deliber- ations of the convention at Annapolis, must be diminished — in short, the measure strikes me as every way highly injudicious. I am sorry to inform you that our affairs are daily falling into a worse situation, arising more from the intrigues of designing men than any real defect in our system or distress of our affairs. The same party who advocate this business have certainly held in this city com- mittees for dismembering the confederacy, and throwing the states eastward the Hudson into one government. As yet this business hath not gone far, but that there should be a party in its favor, and a man heretofore so well respected, but in my opinion so little known, en- gaged in it, is to me very alarming. Congress hath again required money for the ensuing year, including that part of the principal of the foreign loans that becomes due in that time. All the states except New York and Pennsylvania have acceded to the impost to the accep- tation of congress ; the former hath granted the revenue accruing from it, but hath not made the collectors so amenable to congress as the system requires, and the other states have done; and Pennsylvania hath granted the impost but suspended its operation until all the states have granted the supplemental funds. A committee is appointed to attend the legislature of Pennsylvania on this subject, and recommendation passed to the executive of New York to convene the legislature to take the said system again into consideration. They meet in the usual term in the fall or commencement of the winter. They have passed an ordinance regulating the coin. 384 APPETs'DIX. I liave been apprised of tlie arrival of the Encyclopgedia at Balti- more. Your late communications on the commercial subject have given great satisfaction to congress. We hope the monopoly of our tobacco in the hands of the Farmers General will ultimately be abol- ished. The services of Monsieur Lafayette are acknowledged with gratitude by congress. I shall leave this about the 1st of October for Virginia, Fredericks- burg. Believe me, I have not relinquished the prospect of being your neighbor. The house for which I have requested a plan may possibly be erected near Monticello ; to fix there, and to have yourself in par- ticular, with what friends we may collect around for society, is my chief object, or, rather, the only one which promises to me, with the connec- tion I have formed, real and substantial j)leasure, if indeed by the name of pleasure it may be called. I am, dear sir, very affectionately, your friend and servant, etc. Otto to Yergennes, New YorJc, 23 August, 1786. My Lord : For more than a year Mr. Gardoqui has been negotiat- ing with Mr. Jay a commercial treaty, and to-day is no further ad- vanced than on his arrival here. Many circumstances conduce to this delay which I think proper to explain. The northern states, which in all the commercial negotiations rec- ognise no other interest than that of their fisheries, would be well disposed to conclude with Mr. Gardoqui if the delegates from the South did not propose as a condition sine qua non the opening of the Missis- sippi. In consequence of this difference of sentiment and interest, the dele- gates of the five southern states have formed a league to break off com- pletely every negotiation with Mr. Gardoqui. They publicly assert that that minister has no powers (to conclude a treaty), that this whole affair is in the hands of Mr. de Galvez, and that in general a negotia- tion of this importance ought not to be entered on in America, since the ease with which in a republic the dispositions of the sovereign body are ascertained gives great advantages to a foreign minister, Avho on his part conceals with the greatest care the instructions and the ultimatum of his court. Tlioy fear, moreover, that tlie indifference of the northern states to the navigation of tlie jMississippi will cause them to urge on the nego- tiation ; and that they will find means to secure votes, to the prejudice LETTEES AND PAPERS. 385 of the southern states. In open congress they have asserted that France alone could succeed in procuring for them a treaty of com- merce with Spain, and that they should negotiate with that power in vain without the mediation of their great ally. In the midst of this fermentation the leaders of this party came to me to explain to me the necessity of having recourse to your good offices, and of putting this negotiation wholly into the hands of his Majesty. "The navigation of the Mississippi," they said to me, "is perhaj)s the most important object for the United States ; the inhabitants of the vast and fertile regions of Kentucky, and of the neighboring coun- tries, have no other outlet than Xew Orleans. If congress is unable to procure for them an entrepot in that city, they will regard its pro- tection as wholly useless, and we are informed, in the most positive manner, that they are disposed to separate from the confederation and to throw themselves into the arms of England, in order, through the lakes and the river St. Lawrence, to gain the outlet Avhich is refused them on the Mississippi side. " In this case it will be easy for Great Britain to exchange Gibraltar for West Florida, and to make the whole interior of America depend- ent upon her. We earnestly desire to be in intimate relations with Spain, but we are at the same time convinced that without the support of France we shall never be able to negotiate with success. Some of the northern delegates, and especially Mr. Jay, wished to persuade us that France was opposed to the opening of the Mississippi ; but we know that peace has brought about a new order of affairs, and that the objections which your court made to our pretensions can no longer be based upon the same principle. Only the Count Vergeni^es can pro- cure for us the advantages we desire ; we have written this to Mr. Jefferson, under an injunction of secrecy, and we wish that your court may make our treaty for us, or that no treaty at all be made." After having declared to me many other motives leading them^to wish for this measure, they communicated to me in writing the follow- ing articles, which should serve as a basis for the negotiation : 1. All the commodities and productions of interior America to descend the Mississippi in flat-boats to Xew Orleans, which will be the entrepot for those commodities, and will serve only for exporta- tions. 2. The Americans to pay, on their arrival at New Orleans, a duty VOL, II. 25 386 APPENDIX. of two and a half per cent on the vahie of their goods, which duty will take the place of compensation for the favor asked of Spain. 3. An American consul to reside in that city, and to be personally responsible for all that may be contraband. 4. The said commodities to be re-exported from New Orleans only in French, Spanish, or American bottoms. 5. Importations of every sort to be prohibited, and no boat to ascend the Mississippi except flat-boats which have served to transport goods to New Orleans, and these empty, or at most carrying only jDassengers. 6. Spain to permit French and American merchants to reside in New Orleans, to deal in the aforesaid commodities. 7. France to share in this commerce because of her mediation. In making these communications to me, my lord, the delegates begged me to transmit them to you at once, at the same time enjoining upon me the most profound secrecy toward Mr. Gardoqui and all persons who might speak to me of this negotiation. Without giving them any ho^^e, and conforming to the orders which you thought proper to give me, that I should not interfere with the affairs of Spain, I said to them that they might rely upon my discretion, and that I would com- municate to you the confidential conversation which they had held with me. They wish to give powers to Mr, Jefferson to negotiate the treaty at Madrid, but to instruct him in the most positive manner to conform entirely to your counsels, and to take no step Avithout your consent. They already have seven states on their side, and if they can gain two more, which is very likely, Mr. Jefferson will receive his instructions at once. I have had this conference only a few hours before the departure of the packet ; it is possible that the passion of the delegates who spoke M'ith me may have led them to exaggerate some details. I shall be careful to animadvert in the future upon any points which appear to me susceptible of correction, without losing sight of the reserve and circumspection which you have enjoined upon me. Verr/ennes to Otto, Versailles, 25 August, 17S6. I have received the despatches which you have taken the jiains to ^Tite to me from Nos. 34 to 52 inclusive. The Americans, it appears, are caught by the commerce with India, and are using very costly measures to engage in it. I confess I cannot LETTERS AXD PAPERS. 387 conceive how they propose to carry on a commerce which is only pos- sible with cash, in regard to which America is in the greatest state of penury. Pray tell me how the Americans explain this enigma. The remarks in America on the occasion of the jHracies that some American ships have met with in the Mediterranean merit nothing on our part but contempt, but it is astonishing that congress does not think itself bound by a sense of delicacy to put an end to that by making known the support that the king gives to the American com- missioners who are negotiating in Algiers and in Morocco, and the treaty which has been signed in the latter place with its regency. The publication of this treaty * would be the best refutation that could be made to the falsehoods circulated in the public journals, but it is not for us to take this pains. Mr. Jefferson has sent me a note in which Mr. Jay seeks to justify the delay of the ratification of the consular convention. I think I may dispense with any analysis of this note. I merely observe that con- gress, having found time to ratify its treaty with the King of Prussia, might also have found it to ratify the convention in question. Pray, make this remark to Mr, .Jay, premising, however, that you have no orders to renew your demands ; that, on the contrary, you are charged to declare that we shall very tranquilly await the pleasure of congress in regulating this matter according to the precise lan- guage of the treaty of the sixth of February, 1778, which is not yet abrogated. There has never been a question of an exchange of Lou- isiana for a French possession in the West Indies, and, if it is again mentioned to you, you will formally deny it. Nothing can be more extraordinary, sir, than the claims of the Americans to the commerce of the isles ; on hearing them one would suppose that this commerce is more their property than that of the sovereigns to whom they belong ; but, whatever may be the excite- ment in America, we shall only do what our own interests shall exact. Monroe to Madison, Kew York, SO August, 1786. Dear Sir : Since my last we have been from day to day upon the business which engaged us when you were here. They carried the repeal by seven states, in the committee of the whole and afterward in the house. "VYe moved to postpone to take into consideration the * This treaty had not yet reached America ; this was the first intimation of it. 388 APPENDIX. plan in conformity with the idea I suggested to you, in which we entered into long reasoning upon the secretary's project, proving, if we were well founded, its futility and disadvantages in many in- stances, proposing to take the negotiation out of his hands, as to the JNIississippi and the boundaries, commit them to our charge at Madrid to agree on principles there, the treaty to be concluded here — that two commissioners be added to him to enter into the treaty, and the three authorized to form also a commercial treaty — to be incorporated together — for which five states voted. Their repeal was afterward car- ried by seven states only ; to-day, additional instructions being added to their proposition for repeal respecting the boundaries, formed with the view of taking in Georgia, were also only carried by seven states. The president reported to-day upon the propositions altogether, that the question was lost ; so that it now remains. Will Mr. Jay proceed ? and I apprehend he will not. I have availed myself of a few moments to drop you this, and to assure you of my friendship and esteem. Edward Baiicroft to William Fraser, London, 2 Sept., 1186. Ex. On the subject of American fish-oil it was decided that the oil of the United States should hereafter be admitted into France on the same terms as that of the Hanse towns, who in this particular are the most favored in France, where their oil, as I understand, pays only a duty equal to between three and four pounds sterling. The great subject of the commerce of the United States and other foreigners with the French West India islands is likely to remain ?is it was settled by the edict of the 30th of August, 1784. Monroe to Madison, N'ew York, S Sejyt., 17 S6. Ex. I consider the party, especially Jay and the principal advocates, as having gone too far to retreat. They must either carry the measure or be disgraced (as the principal already hath been by the vote of five states), and sooner than suffer this they will labor to break the union. I therefore suspect they have been already (and indeed have too much reason for my suspicions) intriguing with the principal men in these states to effect that end in the last resort. They have even sought a dismemberment to the Potomac, and those of the party here have been sounding those in oflice thus far; to defeat the measure, therefore, ooinjdelcly, we must follow their movements and counteract them everywhere ; advise the leading men of their designs, the purposes LETTERS AND PAPEES. 389 they are meant to serve, etc., and in event of the worst extremity, pre- pare them for a union with the southern states. I fear some of those in Pennsylvania will have a contrary affection, but it must be removed if possible. A knowledge that she was on our side would blow this whole intrigue in the air. To bring this about, therefore, is an im- portant object to the southern interest. If a dismemberment takes place, that state must not be added to the eastern scale. It were as well to use force to prevent it as to defend ourselves afterward. I consider the convention of Annapolis as a most important era in our affairs. The eastern men, be assured, mean it as leading further than the object originally comprehended. If they do not obtain that things shall be arranged to suit them in every respect, their intrigues will extend to the objects I have suggested above. Pennsylvania is their object. Upon succeeding or failing with her will they gain or lose confidence. I doubt not the emissaries of foreign countries will be on the ground. In short, I do consider this convention as requiring your utmost exertions, in the change things will infallibly take, as well to obtain good as to prevent mischief. Mr. Randolph will, I hope, devote himself to the public upon this occasion, and not suffer himself to be taken off by his professional pursuits before the convention dis- solves. I write you freely, without the cover of cipher, knowing you have not yours with you. Indeed, I fear nothing to the public or myself from a publication, for I am satisfied, if the public were ac- quainted with the conduct of their unworthy servants, their conse- quence would be of but short duration. Prevail, I beg of you, on Colonel Mason to attend the convention. It will give him data to act on afterward in the state. Very sincerely, I am your friend. I have always considered the regulation of trade in the hands of the United States as necessary to preserve the union ; without it, it will infallibly tumble to pieces, but I earnestly wish the admission of a few additional states into the confederacy in the southern scale. [For this extract and more, see Rives, ii. 123-126.] Otto to Yergannes, Keio YorJc, 10 SejJt., 17S6. The negotiations relating to the treaty of commerce with Spain, of which I had the honor to give you an account in my last despatch, have since been the constant subject of the deliberations of congress. The southern states had vainly flattered themselves that they could detach Pennsylvania and New Jersey from the league of the North ; 390 APPENDIX. they have, however, proposed the mediation of his Majesty and the plan by which New Orleans is designated as a commercial entrepot for all the commodities of the interior. The only change which they made in it consisted in giving full instructions to Mr. Carmichael to open negotiations at Madrid instead of sending Jefferson there. This project has met serious opposition from the states of the Xorth. As to the navigation of the Mississippi, they remarked that, far from being advantageous to the confederation, it would only serve to separate from the United States all the interior country ; that the inhabitants of Kentucky, no longer feeling the necessity of maintain- ing commercial connections with the maritime states, and having, fur- thermore, a policy entirely different from that of their neighbors, would only think of rendering themselves wholly independent of con- gress as of a sovereign body from which they could derive no benefit ; that the fertility of those countries would insensibly attract the most industi'ious inhabitants of the northern states, who would not hesi- tate an instant to exchange the arid rocks of Massachusetts and of Kew Hampshire for the smiling plains of the Ohio and the Missis- sippi ; that a limited population spread over an immense surface would weaken the springs of the government, and that anarchy and discord would inevitably arise from this state of affairs ; that the policy of congress ought to be to strengthen more and more the maritime states, and to await the time when the surplus of population would flow toward the interior ; that, independently of all these motives, care should be taken to avoid exciting the jealousy of the savage hordes which still infest those lands ; that a war with one of these perfidious nations, in the present exhausted state of the finances, would be one of the greatest calamities ; that the possessions of the United States were already of too great extent, and that their territory ought to be reduced rather than augmented beyond all proportion ; that, more- over, the court of Spain did not appear in the least disposed to give u]) the navigation of the Mississippi ; that by insisting on this article would only irritate his Catholic Majesty and render him less disposed to yield on the most essential parts of the treaty. For these reasons it was necessary not only to reject the plan of mediation proposed by the southern states, but to recall the ultimatum which proposed the opening of the Mississippi as a condition sine qua non. Not confining themselves to simple arguments, the delegates of the North at once made a motion to repeal this clause of the ultimatum, LETTERS AISHD PAPEES. 391 and to authorize Mr. Jay to conclude with the Spanish minister. Seven states having given their sanction to the change in the instruc- tions, the motion was passed in the form of a resolution. The five southern states protested against this measure, which they called illegal ; they proved that, according to the articles of the con- federation, the consent of nine states was necessary to give instructions concerning the conclusion of a treaty ; those instructions could not be revoked by seven states only ; that a proceeding so extraordinary threatened the total overthrow of the constitution, and that even if Mr. Jay should be able to sign such a treaty with Don Diego de Gar- doqui, they would never consent to the ratification of such a treaty ; that in regard to the western country it would be useless to insist on the necessity of restricting the territory of the United States ; that the fertile plains of the interior would always attract a consid- erable number of the inhabitants of the different states, and it would be easier to stay a torrent than the constant flow of this population ; that everybody knew the restless spirit of a people ever ui'ged on by necessity, and eager to change home and climate ; and that the colo- nists of the rich countries of the West, having no facilities for export- ing the surplus of their produce by way of the Mississippi, would finally without fail come to an understanding with England, in order to obtain an outlet by the lakes and the river St. Lawrence. All these arguments made not the least impression upon the north- ern delegates ; but the position of Mr. Jay becomes very embarrass- ing. The instructions given by seven states not being constitutional, he cannot conclude his treaty without encountering bitter reproaches from the five southern states, who loudly accuse him of having by all sorts of intrigues directed the actions of the northern delegates, in order not to suffer the negotiation to slip from his hand. They even threaten to displace him, or at least to give him two assistants. On the other hand, this minister cannot refuse to execute the orders of a party of which he is himself the most zealous partisan, without losing his popularity and influence. Whatever Mr. Jay's conduct may be, it is to be feared that this discussion will cause a great coolness between the two parties, and may be the germ of a future separation of the southern states. Mr. Gardoqui affects the greatest indifference about these negotia- tions. Recognising the instability of the American governments, the weakness of congress, and the continual fluctuation of political prin- 392 APPEl^DIX ciples, he sees no necessity of concluding a treaty "which his Catholic Majesty can easily do without. He has often said to me that in spite of all the precautions of the government it would be impossible to pre- vent contraband trade and other disorders which the Americans would not fail to cause ; that it was of infinite importance to his court not to encourage establishments on the MississijDpi which might one day be- come neighbors so much the' more dangerous for the Spanish posses- sions, since even in their present weakness they were already con- ceiving vast schemes for the conquest of the western bank of the river ; that the savages would always form the best barrier between the two nations ; and that nothing better could be done than to leave matters on their present footing. I have had the honor thus far of explaining to you merely the ostensible arguments of the two parties ; but a long acquaintance with the affairs of this country authorizes me, perhaj)S, to divine the secret motives of the heat with which each state supports its opinion in an affair which does not appear of enough importance to disturb their harmony. The southern states are not in earnest when they assert that with- out the navigation of the Mississippi the inhabitants of the interior will seek an outlet by way of the lakes, and will throw themselves into the arms of England. They know too well the aversion of their compatriots for that power, and the difficulty of conveying heavy car- goes through the rivers which lead to Canada. But the true motive of this vigorous opposition is to be found in the great preponderance of the northern states, eager to incline the balance toward their side ; the southern neglect no opportunity of increasing the population and importance of the western territory, and of drawing thither by degrees the inhabitants of New England, whose ungrateful soil only too much favoi'S emigration. Rhode Island, especially, has already suffered considerably from the new establishments of Ohio, and a great number of families daily leave their homes to seek lands more fertile and a loss rigorous climate. This emigration doubly enfeebles New England, since on the one hand it deprives her of industrious citizens, and on the other it adds to the population of the southern states. These new territories will gradually form themselves into separate governments ; they will have their representatives in congress, and will augment greatly the mass of the southern states. LETTEKS AND PAPEES. 393 All these considerations make evident to the delegates from the South the necessity of promoting by all sorts of means their establish- ments in the West, and from this point of view a treaty with Spain appears to them most desirable. But if this treaty contains only stipulations in favor of the northern fisheries, far from strengthening themselves against the too great j^rep on de ranee of the northern states, they would furnish them with new arms, by increasing their pros- perity and the extension of tbeir commerce. The conduct of this thorny negotiation is in the hands of Mr. Jay. I am, etc. Van Berchel to the States General, JSTeio YorJc, 12 ScjJt., 1786. Ex. Most of the states have issued paper money, which has caused the greatest discords, as is evident from the report that I made your H. M. in regard to the state of Rhode Island, where the dissensions have risen to sucb a height that the governor has been obliged to call to- gether the general assembly for the purpose of restoring quiet. In the state of South Carolina the planters have, in the most solemn man- ner, bound themselves together to uphold the credit of the paper money of their state, to receive it at par with gold and silver, and to make no discount for payments in hard money ; but all this does not hinder a considerable depreciation. In the state of Massachusetts, which has always distinguished itself by the wisdom of its measures, the fire of discord begins also to kindle ; and the people have even assembled in a tumultuous manner and forcibly hindered the sitting of their court. Monroe to Madison, PMladelphia^ 12 Sept., 1786. Deak Sir : I arrived here a few days since to press on the legisla- ture of this state a separation of the impost from the supplementary funds. I have the most satisfactory evidence they will I'eject the proposition. We proceed, therefore, further merely to discharge our duty. Both parties are united in opposition to it. To-morrow we shall be received by the legislature. I am sorry I came on the busi- ness. Before this you have received ray letter informing you of the subsequent pi'ogress and final close of the business which lately en- gaged us in congress, or rather so far as it depended on their direction. By agreement nothing was to be done in it until our return. I expect to set out back in a day or two. It will depend much on the opinion 394 APPENDIX. of Jersey and Pennsylvania as to the movements of Jay ; and that of Jersey much on that of Mr. Clark, now with you at Annapolis. He put Hornblower in congress, and may turn him out again, for he has no positive weight of his own. Clark has always been anxious for taking the western lands from us. I should suppose him inclined to turn it to the best account. I conclude, therefore, that if he knows the delegation, especially his part of it, pursue a system of policy so contrary to his own and to what is in effect the interest of his coun- try, he would dismiss Mr. Hornblower. Perhaps you may be able to hint to Mr. Chirk that Jersey, except Symmes, was with the eastern states upon this occasion. Mr. Henry, of the Maryland delegation, has referred Mr. Stone to you for information upon this subject, by my request. Mr. Stone is my friend, and a very upright, sensible man. You will show him what part of my letters you find necessary. The ablest men here believe and act on it in the rejection of the prop- osition that the refusal to separate the two parts of the system endan- gers the government, and that it will most probably induce a change of some kind or other. It is well for the southern states to act with great circumspection and to be prepared for every possible event ; to stand well with the middle states especially. I sincerely wish you to suffer no anxiety and to put yourself to no inconvenience upon our private affair. I have no occasion for the money until about the fifth or tenth of October, to help to remove me to Virginia ; and even then it will be in my power to do without it with tolerable convenience if you should find it inconvenient to command it. Believe me, it will put me to no inconvenience. My engagements are but few, and those within my control. Let me hear from you as often as possible. Re- member me to Colonel Tucker and his lady, to the rest of your col- leagues, and to Mr. Stone, and believe me, sincerely, your friend and servant, etc. Colonel Grayson came with me in the interval to relax from busi- ness and meet his lady here. She is with him, but unfortunately he is afflicted with an extraordinary disease. The physicians differ in the name. He is often delirious — is afflicted with strange fancies and apprehensions ; in the morning he is better than in the latter end of the day and night, at which time his infirmity rages. It is supposed by some to be the floating gout, Shippen calls it a bilious affection of the nerves. The very close attention he hath lately paid to busi- ness, with the laborious exercise of the mind and the want of that LETTERS AND PAPEEa 395 of tlie body, I fear, hath given birth to it. To-day he hath been better than heretofore. Otto to Vergennes, Keio York, 20 Sept., 1786. The want of energy in the separate government of the states had till now occasioned few commotions injurious to the repose and to the security of the citizens, and it was hoped that congress would insensi- bly take the stability that was supposed to be observable in the inte- rior organization of the states ; but the licentiousness of a greedy pop- ulace has just shaken the basis of the government, which had hitherto been regarded as the most solid and the most perfect of the whole confederation, and it is seen too late that the American constitutions, so generally admired, are far from being exempt from defects. The common people of Massachusetts, indignant at not having ob- tained the emission of paper money, ran together in several districts, with arms in hand, to suspend the courts of justice and to prevent the recovery of debts. Governor Bowdoin having neglected instantly to assemble the militia, the insurgents went so far as to disperse the judges and the advocates. They demanded with loud cries the aboli- tion of courts of justice, the holding of the sessions of the legislative assembly in any other town but Boston, the reduction of salaries granted to public officers, a new emission of paper money, the lib- eration of those imprisoned for debt, the settlement of the accounts of the United States, the prohibition of every object of luxury im- ported from abroad, the diminution of taxes, the absolute liberty of the press, and the abolition of the senate or upper chamber. This last article attacks the very basis of the constitution, and tends to establish, after the example of Pennsylvania, a perfect democracy. The courts of justice are at present protected by troops, and by several companies of artillery. Congress being informed that the sedi- tious had drawn near to Springfield, and that the arsenals of the United States were in danger. General Knox, minister of war, received orders to go there immediately and to order a respectable corps of militia to march there. The proclamation of the governor of Massa- chusetts, the circular letters of the town of Boston, and other princi- pal towns, the proceedings of the different municipal assemblies, and the measures taken by the seditious to disperse the courts of justice, are to be found in the gazettes that I have the honor to send you. To these details I will only add the reflections of the most enlightened 396 APPEISTDIX. patriots on this factious event. They perceive that in forming the different constitutions they had too great need of the assistance of the common people not to grant to them much more than the repose of the republic, the security of the citizen, and the energy of the government can sustain ; that an entire and unlimited liberty is a phantom which has never been able to exist but at the expense of public tranquillity ; that the theory of the three jiowers equally distributed is sublime, but that practice offers a thousand difficulties which ought to have been foreseen ; that the executive power is much too weak in America ; that the simplicity of the chiefs renders them contemptible in the eyes of the multitude, which judges only by the senses, and that there is need of strokes of authority, of arms, and of lictors, to make the govern- ment respected. These principles are confirmed by a scene like that in Massachusetts which took j^lace in New Hampshire. About three hundred mutineers met near Exeter, to break up the court of justice ; but Governor Sullivan, a distinguished officer during the war, instantly put himself at the head of the militia, dispersed the insurgents, and dispersed the chiefs of the revolt. The people of Connecticut have equally made some efforts for the abolishment of debts and breaking up the courts of justice, but the vigilance of the governor has thus far prevented any overt act. It must be agreed that these insurrections are in a great part due to the scarcity of specie. In the small state of Connecticut alone more than five hundred farms have been offered for sale to pay the arrears of taxes. As these sales take place only for cash, they are made at the very lowest price, and the proprietoi's often receive not more than one tenth of the value. The people feel the deadly consequences of this oppression, but, not being able to discover its true cause, it turns upon the judges and the lawyers. In the states which have paper money the rigor of the laws is less desolating for the farmer, since he can always get paper enough to satisfy his engage- ments; and, besides, the creditors are less urgent. These details prove but too much the inability of the United States to fulfil at this time their engagements to France. Not only congress has not power to collect sums called for in its different requisitions, but the separate states arc deprived of the vigor necessary to constrain their citizens, and they themselves have not the means of paying in specie the mod- erate taxes which are imposed on them. The exhaustion of the fed- eral treasury is carried to an inconceivable point. It has not been possible to pay me several infinitely small pittances due to French LETTEES A]ST) PAPERS. 397 officers. The assembly of Pennsylvania, wishing to transmit to pos- terity the testimony of its gratitude for the services which the Cheva- lier de la Luzerne has rendered to the union, has just given his name to a new county. Monroe to Madison, N'ew YorJc, 29 Sept., 1786. Dear Sir : Since my last it has been proposed that each delegation be at liberty to communicate to the legislature of the state to which they belong the projects of Mr. Jay and the proceedings of congress thereon, and negatived. The journal has been handed to Mr. Jay. As yet he has said nothing, nor have we information what course he means to take, except from those here in his party, who affirm he will proceed. I wrote some weeks since to Colonel Mason upon this sub- ject, at the time I wrote Governor Henry, but have received no answer from him, from which circumstance, as well as that of R. H. Lee's being in the opposite sentiment, there is room to conjecture he is not with us. R. H. L., I conclude, has been influenced by Arthur, who has been intriguing on the other side to serve his own purposes, and leaving the business of the treasury board to Billy Duer. Bland is also in the assembly, so that possibly the pai-ty in favor of this pro- ject may have advocates with us. I hope Colonel Grayson hath recov- ered. Be so kind as to make my best respects to himself and lady, and believe me your friend and servant, etc. Henry Hill to Washington, Philadelphia, 1 Oct., 17S6. Ex,. I lately had the pleasure of hearing Mr. King's harangue to ouf assembly on the subject of the commission with which he and Mr. Monroe were charged by congress. It was truly, to the best of my judgment, adapted to insure applause even from an Attic audience.' Virginia appeared in the most advantageous light. Should her liberal support of the union be withdrawn, and Pennsylvania refuse hers, he represented with wonderful effect what would become of our state regulations, of the renown of our heroes and patriots ; they would all be swept away and utterly lost. The impression made on the house in favor of the point " suppli- cated" was remarkably though tacitly confessed, and had the mera- * J. P. Brissot, Xonveau Voyage, i. l'7r>, le plus eloquent des Etats-ITnis. Ce qni says of King : " il. King, que je vis ^ ce me f rappa dans lui, c'etait sa modestie. II diner (chez Hamilton), passait pour I'homme parassait igaoier ce qu'il valait." 398 APPENDIX. bers individually been questioned on the spot whether the impost should be granted without reserve, no one doubts it would have suc- ceeded. They chose, however, on cool deliberation to refer the im- portant business to the next assembly. Whether or not such a meas- ure is practicable appears very doubtful. 3L'. Temple to Lord Carmarthen, JVeic YorJc, Jp Oct., 1786. Ex. My Lord : In my letter No. 5, of the ninth of April, I took the liberty of offering my sentiments briefly to your lordship upon the then prospect of public affairs in these states, and mentioned that I thought the necessary supj^lies for the support of government and to pay the interest only of their public debt would soon be found too great and weighty for these people to bear ; that period is now ap- proaching fast. Mobs, tumults, and bodies of men in arms are now on tiptoe in various parts of this country, all tending to the dissolu- tion of not only what is called the supreme power (congress) but to bring into contempt and disregard the legislatures and governments of the several states. At this hour, while I am writing, I have un- doubted intelligence that at Springfield (a county town in the state of Massachusetts) more than fifteen hundred men in arms are there as- sembled to stop the proceedings of the courts of justice until the con- stitution of government be altered and reformed to their approbation ! and that about one thousand militia (horse and foot), by order of the governor, are there also assembled to support government against the said insurgents ! In the mean time the governor of that state hath, by special proclamation, called the legislature to meet as upon last Thursday ; and upon the proceedings and doings of that legislature it seems to depend whether or not arms shall decide the matter between the contending parties ! Public affairs are much the same in the state of New Hampshire. The whole legislative body of that state were, for four hours, prisoners in the hands of a tumultuous assembly in arms ! Indeed, dissatisfaction and uneasiness prevail more or less throughout this country ; the greater part of the people poor, and many in desperate circumstances, do not, it seems, want any govern- ment at all, but had rather have all power and property reduced to a level, and it is more than probable that general confusion will take place before any ])ermanent government be estal)lished in this un- happy country. Perhaps, in the hour of their confusion and distress, some or all of the states may seek for European friendship, counsel, LETTERS AND PAPERS. 399 and advice ; if they do, ray most hearty wish is, that wisdom may lead them to look up to that sovereign to whom they once happily belanged, and who only, of all sovereigns upon earth, hath or can have any unfeigned regard for their real welfare and happiness. My voice and my utmost influence in this country, still guided by pru- dence, shall steadfastly and faithfully correspond with such my wishes. Otto to Verffennes, Neio York, 10 Oct., 17 SO. My Lord : The commissioners appointed by various states to pro- pose a general plan of commerce, and to give to congress the jDowers necessary to execute it, assembled at Annapolis in the course of last month. But five states alone being represented, they did not think it best to enter into the main question, and confined themselves to ad- dressing to congress and the different legislatures a report which char- acterizes the present spirit of the politics of this country. In translating this report I have not merely taken the pains to put it into French, but to render it intelligible. The effort was made to give to the original an obscurity wliich the people will penetrate with difficulty, but which the strong and enlightened citizens will not fail to turn to account. For a very long time, my lord, the necessity of imparting to the federal government more energy and vigor has been felt, but it has also been felt that the excessive independence granted to the citizens, as regards the states, and to the states as regards congress, is too dear to individuals for them to be deprived of it without great precautions. The people are not ignorant that the natural consequences of an in- crease of power in the government would be a regular collection of taxes, a strict administration of justice, extraordinary duties on im- ports, rigorous executions against debtors — in short, a marked pre- ponderance of rich men and of large proprietors. It is, however, for the interest of the j^eople to guard as much as pos- sible the absolute freedom granted them in a time when no other law was known but necessity, and when an English army, as it were, laid the foundations of the political constitution. In those stormy times it was necessary to agr«ee that all power ought to emanate only from the people ; that everything was subject to its supreme will, and that the magistrates were only its servants. Although there are no nobles in America, there is a class of men de- nominated "gentlemen," who, by reason of their wealth, their talents. 400 APPENDIX. their ediicatioB, their families, or the offices they hold, aspire to a pre- eminence which the people refuse to grant them ; and, although many of these men have betrayed the interests of their order to gain popu- larity, there reigns among them a connection so much the more inti- mate as they almost all of them dread the efforts of the people to despoil them of their possessions, and, moreover, they are creditors, and therefore interested in strengthening the government, and watch- ing over the execution of the laws. These men generally pay very heavy taxes, while the small proprie- tors escape the vigilance of the collectors. The majority of them being merchants, it is for their interest to es- tablish the credit of the United States in Europe on a solid foundation by the exact payment of debts, and to grant to congress powers exten- sive enough to compel the people to contribute for this purpose. The attempt, my lord, has been vain, by pamphlets and other publications, to spread notions of justice and integrity, and to deprive the people of a freedom which they have so misused. By proposing a new organiza- tion of the federal government all minds would have been revolted ; circumstances ruinous to the commerce of America have happily arisen to furnish the reformers with a pretext for introducing innovations. They represented to the people that the American name had become opprobrious among all the nations of Europe ; that the flag of the United States was everywhere exposed to insults and annoyance ; the husbandman, no longer able to export his produce freely, would soon be reduced to extreme want ; it was high time to retaliate, and to convince foreign powers that the United States would not with im- punity suffer such a violation of the freedom of trade, but that strong measures could be taken .only with the consent of the thirteen states, and that congress, not having the necessary powers, it was essential to form a general assembly instructed to present to congress the plan for its adoption, and to point out the means of carrying it into execution. Tlie people, generally discontented with the obstacles in the way of commerco, and scarcely suspecting the secret motives of their oppo- nents, ardently embraced tliis measure, and appointed commissioners, who were to assemble at Annapolis in the beginning of September. The authors of this proposition had no hope, nor even desire, to see the success of this assembly of commissioners, which \vas only intended to prepare a question much more important than that of commerce. LETTEES AND PAPERS. 401 The measures were so well taken that at the end of September no more than five states were represented at Annapolis, and the commis- sioners from the northern states tarried several days at New York, in order to retard their arrival. The states which assembled, after having waited nearly three weeks, separated under the pretext that they were not in sufficient numbers to enter on business, and, to justify this dissolution, they addressed to the different legislatures and to congress a report, the translation of which I have the honor to enclose to you. In this paper the commissioners employ an infinity of circumlocutions and ambiguous phrases to show to their constituents the impossibility of taking into consideration a general plan of commerce and the pow- ers pertaining thereto, without at the same time touching upon other objects closely connected with the prosperity and national importance of the United States. Without enumerating these objects, the commissioners enlarge upon the present crisis of public affairs, upon the dangers to which the eon- federation is exposed, ujjon the want of credit of the United States abroad, and upon the necessity of uniting, under a single point of view, the interests of all the states. They close by proposing, for the month of May next, a new assem- bly of commissioners, instructed to deliberate not only upon a general plan of commerce, but upon other matters which may concern the har- mony and welfare of the states, and upon the means of rendering the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union. In spite of the obscurity of this document, you will perceive, my lord, that the commissioners were unwilling to take into consideration the grievances of commerce, which are of exceeding interest for the people, without at the same time perfecting the fundamental constitu- tion of congress. It is hoped that new commissioners will be appointed, with ample powers to deliberate on these important objects, and to place congress in a position not only to form resolutions for the prosperity of the union, but to execute them. Monroe to Jefferson, JSTexo York, 12 Oct., 17S6. Ex. I set out to-morrow for Virginia with Mrs. Monroe by land. My residence will be for the present in Fredericksburg. ]My attention is turned to Albemarle for my ultimate abode. The sooner I fix there VOL. n. 26 402 APPE^T)IX. the more agreeable it will be to me. I should be liappy to keep clear of the bar if possible, and at present I am wearied with the business in which I have been engaged. It has been a year of excessive labor and fatigue, and unprofitably so. n. Lee, Jr., to Washington, Kexc Yorl:, 17 Oct., 1786. Ex. My dear General : In my last letter I detailed the eastern com- motions and communicated my apprehensions of their objects and issue. G. Knox has just returned from thence, and his report, grounded on his own knowledge, is replete with melancholy information. We are all in dire apprehension that a beginning of anarchy with all its calamities has approached, and have no means to stop the dread- ful work. Individuals suggest the propriety of inviting you from con- gress to pay us a visit, knowing your unbounded influence, and believ- ing that your appearance among the seditious might bring them back to peace and reconciliation,* David Stuart to Washington, JRichmond, S Kov., 17S6. Ex. Dear Sir : You will learn the issue of this from the enclosed note.' The strong language in which this offspring of iniquity is condemned will, it is hoped, have some operation on future fegislatures, and by banishing the idea of it from among the people be the means of en- couraging-industry and economy, the true sources of public happiness. From a conception that the vote on this subject might have some effect on the policy of other states where the measure is not yet adopted, the printer was ordered to publish it, with a request to the printers throughout the continent to do the same. As a further proof of the high regard which seems at present to prevail for the preservation of national faith, I have to inform you that an attempt to reduce the certificates by a scale has been unani- mously rejected. The ease with which these two bugbears have been removed give me a hope that a similar propriety will characterize all the proceed- ings of the present assembly. You have, no doubt, heard that the attorney [Edmund Randolph] ' This i3 from the Icttor to which Wash- cnco is to be founrl, or, if attainable, that insrtoii, on tlu; thirty first, in part replies: it would 1)0 a proper remedy for the disor- " You talk, my f;of)d sir, of employing inllu- dcra. Influence is no E;ovcrnnient." cncc to nppca'^e the present tumulis in Mas- " Resolutions coudcmaiug paper money. eachuHC'tts. I know not where that inllu- LETTEES AND PAPERS. 403 was a candidate for the chief magistracy. As there has never been a senate before yesterday, the election for this place and delegates to congress was made. The attorney was chosen by a great majority. The other candidates were R. H. Lee and Colonel Bland. The dele- gates to congress are Messrs. Madison, Grayson, Carrington, R. II. Lee, and Joseph Jones. Colonel Lee, you observe, is left out. From the progress made to-day in two acts, one for immediately empowering commissioners to meet for the purpose of fixing on similar taxes on imported articles with the states of Maryland and Pennsylva- nia, and the other agreeable to the recommendation of the commission- ers at Annapolis, there can be little doubt of their ultimately passing. The subject of the latter commission — the amending the articles of the confederation — is important and delicate, but absolutely necessary. From some conversation with Mr. Madison on this business I have reason to think you will be requested to act in it. D. Humphreys to Washington, New Haven, 9 Kov., 1786. Ex. In Massachusetts the assembly of that state are occupied in remov- ing all the real subjects of hardship and complaint. They have like- wise passed a new riot act, and given some indications of spirit in support of government. But still the preparations and sj'^stematic arrangements on the part of the mob do not cease. You will have seen by the speech of Mr. King before that legislature that congress consider themselves as the guarantees of each state government, and bound to interfere in its support under certain circumstances. Olto to Verjemies, Neio Tor/:, 10 Nov., 17S6. Ex. The resolutions of the convention of Annapolis, which I had the honor to communicate to you, have as yet been adopted only by Virginia. The other states are little disposed to introduce a new system of confederation, and congress appears to wish to reserve to . itself the right of proposing the changes necessary to consolidate the union. With this view it has appointed a grand committee, composed of a member from each state, to submit the alterations to be made in the old system. Wash'mgton to Thomas Johnson, 12 Nov., 1786. Ex. The want of energy in the federal government ; the pulling of one state and parts of states against another ; and the commotions among 404 APPENDIX. the eastern people, have sunk our national character much below par, and have brought our politics and credit to the brink of a precipice. A step or two more must plunge us into inextricable ruin. Liberality, justice, and unanimity in those states which do not appear to have drunk so deep of the cup of folly may yet retrieve our affairs, but no time is to be lost in essaying the reparation of them. Was/ii?}r/ton to David Stuart, 19 N'ov., 1786. Ex. However delicate the revision of the federal system may appear, it is a work of indispensable necessity. The present constitution is inad- equate ; the superstructure is tottering to its foundation, and without helps will bury us in its ruins. Although I never more intended to appear on a public theatre, and had in a public manner bid adieu to public life, yet, if the voice of my country had called me to this im- portant duty, I might, in obedience to the repeated instances of its attention and confidence, have dispensed with these ; but an objection now exists which would render my acceptance of this appointment impracticable with any degree of consistency. Washington to Edmund Randolph, 19 Kov., 1786. Dear Sir : It gave me great pleasure to hear that the voice of the country had been directed to you as chief magistrate of this common- wealth, and that you had accepted the appointment. Our affairs seem to be drawing to an awful crisis ; * it is necessary, therefore, that the abilities of every man should be drawn into action in a public line, to rescue them, if possible, from impending ruin. As no one seems more fully impressed with the necessity of adopting such measures than yourself, so none is better qualified to be entrusted with the reins of government. I congratulate you on this occasion, and, with sincere regard and respect, am, etc. William Grayson to Monroe, New York, 22 Nov., 1786. Ex. Colonel Lee has heard of his being left out of the delegation, and is far from being pleased at the circumstance ; I own I am surprised at R. II. Lee's being continued, when he did not serve a day last year ; * Washinf^on's words reappear in Gov- breathes a spirit truly federal, and contains emor Randolph, of Vii^o baits will render the negotiations of England very easy in America. 414 APPEISTDIX. The recent arrangements made in France in regard to the trade in to- bacco have given the greatest satisfaction here. Rice becomes hence- forth the most important object of our commercial negotiations, not only because it is largely consumed in France, but because Carolina offers a large market for our finer goods as well as for the most common wool- len stuffs for the negroes. This object, however, would depend in great part on our present position with regard to the seaports of the Levant. Lord Dorchester to Lord S>/d)iey, Quebec, 28 Feb., 1787. Ex. My Lord : The grand council of Lidians held near the mouth of the Detroit river have sent to the United States and desired that all hos- tilities may cease, that deputies from each side may meet in spring to make a peace, and settle a reasonable boundary line, and that in the mean time they would prevent their surveyors and people from cross- ing the Ohio. This business despatched, they held a second council at Detroit, the object of which was to desire I would inform them what assistance they might expect from us should the states refuse them a reasonable peace. My letter to the superintendent of Indians will show your lordship what I had already said on this subject, and to this I shall refer them. It has been intimated proposals have been made to con- gress for the surprisal of the Fort of Niagara. This is scarcely possi- ble, but with the assistance of the Indians of that neighborhood, or after their departure, for which I understand the six nations are pre- paring with intentions to join the Mohawks at Grand river on the north side of Lake Erie. This situation of affairs renders it necessary to arrange the militia so that regular corps may be speedily formed therefrom, agreeable to the plan I had the honor to present to your lordship, I think it was in April last. Should I succeed, it will equally strengthen the interests of this country and of Great Britain ; if not, our tenure here is very pre- carious. I can have no doubt of the passing of a bill for this purpose, nor of the good intentions of the legislative council, though I am sorry to say there is not tliat harmony among them I could wish ; this I think of little consequence, l)ut a people so disused to military ser- vices for twenty-seven years do not Avillingly take up tlie firelock and march to the frontier when their passions are not strongly agitated. P. S. — Mr. Shays, who headed the ]\rassachusetts insurgents, arrived in this province the twenty-fourth instant with four of his officers. LETTEES AND PAPEES. 415 Otto to Yerrjennes, JVeio YorJc, 5 March, 1787. Ex. The situation of congress with respect to the treaty with Spain be- comes more embarrassing from day to day. The inhabitants of Ken- tucky and of Frankland do not merely insist on the free navigation of the Mississippi, but they threaten to commit hostile acts against the inhabitants of Louisiana unless Spain renounces its exclusive system. Quite recently they stopped two Spanish vessels carrying on a trade with Fort St. Vincent, on the Wabash. " If the Spaniards," they say, " will not permit us to descend the river, we, in turn, will prevent them from ascending it." They propose to arm ten thousand men, and to make a way for themselves across to the colony of Santa Fe. Some delegates of New England begin to declare themselves for the opening of the Mississippi. " Although we are persuaded," one of the most moderate among them said to me, " that the regions of the west will by degrees absorb our population, a greater evil — the fear that those vast countries will yield to England in order to obtain from her the protection which we refuse them — leads us to wish for the free naviga- tion of the Mississippi as the only means of keeping them subject to the laws of congress." Monthly Report to the T>rithh Government. P. A., eighth March, 1787, writes that he has a " mercantile " mem- ber of congress with him, whose expenses exceed his income, who would enter into " business " relations with the British " house " on a " liberal plan." Instructions must be particular, in order " that the goods may be packed up in as small a compass as possible." P. A., fifth April, 1787, writes that the member of congress is ready to send " such samples as lays within the line of his business, every packet to be directed to such person as shall be named in England, neither the contents nor the packet am I to be trusted with, he taking on himself to send them, as my detaining one letter would forever put it in my power to ruin him." This M. C. is a delegate from his state to the convention at Phila- delphia for forming a new federal union, and P. A. thinks he will be of more service than " half a dozen Temples or Bonds ; the first thinks the post beneath him since his being a baronet, and the other knows not anything of the mercantile line ; he has been, ever since his arrival here, endeavoring, by the assistance of his friends, to 416 APPENDIX. get his attainder removed by the interest of that old rascal Frank- lin." E. Randolph to Washington, Michinond, 2 April, 17S7. Dear Sir : Your favor of the twenty-seventh ult. was handed to me this moment. Solicitous as I am for your aid at Philadelphia, I could not prevail upon myself to wish you to go, unless your health would fully permit. But, indeed, my dear sir, everything^ travels so fast to confusion that I trust one grand effort will be made by the friends of the United States. There is a decided prospect of a representation, and the board have peremptorily determined not to fill up another vacancy. The mem- bers now in nomination are, Mr. Madison, Mr. Mason, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Blair, Mr. R. H. Lee, and myself. You will oblige me by saying how I shall forward the money to be advanced from the treasury. You recollect that congress have altered the day of meeting to the fourteenth of May, at which time it is my purpose to take you by the hand. I am, dear sir, your affectionate friend, etc. Temple to the Marquis of Carmarthen, New YorTx, 5 April, 1787. Ex. My Lord : At present the general attention is chiefly turned to what will be done next month at Philadelphia by a convention of the thirteen states, who meet then for the purpose of altering or revising the confederation. Various are the opinions about this same conven- tion. Many think there will be great discord, and the convention break up Avithout doing anything, and in consequence thereof two or three separate congresses for the government of these states be estab- lished. Sydney to Lord Dorchester, Whitehall, 5 April, 1787. Ex. My Lord : To afford the Indians active assistance would at the present moment be a measure extremely imprudent, but at the same time it would not become us to refuse them such supplies of ammuni- tion as might enable them to defend themselves, I observe by Colonel lirant's letter that they are in great want of that article, and, circum- stanced as they now are, there cannot be any objection to your furnish- ing them with a su])j)ly, causing it to be done in a way the least likely to alarm the Americans, or to induce the Indians to think that there is a disposition on our part to incite them to any hostile proceedings. LETTERS AND PAPEES. 417 David Ramsay to Jefferson^ 7 Ajyril, 1787. Ex. Our governments in the soutliern states are much more quiet than in the northern, but much of our quiet arises from the temj^orizing of the legislature in refusing legal protection to the jbrosecution of the just rights of the creditors. Our eyes now are all fixed on the con- tinental convention to be held in Philadelphia in May next. Unless they make an efficient federal government, I fear that the end of the matter will be an American monarchy, or rather three or more con- federacies. In either case we have not labored in vain in effecting the late revolution, for such arrangements might be made as would secure our happiness. Humphreys to 'VTasldngton^ Fairfield, 9 April, 1787. Ex. If the difference of opinion among the members of this national assembly should be as great as the variety of sentiments concerning the result^ the progress of business before it will be attended with infinite embarrassment. Besides the two primary objects of discus- sion, viz. : 1st, Whether the old constitution can be supported, or, 2d, Whether a new one must be established, I expect a serious proposal will be made for dividing the continent into two or three separate gov- ernments. Local politics and diversity of interests will undoubtedly find their way into the convention. Nor need it be a matter of sur- prise to find there, as subjects of infinite disagreement, the whole western country as well as the navigation of the Mississippi. Should you think proper to attend, you will indisputably be elected president. This would give the measures a degree of national conse- quence in Eui'ope and with posterity. But how far (under some supposable case) your personal influence, unattended with other au- thority, may compose the jarring interests of a great number of discordant individuals and control events, I will not take upon me to determine. Otto to Vergennes, New yorh, 10 Ajn'il, 1787. Ex, If all the delegates chosen to this convention at Philadelphia are present, Europe will never have seen an assembly more respectable for talents, for knowledge, for the disinterestedness and patriotism of those who compose it. Genei'al Washington, Dr. Franklin, and a great number of other distinguished personages, though less known in VOL. II. 27 •418 APPENDIX. Europe, have been called thither. Xo doubt the interests of the eon- federation M'ill be more thoroughly discussed than ever before. J3. Gale to W. S. Jolmson^ Killing loorth, 19 April, 1787. Ex. HoN". AND Deak Sir : Your opposition to the convention has done you great honor among republicans, and could you adopt this senti- ment honestly, that all lands ceded by treaty and all forfeited estates were ceded and forfeited to the whole confederacy, and make a rea- sonable proposal for the rendering civil process more concise and less expensive, it would render your country eminent service, etc., etc. It. JR. Livingston to Lafayette, Kexo Yorlc, 21^. x\pril, 1787. Ex. The population of New York in the last twelve years, notwithstand- ing the numbers desti'oyed by the war and the still greater numbers that have left us, has increased 40,000 souls, exclusive of Vermont, which, if taken into the calculation, would carry our numbers from 190,000, which was its greatest extent before the war, to 280,000, as appears by our last census. Few traces remain in the country of the ravages of war : lands are cultivated, houses built, new lands cleared, new sources of commerce opened, and what is the best criterion of the state of trade is that the commodities and labor of the country still bear a better price than they did before the war. Washington to Major- General Knox, 27 Ajyril, 1787. Ex. Though so much afflicted with a rheumatic complaint (of which I have not been entirely free for six months) as to be under the neces- sity of carrying my arm in a sling for the last ten days, I had fixed on Monday next for my departure, and had made every necessary arrange- ment for the purpose, when (within this hour) I am called by an express, who assures me not a moment is to be lost, to see a mother and only sister (who are supposed to be in the agonies of death) ex- pire ; and I am hastening to obey this melancholy call, after having just buried a brother Mdio was the intimate companion of my youth, and the friend of my ripened age. Grayson to Monroe, New Yorl; 30 April, 1787. Ex. Dkati Sin : AlTairs go on here very slowly ; Mr. Jay has reported to congress that he and Gardoqui liave adjusted an article in which the navigation of a certain river is given up ; that Mr. Gardoqui has LETTERS AXD PAPERS. 419 wrote for instructions respecting the limits ; the English of the mat- ter is that Rendon has gone to Spain on this business, and, if that court gives up the limits, I have no doubt but the design is to conclude the treaty immediately. The convention are to meet soon, but am satisfied will effect nothing ; or, if they do, that the states will not confirm. The insurgents of Massachusetts have got full possession of the government constitu- tionally ; they talk of a depreciating paper and other villainous acts, and I have no doubt but they will be precisely in the situation of Rhode Island without delay. Congress have agreed to sell the town- ships that have been surveyed at this place. We have made an unsuc- cessful attempt at indiscriminate locations ; a treaty with Morocco is concluded ; the Count de Vergennes dead ; a close alliance talked of between the king of Prussia and the emperor ; Vermont and Great Britain upon close and secret terms. You may rely upon me in any instance where I can serve you, and the opportunity of doing this will always give me real happiness. Consider this letter as confidential. William Short to Madison, Paris, 7 May, 1787. Ex. Dear Sir : The Marquis de Lafayette exerts every nerve to pre- vent the present unfavorable ideas from increasing, and he is re- proached every day with the want of faith, if not the bankruptcy of America. Their want of money makes them feel too sensibly at present our want of punctuality. It is in vain that the Marquis tells them they ought not to be surprised at the deranged finances of a young country, just rising from the devastations of war, since so old a government as France, and that in time of peace, should find itself in its pi'esent situation. Arguments like this, sir, are of little avail except with a few thinking men, and will not be able to counteract the ill effects of the clamors of those foreign officers dispersed in every part of the kingdom, who served in America, and who think themselves ruined by congress because the interest of their pay is not furnished them — nor of the murmurs of the treasury here because they have not received the annual interest, and a part of the principal of the American debt. These are the opinions of our federal circumstances — but the cir- cumstances of the states taken individually make a very different im- pression, and of no state more than Virginia. It is but just to men- 420 APPENDIX. tion it to you, sir, who have contributed so much, by your exertions in the legislature, to the fame she has acquired in every part of Europe, even in England, where all ranks of people, from the crown to the shopkeeper, may be considered as in a state of war with whatever is American. The act respecting Kentucky, that on religion, and the almost unanimous refusal either to emit a paper currency or meddle with the certificates of public credit, have acquired our state, sir, a degree of eclat and of honor of which it is difficult to form an idea. liochcnnbeau to JVashlngton, Paris, 12 May, 17S7. My dear General : It is dreadful to live so far that we do from one another. I receive but in this moment the letter wherewith you have honored me on the thirty-first July ultimate, that you put aboard of an English ship, which after he had made its trade has at last sent it to Havre this last days. But whatever was the cause of the tardy news I receive from you, I am always charmed to see that my dear general and my good friend is enjoying of his glorious and philosoph- ical retreat, where he has known fixed his glory and his happiness. AVe are here in a terrible crisis of finances, which has occasioned an assembly of chief men that last yet. You heard speak of the ministry of M. Necker, and of the flourishing state where he had left our finances. A devil of fool, named Calonne, minister of finances since four years, has believed to be bound to take contrary sense of his predecessor, and has made succeed to an economical administration, a prodigality and a devastation which has no example ; being at the end of last j-ear without means, he has imagined an assembly of chief men, in which discovering, in his quality of quack, a part of the wound, he did propose all the remedies of an empiric. The assembly of chief men at last has unmasked him to our virtuous king, that he had the skill to deceive as well as a part of his council. He has been lately dismissed, and his office is given to the Archbishop de Toulouse, the knowledge, probity, order, and talents of w^hich give the greatest hopes to the nation. You know enough my character to think that it wuuld not sympathize with that of M. de Calonne, and consequently he did not put me in that assembly, that I have been very glad of. He had also forgot the Marquis de Lafayette. I should have desired ho had taken the same course, but his ardor did not permit him to be quiet. We are still in the middle of this crisis which tends to its end, but to comfort us of this misfortune, I will tell you a word of the LETTEES AISTD PAPERS. 421 late king of Prussia, -svhicli said to the Count d'Esterno, our minister : " I have been brought up in the middle of the unhappiness of France ; my cradle was surrounded with refugees Protestants, that about the end of the reign of Louis XIV. and at the beginning of the regency of the Due d'Orleans, told me that the France was at the agony, and could not exist three years. I known in the course of my reign that the France has such a temper, that there is no bad minister, nor bad generals which be able to kill it, and that constitution has made rise it again of all its crisis with strength and vigor. It want no other rem- edy but time and keep a strict course of diet." It is to the Arch- bishop de Toulouse to make use of this two means under a king born virtuous and without passions. I have been very sorry, my dear general, of the General Green's death. I knew him by reputation and correspondence, and I loved very much all his relations. My consolation, my dear general, is that with sobriety and philosophy you live under a pure sky and in good air, and that Mount Yernon will conserve a long time to the America its heroes and my friend. My respects to Mad. Washington, to all your family, and to all my anciente camarades and friends. George Mason to George Mason, Jr., Philadelplda, 20 May, 1787. Ex. Dear George : Upon our arrival here on Thursday evening, seven- teenth May, I found only the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania fully represented ; and there are at this time only five — Kew Yorkj the two Carolinas, and the two before mentioned. All the states, Rhode Island excepted, have made their appointments ; but the members drop in slowly ; some of the deputies from the eastern states are here, but none of them have yet a sufficient representation, and it will probably be several days before the convention will be authorized to proceed to business. The expectations and hopes of all the union centre in this convention. God grant that we may be able to concert effectual means of preserving our country from the evils which threaten us. The Virginia deputies (who are all here) meet and confer together two or three hours every day, in order to form a proper correspondence of sentiments ; and for form's sake, to see what new deputies are ar- rived, and to grow into some acquaintance with each other, we regu- 422 APPENDIX. larly meet every day at three o'clock p, m. at the state-house. These and some occasional conversations with the deputies of different states, and with some of the general officers of the late army (who are here upon a general meeting of the Cincinnati), are the only op- portunities I have hitherto had of forming any ojDiuion upon the great subject of our mission, and, consequently, a very imperfect and 'inde- cisive one. Yet, upon the great principles of it, I have reason to hope there will be greater unanimity and less 02:)position, except from the little states, than was at first apprehended. The most prevalent idea in the principal states seems to be a total alteration of the present federal system, and substituting a great national council or ijarliament, consisting of tAvo branches of the legislature, founded upon the prin- ciples of equal proportionate reiDresentation, with full legislative pow- ers upon all the objects of the union ; and an executive : and to make the several state legislatures subordinate to the national, by giving the latter the power of a negative upon all such laws as tbey shall judge contrary to the interest of the federal union. It is easy to foresee that there will be much difficulty in organizing a government upon this great scale, and at the same time reserving to the state legislatures a sufficient portion of power for j^romoting and securing the prosperity and happiness of their respective citizens ; yet, with a proper degree of coolness, liberality, and candor (very rare commodities by the bye), I doubt not but it may be effected. There are among a variety some very eccentric opinions ujion this great subject ; and what is a very extraordinary phenomenon, ^\'e are likely to find the republicans, on this occasion, issue from the southern and middle states, and the anti- republicans from the eastern ; however extraordinary this may at first seem, it may, I think, be accounted for from a very common and nat- ural impulse of the human mind. Men disappointed in expectations too hastily and sanguinely formed, tired and disgusted with the un- expected evils they have experienced, and anxious to remove them as far as possible, are very apt to run into the opposite extreme ; and the people of the eastern states, setting out with more republi- can principles, have consequently been more disappointed than we have been. We found travelling very expensive — from eight to nine dollars per day. In this city the living is cheap. We are at the old Indian Queen in Fourth street, where we are very well' accommodated, have a good room to oui'selves, and are charged only twenty-iive Penn- LETTEES AND PAPEES. 423 sylvania currency per day, including our servants and horses, exclu- sive of club iu liquors and extra charges ; so that I hope I shall be able to defray my expenses with my public allowance, and more than that I do not wish. Knox to President Sullivan, Philadelphia, 21 May, 1787. Mt dear Sir : As an old friend, a number of gentlemen, members of the convention, have pressed me to Avrite to you, soliciting that you urge the departure of the delegates from New Hampshii-e. Impressed most fully with the belief that we are yerging fast to anarcby, and that the present convention is the only means of avoid- ing the most flao-itious evils that ever afflicted three millions of free- men, I have cheerfully consented to their request ; and beg leave to have recourse to your kind friendship for an excuse, if any is neces- sary. There are here a number of the most respectable characters from several states, among whom is our illustrious friend General "Washington, who is extremely anxious on the subject of the Kew Hampshire delegates. A number of states sufficient for organization, and to commence business, will assemble this week. If the delegates come on, all the states, excepting Rhode Island, will be shortly repre- sented. Endeavor, then, my dear sir, to push this matter with all our powers. I am persuaded, from the present complexion of opinions, that the issue will prove that you have highly served your country in promoting the measure. Grayson to 3Iadison, JVeio York, 2Jf. May, 1787. Dear Sir : Some particular gentlemen have offered to join us in getting Georgetown fixed as the capital of the federal empire ; they say they will vote money for the buildings, and in every respect make the compact as irrevocable as the nature of the case will admit of, pro- vided we will agree to stay here a reasonable time, until everything is made proper for their reception. I am not certain when all the east- ern states come forward, but some good may come out of this, pro- vided we act with delicacy and caution. Most of the foreigners who come among us say the sessions of congress should be fixed by national compact ; I think they are right iu their reasoning with respect to all such governments as ours. The arguments are too obvious to be men- tioned to you. We have a right to it at Georgetown, and ought in justice to get it. 424 APPENDIX. Grayson to Monroe, Keio TorJc, 29 May, 1787. Ex. Dear Sir : I hardly think the convention will be dissolved these three months. What will be the result of their meeting I cannot with any certainty determine, but I hardly think much good can come of it ; the people of America don't appear to me to be ripe for any great in- novations, and it seems they are ultimately to ratify or reject. The weight of General Washington, as you justly observe, is very great in America, but I hardly think it is sufficient to induce the people to pay money or part with power. I shall make no obsei'vations on the southern states, but I think they will be (perhaps from different motives) as little disposed to part with efficient power as any in the union. From Monthly Reports to the British Oovernment, June, 1787. Ex. My opinion is, your interest consists in disuniting them, and that they do not agree to fulfil the preliminai'ies of peace, or fully to enter into a commercial negotiation ; for, by those means, you secure to yourselves the whole of the fur trade, and keep the peoj^le of the six northern states in a continual ferment. You may depend, your party gains ground daily, and, should there ever be a war between the United States and Great Britain, I can assure you that, where you had one friend the last war, you would find three now, for the people at large liave been deceived, cheated, and ruined by congress ; the individual states have tenfold taxes to joay ; and nine tenths of their commerce deprived them which they enjoyed before the rebellion. Nor should I be surprised that, in the space of few years, we should send you deputies, to take us on the same footing as Ireland, a glorious transac- tion to be performed by your house. George 3Tason to George Mason, Jr., Philadelphia, IJime, 1787. Ex. The idea I formerly mentioned to you, before the convention met, of a great national council, consisting of two branches of the leg- islature, a judiciary, and an executive (upon the principles of fair representation in tlie legislature), with powers adapted to the great objects of the union, and consequently a control, in those instances, on the state legislatures, is still the prevalent one. Virginia has had the honor of presenting the outlines of the plan upon Avhich the con- veuiiun is j)rocecding, but so slowly that it is impossible to judge when LETTERS AND PAPEE9. 425 the business will be finished ; most probably not before August. Festina lente may very well be called our motto. When I first came here, judging from casual conversations with gentlemen from the dif- ferent states, I was very apprehensive that, soured and disgusted with the unexpected evils we had experienced from the democratic princi- ples of our governments, we should be apt to run into the opposite extreme, and in endeavoring to steer too far from Scylla, we might be drawn into the vortex of Charybdis, of which I still think there is some danger, though I have the pleasure to find, in the convention, many men of firm republican principles. America has certainly upon this occasion drawn forth her first characters ; there are upon this con- vention many gentlemen of the most respectable abilities, and, so far as I can yet discover, of the purest intentions ; the eyes of the United States are turned uj^on this assembly, and their expectations raised to a very anxious degree. May God grant we may be able to gratify them by establishing a wise and just government. For my own part, I never before felt myself in such a situation, and declare I would not, upon pecuniary motives, serve in this convention for a thousand pounds per day. The revolt from Great Britain, and the formations of our, new governments at that time, were nothing compared with the great business now before us. There was then a certain degree of enthu- siasm which inspired and supported the mind ; but, to view through the calm, sedate medium of reason, the influence which the establish- ments now proposed may have upon the hapi:»iness or misery of mill- ions yet unborn, is an object of such magnitude as absorbs, and in a manner suspends, the operation of the human understanding. P. S. — All communications of the proceedings are forbidden during the sitting of the convention ; this, I think, was a necessary precaution to prevent misrepresentation, or mistakes, there being a material dif- ference between the appearance of a subject in its first crude and indi- gested shape, and after it shall have been properly matured and ar- ranged. Temple to Carmarthen, New Yorh, 7 June, 11 SI. Ex. My Lord : Delegates for eleven of these states are now sitting (with General Washington for their president) in convention at Phila- delphia. Their principal object is to form a federal establishment that shall answer for the government of this now distracted and un- happy country, either by a revision of the present articles of coufed- 426 APPENDIX eration, or by adopting others entirely new. So many different senti- ments and clashing interests will i^robably meet in contact upon the occasion, that great doubts are justly entertained whether any meas- ures will be unanimously adopted by the convention ; or, if that should happen, Avhether all the states will ratify and abide by what the dele- gates may determine upon. The little state of Rhode Island hath already gone so retrograde to the articles of confederation, and to the subsequent orders and doings of congress, and having not thought proper to send delegates to the convention, it is already seriously talked of, the annihilating of Rhode Island as a state, and to divide that territory (I mean the government of it) between Massachusetts and Connecticut. The delegates in convention are at present acting under the most solemn injunctions of secrecy, so that it is not yet in my power to mention what progress they have made. "Whenever it may be in my power, I shall have the honor of communicating it to your lordship. Since the date of my last letter, three ships have arrived from Can- ton — one at Philadelphia, one at Salem, and the other here — loaded with the produce and manufactures of the East, and several more ships are expected ; their cargoes sell at a very low price for specie, which is daily becoming scarcer in these states. E. Carr'ington to Jefferson, JVeto YorJc, 9 June, 17 87. Ex. The proposed scheme of a convention has taken more general effect, and promises more solid advantages than was at first hoped for. The commissions of these gentlemen go to a thorough refonii of our confederation ; some of the states at first restricted their deputies to commercial objects, but have since liberated them. The latitude thus given, together with the generality of the commission from the states, have doubtless operated to bring General Washington forward. In every public act he hazards without a possibility of gaining reputa- tion ; he already possesses everything to be derived from the love or confidence of a free people, yet it seems that it remained for himself to add a lustre to his character by this patriotic adventure of all for his country's good alone. The importance of this event is every day growing in the public mind, and it will, in all probabilities, produce a happy era in our political existence. Taking a view of the circumstances which have occasioned our calamities, and the present state of things and opinions, LETTERS AND PAPERS. 427 I am flattered with this prospect. Public events in the United States since the peace have given a cast to the American character which is by no means its true countenance. Delinquencies of the states in their federal obligations, acts of their legislatures violating public treaties and private contracts, and an universal imbecility in the public admin- istrations, it is true, form the great features of our political conduct ; but these have resulted rather from constitutional defects and acci- dental causes than the natural dispositions of the people. The nefarious acts of state governments have proceeded not from the will of the people ; peace once obtained, men whose abilities and integrity had gained the entire popular confidence retired from the busy scene ; mere adventurers in fraud were left to act unopposed. Hence have proceeded paper money, breaches of treaty, etc. The duc- tility of the multitude is fully evidenced in the case of the late tumults in Massachusetts. Men who were of good property, and owed not a shilling, were involved in the train of desperadoes to suppress the courts. A full representation of the public affairs from the general court, through the clergy, has reclaimed so great a proportion of the deluded that a rebellion, which a few months ago threatened the sub- version of the government, is, by measures scarcely deserving the name of exertion, suppressed. In this experiment it is proved that full intel- ligence of the public affairs not only would keep the people right, but will set them so after they have got wrong. Civil liberty, in my opinion, never before took up her residence in a country so likely to afford her a long and grateful protection as the United States. A people more generally enlightened than any other under the sun, and in the habit of owning instead of being mere ten- ants in the soil, must be proportionably alive to her sacred rights and qualified to guard them ; and I am persuaded that the time is fast ap- proaching when all these advantages will have their fullest influence. Our tendency to anarchy, and consequent despotism, is felt, and the alarm is spreading ; men are brought into action who had consigned themselves to an eve of rest, and the convention, as a beacon, is rous- ing the attention of the empire. The prevailing impression, as well in as out of convention, is that a federal government, adapted to the permanent circumstances of the country, without respect to the habits of the day, will be formed, whose efficiency shall pervade the whole empire ; it may, and proba- bly will at first, be viewed with hesitation ; but, derived and patron- 428 APPENDIX. ized as it will be, its influence mnst extend into a general adoption as tbe present fabric gives way. Tbat tbe people are disposed to be gov- erned is evinced in tbeir turning out to support tbe sbadows under wbicb tbey now live, and, if a work of wisdom is prepared for tbem, tbey will not reject it to commit themselves to tbe dubious issue of anarcby. I am certain that nothing less than what will give tbe federal sov- ereignty a complete control over tbe state governments will be thought worthy of discussion. The ideas here suggested are far removed from those which pre- vailed when you was among us ; and as tbey have arisen with the most able from an actual view of events, it is probable you may not be prepared to expect tbem ; they are, however, the most moderate of any which obtain in any general form among reflective and intelli- gent men. E. Gerry to Monroe, PJiUadelj^hia, 11 June, 1787. Ex. The convention is proceeding in tbeir arduous undertaking with eleven states, under an injunction of secrecy on their members. New Hampshire has elected members, who are soon expected. Tbe object of this meeting is very important, in my mind ; unless a system of government is adopted by compact, force, I expect, will plant the stand- ard ; for such an anarch}^ as now exists cannot last long. Gentlemen seem to be impressed with the necessity of establishing some efficient system. I hope it will secure us against domestic as well as foreign invasion. E. Carrington to Madison, Neio YorJc, 13 June, 1787. Ex. Had the rules of the convention permitted communications from thence, you would have conferred an obligation by including me in the number of j'our correspondents upon the subjects of deliberation in that assembly. My curiosity is, however, perfectly suppressed by the propriety of the prohibition. Having matured your opinions and given them a collected form, they will bo fairly presented to the pub- lic and stand their own advocates ; but caught by detachments, and while indeed immature, they would be equally the victims of igno- rance and misrepresentation. The public mind is now on the point of a favorable turn to the objects of your meeting, and, being fairly met wjtii the result, will, I am persuaded, eventually embrace it. Being LETTERS AND PAPERS. 429 calculated for the permanent fitness, and not the momentary habits of the country, it may at first be viewed with hesitation ; but, derived and patronized as it will be, its influence must extend into an adoption as the present fabric gives way. The work once well done will be done forever ; but, patched up in accommodation to the whim of the day, it will soon require the hand of the cobbler again, and in every unfortunate experiment the materials are rendered the less fit for that monument of civil liberty which we wish to erect. Constitute a fed- eral government, invigorate and check it well ; give it then indepen- dent powers over the trade, the revenues, and forces of the union, and all things that involve any relationship to foreign powers ; give it also the revisal of all state acts. Unless it possesses a complete control over the state governments, the constant effort will be to resume the dele- gated powers ; nor do I see what inducement the federal sovereignty can have to negative an innocent act of a state. Constitute it in such shape that, its first principles being preserved, it will be a good republic. I wish to see that system have a fair ex- periment. But let the liability to encroachments be rather from the federal than the state governments. In the first case we shall insensi- bly glide into a monarchy ; in the latter nothing but anarchy can be the consequence. Some gentlemen think of a total surrender of the state sovereignties. I see not the necessity of that measure for giving us national stability or consequence. The negative of the federal sovereignty will effect- ually prevent the existence of any licentious or inconsiderate act, and I believe that even under a monarchy it would be found necessary thus to continue the local administrations. General laws would oper- ate many particular oppressions, and a genei'al legislature would be found incompetent to the formation of local ones. The interests of the United States may be well combined for the common good, but the affairs of so extensive a country are not to be thrown into one mass. An attempt to confederate upon terms materially opposed to the particular interests would in all probability occasion a dismember- ment, and, in that event, within a long time yet to come, the prospects of Amei'ica will be at an end as to any degree of national importance, let her fate be what it may as to freedom or vassalage. Be good enough to present me to your honorable colleagues, and believe me to be, with the utmost sincerity, your affectionate friend and humble servant. 430 APPEKDIX. W?7i. Sam. Johnson to his Son, Philadelphia, 27 June, 1787. Ex. My Dear Sox : I am here attending with Mr. Shearman {sic) and Mr. Elsworth {sic) as delegates, on the part of Connecticut, a grand conA'ention of the United States, for the purpose of strengthening and consolidating the union and proposing a more efficient mode of gov- ernment than that contained in the articles of confederation. We have delegates from eleven states actually assembled, consisting of many of the most able men in America, with General Washington at our head, M'hom we have appointed president of the convention. It is agreed that for the present our deliberations shall be kept secret, so that I can only tell you that much information and eloquence has been displayed in the introductory speeches, and that we have hitherto pre- served great temperance, candor, and moderation in debate, and evinced much solicitude for the public weal. Yet, as was to be expected, there is great diversity of sentiment, which renders it impossible to deter- mine what will be the result of our deliberations. Your most affec- tionate father and friend. Lords of the Council to Dorchester, Whitehall, 13 July, 1787. Ex. With respect to any intercourse by land or by inland navigation between his Majesty's province of Quebec and the territories belong- ing to the United States of America, the committee are of opinion that it should be left to Lord Dorchester, with the advice of the legis- lative council of that province, to make such orders therein as he may think most proper. Nathan Dane to Rufus King, New York, 16 July, 1787. Dear Sir : I am obliged to you for yours of the eleventh instant. With pleasure I communicate to you what we are doing in congress — not so much from a consciousness that what we do is well done as from a desire that you may be acquainted with our proceedings. We have been much engaged in business for ten or twelve days past, for a part of which we have bad eight states. There appears to be a dis- position to do business, and the arrival of R. IT. Lee is of considerable importance. I think his character serves, at least in some degree, to check the effects of the feeble habits and lax mode of tliinking of some of his countrymen. We have been employed about several objects, the principal of which have been the government enclosed and the Ohio LETTERS AIS^D PAPERS. 431 purchase ; the former, you will see, is completed, and the latter will probably be completed to-morrow. We tried one day to patch up M.'s system of W, government ; started new ideas and committed the whole to Carrington, Dane, R. H. Lee, Smith, and Kean. AVe met several times, and at last agreed on some principles ; at least Lee, Smith, and myself. We found ourselves rather pressed. The Ohio company appeared to purchase a large tract of the federal lands — about six or seven millions of acres — and we wanted to abolish the old system and get a better one for the government of the country, and we finally found it necessary to adopt the best system we could get. All agreed finally to the enclosed plan except A. Yates. He appeared in this case, as in most others, not to understand the subject at all. I think the number of free inhabitants — 60,000 — which are requisite for the admission of a new state into the confederacy is too small ; but, having divided the whole territory into three states, this number appears to me to be less important. Each state, in the com- mon course of things, must become important soon after it shall have that number of inhabitants. The eastern state of the three will prob- ably be the first and more important than the rest, and will no doubt be settled chiefly by eastern people ; and there is, I think, full an equal chance of its adopting eastern politics. When I drew the ordi- nance (which passed, a few words excepted, as I oi'iginally formed it), I had no idea the states would agree to the sixth article, prohibiting slavery, as only Massachusetts, of the eastern states, was present, and therefore omitted it in the draft ; but, finding the house favorably disposed on this subject, after we had completed the other parts I moved the article, which was agreed to without opposition. We are in a fair way to fix the terms of our Ohio sale, etc. We have been upon it three days steadily. The magnitude of the purchase makes us very cautious about the terms of it, and the security necessary to ensure the performance of it. [The preceding extract vras communicated to the Xew York Tri- bune, 31 Jan., 1855, by Charles King. Its authenticity is vouched for by Charles R. King, the present custodian of the original.] Otto to 3fontmorin, New YorJc, 20 July, 1787. Ex. The vast territories lying between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the lakes, begin to be of great interest to congress, A company has just offered to that body the sum of five millions 432 APPEKDIX. of dollars, in loan certificates, for a like number of acres, which is considered a very good bargain for the United States. It is certain that that country contains enough land to pay the whole domestic debt of the United States. Colonel Harmer, stationed on the Ohio with seven hundred regu- lars, prevents adventurers from Kentucky crossing the river to seize the land, and even the savages begin to acknowledge the sovereignty of the UniteA States since congress has solemnly announced that it would not dispose of an inch of ground unless it had been previously purchased of the savage tribes dwelling on it. The former division of that country into ten states, which was proposed by Jefferson, ap- peared very imperfect, and subject to great difficulties. Congress has just published a new ordinance, by which all the ter- ritory of the west between the Ohio and the lakes will be included in a single government until a large population renders its division necessary. This ordinance contains very wise provisions in regard to the man- ner of acquiring lands, the appointment of the governor, of the as- sembly, and of the legislative council, commerce and navigation, the rights of the citizen, the formation of courts, and in general all that which relates to the internal oi'ganization of this new colony. Here it is established as a fundamental princijDle that every person of orderly demeanor may reside in that country without being mo- lested on account of religion ; that the inhabitants shall always be enti- tled to the privilege of habeas corpus and of trial by jury ; that they shall lose neither liberty nor property except by the judgment of their peers ; that no law ought ever to be made prejudicial to private prop- erty (this provision has especial reference to the grievances caused by paper money); that it shall not be allowed to take from the savages without their consent the least portion of their lands ; that no deceit shall be employed in treating with them ; that the territory shall for- ever form a part of the confederation, and shall pay its jiart of the public debts and other federal expenses, but shall be taxed only by its own legislature, in the same manner as the states of the union ; that, when its population shall allow, it shall be divided into not more than five states, each one of which shall have the right of sending repre- sentatives to congress whenever it shall give evidence of containing sixty thousand inhabitants ; finally, that slavery shall be forever pro- hibited in the said territory, except in the case' of those whom the laws shall decree quietly of heinous offences. LETTERS A^B PAPERS. 433 Such is the substance of an ordinance which determines the future rights of this territory, a great part of which is still unknown. The wisdom which dictated these various provisions is universally admired, and congress will experience no difficulty in disposing by degrees of all the lands included in this colony. Many delegates have come (to me) to inform me that the United States earnestly desired to show their gratitude to the French generals who distinguished themselves in America by offering to them exten- sive possessions in this new country, but they did not know w^hether the court would approve such a step. I told them that his Majesty would probably receive with great satisfaction this new proof of the attachment of the United States. I think that the parsimony of the northern states will forbid this plan, and that merely the names of Rochambeau, d'Estaing, etc., will be given to certain districts, as has been done in Pennsylvania in order to give to the Chev. de la Luzerne and to the Marquis de Lafayette public testimonials of esteem and gratitude. Memorial of the Ohio Company/, 21 July, 1787. It is proposed by S. H. Parsons, Rufus Putnam, and M. Cutler, for themselves and associates, to purchase of the United States the under- mentioned tract in the western territory of the L^nited States, on the following conditions, viz. : DESCRIPTIOJSr OF THE TRACT. A certain tract of land in the western territoiy of the United States, bounded on the east by the western boundary of the seventh Tange of townships, on the south by the Ohio river, on the west by the river Scioto, and on the north by a due east and west line run from the northwest corner of the south township of the seventh range [reckoning from the Ohio] until it shall intersect the Scioto. CONDITIOTSrS. 1. The price to be three shillings and sixpence, lawful money, or one twelfth of a dollar, per acre, payable in any of the securities of the United States. 2. In payment for the lands, no interest shall be computed on the certificates paid in, provided that indents of interest, signed by the treasurer of the United States, shall be given to the purchasers for all arrearages of interest due on the said certificates to the date of their VOL. n. 28 434 APPENDIX. payment, whicli indents shall be receivable in all tbe general requisi' tions, in proportion assigned to the respective requisitions, on which they may be paid in. 3. The payments of the above purchase to be made in the follow- ing manner, viz. : The first payment shall be within three months, computed from the date of this agreement, and shall amount to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The second payment shall be when the survey of the above tract is made, and shall amount to four hundred thousand dollars. The remainder shall be paid in six equal instalments, at the exjjira- tion of every six months, computed from the date of the second pay- ment. 4. When the first payment is made, an instrument of writing shall be delivered to the purchasers, signed by the president of the United States in congress, and sealed with their seal, declaring that the United States have sold to S. P., R. P., and M. C, and their associates, for and in consideration of one dollar per acre, the tract of land above described. On which the purchasers shall execute another instrument, binding themselves and their associates for the j^ayment of the above purchase, agreeable to the above conditions. And it shall be further declared, in the last mentioned instrument, that the purchasers shall not be entitled to take possession of any part of the lands contained in the above tract only in the following man- ner, viz. : When the first payment is made, they shall have a right to take possession of a certain tract of land bounded east by the seventh range of townships, on the south by the Ohio river, on the west by a line run due north from the western cape of the Great Kanawha, so far as that from its termination ; a line run east to the western boun- dary of the seventh range of townships may comprehend a quantity adequate to the first payment. When the second payment is made, they shall have a right to take possession of as great a quantity of lands as shall be, when added to the aforesaid quantity, equal to the amount of one million of dollars ; which lands sliall be bounded on the east by the western line of the seventh range of townships, on the south by the first location, on the west by a continuation of the line from the Great Kanawha, and on the north by an east and west line to the western boundary of the seventh range of townships. Military riglits, in ratio of one to seven, to be admitted in the above* LETTEES AND PAPEES. 435 mentioned possessions for tlie officers and soldiers of the late army who may be proprietors in the said lands, and also two townships for the establishment of a literary institution. When the first and second instalments are completely paid, and not before, the purchasers shall have a right to take possession of as great a quantity of lands as the several payments at that time made shall amount to, and this ratio of equal payment and possession shall be continued until the whole pay- ment and possession is accomplished. When the first and second payments are made, and the first instal- ment completed, then the purchasers shall receive a federal deed for the quantity of land which shall be equal to the purchase of one mill- ion of dollars, comprehended within the boundaries above mentioned ; and after this period they shall, from time to time, receive deeds for as great a quantity of lands as their several payments shall entitle them to at the price agreed on. 5. Notwithstanding the declaration of sale specified in the first- mentioned instrument, the purchasers and their associates bind and oblige themselves, in case of failure in the payments as above men- tioned, to renounce all claim or pretension of right to any lands for which they have not made bona fide payment as before expressed, and the said company or individuals thereof shall have no kind of right or pretence to enter on or take possession of any parts of said tracts, of which such failure is made, and the said tracts shall be free to be sold by congress to any person or persons whatever ; and in case the said tracts of which such failure is made be afterward exposed to sale by congress, the present purchasers shall be liable to make up the loss, if any, which may arise betwixt the price of the land so sold and what is hereby contracted for. 6. The purchasers shall have the right of pre-emption of three ad- ditional townships somewhere northerly of the tract above specified, at the price agreed on, and to take possession of the same when the payment thereof shall be duly made. 7. The aforesaid purchasers shall, at their own expense, within seven years from date hereof, lay off the whole tract which they shall purchase into townships and fractional parts of townships, and divide the same into lots according to the land ordinance, and make complete returns thereof to the board of treasury. Lots Nos. 8, 11, and 26, in each township and fractional part of townships, to be reserved for the future disposition of congress. Lot No. 16 to be given perpetually, 436 APPENDIX. by congress, to the maintenance of schools, and lot Ko. 29 to the purposes of religion in the said townships. Two townships near the centre of the second specified tract, which comprehends the purchase amounting to the first-mentioned million of dollars, and of good laud, to be also given by congress for the support of a literary institution, to be applied to the intended object by the legislature of the state. [The above is in the handwriting of Parsons, vol. viii.. No. xli. Memorials P. R. Papers of old cong. state dept. Endorsed in Thomson's hand. Proposals of S. H. Parsons, 21 July, 1787.] JEdw. Carrington to Jas. Madison, JVeio York, 25 July, 1787. Ex. We are trying to do something with our western territory to make it useful to the jjurposes for which the United States were vested with it. You have seen in the papers the scheme for the temporary as well as perpetual government of it. A practical measure for the sale of it, or rather by means of it, to redeem the domestic debt, remains still to be agreed upon, and I fear the difiiculties which have always stood in the way of this great object are not yet to be surmounted. Colonel Lee joins Grayson and myself with great zeal, but what will be the issue of our efforts I know not. tfay to IVashmffton, 25 Jxdy, 1787. Ex, Permit me to hint whether it would not be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of foreigners into the admin- istration of our national government, and to declare expressly that the command in chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor de- volve on, any but a natural-born citizen. Carrington to 3Ionroe, Kexo Yorh, 7 Aug., 1787. Ex. We have at last made a break into the western lands. The Ohio company have adjusted with congress a contract for four or five mill- ions of acres in a body, on the east side of Scioto, at two thirds of a dollar per acre, to lay it out into townships agreeably to the land or- dinance, and leave three sections in each township for the future dis- position of congress. This I hold a great bargain for the U. S., as the land goes good and bad together, and it will be a means of intro- ducing into the country, in the first instance, a description of men who will lix the character and politics throughout the whole territory, and LETTEES AND PAPEES. , 437 which will probably endure to the latest period of time. This com- pany is formed of the best men in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and they will move out immediately. I am about to join them with a few shares ; what think you of such an adventure ? Grayson to Monroe, New YorJc, 8 Aug., 1787. Ex. Dear Sir : Since my last, congress has passed the ordinance for the government of the western country in a manner something different from the one which you drew, though I expect the departure is not so essential but that it will meet your approbation. You will observe that the consent of Virginia is necessary to entitle the people to cer- tain rights, as also that the former act is repealed absolutely. I am satisfied, therefore, you will do everything in your power to get the state to alter her act of cession in such a manner as will square with the ordinance. It seems the subject was not taken up last year. The clause respecting slavery was agreed to by the southern members for the purpose of preventing tobacco and indigo from being made on the northwest side of the Ohio, as well as for several other political rea- sons. After this ordinance was passed in congress, the eastern Ohio company came forward, and have agreed with congress for between five and six millions of acres lying between the Scioto and the western boundary of the seven ranges, and extending back into the country about sixty miles. On the following terms, viz., one dollar per acre, public securities, deducting one third of a dollar for bad land, and surveying, etc., the company to pay half a million on the signing the contract ; half a million on the line being run by the geographer, and the residue in six half-yearly instalments with interest in the mean time ; the company to lay off the territory in townships of six miles square ; the company to have two sections for religion and education gratis, also two townships for the purposes of a university on the same terms ; three sections in each township to be reserved for the future disposition of congress. I understand this company mean to settle this country very thick and without delay ; of course, the adjacent lands will become very valuable ; they send forward a number of families this fall ; a reinforcement in the spring, and a very consider- able number fall come twelvemonth ; the funds of the company were only a million when they made the contract, since which they have increased in an amazing degree, so that there is not the least doubt but they will perform their part of the contract in all its parts j and 438 APPENDIX. as tlieir objects are actual settlement and defence, there is every rea- son to conclude it will be of the greatest advantage to that country. From the great number of inhabitants in the eastern states and in the Jerseys, I should not be surprised to see them in a very few years extend themselves by additional purchases quite to the Mississippi, and thereby form a complete barrier for our state, at the same time greatly validating the lands on the Virginia side of the Ohio. A committee is appointed to draught an ordinance for the sale of the lands between the Scioto and Great Miami, on the principles of indiscriminate location nearly ; and if the southern states attend, I ap- prehend it can be carried ; this, however, will not bring any large quantity to market, as after deducting the claims of the Virginia offi- cers and soldiers, and the continental bounties, the residue will not be very considerable. Mr. Adams has not done anything at the court of Great Britain ; he has requested his recall in very pointed terms. Who will be elected- to succeed him, or whether congress will send anybody, is more than I can tell ; at present they seem much divided on the subject. The Mississippi is where you left it ; i. e., nothing has been done. Mr. Jay has, in one of his late letters, decidedly said he would do nothing more without further discretion of congress. I therefore think we are safe for the present. From the Cabinet of Versailles to Otto, Versailles, 30 Aug., 1787. Ex. It appears, sir, that in all the Amei'ican provinces there is more or less tendency toward democracy ; that in many this exti'cme form of government will finally prevail. The result will be that the confederation will have little stability, and that by degrees the different states will subsist in a perfect inde- pendence of each other. This revolution Avill not be regretted by us. TVe have never pre- tended to make of America a useful ally ; we have had no other object than to deprive Great Britain of that vast continent. There- fore, we can regard with indifference both the movements which agi- tate certain provinces and the fermentation which prevails in congress. Tljis must not hinder you from continuing to give an account of all that shall take place ; I can only praise the accui'acy which I have noticed in your despatches, I fear that the discussions in regard to the Mississippi will become LETTEES Ain> PAPERS. 439 serious, and that they will become embarrassing for us. Si:»ain may misapprehend her interests, but that does not give the Americans the right to employ force against that power. The mouth of the Missis- sippi belongs to her ; she has therefore the right to open it or keep it closed, and the Americans can obtain special favors only by means of negotiation. The court of Madrid would not be difficult to gain over if it had the same principles as ours in this matter. William Grayson to J. Madison, New York, 31 Aug., 17S7. Ex. Judge Symms, of Jersey, yesterday made an application for all that tract of country lying between the Great and Little Miami, the east and west line, and the Ohio, supposed about two millions of acres, on the same terms, with the Eastern Ohio company. His application has met with the entire approbation of the members present, and there is no doubt but as soon as there is a congress that this contract will be closed. Sydney to Lord Dorchester, Whitehall, H Sejyt., 1787. Ex. My Lord : I have been favored with your lordship's despatches, numbered from ten to twenty-six, inclusive, and I lost ho time in lay- ing them, with their several enclosures, before the king. They have all undergone some consideration, and I shall make my replies, as I have been instructed to do, to them in the order in which they stand. With regard to the posts, to which No. 10, marked secret, par- ticularly relates, it was, I believe, intimated to your lordship, previous to your departure, that it was the firm opinion of the king's servants that the retaining the possession of the posts was a measure perfectly justifiable, and, from the conduct observed since that time on the part of the American states, they have no reason to alter their sentiments upon that point. It therefore becomes necessary that steps should be taken by putting them into a temjjorary state of defence, to resist any attack which the citizens of the states may meditate, and the sooner it can be done the better. The execution of a project of this sort must consequently be attended with expense, but the king's servants feel no difficulty in submitting the extent of the works to be performed to your lordship's judgment and discretion, persuaded, as they are, that your zeal for the public welfare will induce you not to suffer a charge of any sort to be incurred which is not found to be indispensably necessary. 440 APPENDIX. This resolution naturally brings forward Rome communications from your lordship -wherein that subject is very materially concerned ; I mean with respect to the conduct to be observed toward the Indians, and the establishment of a militia. As to the first, it has all along been the disposition of his Majesty's ministers to pay that sort of attention to those people, and that regard to their situation and necessities, which can with any degree of reason be expected by them. Under this idea such suj)plies have been sent out, as appeared from your lordship's despatches, to be equal to their immediate wants, and though, as your lordshijD must suppose, it is de- sirable upon many accounts that these expenses should be kept upon as moderate a scale as possible, yet his Majesty's servants, considering that the protection of the fur trade and perhaps the general security of the province of Quebec may in some degree depend upon the part these people may take, would rather submit to an augmentation of such supplies than suffer them to be discontented or dissatisfied, par- ticularly at this moment, when their active assistance may possibly be called for, and which must happen should the posts be attacked. It is to be hoped that the Americans will not proceed to hostile measures ; but if they should avail themselves of any opportunity which may offer of seizing upon the posts, it will become your lord- ship's duty to use every endeavor to regain the possession of them, if you should find yourself sufficiently strong to be able to effect it. With regard to the establishment of a militia, I am to acquaint your lordship that his Majesty's servants entirely approve of the measure. It will not only immediately add to the internal strength of the province, but will be a means of attaching the principal Cana- dian families, and will incline them warmly to engage in the support of its interests whenever they may be invaded. It is to be hoped that your lordship has been able to succeed in your endeavors to procure a sufficient number of seamen to compose the crews of the vessels which your lordship proposed to employ upon the lakes ; at present it seems to be very difficult to raise supplies of seamen in this country, and could it even easily be done, it might per- haps be advisable, considering the uncertain state of affairs upon the European continent, to secure their services on this side the Atlantic. But if your lordship should still remain under any difficulties, I have no doubt that the officer commanding the king's ships upon the Ameri- LETTEES ANB PAPERS. 441 can station will be ready to lend every assistance which the small squadron under his orders can enable him to do. The report of an intention on the part of America to apply for a sovereififu of the house of Hanover has been circulated here ; and should an application of that nature be made, it will require a very nice consideration in what manner so important a subject should be treated. But whatever ideas may have been formed upon it, it will upon all accounts be advisable that any influence which your lordship may possess should be exerted to discourage the strengthening their alliance with the house of Bourbon, which must naturally follow were a sovereign to be chosen from any branch of that family. 3Iajor Jackson to Washington, 17 Sept., 1787. Major Jackson presents his most respectful compliments to General "Washington. He begs leave to request his signature to forty diplomas intended for the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati. Major Jackson, after burning all loose scraps of paper which be- long to the convention, will this evening wait upon the general with the journals and other papers which their vote directs to be delivered to his Excellency Monday evening. Carrington to JIadison, JVeio Tori', 23 Sept., 1787. Ex. My dear Sir : The gentlemen w^ho have arrived from the conven- tion inform us that you are on the way to join us. Lest, however, you may, under a supposition that the state of the delegation is such as to admit of your absence, indulge yourself in leisurely movements after the fatiguing time you have had, I take this precaution to apprise you that the same schism which unfortunately happened in our state in Philadelphia, threatens us here also. One of our colleagues, Mr. R. H. Lee, is forming propositions for essential alterations in the con- stitution, which will, in effect, be to oppose it. Another, Mr. Gray- son, dislikes it, and is at best for giving it only a silent passage to the states. Mr. H. Lee joins me in opinion that it ought to be warmly recommended to insure its adoption. A lukewarmness in congress will be made a ground of opposition by the unfriendly in the states. Those who have hitherto wished to bring the conduct of congress into contempt will, in this case, be ready to declare it truly respectable. Next Wednesday is fixed for taking under consideration this busi- ness, and I ardently wish you could be with us. 442 APPENDIX. The Ne-w York faction is ratber active in spreading the seeds of opposition. This, however, has been expected, and will not make an impression so injurious as the same circumstance would in some other states. Colonel Hamilton has boldly taken his ground in the public papers, and, having truth and propriety on his side, it is to be hoped he will stem the torrent of folly and iniquity. I do not implicitly accede in sentiment to every article of the scheme proposed by the convention, but I see not how my utmost wishes are to be gratified until I can withdraw from society. So long as I find it necessary to combine my strength and interests with others, I must be satisfied to make some sacrifices to the general accommodation. Report to Count de Montmorin, Yersailles, 8 Oct., 1787. You are aware, sir, of the advances which the royal treasury made to the United States of Korth America during the last war, and of the terms of the contract agreed to by the king and congress in July, 1782, for repayment and for the interest on these advances. I see with pain, according to the account which has just been ren- dered to me, that these terms have not been fulfilled, and that the United States are greatly in arrears in their engagements. On the first of January next they will owe us : 1. 800,000 livres for the years 1786 and IVS?, interest of the loan of ten millions madein Holland in 1781 on their account . . 800,000 2. 1,000,000 for first instalment of the said loan falling due in De- cember, 1787 1,000,000 1,800,000 Note.— The king is bound to pay this 1,800,000 livres in Holland, and he has received nothing to replace it. Further, the United States owe on the first of this month : 1. 3,000,000, four years' interest at five per cent, of loan of eighteen millious 3,600,000 5,400,000 2. 1,500,000, first payment on said loan 1,500,000 8. Interest at five per cent, since 1 January, 1784, on another loan of BlimilUons 1,125,000 Total, 8,025,000 LETTERS AND PAPEES. 443 I tliought it my duty, sir, to place this result before your eyes, and to beg you to employ your offices to hasten the repayment of these various sums, and particularly the 1,800,000 for which the royal treasury will be in advance at the end of this year. I shall be greatly obliged to you if you will signify to me what part of this sum I can depend upon. I have the honor, etc. (Signed) Lambert. Washington to James Madison, Mount Yernon, 10 Oct., 17S7. Ex. The political tenets of Colonel M. [INIason] and Colonel R. II. L. [Richard Henry Lee] are always in unison. It may be asked which of them gives the tone ? . Without hesitation I answer the latter, be- cause I believe the latter will receive it from no one. He has, I am informed, rendered himself obnoxious in Philadelphia by the pains he took to disseminate his objections among some of the leaders of the seceding members of the legislature of that state. His conduct is not less reprobated in this country. How it will be relished generally is yet to be learned by me.' Washington to Colonel David Humphregs, 10 Oct., 17S7. Ex. My dear Humphreys : Go matters, however, as they may, I shall have the consolation to reflect that no objects but the public good, and that peace and harmony which I wished to see prevail in the conven- tion, obtruded even for a moment in my bosom during the whole ses- sion, long as it was. What reception this state will give to the pro- ceedings in all its extent of territory is more than I can inform you of ; in these parts it is advocated beyond my expectation. The great opposition (if great there should be) will come from the southern and western counties, from whence I have not as yet received any accounts that are to be depended on. Instructions to the Count de Moustier, Versailles, 13 Oct., 1787. Ex. I have the honor, sir, to send you your instructions.' They make mention of a document regarding commerce. I will cause it to be forwai'ded to you as soon as it shall have been addressed by the comp- troller-general. You know that it is to include the result of a treaty which has for its object to determine the advantages which France is ' This passage, left out by Sparks, ix. Book. It has been printed in the " Ciucin- 267, is copied from Washington's Letter nati Enquirer." 444 APPENDIX. willing to grant to American commerce. As to the obligations whicli are also mentioned in your instructions, you will find them in the cor- resjiondence of M. de Chevalier de la Luzerne, The political object, sir, which I have to recommend most strongly to your attention is the conduct of England, and the sentiment which prevails in America regarding that power. I surmise that, if war should break out, the Americans would wish to remain neutral. The king would probably willingly favor this disposition, provided it should be carried out in good faith. But it is not the moment to be more explicit upon this point, since circumstances may counteract our principles. For the rest, it ap- pears to me that it will become the business of the Americans to approach us in a matter which will make an exception to our treaty of alliance. Accordingly, sir, if you are sounded on this subject, you will re- spond with the greatest circumspection, and you will take heed to say nothing which may bind or embarrass his Majesty. For the rest, I maintain a steadfast hope that war may still be prevented. Monroe to Madison, MicJimond, 13 Oct., 1787. The report from Philadelphia hath presented an interesting sub- ject to their consideration. It will perhaps agitate the minds of the people of this state more than any subject they have had in contem- plation since the commencement of the late revolution, for there will be a greater division among the people of character than then took place, provided we are well informed as to the sentiments of many of them. It is said that Mr. Henry, General Nelson, Harrison, and others, are against it. This ensures it a powerful opposition, more especially when associated with that of the two dissenting deputies. There are, in my opinion, some strong objections against the proj- ect, which I will not weary you with a detail of ; but under the predicament in which the union now stands, and this state in par- ticular, with respect to this business, they are overbalanced by the arguments in its favor. The assembly will meet to-morrow, and we have reason to believe we shall have a house the first or second day. "We shall soon find how its pulse beats, and what direction this l)usines3 will take. I believe there will be no opposition to a con- vention ; however, of this I shall be able to give you better infor- mation in a few days. LETTERS AND PAPEES. 445 Grayson to Monroe, New YorJc, 22 Oct., 1787. Ex. Dear Sir : I have received your favor, and delivered the enclosure to Miss Kortright, the captain being on a trip to the township. Con- gress four days since made a contract with Royal Flint and associates, of New York, for three millions of acres on the Wabash, on nearly the same terms as that of Cutler and Sarjeant. I believe I informed you that Judge Symms, of Jersey, had contracted for two millions be- tween the Great and the Little Miami. The whole of the contracts will, when fully complied with, amount to an extinguishment of six millions dollars of the domestic debt ; and congress, noio looking upon the western country in its true light — i. e., as a most valuable fund for the extinctionment of the domestic debt — have directed the treasury board to continue the sales on nearly the same terms and principles as those already made. A very considerable emigration will take effect from the five easternmost states. A brigade files off from Massachu- setts immediately, which is to be followed by much more consider- able ones next spring and fall. A Dr. Gano, a Baptist preacher in this town, will carry out (it is said) his whole congregation, amount- ing to five hundred. Symms is beating up for volunteers in the Jer- seys, as is the case with Parsons in Connecticut, and Yarnum in Rhode Island ; these two last are appointed judges in the western country. Congress have authorized St. Clair, now governor of the western territory, to hold a treaty with the Indians next spring, if necessary, and fourteen thousand dollars are appropriated for this pui*pose ; a treaty is also directed with the Cherokees and Creeks, and six thou- sand dollars are appropriated for it. The new constitution is favorably received in Connecticut, Massa- chusetts, and New Jersey ; in this state it is thought there is a major- ity against it, and in Pennsylvania that the joros and cons are nearly equal. From Rhode Island and New IIam];)shire I have no informa- tion. Carrington to Jefferson, New York, 23 Oct., 1787. The project is warmly received in the eastern states, and has become pretty generally a subject of consideration in town meetings and other assemblies of the people, the usual result whereof are declarations for its adoption. In the middle states appearances are generally for it, but not being in habits of assembling for public objects, as is the case to the eastward, the people have given but few instances of collective 446 APPENDIX. declarations. Some symptoms of opposition have appeared in Xew York and Pennsylvania ; in the former only in individual publications, which are attended with no circumstances evidencing the popular re- gard. The governor holds himself in perfect silence, wishing, it is suspected, for a miscarriage, but is not confident enough to commit himself in an open opposition ; in the latter, the opposition has assumed a form somewhat more serious, but under circumstances which leave it doubtful whether it is founded in objections to the project or the in- temperance of its more zealous friends. From the southern states we are but imperfectly informed ; every member from the Carolinas and Georgia, as well in convention as con- gress, are warm for the new constitution ; and, when we consider the ascendency possessed by men of this description over the people in those states, it may well be concluded that the reception will be favor- able. In Virginia there may be some difficulty ; two of her members in convention, whose characters entitle them to the public confidence, refused to sign the report ; these were Colonel Mason and Governor Randolph. Xor was that state without its dissentients, of the same description, in congress ; these Avere Mr. R. H. Lee and Mr. Grayson, but upon very opposite principles — the former because it is too strong, the latter because it is too weak. Mr. Madison writes you fully upon the objections from Virginia, and therefore I will not impose on your patience by repeating them ; one, however, being merely local, and an old source of jealousy, I will present to your consideration my opinion upon ; this is the ability of a bare majority in the federal government to regulate commerce. It is supposed that a majority of the union are carriers, and that it will be for the interest and in the power of that majority to form regula- tions oppressing, by high freights, the agricultural states. It does not appear to me that tliis objection is well founded. A navigation act ought, doubtless, to be passed for giving exclusive benefits to American ships. This would, of course, serve the eastern states, and such in justice ought to be the case, as it may, perhaps, be shown that no other advantage can result to them from the revolution ; indeed, it is important to the interests of the southern states that the growtli of a navy be p,romoted for the security of that wealth which is to be derived from tlieir agriculture. The western territory belonging to the United States has more effect- ually received the attention of congress, during this session than it ever LETTEKS AND PAPERS. 447 did before. Enclosed you will receive the ordinance for establishing a temporary government there, and providing for its more easy passage into permanent state governments. Under the old arrangement the country might upon the whole have become very populous, and yet be inadmissible to the rights of state government, which would have been disgusting to them and ultimately inconvenient for the empire. The new arrangement depends on the accession of Virginia, which there can be no doubt of obtaining. Otto to 3Tontmorin, JVeio TorJc, 23 Oct., 1787. Ex. Surprise is manifested that congress itself is not of one mind in re- gard to the great powers which are proposed to be granted to it. Mr. Richard Henry Lee is at the head of the opposition. Although chosen a member of the convention at Philadelphia, he steadfastly refused to betake himself thither. ITe does not consider that the situ- ation of the United States is so desperate that a necessity exists of resorting to violent remedies ; he especially disapproves of the grant of immense power to the government without introducing the consti- tution by a bill of rights, which has always been regarded as the pal- ladium of a free people. " If," he says, " instead of a virtuous and patriotic pi-esident, they give us a William V., what will become of our liberty ? how shall we avoid usurpation ^ Where is the compact be- tween the nation and the government ? The constitution makes men- tion only of those who govern, nowhere of the rights of the people governed." This new Gracchus has all the talents necessary to cause an impression ; opposed to him are men equally distinguished for their merit, leai-ning, and their services ; but he pleads the cause of the people. The continental treasury is so exhausted that the commissioners do not know how to satisfy the most urgent needs. The moment of effectually pressing the claims of his Majesty has not yet come ; from this point of view the proposed government would certainly be more favorable to us. General St, Clair, the present president of congress, has recently been appointed governor of the western country ; the other officers have also been chosen, and are about to set out for their destination. Several officers of the army, and a great number of adventurers, are flocking thither to form settlements there. The excess of popula- tion in the northern states and all the discontented are journeying 448 APPENDIX. tliither in crowds, and the banks of the Ohio will soon he covered with plantations. Lord Dorchester to the Secretary of State, Quebec, 2Jf. Oct., 1787. My Loed : A proposal was made to me by Mr. Silas Deane, a few daj-s before my departure from England, to cut a canal from Lake Champlain, round the rapids of St. John, into the basin of Chambly, for the purpose of opening a navigation to that lake from the river St. Lawrence, for vessels of a certain burden. As far as a cursory view of the country can justify any opinion, this object appears to be practicable and useful, both in a commercial and a political view, provided the conditions of executing the same be not objectionable. I have therefore advised Mr. Deane to lay the particulars of his plan and proposals before your lordship, that the same may be considered and submitted to the king's pleasure. C. Gadsden to Thoonas Jefferson, Charleston, 29 Oct., 1787. I make no doubt the philosophic part of Europe will admire the con- stitution recommended by our convention ; the trading part of Great Britain, perhaps, many of them, may be jealous of it, considered in a commercial view, in its probable consequence to them, by increasing the means of opening the eyes of America and exposing many rooted prejudices to them particularly. For my part I bless God to have lived to see this important point in so fair a way to be accomplished ; and, if I live to see it completely PC, I shall be able to cry out with old Simeon : " Now may thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Langdon to Washington, Portsmouth, 6 JVbv., 1787. Your Excellency will permit me to congratulate you on the prospect that appears in this i^art of the continent of speedily establishing the national plan of government, in the formation of which you took so laborious a part. I have not heard a single person object to the plan, and very few find fault even with a single sentence, but all express their greatest desire to have it established as soon as may be. Our general court unfortunately adjourned a 'few days before the oflicial j»l;in caiue to hand, but will meet again next month, and no LETTERS AND PAPERS. 449 doubt will call the convention early, for the purpose of accepting the national plan of government. I have the honor, etc. Lord Dorchester to Lord Sydney, Quebec, 8 iVby., 1787. Ex. My Lord : The political system, which lost thirteen populous prov- inces, cannot preserve us these remaining fragments for a long space of time. I cannot too often repeat it : the provincials must have nothing to gain by a separation, or we must not depend upon their attachment, and without their attachment the dominion of Great Brit- ain will be of short duration. But should these pi'ovinces be so gov- erned as to leave them neither private nor public advantage to hope for by a revolution, should they have nothing to hope but much to fear from a separation, the cause of defence may be made their own, national strength will be derived from their zeal, and in the succession of time many national and mutual advantages may result from the connection. • But I must further observe that whatever is proper to grant should be granted without delay. Delay affords opportunities to turbulent and factious men to poison whatever flows from the pure benevolence of the crown, and to arrogate to their own seditious insolence the merit of all the free but tardy bounties of government ; and by such means they too frequently are suffered to usurp the gratitude and confidence of the people, which, once esti'anged from their natural objects, seldom return unimpaired, and are easily employed for the worst of purposes. Otto to Montmorin, New York, 10 JSFov., 1787. In consequence of the treaty of peace which confirms to the United States all the territory this side of the Mississippi as far as the thirty- first parallel, the Georgians have thought themselves authorized to take possession of a part of the territory of the Creeks, one of the most powerful nations of the interior, whom the vicinity of the Span- iards renders more daring ; and although they have concluded boun- dary treaties with these savages, they have not been very scrupulous in observing them. This state, my lord, thus finds itself somewhat in opposition to the government of West Florida. One of its delegates has represented to M. Gardoqui that the inhabitants of that colony protect and encourage the negro kidnappers of Georgia. Several companies have been formed in New England which pur- voL. II. 39 450 APPENDIX. chase from congress whole districts of several millions of acres ; they receive stockholders from all quarters, and inasmuch as the payments may be made in paper of the continental loan, many French holders of these bills have joined them. An acre costs the equivalent of three francs. A very large settle- ment has been made on the Mississippi, between the Illinois river and that of the Kaskaskias ; it is proposed to build a town nearly opi:)Osite the Missouri, whither they count upon attracting all the fur trade which descends that great river. There is always something of the wonderful in these projects, but there is perhaps no civilized nation which changes its habitation more readily than the Americans, and which founds settlements more rap- idly. A society which has just been incorporated in Massachusetts to send missionaries to the savages, will but hasten the first clearings of these new colonies. It has been noticed in Pennsylvania that the Quaker savages become good citizens, industrious and contented, and in spreading Christian- ity among these tribes, their manners may certainly be softened. In promoting these new settlements, undoubtedly a great service is rendered to humanity, but jDerhaps it would have been more politic for the United States to render themselves as compact as possible by re- stricting their limits toward the wert. This state of affairs would certainly be very desirable if the United States would consent simply to follow their natural occupation, agri- culture; but this constant emigration toward the west is little in accord with the principles of a nation which aims to play a distinguished role, to equip fleets, to extend its commerce to the ends of Asia, to establish manufactures, and to share with European nations the benefits they derive from their colonics. Carrlnrjton to Joffars^on., Keio ITorlc, 10 Nov.^ 1787. JEJx. The legislature have directed that a convention be held in June for the purpose of "adopting, amending, or rejecting" the proposed gov- ernment. The long postponement was occasioned by unfriendly in- tentions toward it, but I apprehend the rapidity of the movements of the other states in the business will, by that time, have brought so many into the adoption that even its enemies will see the necessity of joining. LETTERS AJfD PAPERS. 451 A. Donald to Jefferson, Richmond, 12 Xov., 1787. Deak Sir : Many thanks to you for your very friendly and polite letter of the twenty-eighth July. You will, no doubt, have seen before this time the result of the deliberations of the convention, which was assembled at Philadelphia last summer for revising and amending the federal constitution. I am sorry to say it is like to meet with strong opposition in this state. I staid two days with General Washington at Mount Vernon, about six weeks ago ; he is in perfect good health, and looks almost as well as he did twenty years ago. I never saw him so keen for anything in my life as he is for the adoption of the new form of government. As the eyes of all America are turned toward this truly great and good man for the first president, I took the liberty of sounding him upon it. He af)pears to be greatly against going into public life again, pleads in excuse for himself his love of retirement and his advanced age, biTt, notwithstanding of these, I am fully of opinion he may be induced to appear once more on the public stage of life. I form my opinion from what passed between us in a very long and serious conversation, as well as from what I could gather from Mrs. Washington on same subject. Our assembly are now sitting ; they have not yet done much busi- ness, but what has been done is highly commendable. They have in very strong and pointed language thrown out a proposal for emitting paper money. Samuel Poieell to Washington, 13 N'ov., 1787. Ex. Our good friends, Messrs. Robert and Gouverneur Morris, left this city yesterday, and will probably be with you before the arrival of this letter. They will be able to give you a full and ample detail of all matters relative to our grand question, I mean the acceptation of the federal constitution. In Maryland there is a secret opposition from a member of the assembly, but it is believed that his politics will not succeed. It is said that R. II. Lee escaped the resentment of the people at Chester by his short stay there, which he employed in fix- ing up and distributing printed papers against the proposed consti- tution. At Wilmington he harangued the populace and cautioned them against hastily adopting it, assuring them that a powerful opposi- tion was forming against it in Philadelphia, and, in confirmation of his 452 APPEISTDIX. assertions, distributed many of liis inflammator j papers. On such con- duct there can be but one comment made. Washington to John Langdon^ 3 Dec, 1787. Ex. The public pajiers have undoubtedly announced to you before this the proceedings of the legislature of this state upon the business. They have appointed the convention to meet on the first Monday in June ; whether putting it off to so late a period will be favorable or otherwise must be determined by circumstances, for if those states whose conventions are to meet sooner should adopt the plan, I think there is no doubt but they will be followed by this, and, if some of them should reject it, it is very probable that the oi3posers of it here will exert themselves to add this state to the number. Otto to 3Iontmorin, JVeio TorJc, 7 Dec, 17S7. If the United States, on the score of their political constitution, are still great laggards, they may be compared with the oldest and most intelligent nations in all that tends to make the arts and useful sciences flourish among them. It does not belong to me to enter into any detail with regard to the great number of societies which have been formed in America, either to superintend the education of the young or to ensure the property of individuals against the ravages of fire, or to encourage poor emigrants and those stripped of their resources, to resuscitate the drowned, to spread Christianity among the savages, to abolish negro slavery, or, at least, to render their chains less galling. This spirit of benevolence and humanity has spread among all the American institutions, and I at times regret that I cannot represent to you these people under that interesting point of view which is most favorable to them. But it is not equally foreign to my task to submit to you the incen- tives offered to many industries or manufactories the growth of which may at some time prove of interest to the commerce of Europe, either because it will thereby lose a branch of its former trade, or because it Avill there find a new market of raw materials for its own manufac- tures. jNIany states of the union already contain, my lord, respectable societies to promote certain industrial objects peculiar to them, but the one which appears to have the largest means and the most comprehen- LETTERS A]SrD PAPERS. 453 sive plans is the Philadelpliia society. Since the high price of hand labor has hitherto been the greatest obstacle in the establishment of manufactures, the society offers a prize to ■whoever -will invent a machine which, by means of fire, water, or any otner agent, will be able to lessen hand work in cotton, wool, linen, and flax, and to render their manufacture as cheap as in Europe. It proposes considerable prizes to those citizens who, in the course of the year 1788, shall have cultivated and prepared the greatest quantity of flax, of linen, and of cotton, for those who shall have manufactured the most beautiful calicoes or prints, who shall have printed the finest book on types and paper manufactured in Philadelphia, who shall have made the most beautiful pottery equal to that of Delft or England, to those who shall have established the best glass factories, and to those, finally, who shall have offered for sale the greatest quantity of potash and pearl ashes, who shall have made from their own flocks the finest clip of wool, who shall have bleached the greatest quantity of candle- wax fit for exporting. The society offers a still larger prize to those who may be able to prove incontestably that they have taken from the mines and from the soil of Pennsylvania the largest quantity of painters' colors, as well as to those who, before the first of January, 1T89, shall have manufac- tured the greatest number of anvils of the best quality, comparable to those hitherto imported from England. If to these efforts we add those of the societies which have been formed to render navigable the Potomac, the Susquehanna, and other important rivers, to construct bridges, to send out colonies into the west, to found business houses in China, in the Indies, and at Moga- dore, to fish for the whale at the Falkland Islands, or to follow the track of Cook as far as Behring's Straits, we cannot but admire their courage, their industry, and that intelligence which causes them to conceive the mightiest schemes and to execute them with limited means. The disposition of the United States, ray lord, to shake off the com- mercial yoke of Europe can only affect Great Britain, which loses every year a certain part of its trade with America. The identity of language and of manners may, I confess, promote connections, but it has this peculiar result: that the discoveries made in England become at once common to the United States, that workmen are easily transported, and produce in Philadelphia or in Boston as 454 APPENDIX. perfect work as in London. This is not true of the articles which France may be able to furnish to these states. The wines, brandies, and silks, it would seem, ought to assure us here for a long time a considerable market. The reflections which I have just had the honor of submitting to you scarcely conform to the vague and exaggerated reports with which almost all the European and American publications are flooded in regard to the situation of the United States. They confound the uncertainty of a people which has not yet chosen its form of stable and permanent government with disorder and inter- nal anarchy ; but this uncertainty is only felt abroad or in their polit- ical discussions without affecting in any Avay the tranquillity and in- dustry of the citizens. The partisans whom England still has in America, and of whom some are infatuated enough to hoije for a reunion of the two countries, make haste to confirm tbese false news ; perhaps, too, England, having more to fear from emigrations, is interested in representing this coun- try under a pomt of view the most disadvantageous ; but if one studies ever so little the general prosperity, individual comfort, the well-nigh inconceivable growth of all parts of the republic, one is tempted to believe that of all the countries of the world, this one has taken the longest strides toward opulence and formidable power. Otto to Montmorin, Kew ITorTi, 15 Dec, 17S7. Ex. "We learn that the general convention of the state of Delaware has unanimously ratified the new constitution. That small state has the honor of having given the first signal of a revolution in the general government of the United States, and its example can but i^roduce a good effect in the other conventions. The legislature of Virginia, in ordering the election of a general convention, has voted at the same time for the choice of several com- missioners to be sent to the other states in case the convention should decide to propose certain amendments to tlie new constitution. This resolution, adopted by a large majority, appears to be of bad omen. The news from Georgia, my lord, continue to be very alarming. Tlie Creeks perpetrate unheard-of cruelties on the inhabitants. Half of the militia has received orders to march, and the state is striving to raise four regiments of seven hundred and fifty men each. Fifteen liundred citizens of tlie little state of Frankland have aiji'ocd to make LETTEES AND PAPEES. 455 common cause with tbe Georgians, who have sent a commissioner to the Spanish governors to beg them not to give aid to their enemies. This measure is the more prudent as it is only from tbe two Floridas that the Creeks can obtain their arms and munitions of war. Mr. Gillivray, a violent royalist whose property was confiscated by the state of Georgia during the revolution, is at the head of the savages, governs them like a king, and joins to the boldness of the savage the education and knowledge of a statesman. I am, etc. Edm. Ilandolph to 'Washington^ Richmond, 27 Dec, 1787. The enclosed pamphlet ' speaks so fully for itself that any explana- tion of it from me Avould be useless. I send it to you because I know your friendship for the writer, and because I take pleasure in subscrib- ing myself at all times with unfeigned truth, my dear sir, your obliged friend and servant. VTashington to Lafayette, 10 Jan., 1788. JEx. In my private opinion I have no hesitation to believe there will be a clear majority in favor of the new constitution in Virginia. Knox to Washington, Neio YorJc, llf. Jan., 1788. Ex. Connecticut has adopted the constitution by a noble majority of one hundred and twenty-seven to forty. This event took place on the ninth instant, I call the majority a noble one because it included every character in the convention of any real importance excepting General James Wadsworth, whom you may remember as commandant of a brigade of Connecticut militia in the year 1776. Colonel Wads- worth wu'ites me that the present governor and lieutenant-governor, the late governor, the judges of the supreme court, and the council, were at the convention, and all for the constitution excepting James Wadsworth. Washington to John Francis Mercer, Esq., IJf. Jan., 1788. Ex, Mr. White's letter is returned to you, and I should be glad to know precisely whether I am to expect any and what part of the two hundred pounds on which you assured me in Philadelphia I might absolutely rely, and the half of which you informed me in November should be sent to me by your servant in ten days, if you could not ' Eandolph's letter of tenth October, on his refusal to sign the constitution. 456 APPEXDE?. get the residue. I have put the sheriff of this county off three times. If he comes again I must, if I have no further expectation from you, suffer him to make distress, as I raised nothing last year for sale, and allotted this money for the payment of my taxes. Count de Bochamheau to Washington, 18 Jan., 1788. Ex. Poor Count de Grasse, our colleague in the expedition against Cornwallis, is dead the day before yesterday of an apoj^lexy. He had an unhappy end — the pains he had after his unlucky fighting of the twelfth of April, and having being lately married again with a woman of bad a character — all that occasioned him a great sorrow. I made all it has been in my power to soften his pains, but by the vivacity of his head he did take always violent parts, which spoiled all what his friends could make in his favor. I lc?ng, my dear general, to see your convention passed upon the plurality of the states, and to see you president of a confederation strongly settled. Washington to Samuel Poic ell, Jfount Vernon, 18 Jan., 1788. Ex. Dear Sir : North Carolina has, it seems, postponed the meeting of its convention to a later period than that of Virginia, which indicates, I conceive, a disj)osition to take the tone from hence. Ed. Carrington to J. Madison, Richmond, 18 Jan., 1788. ^ Ex. My dear Sir : I arrived here on Wednesday night last ; have as yet had but little opportunity to sound the people in any part of the country upon the constitution. The leaders of the opposition appear generally to be preparing for a decent submission ; the language among them is, that amendments must be tried if there should, at the sitting of the convention, be a prospect of carrying them down in a respectable number of states, but that should this appear improbable, the constitution must be adopted. I have seen but few of these gen- tlemen, but have good information as to most of their dispositions upon the subject. The governor's letter to the public, which you doubtless have before this seen, marks out this conduct, and I think that pul>lication will be of great service. Mr. Henry, it is said, is de- termined to amend, and leave the fate of the measure to depend on all the other states conforming to the will of Virginia. His language is that the other states cannot do without us, and therefore we can LETTERS AND PAPERS. 457 dictate to them what terras \vc please. Should they be weak enough to stand out, we may alone enter into foreign alliances. The staple is such that any nation will be ready to treat with us separately ; I have not heard of any who have shown a disposition to go this length with him, except Mr. Bullet, whom I saw at Dumfries, and I think at the day of trial but few will be found so mad. Mr. B. Randolph, whose apprehensions from the gigantic features in the constitution appear to be as high as any whatever, is of opinion with the governor. He thinks that should nine states have adopted when the convention of Virginia meets, every idea of amendment ought to be abandoned ; but that should there be a less number, the at- tempt must be made, but with such caution as not to hazard entirely the fate of the measure. I am persuaded that this will become the prevailing sentiment among the malcontents ; and in that case there will be tolerable safety, because I see no prospect of more than Rhode Island, New York, and North Carolina holding out. The latter, it is said, and I believe with truth, has, out of respect for Virginia, de- ferred her convention until after the time appointed for ours to sit. Washington to Charles Carter, 3Iount Vernon, 20 Jan., 1788. Ex. Dear Sir : Your favor of the twenty-first of last month came to my hands last night only. I wish it had reached me in time for the prevention of the hasty and indigested sentiments of my former letter going to the press, not, as I observed in my last, because I had the least repugnance to the communication of them in a proper dress, ac- companied with reasons for their support, if any person whatever was desirous of knowing them. 22 Jan. — I am satisfied you had no agency in publishing the ex- tract of ray letter to you, which is now to be traced through all the newspapers. James Madison, Sr., to Colonel James Madison, Jr., SO Jan., 1788. Ex. I have deferred writing to you till I saw our delegates after their return from the assembly, that I might more fully inforra you of their sentiments of the proposed constitution. I have only seen Major Burnley at court on Monday last, but did not hear hira say anything about it. He disapproves of it, but says very little about it, probably as he does not intend to offer his service for the convention ; he may hurt his interest in the election for delegates to the assembly, for 458 APPENDIX. ■R-Licli be intends to offer, if he opposes the adoption of the new con- stitution too warmly. Colonel Barbour I have not seen ; he was not at court ; probably was preparing for his mother's funeral, who was to be interred the day after. lie is much opj^osed to it, and is a candi- date for the convention. " I believe there were but four that disap- proved of it at first in this county ; but several being at Richmond with their tobacco at the time the assembly was sitting, and hearing the many objections made to it, altered their opinions, and have in- fluenced some others who are no better acquainted with the necessity of adopting it than they themselves ; and the pieces published against it have had their intended effect with some others. The Baj^tists are now generally opposed to it, as it is said. Colonel Barbour has been down on Pamunky among them, and on his return, I hear, publicly declared himself a candidate, I suppose, on the en- couragement he met with from the anti-federalists. I do not know at present any other candidates but yourself and Mr, Gordon, who is a warm friend to the constitution, and I believe no others that are for it will offer. I think you had better come in as early in March as you can. Many of your friends wish it ; there are some who suspend their opinion till they see you, and wish for an explanation ; others wish you not to come, and will endeavor to shut you out of the con- vention, the better to carry their point. Mr. li. H. L.'s letter to the governor is much approved of by some, and as much ridiculed by others ; and so is the reasoning and repre- sentation of the minority of the Pennsylvania convention. I am your affectionate father, James Madison. William Moore to James Madison, Orange, 31 Jan., 17S8. Dear Sir : From the foregoing information of your father, of the fluctuating sentiments of the freeholders of this county on the con- stitution proposed by the convention at Philadelphia, and the arts of some men in this county to mislead the people whose interests, you know, are repugnant to a government that Avill administer justice, safety, protection, and true liberty to the good and virtuous citizens of America, and as you well know the disadvantage of being absent at elections to those who offer themselves to serve the public, I must therefore entreat and conjure you — nay, command you, if it was in my 7>ower — to be here in February or the first of March next. If you do, I think your election will be certain (if not, I believe, from reports, it LETTEES AND PAPEES. 459 will be uncertain), and you will in that ease be able to silence tbe dis- aHected, and give that assistance to the constitution that your knowl- edge of it, and the necessity of such establishment to the well-being and future prosperity of America. However, sir, be assured that the friends of the constitution will promote your interest at any rate. But let me repeat it again, as a lover of your country, pray don't dis- appoint the wishes of your friends and many others who are waver- ing on the constitution, that are anxiously waiting for an explanation from you. In short, they want your sentiments from your own mouth, which, they say, will convince them of the necessity of adopting it. I am, my dear sir, yours affectionately, etc. P. S. — I repeat again, come. Was7u7igton to John Fowler, 2 Mb., 17 8S. Ex. Sir : I have received your letter of to-day, and in answer to it must inform you that I have no inclination to purchase the negro fel- low which you mention, as I have already as many slaves as I wish, and I cannot engage to give another, or others, in exchange for him, because I do not think it would be agreeable to their inclinations to leave their connections here, and it is inconsistent with my feelings to compel them. Jefferson to W. Smith, Paris, 2 Feb., 17SS. Ex. Dear Sir : I am glad to learn, by letters which come down to the twentieth of December, that the new constitution will undoubtedly be received by a sufficiency of the states to set it agoing. "Were I in America, I would advocate it warmly till nine should have adopted, and then as warmly take the other side to convince the remaining four that they ought not to come into it till the declaration of rights is annexed to it ; by this means we should secure all the good of it, and procure as respectable an opposition as would induce the accepting states to offer a bill of rights ; this would be the happiest turn the thing could take. I fear much the effects of the perpetual re-eligibility of the president, but it is not thought of in America, and have, there- fore, no prospect of a change of that article, but I own it astonishes me to find such a change wrought in the opinions of our countrymen since I left them, as that three fourths of them should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, 460 APPENDIX. freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army : that is a degeneracy in the princij^les of liberty to which I had given four centuries instead of four years, but I hope it will all come about. We are now vibrating between too much and too little government, and the pendulum will rest finally in the middle. Adieu. Yours affectionately. John Jay to George 'Washington, 8 Feb., 1788. Ex. A few months more will decide all questions respecting the adop- tion of the proposed constitution. I sincerely wish it may take place, though less from an idea that it will fully realize the sanguine expec- tations of many of its friends than because it establishes some great points, and smooths the way for a system more adequate to our na- tional objects. Jefferson to Madison, Paris, 6 Feb., 1788. Ex. Dear Sir : I am glad to hear that the new constitution is received with favor. I sincerely wish that the nine first conventions may re- ceive, and the four last reject it. The former will secure it finally, while the latter will oblige them to offer a declaration of rights in order to complete the union. We shall thus have all its good and cure its principal defect. You will, of course, be so good as to continue to mark to me its progress. Monroe to Madison, Fredcriclsbiirg, 7 Feb., 1788. Ex. This new constitution still engages the minds of people with some zeal among the partisans on either side. It is impossible to say which preponderates. The northern part of the state is more generally for it than tlie southern. In this county (except in the town) they are against it, I believe, universally. I have, however, this from report only, having not been from home. My late colleague is decidedly so. Mr. Page is for it, and forms an exception to the above. It is said here that Georgia has adopted it — New Hampshire also. Our object in the postponement of the meeting of our convention to so late a day was to furnish an evidence of the disposition of the other states to that body when it should be assembled. If they, or many of them, were against it, our state might mediate between contending parties and lead the way to a union more palatable to all. If all were for it, let the knowledge of that circumstance have its weight in their de- LETTEES AND PAPERS. 461 liberations. This, I believe, was the principle on which that measure was ado]3ted, at least, those whose sentiments I knew expressed it to be theirs. General Jlhox to H. H. Livingston, N^eic YorJc, Sunday^ 10 Fth., 17SS. Dear Sir : I send you a summary statement of my last informa- tion from Boston. In a few days I expect to be able to congratulate you on the adoption of the new constitution by Massachusetts. On Wednesday, the thirtieth ultimo, JMr. Hancock was well enough to take his seat in the convention. On Thursday he brought forward the proposition for adopting the constitution, and for recommending certain alterations agreeably to the paper herein enclosed. The propo- sitions were seconded by Mr. Samuel Adams, and committed to a large committee of two members from each county, a majority of the committee being federalists. As the propositions were the production of the federalists after mature deliberation, there cannot be a doubt that the committee will report in favor of the propositions as they are stated. The final question was most certainly taken in the convention somewhere between the fifth and eighth instant. The members of the convention and others who wrote to me on the third instant have no doubt with respect to the adoption of the constitution, but they do not flatter themselves with a large majority. I am, with great esteem, dear sir, your most obedient, humble servant, etc. A most perfect union was effected between the friends of Mr. Hancock and Mr. Bowdoin. Handsome things are said of the open and decisive conduct of IVIr. Hancock, and also of Mr. S. Adams, not- withstanding his neutrality in the first part of the business. Please to let Mr. Benson see this letter. I am, with great esteem, dear sir, your most obedient, humble servant, etc. C. Griffin to TJiomas Fitzsimons, Kew York, 15 Feb., 1788. Colonel R. H. Lee and Mr. John Page, men of influence in Vir- ginia, are relinquishing their opposition ; but what to us is very extra- ordinary and unexpected, we are told that Mr. George Mason has de- clared himself so great an enemy to the constitution that he will heartily join Mr. Henry and others in promoting a southern confederacy. J'oh7i Langdon to Hufus King, Portsmouth, 23 Feb., 1788. Dear Sir : I am sorry to inform you that our convention adjourned yesterday (to meet again in June next) without completing the im- 463 APPEISTDIX. portant business of adopting the constitution. Contrary to the expec- tation of almost every man of reflection, at our first meeting a majority appeared against the plan, a great part of whom had positive instruc- tions to vote against it. However, after spending ten days on the arguments, a number of opponents came to me and said they were convinced, and should be very unhappy to vote against the constitu- tion, which they (however absurd) must do in case the question was called for. I therefore moved for the adjournment, which was carried, though much opposed by the other side. This question determined a majority in favor of the constitution, had it not been for their instruc- tions. This shows the fatality of the times. Knox to Washington, JVeio Ybi^k, 10 March, 1188. Ex. The business in this state is critically circumstanced, and the par- ties nearly balanced. The issue will depend greatly on the industry of the different sides. I am apprehensive that the anti-federalists will bo the most indefatigable. The federalists say they shall have a small majority certainly, but it is to be apprehended that their confidence will prove highly injurious to the cause. B. Lincoln to Washington, Boston, 19 March, 1788. Ex. Your Excellency will recollect that our last house of assembly was chosen under the influence of the insurgents, most of whom are against the proposed constitution at the least. Had it been submitted to our honse of representatives, it would have been negatived. We had different men in our convention ; they were chosen at a time when the spirit of insurgency had, in a degree, subsided. Jag to Washington. Mr. Jay presents his compliments to his Excellency, General Washington, and sends him herewith enclosed the first volume of The Federalist.— 24 March, 1788. Wasliington to General B. Lincoln, 2 April, 1788. I am not able to giA^c you any more satisfactory information upon the subject than when I wrote last to you. This, however, I may say, that the northern or upper countries are generally friendly to the adoption of the government, the lower are said' to be generally un- friendly, the sentiments of the western parts of the states are not LETTEES AND PAPERS. 463 fully known, but no means have been left untried to prejudice thera against the system ; every art that could inflame the passions or touch the interests of men have been essayed ; the ignorant have been told that, should the proposed government obtain, their lands would be taken from them and their property disposed of ; and all ranks are in- formed that the prohibition of the navigation of the Mississippi (their favorite object) will be a certain consequence of the adoption of the constitution. But, notwithstanding these unfair and unjust represen- tations, I have the fullest confidence in its being received in this state. Ed. Carrington to J. 3Iadtson, Jr., JRichmond, 8 Aj^ril, 178S. I congratulate you upon the success which attended your efforts to turn the sinners of Orange from their wicked ways. Powhatan county, from being anti, are become entirely federal. Most of the elections in the upper and middle parts of the south side of James river have been made in frenzy, and terminated in dep- utations of weak and bad men, who have bound themselves to vote in the negative, and will, in all cases, be the tools of Mr. Henry. I have had much conversation with the chief justice. He dislikes the constitution, but dreads the consequences of a disunion so much that he is determined to place us in no situation which shall in the least degree hazard such an event. Charles Lee to Washington, Richmond, IJf. A^nil, 17S8. "With regard to the proposed constitution, it seems that the news- papers have mispublished the delegates from Kentucky, and the gov- ernor informs me that they are to a man opposed to it. He seems to be fixing in favor of it. Cgrus Griffin to JIadison, New Tori; IJ/. April, 1788. Ex. In point of virtues and real abilities the federal members are much superior. Henry is mighty and powerful, but too interested ; Mason too passionate, the governor by nature timid and undecided, and Gray- son too blustering. Samuel H. Parsons to Washington, Carlisle, 21 April, 1788. Ex. I am now on my road to the settlements forming on the river Ohio ; and take this only method in my power to take leave of your Excellency, and to assure you of my most coi'dial wishes for your 464 APPENDIX. happiness. I view the adoption of the present plan with all its imper- fections as the only means of preserving the union of the states and securing the happiness of all the parts of this extensive country ; I feel myself deeply interested in this subject, as it will affect the coun- try of which I am now commencing an inhabitant. I am sure it must ever be our interest to continue connected with the Atlantic states. Our new settlement progresses rapidly ; two hundred families will be within our city by July, and I think we are sure of a thousand fami- lies from Xew England within one year if we remain in peace. Ed. Carrinfjton to J. 3Iadison, New York, 23 April, 1788. Ex. The business of the constitution, as referred to the town meetings of Rhode Island, is over without producing any effect. Three of the towns were decidedly for calling on the legislature to appoint a con- vention according to the mode prescribed, and this it seems from friendly views to the measure. The remaining towns have done nothing decisive of their senti- ments. A few of them have apparently voted against it, but it is said, and I believe with truth, that the reason votes do not appear in favor, is that the friends objected so dii'ectly against the mode of jDroceeding that they would not act at all. In some others there are votes both for and against, and at the same time propositions for insisting on the legislatures calling a convention. Upon the whole, it is a perfectly decided matter that Rhode Island will not be among the adopting states by June. "We have no congress, but it is expected we shall have one in a few days. This is a trifling business, which I long to see an end of. E. Carrington to Jefferson, Kew York, 2Jt. April, 1788. Ex. In New York and Virginia very active opposition is made, and the event is uncertain ; in the latter it will depend much xipon the ideas entertained in convention as to the issue in New Hampshire, whose reassembling is to be after the meeting in Virginia. I am certain that a great majority of our convention will be for adopting, upon being ascertained that nine states will adopt, as much worse apprehensions are held from the event of a disunion than from anything that is in the constitution. We have a party that is truly anti-federal, headed by Mr. Henry, but it will be limited to a few,, unless the federalists Avho arc for amendments should, from a mistaken view of the proba- LETTEES AND PAPEES. 465 bility of the measures being carried into effect by nine states, be drawn into steps favoring the anti-federal scheme. Mr. H, does not openly declare for a dismemberment of the union, but his arguments in sup- port of his opposition to the constitution go directly to that issue. He says that three confederacies would be practicable, and better suited to the good of commerce than one. God forbid that I should ever see the trial made. Virginia would fall into a division from which she might add to her burdens, but could never derive aid of any kind. It would have afforded me much pleasure to have seen your senti- ments fully upon this subject, but, Mr. Madison having gone to Vir- ginia before my return to this city, I have not seen your letter to him as yet. I feel sensibly for your situation with our numerous and too justly discontented foreign creditors, nor do I see a prospect of relief before the new government shall get into operation, which must still require some time. Washington to James McHenry, 27 April, 1788. Ex. As you are pleased to ask my opinion of the consequences of an adjournment of your convention until the meeting of ours, I shall (though I have meddled very little in this political dispute — less, per- haf)s, than a man so thoroughly persuaded as I am of the evils and confusions which will result fi'om the rejection of the proposed consti- tution ought to have done) give it as my sincere and decided opinion that the postponement of the question would be tantamount to the final rejection of it ; that the adversaries of the new constitution, Vir- ginia and Maryland, view it in this light, and they will press for the accomplishment of this measure as the dernier resort, I have very good reason to believe. To adduce arguments in support of this opinion is as unnecessary as they would be prolix. They are obvious, and will occur to you on a moment's reflection. Though the period to which the adjournment in New Hampshire was fixed had no respect to the meeting of the convention in this state, but was the effect solely of local circumstances within itself, yet tlie opposition here ascribe it wholly to complaisance toward Virginia, make great use of it, and undertake to pronounce that all the states thereafter, whose conventions were to precede hers, M'ill pursue the same line of conduct, and, of course, that those which are to follow VOL. II. 30 466 APPENDIX. ■vrill receive the tone from it. Should Maryland fulfil this prognostic, South Carolina may indeed be staggered, and the prediction of the foes to the constitution -svill thereby be realized ; for the assertion, so far as it respects North Carolina, may with some truth, I believe, be applied, while the opposition in New York, it is well known, will avail itself of every pretext for rejection. The sentiments of the western district of this state are not yet brought to my view. Independently thereof the majority, so far as the oj^inions of the delegates are known or presumed, is in favor of the adoption and is increasing ; but as the parties, from report, are pretty equally poised, a small matter cast into either scale would give it the preponderancy. Decisions or indecisions then with you will, in my opinion, determine the fate of the constitution, and with it whether peace and happiness or discord and confusion is to be our lot. The federalists here see and deprecate the idea of the latter, and their op- ponents are doing all they can to encourage it, as their last hope. Thus stands the matter in my eyes at present. Washington to Dan. of St. Thomas Jewfer, 3Iount Yer7xon, 27 Ajyril, 1788. Dear Sik : Accept my thanks for the obliging information contained in your letter of the fifteenth instant. The great, the important ques- tion must ere this have received its first featui'es in, iJ^ not the fiat of, your convention. If they are decisive and favorable, it will most assuredly raise the edifice. Seven affirmative, without a negative, carries weight with them that would almost convert the unerring sister, and yet — but in place of what I was going to add — I will say that I am, dear sir, etc. Dan. Carroll to 3Iaclison, Georgetown, 28 Ajjril, 1788. Ex. If the Anne Arundel county election had not taken the extraordinary turn it difl, I may say with certainty there would not have been a show of opposition. Perhaps the adoption would have been unanimous. Georgetown^ eod. die. — I am just informed, from good authority, that the question was taken on Saturday evening. The constitution adopted by sixty-three against eleven. No amendments will be pro- posed, even in the constitutional manner. Great illuminations have taken place at Annapolis, the members having jgiven one guinea for that purpose. LETTERS AXD PAPERS. , 467 Gouverneur Morris to Washington, Richmond, 29 April, 1788. It may not be quite unsatisfactory to receive even conjecture on a subject whose importance is great and when situation precludes evi- dence. As far as one who avoids much enquiry can judge, I am led to decide that the opposers to the new constitution are fewer and more feeble than they were in this quarter, and would almost venture to predict that, if South Carolina and Maryland shall be tolerably unanimous in the adoption, particularly the latter, the convention of this state will not long hesitate. I am mistaken if some leaders of opposition are not more solicitous in the present moment how to make a good retreat than how to fight the battle. It is, you know, a sad thing for a great and deep politician to make a great blunder, and fall in a deep ditch, and yet this may easily happen when men walk on bad ground. Adieu. Washington to Madison, Mount Yernon, 2 May, 1788. Ex. The bod}^ of which you supposed Mr. D. Carroll a member, by a large [60 odd to 12] and decided majority, have ratified the new con- stitution. A thorn in the sides of the leaders of opposition in this state. Should South Carolina give as unequivocal approbation of the system, the opposition here must become feeble, for eight affirmatives with- out a negative carries weight of argument if not eloquence with it that would cause even the unerring sister to hesitate. Mr. Chase, it is said, made a display of all his eloquence. Mr. Mercer discharged his whole artillery of inflammable matter ; and Mr. Martin \sic\ I know not what — perhaps vehemence — but no converts were made, no, not one, so business after a very short session ended ; and will, if I mistake not, render j'^ours less tiresome. John Langdon to liufm King, Portsmouth, 6 May, 1788. My dear Sir : I am honored with your kind favor of the sixteenth ultimo, enclosing the address to the people of New York, which is greatly admired here. I shall take great care to circulate this and all other pieces that will give light to the subject. You may depend every exertion shall be made that is capable to promote the adop- tion of the constitution, and I have no doubt, notwithstanding our late disappointments and mortification, we shall finally prevail and thereby make the people happy in spite of their teeth, as the saying 468 APPENDIX. is. I think affairs to the south look well. Maryland will certainly adopt the plan, and I have but little doubt of South Carolina. We must watch and pray for Virginia and North Carolina. I cannot help thinking but they will both agree to it. New York and New Hamp- shire must agree to the plan, which will complete our business. The state of Georgia ceding that territory to the United States under certain restrictions will have very good effect. Pray make my kind re- spects to your lady, not forgetting the little bantling, also my respects to Mr. Alsop. Carrington to Jefferson, Neio York, IJ/. May, 1788. Ex. My dear Sir : Mr, Barlow, of Connecticut, will have the honor to call on you with this letter. I have not the pleasure of a j^ersonal ac- quaintance with him, but his literary talents have considerably distin- guished him as a poetical as well as prose writer, and he is introduced to me as a gentleman deserving your countenance ; permit me to recommend him to your attention and civilities. He conducts to the Marquis de Lafayette the eldest son of our illustrious friend General Greene, who is sent at the particular request of that noble man to receive his education under his direction in France. I have given the little fellow a few lines to you, and directed him to deliver them in person ; it is unnecessary for me to solicit for him the attention of one who so well knew his father. Doctor John Lathrop to Washington, Boston, 16 May, 1788. Ex. We are looking with vast expectation and hope to your ancient and venerable state. Massachusetts, in the most difficult and try- ing times, prided herself in acting in strict concert with Virginia ; we hope to be united with her and all the sister states in that form of government which, with all its imperfections, has more to recommend it than any constitution formed heretofore by the wis- dom of men. McIIenry to 'Washington, Baltimore, 18 May, 1788. Ex. You will have concluded, from the address of our minority, that the convention were a little embarrassed on the subject of amendments. A very good friend of yours, for whom I have the greatest respect, brouglit us into the difficulty, and we were obliged to leave him to get out of it. The amendments were intended to injure the cause of fed- LETTEES AKD PAPERS. 469 eralism in your state, and, had we agreed to thena, they were well cal- culated to effect it. Knox to Washington, New York, 25 May, 1788. Ex. In this state it appears to be conceded on the part of the federalists that numbers will be against them in the convention, but they hope so many states will previously have adopted the constitution that they shall prevail. It is, however, doubtful. The party against it in this state are united under the auspices of the governor, and he is supposed to be immovable, and yet one would think they could not persist in an opposition fraught with the most deadly consequences. The elections will be known in a few days, when a better judgment will be formed than at present. Colonel Smith has lately arrived from England, and informs that Dr. Price and all the friends of liberty in Great Britain highly approve the constitution, and ardently wish its adoption. Mr. John Adams, who probably has arrived in Massachusetts, is exceedingly pleased with it, and thinks it the first production ever offered to the human race. It is spoken of by the English ministry as an admirable form of government, and which, if adopted, will place the American character in a new point of view highly deserving respect. Cyrus Griffin, President of Congress, to Tliomas Fitzsimons, JVeio York, 26 May, 1788. Ex. Messrs. Jefferson and Adams have been able to borrow for the United States another million of florins in Holland, upon the prospect of the new constitution being established ; but, as congress have not yet ratified the contract, it may remain with you. Mr. Jefferson seems to think that the war in Europe will be general, but no positive judgment can be drawn from such a chaos of politics as that part of the world now exhibits. The British courtiers are ridiculing our situation very much, and tell Mr. Adams, in a sneering manner, when America shall assume some kind of government, then England will speak to her. Washington to the Marquis de Lafayette, Mount Vernon, 28 May, 1788. Ex. A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America for the present generation, and probably produce no small influence on 470 APPENDIX. the happiness of society through a long succession of ages to come. Should everything proceed with harmony and consent, according to our actual wishes and expectations, I will confess to you sincerely, ray dear marquis, it will be so much beyond anything we had a right to imagine or expect eighteen months ago, that it wall demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human aifairs can ever designate it. It is impracticable for you, or any one who has not been on the spot, to realize the change in men's minds, and the progress toward rectitude in thinking and acting, which will then have been made. Adieu, my dear marquis. I hope your affairs in France will subside into a prosperous train without coming to any violent crisis. President Griffin to Thomas Fitzsimons, JSTcio Tori:, 16 June, 1788. Ex. I am not a little happy that the important business of the proposed constitution is going on so well in Virginia. Governor Randolph's recantation, though embarrassing enough with resj)ect to himself, may produce some pleasing consequences. New Hampshire will certainly adopt the system. About two thirds of this state are at present in opposition — but the federal members ex- pect to convert a great number — and, from good authority, I am told that Governor Clinton thinks it absolutely necessary that New York should adopt the measure also. Governor Collins and some of the leading men of Rhode Island are advocates for the plan now. From the appearance of things, taken altogether, we have good reason to conclude that the union will be complete. Ed. Carrington to Madison, New York, 17 June, 1788. "We may calculate with certainty upon a considerable majority, from the facts you communicate. It is impossible that the present critical state of the business, and the consequent responsibility of Virginia to humanity for her conduct under such circumstances, should not have inclined most of the opposition, who can discern the hazard of persevering, to follow Governor Randolph in taking the other side. The convention of New York is now assembling at Poughkeepsie. The anti-federalists, who are indeed the majority, have received a shock from the accounts from Virginia. LETTEES AND PAPERS. 471 Jonathan Trumbull to Washington, 20 June, 17S8. Ex. The triumph of federalism has been great in Connecticut since last winter. The opposition which then existed is now dwindled into mere unimportance. At our late elections — which you know, sir, are formed by the people at large — a General Wadsworth, who was the champion of opposition in our convention, lost his place as an assistant by great odds. His seat at the council board was filled by Colonel Chester, late speaker of our house of assembly — a gentleman of inde- pendent, liberal sentiments, and a firm friend to general government. Your old secretary being placed in the speaker's chair, on the removal of Colonel Chester, is an additional blow to opposition ; and he being considered as a warm supporter of the federal interest, a fast friend to the army and to public justice, this event had its influence toward completing the triumph. John Lanrjdon to Rufus King, Concord, 21 June, 1788. Dear Sir : The state of New Hampshire have this moment adopted the federal constitution ; fifty-seven yeas, forty-six nays. I have sent on the express to Springfield, to Mr. Smith, to forward Colonel Hamil- ton's letter to Poughkeepsie, which I enclosed him. Excuse haste. Believe me yours, etc. John Langdon to Hamilton, Concord, 21 June, 1788. Dear Sir : By the desire of our mutual friend, Rufus King, Esq., I have the great pleasure and satisfaction of informing you that this state has this day adopted the federal constitution. This all-important question was carried by a majority of eleven — fifty-seven yeas, forty- six nays. Excuse haste. P. S. — This letter goes to Springfield by an express, which I have sent for this purpose, to the care of William Smith, Esq., of that place, who is to forward it to you. Washington to 3Iadison, 23 June, 1788. Ex. I hear with real concern of your indisposition. At Fredericksburg (on a visit to my aged and infirm mother) I learned that you intended to proceed immediately from Richmond to New York. Relaxation must have become indispensably necessary for your health, and for that reason I presume to advise you to take a little respite from busi- 4 < 2 APPEXDIX. ness, and to express a wish that part of the time might be spent under this roof in your way thither. Moderate exercise, and books occasion- ally, with the mind unbent, will be your best restoratives. I can as- sure you, with much truth, that none will be happier to see you than yours, etc. Gen. Schuyler to his son, John Bradstreet Schuyler, Pourjhkeepsie^ Thursday, 26 June, 1788. Ex. My dear Child : The adoption of the constitution by New Hamp- shire, although it will be the means of ultimately bringing this state into the union, and although it has disappointed the expectations of those who are averse to the constitution, yet I have no reason to con- clude that it is attended with such effect as to induce the convention to adopt the constitution otherwise than with previous amendments. Perhaps they may adjourn under pretence of taking the sense of their constituents, but this is very jDroblematicah The debates are not yet published ; when they shall be promulgated and read, the candid will acknowledge that those of the Chancellor, Messrs. Jay, Harrison, and Hamilton ought to have carried conviction. Mr. Duane has not yet spoken, but he also will do justice to the cause. Though all are eloquent, yet Hamilton [MS. worn away] ad his senti- ments are so true, his judgment so correct, his elocution so pleasing, so smooth, and yet so [forcible], that he reaches the heart and carries conviction, where every avenue to conviction is [not] shut up. Alas ! I fear there are too many who labor under this prejudice. J. B. Cutting to Thos. Jefferson, London, 11 July, 1788. Ex. It is not a solecism to sny that the opposition to a thorough reform of the federal government began in Maryland, even before the agita- tion of the question in the general convention at Philadelphia. Mr. Martin, the attorney-general, who was primarily appointed to that office by Mr. Chase, was by the same influence deputed to represent the state. After Messrs. Carroll, Johnson, etc., etc., the first choice of the legislature declined quitting Maryland even upon the important business of newly framing the national government, Mr. Chase having just before menaced the senate for rejecting a wide emission of paper money, and appealed to the people against them. They had joined in that general issue, and could not venture to relinquish to a violent and headstrong party their active influence in the senate as well as in the LETTERS AISTD PAPEES. 473 lower house, at tbe very moment when it was so essentially needed to stem the torrent of the populace for the paper. Those gentlemen, therefore, remained at home, convinced their fellow-citizens of their superior rectitude and wisdom, and defeated that favorite measure of Mr, Chase. Meanwhile, Mr. Martin, and Mr. John F. Mercer, a young gentleman whom you well know, went to the general convention, op- posed the great leading features of the plan which was afterward pro- mulged, withdrew themselves from any signature of it, and from the moment when it was proposed for ratification in conjunction with Mr. Chase, and his sure coadjutor, Mr, Paca, exerted every effort to hinder its adoption. I have also enclosed, for the same purpose of amusing, the manly proceeding of a Virginia court of appeals. Without knowing the par- ticular merits of the cause, I may venture to applaud the integrity of judges who thus fulfil their oaths and their duties, I am proud of such characters. They exalt themselves and their country, while they maintain the principles of the constitution of Virginia and manifest the unspotted probity of its judiciary department. I hope you will not think me too local or statically envious when I mention that a similar instance has occurred in Massachusetts, where, when the legis- lature unintentionally trespassed upon a barrier of the constitution, the judges of the supreme court solemnly determined that the particu- lar statute was unconstitutional. In the very next session there was a formal and unanimous repeal of the law which, perhaps, was un- necessary. Monroe to Jefferson, FredericJcshurg, 12 July, 1788. Ex. Dear Sir : Although I am persuaded you will have received the proceedings of our convention upon the plan of government submitted from Philadelphia, yet as it is possible this may reach you sooner than other communications, I herewith enclose a copy to you. They termi- nated, as you will find, in a ratification which must be considered, so far as a reservation of certain rights go, as conditioned with the rec- ommendation of subsequent amendments. The copy will designate to you the part which different gentlemen took upon this very interesting and important subject. The detail in the management of the business, from your intimate knowledge of characters, you perhaps possess with great accuracy, without a formal narration of it. Pendleton, though much impaired in health, and in every respect in the decline of life. 474 APPENDIX. showed as much zeal to carry it as if he had been a young man. Per« haps more than he discovered in the commencement of the late revolu- tion in his opposition to Great Britain. Wythe acted as chairman to the committee of the whole, and, of course, took but little part in the debate, but was for the adoption, relying on subsequent amendments. Blair said nothing, but was for it. The governor exhibited a curious spectacle to view ; having refused to sign the paper, everybody sup- posed him against it ; but he afterward had written a letter, and hav- ing taken a part which might be called rather vehement than active, he was constantly laboring to show that his present [position was] consistent with that letter and the letter with his refusal to sign. Madison took the principal share in the debate for it, in which, to- gether with the aid I have already mentioned, he was somewhat as- sisted by Innes, H. Lee, Marshal, Corbin, and A. Nicholas, as Mason, Henry, and Grayson were the principal supporters of the opposition. The discussion, as might have been expected where the parties were so nearly on a balance, was conducted generally with great order, pro- priety, and respect of either party to the others, and its event was accompanied with no circumstance on the part of the victorious that was extraordinary exultation, nor of depression on the part of the un- fortunate. There was no bonfire illumination, etc., and had there been, I am inclined to believe the opposition would have not only expressed no dissatisfaction, but have scarcely felt any at it, for they seemed to be governed by principles elevated highly above circumstances so trivial and transitory in their nature. The conduct of General Washington on this occasion has no doubt been right and meritorious ; all pai'ties had acknowledged defects in the federal system, and been sensible of the propriety of some material change. To forsake the honorable retreat to which he had retired and risk the reputation he had so deservedly acquired, manifested a zeal for the public interest that could, after so many and illustrious services, and at this stage of life, scarcely have been expected from him. Hav- ing, however, commenced again on the public theatre, the course which he takes becomes not only highly interesting to him, but likewise so to us ; the human character is not perfect, and if he partakes of those qualities which we have too much reason to believe are almost insepa- rable from the frail nature of our being, the people of America will perhaps be lost. Be assured his influence carried this government. For my own part, I have a boundless confidence in him, nor have I any LETTERS AND PAPEES. 475 reason to believe he will ever furnish occasion for -svithclrawing it. More is to be apprehended if he takes a part in the public councils ao-ain, as he advances in age, from the designs of those around him than from any dispositions of his own. In the discussion, an allusion was made, I believe, in the first instance by Mr. Henry to an opinion you had given on this subject in a letter to Mr. Donald. This afterward became the subject of much enquiry and debate in the house as to the construction of the contents of such letter, and I was happy to find the great attention and universal re- spect with which the opinion was treated, as well as the great regard and high estimation in which the author of it was held. Nathaniel Oorham to Washington, 21 July, 17SS. Ex. The adoption of the constitution by Virginia has diffused in general a joy through the other states. Although I am passing rapidly into the vale of years, and shall live to see but a small portion of the happy effects which I am confident this system will produce for my country, yet the precious idea of its prosperity will not only be a consolation amid the increasing infirmi- ties of nature and the growing love of retirement, but it will tend to soothe the mind in the inevitable hour of separation from terrestrial objects. John Jay to Washington, PoxighTceepsie, 23 July, 17SS. Ex. Dear Sir : I wrote to you a few days ago and enclosed a copy of certain propositions, or mode of adoption. Great objections to it be- ing urged, it was withdrawn for the present. The convention pro- ceeded to-day in debating on the plan of conditional amendment. Some of the anti-party moved for striking out the words oyi condition and substituting the words in full confidence ; it was carried thirty- one to twenty-nine in the committee, so that, if nothing new should occur, this state will adopt unconditionally ; the party, however, mean to rally their forces and endeavor to regain that ground. Washington to General Nelson, 3Iount Vernon, 3 Aug., 17S8. Ex. My dear Sir : Far, very far indeed, was it from my intention to embarrass you by the letters which enclosed the proceedings of the general convention, and still farther was it from my wish that the communication should be received in any other light than as an iu 476 APPENDIX. stance of my attention and friendship. I vras well aware that the adojition or rejection of the constitution would be, as it ought to be, decided upon according to its merits, and agreeably to the circum- stances to which our public affairs had arrived. That all questions of this kind are, ever will, and perhaps ought to be (to accomplish the designs of infinite wisdom), viewed through different mediums by dif- ferent men, is as certain as that they have existence ; all that can be expected in such cases, therefore, is charity, mutual forbearance, and acquiescence in the general voice ; which, though it may be wrong, is presumably right. Washingt07i to Dr. James Crail:, Mount Vernon, 4 Aug., 1788. Deak Sir : "With this letter you will receive the horse I promised you, and which I now beg your acceptance of. He is not in such good order as I could wish, but as good as my means would place him. I also send you thirty pounds cash for one year's allowance for the schooling of your son, G, W. I wish it was in my power to send the like sum for the other year, which is now about or near due ; and that I could discharge your account for attendance and ministries to the sick of my family, but it really is not ; for with much truth I can say I never felt the want of money so sensibly since I was a boy of fifteen years old as I have done for the last twelve months, and prob- ably shall do for twelve months more to come. Sincerely and affec- tionately, I am yours. Jefferson to Monroe, 9 Aug., 1788. Ex. There is another article of which I have no hopes of amendment, because I do not find it objected to in the states. This is the abandon- ment of the principle of necessary rotation in the senate and presi- dency. With respect to the last particularly, it is as universally con- demned in Europe as it is universally unanimadverted on in America. I have never heard a single person here speak of it without condemna- tion, because, on the supposition that a man being once chosen will be always chosen, he is a king for life ; and his importance will pro- duce the same brigucs and cabals, foreign and domestic, which the election of a king of Poland and other elective monarchies have ever produced. So that we must take refuge in the end in hereditary mon- archy, the very evil which grinds to atoms the people of Europe. LETTERS AND PAPERS. 477 I sincerely take part with you in your domestic felicity. Tliere is no other in this world worth living for. John Broxon to Jefferson, N'eio YorJc, 10 Aug., 178S. Dear Sie : Your favor of the twenty-eighth May came to hand a few days ago, for which accept my warmest acknowledgments. I am well convinced of the justness of your remarks respecting the impor- tance of strengthening and maintaining the connection between the district of Kentucky and the maritime states. During my residence in that country it was my constant care to cultivate that idea ; but I am sorry to inform you that fi'om the pres- ent complexion of affairs there is reason to apprehend that the connec- tion will not be of long duration. Congress have rejected their appli' cation to be admitted into the union as an independent state, notwith- standing it was acknowledged to be reasonable — thinking it inexpedient in the present state of the confederacy, and that the admission of a new state might affect the balance of power, unless Vermont could be brought forward at the same time. This will be considered by the people of that country as a great disappointment, inasmuch as they have been more than three years in bringing forward this application, and as they are now referred to the new government, to be admitted under which in a constitutional mode must necessarily be attended with considerable delay. Their vast increase in population (amount- ing to at least one hundred thousand souls in that district alone), added to the great delay and difficulty attending a communication with the seat of government, render their connection with Virginia so burden- some that there is every reason to expect that, immediately on hear- ing that congress has refused to receive them, they will assume their independence. Should they take this step, I think it very proble- matical whether or not they will apply for admission into the new confederacy, especially as they are generally opposed to the new constitution, apprehending much inconvenience and danger from the judicial system, and fearing that the powers vested in the general government may enable [it] to carry into effect the proposed treaty with Spain relative to the navigation of the Mississippi. Indeed, the ill-advised attemjst to cede the navigation of that river has laid the foundation for the dismemberment of the American empire by destroying the confidence of the peojjle in the western country in the justice of the union, and by inducing them to despair of obtaining 478 APPENDIX. possession of that right by means of any other exertions than their own. However, as we are infonned by the governor of the western terri- tory that there is great reason to apprehend a general Indian war, I hope that Kentucky will see the danger and impropriety of breaking off from the union at this time, and that it may still be in the power of congress to conciliate their minds and to secure their attachment to the confederacy. I expect to set out in a few days for the western coiintry ; shall take pleasure in communicating to you the news of that country by every opportunity. Should you be so good as to honor me with a letter, it will find a ready conveyance from New York to me by post. Before I conclude this letter I must, in justice to my feelings, ex- press my gratitude for the many favors I have received from you ; be assured that they have made a lasting impression upon my mind, and that it is, in a great measure, to your friendship and instruction that I am indebted for my success in life. Washington to Samuel Powell, 15 Sept., 1788. Dear Sir : The present congress, by its great indecision in fixing on a place at which the new congress is to convene, have hung the expectations and patience of the union on tenter-hooks, and thereby (if further evidence had been necessary) given a fresh instance of the unfitness of a body so constituted to regulate with energy and preci- sion the affairs of such an extensive empire. Se2)t. 23J., Ex. — I am glad congress have at last decided upon an ordinance for carrying the new government into execution. The pa- tience of the union was too long tried for a question of so temporary a nature. B. R. Livingston to Lafayette, Claremont, 17 Sept., 1788. Ex. In many of the new^ states the new plan has met wdth great opposi- tion, and more particularly in this where the governor headed the op- position with all the weight arising from his office. However, after six weeks laborious debate, we were happy enough to bring over such a numl)or of our opposors as to carry the question for the adoption of the new constitution which has now been acceded to by all the states but North Carolina and Rhode Island, both of which are at present convulsed by the ]):ii)er money epidemic of which the other states have LETTEES AND PAPERS. 4V9 been so lately cured. The plan will now be carried into effect, and I cannot but hope from it such consistency as will give us the weight which our situation and increasing numbers entitle us to. General Lincoln to Washington, Hingham, 2^ Sei^t., 1788. I am prompted to wish that Mr. Adams might come in, from the double motive that from his knowledge and rectitude he will be able to render the most essential services to the United States, and that with him your Excellency will be perfectly happy. I am, however, very apprehensive that the anti-federal junta will attempt from sinister views to prejudice your Excellency, and to fix in your mind the most unfavorable ideas of him, and they will endeavor to persuade you that the moment such a connection shall take place, your Excellency must bid adieu to all hope of future happiness iu public life. Perhaps these apprehensions are not well founded, I hope they are not; but when it is considered how dangerous your Excellency's administration must be to the views of that party, we cannot suppose that they will stick at anything to prevent its taking place. I am happy in knowing Mr. J. Adams ; my acquaintance commenced with him early in life. Few men can boast of equal abilities and infor- mation, and of so many virtues ; his foibles are few. I am happy in knowing his sentiments of your Excellency ; there is not a virtue in your character which the most intimate of your friends have discov- ered but it seems to be known and acknowledged by him. I am, from a free conversation with him, as well as from his general character, perfectly convinced that there is not a man in this part of the confed- eracy, if one can be found through the whole of it, who would render your Excellency's situation at the head of the government more agree- able, or who would make it more his study that your administration should be honorable to yourself, and permanently interesting to the people. Monroe to 3ridison, Fredericksburg, 34. Sejjt., 1788. Ex. I perfectly agree in the propriety of yielding to the majority respect- ing the place of residence. If a concession must be made, the minor- ity must make it, and when the states south of us yielded, all hope was at an end. I have long since desponded of Georgetown, nor are my hopes more sanguine under the new than they have been under the old government ; but it has in my estimation every consideration of 480 APPENDIX. reason and propriety on its side, and, of course, every effort should be made in its favor wliile there is a prospect of success. Enclosures in Lord Dorchester's ISfo. 82, of H Oct., 17SS. Ex. The manufactures of the states are in their infancy, yet the enter- prising genius of the people may be gathered from the great exertions of individuals in this branch under all their present embarrassments. In Connecticut, attempts have been made to make silk, and with suc- cess ; specimens are shown at New Haven College, and Dr. Styles, the president, who is a man of genius and perseverance, is indefatigable at present in promoting it. Kail manufactories are already established; there are two in Albany that supply the whole country, and the im- portation of nails from Great Britain has ceased in that neighborhood. A white-glass manufactory has lately been set on foot in Jersey, and the sale is not inconsiderable. Pennsylvania has taken the lead in various branches of manufac- ture ; it is said that there are at this time between two and three hun- dred stocking looms in the city of Philadelphia and different parts of the state, with full employment. Machines for carding and spinning cottons have been introduced, and jeans can be made on moderate terms. The culture of cotton is at present much attended to in the southern states. Ed. Carrinr/ton to JIadison, Fredericksburg, 10 Oct., 1788. Ex. 3Iy dear Sir : Having traveled leisurely, I arrived here last even- ing, and shall proceed to-morrow morning for Richmond. I left Mount Vernon on Friday ; during my stay there I had much conversation with the general upon the probable politics of the assem- bly, with respect to the constitution. lie is fully persuaded that anti- federalism will be the actuating principle, and that great circumspec- tion is necessary to prevent very mischievous effects from a co-operation in the insidious proposition of New York. lie is particularly alarmed from a prospect of an election for the senate, entirely anti-federal. It is said in this part of the state that Mr. Henry and Mr. R. II, Lee are to be pushed. I believe it is founded only in conjecture, but the gen- eral is apprehensive it may prove true ; that to exclude the former will be impossible ; and that the latter, being supported by his inliu- ence, will also get in, unless a federalist very well established in the couGdeiice of the peoi)le can be op[)Osed. He is decided in his wishes LETTEES AKD PAPERS. 481 that you may be brought forward upon this occasion. I told him " that your views were to offer your services to the public in the legislature, in that branch which would be most agreeable to the public, but that I had reason to believe you had a jn-eference for the house of representatives." Upon this, he observed that, in ad- dition to the considerations first suggested, your services in the senate will be of more importance than in the other house, as there will be much depending on that branch unconnected with the other. Some other observations were made to this purpose, and the issue was his decided opinion that you ought [to] be proposed for the senate. St. John Crevecoeur to Jefferson, New TorTc, 20 Oct., 17S8. Ex. Never was so great a change in the opinion of the best people as has happened these five years ; almost everybody feels the necessity of co- ercive laws, government, union, industry, and labor. I hope the small differences entertained by some people about the mode of regeneration will no longer be a barrier ; such wull be the foundations of America's future peace, opulence, and power. The exports of this country have singularly increased within these two years, and the imports have de- creased in proportion ; manufactures of the most useful kind are estab- lishing in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts ; in the south they begin to cultivate cotton, and in the north they are erecting en- gines to spin it. Nails, canvas, cordage, glass, woollens, linens are now making as good of their kind as any in Europe. Bridges are building everywhere, new communications are opening, new settle- ments forming ; the fisheries have been singularly prosperous this year ; even here a singular spirit of improvement is conspicuous ; they are paving all their streets in dos cVdne, with elegant footpaths on each side ; toward the North river immense docks are filling up with the adjacent banks, over which a beautiful street, sixty feet wide, is already laid out, which begins at the Battery and is to extend two miles, a con- siderable part of which is already done and paved. Four thousand pounds have been subscribed for embellishing and enlarging the City Hall, in order to accommodate the new federal corps with more decency, and Major I'Enf ant has been appointed to preside over the works, which he has planned himself. This country, once consolidated, will easily pay its debts, by a wise system of commercial law encourage the in- dustry of its inhabitants, and draw forth all their genius. The Trans- VOL. II. 31 482 APPENDIX. appalachian country is filling apace ; there lies the embryo of new con- nections, a vast political field which I dare not explore. J. B. Cutting to Jefferson. There is a gentleman just arrived from Virginia ; left the convention debating on the eleventh of June. He says he attended several days, and that nothing can exceed the seeming violence with which Mr. Henry and Colonel Grayson combat the constitution, except the ability with which Mr, Madison and Governor Randolj)h advocate it, Mr, Henry used such harsh language in reprobating the fickle conduct of the latter that the house compelled him to ask that gentleman's par- don. No doubt was entertained in Virginia respecting the ratification by that state, Francis Corhin to Iladison, 21 Oct., 1788. Ex. A proposition will be brought forward in the assembly for a second convention of the states, and I fear it will be carried, although I have not yet been able to ascertain the complexion of the house, this being but the second day of our meeting. This proposition, it is said, will be introduced, not by Henry, but (mirabile dictic /) by our friend Ran- dolph. He will injure his political reputation by his doublings and turnings. He is too Machiavellian and not Machiavellian enough. I wish, I sincerely wish, that he could be advised, and would take ad- vice ; but this, I fear, is out of the question. We Virginians are too much accustomed to solitude and slavery, too much puffed up with our own foolish pride and vanity, ever to entertain any other idea than that we alone are wise, and all the rest of the world fools. General Lincoln to Wdshingto^i, Boston, 25 Oct., 1788. Ex. Mt dear General : I have the pleasure of transmitting to your Excellency a publication containing a number of letters written some time since by Mr, J, Adams. The writer has, I think, discovered great knowledge of our country and of the state of our affairs, and conducted his answers to the several questions with great address and in a very masterly manner. Our general court meets here on "Wednesrlay next. It is quite un- certain who will be our senators, or at the least one of them. Mr. Strong, I tliink, will be chosen ; for the other seat there are many can- didates — Mr. Bowdoin, Mr. S.Adams, Mr. R. King, Mr. Judge Dana, etc. LETTERS AISTD PAPERS. 483 Ed. Carrington to James Madison., Itichmond, 9 Nov., 1788. Ex. My dear Sir : The election for senators came on yesterday, and terminated as I gave you some reason to apprehend in my last. The ballots were as follows : For R. H. Lee, ninety-eight ; for William Grayson, eighty-six ; for James Madison, seventy-seven. The whole number of votes was one hundred and sixty-two, sixty-two whereof were given singly to you ; of those cast away, Mr. H. got twenty-six, and the remainder were distributed to many others. I am confident that two thirds of the assembly are antis who meditate mischief against the government. You will therefore account for the majority against you upon principles not dishonorable to yourself ; and indeed many must have voted from personal regard against their own principles, or you could not have received so great a ballot. The voice of this state runs pretty unanimously for General Wash- ington as president, and Mr. Henry is putting in agitation the name of Clinton for vice-president, which takes well with the antis ; indeed, it is more than probable he will receive a majority among the electors to be chosen. Grayson is warm in such an election ; he is, indeed, the devoted servant of Henry. You may rely upon it, my dear friend, that Mr. Henry will throw into the government every embarrassment he possibly can. Carrington to 3Iadlson, Eichmond, 15 Nov., 1788. Ex. Your friends from the district will write you, and therefore I will not say more on the point of your election. You may, however, de- pend on meeting with all the opposition that can be brought into practice against you. Washi7igton to 3Iadison, 17 Nov., 1788. Ex. The accounts from Richmond are, indeed, very unpropitious to fed- eral measures. In one word it is said that the edicts of Mr. H. are enregistered with less opposition in the Virginia assembly than those of the grand monarch by his parliaments. He has only to say, Let this be law, and it is law. Carrington to Madison, Bichmond, 18 Nov., 1788. ■ Ex. It is as yet not ascertained who will be started against you ; within a few days there has arisen some reason to suspect that Colonel Mon- 484 APPENDIX. roe will be tbe man. Let me apprise you that you are upon no occa- sion of a public nature to expect favors from that gentleman. Henry Lee to Madison^ Alexandria^ 19 J^ov.^ 17S8. Ex. Except the mortification I feel personally at the late appointments and the evidence it holds up to the world of the temper of this state, I profess myself pleased with your exclusion from the senate, and I wish it may so happen in the lower house ; then you will be left quali- fied to take part in the administration, which is the place proper for you. I had a full and confidential conversation with our sachem on all these points. He agreed precisely with me in the above opinion. He will come forward if the public happiness demands it, although his love of domestic repose renders him deaf to all the allurements of ambition and power. On nobler principles and with more generous views he will quit his happy situation, and if he quit, he will expect, and with justice too, the united and firm assistance of all friends to their country. Ed. Carrington to Madison, Michmond, 26 Nov., 1788. ]\[y dear Sir : Since my last to you it is decided that Monroe is to be your opponent ; the interest of both Cabel and Strother will be combined in his favor. I wish you could be in the district, as no pains will be spared to impress the minds of the peoj^le with preju- dices against you. I have already apprised you of the political hostility of Monroe, and it will be well for you to pay some regard to it. lVas?iin(/ton to Mochamheau, 27 JVov., 1788, Here we have all peace, and a happy prospect that the new govern- ment will soon be carried into execution. On your side of the Atlan- tic I am sorry to find that there is some probability of a general war. You will, I know, my dear count, applaud the wish Avhich humanity makes to prevent the effusion of blood, even though you are a military man, and might have a better chance than most others to gather fi'esh laurels in the field of death. JJ. llumphreyn to Jefferson, Mount Yernon, 29 JVov., 1788. Ex. The same General Wadsworth who was in Congress with you at Annapolis became, in conjunction with two or three of his subalterns, ' LETTERS AND PAPERS. 485 the clirector of every political measure in Connecticut, and prevented, in almost every instance, a compliance with the requisitions of con- gress. On the other part, great numbers of those who wished to see an efficient federal government prevail, began to fear that the bulk of the people would never submit to it. In short, some of them who had been utterly averse to royalty began to imagine that hardly anything but a king could cure the evil. It was truly astonishing to have been witness to some conversations which I have heard. Still, all the more reasonable men saw that the remedy would be infinitely worse than the disease. In this fluctuating and irritable situation the public mind continued for some time. Colonel R. H. Lee and Colonel Grayson, the senators of this state, are not comprehended under the denomination of federalists, but it is generally believed they will be less violent than many of their party. Mr. Madison was in nomination with those two gentlemen, and lost his election by eight or nine votes. This was owing entirely to Mr. Patrick Henry, who openly opposed his election, and who cai-ries every meas- ure he espouses in the assembly. In throwing the state into districts for the choice of representatives to congress, it is said, he has taken particular pains to prevent Mr. Madison from being chosen. Some who wish equally well to the go.vernment and Mr. Madison, imagine it may be the means of having him better employed as minister for the home department. The opinion seems to be universal that General "Washington will be elected president. Mr. John Adams, Mr. Hancock, and General Knox are spoken of as candidates for the vice-presidency. It is rather prob- able that the first will be appointed, than either of the others. Uj^on the whole, we may augur much more favorable things than ajipearances heretofore promised. The habits of industry and economy, which have been introduced by necessity, require only an efficient general government to ensure prosperity ; and the people of the different states seem disposed to acquiesce in such a government, provided care be taken not to touch their purses too deeply. The Count du Moustier, his sister, her son, and Mr. Du Pont, have lately been at Mount Yernon. The minister appears to be a very well informed man, and extremely desirous of promoting the commercial connection between France and this country. He affects plainness in dress and simplicity of manners ; but, perhaps, not so much to fall into American customs as the Chev. 486 APPENDIX. Luzerne did. It is questionable, therefore, whether he will be so popular. ]MaJame de Brehan appears very inquisitive after information. She does not find the country answer Mr. Crevecoeur's description of it. Some ladies have thought she rather undervalued them, when she ap- peared in a considerable company with a three-cornered muslin hand- kerchief tied round her head, nearly in the fashion of the negro women in the West Indies. Emigrations from the old settlements to the West continue to be im- mense. In the mean while the arts of peace are progressing in the old states, perhaps more rapidly than they have ever before done. The sj^irit of improvement is gaining ground. The three great bridges lately erected in Massachusetts do that state vast credit. The enter- prise in trade and manufactures, supported by domestic economy, has, dui'ing the last year, for the first time made the exports from thence considerably more valuable than the imports into it. To this the trade to the East Indies has not a little contributed. Washington to David Stuart, 2 Dec, 1788. Ex. That the legislature of the state has displayed the most malignant (and, if one may be allowed the expression, the most unwarrantable) dis- l^osition toward the new government, in all its acts respecting it, needs no other evidence than their public records ; but upon what ground they have undertaken to assert things which the representatives of the people, chosen for the express purpose in convention, have not author- ized them to do, lies with the wisdom of the majority of that assembly to ex])lain. Nor will it redound much to their honor, I conceive, if in the ultimate appeal to the people there should (as you have intimated) be seven out of the ten representatives on the federal side. But excuse me, my dear sir, when I give it to you as my opinion that you are reckoning without your host, as the phrase is. There may be such a proportion through the state who are friends to the adopted constitu- tion, but they cither do not see the necessity, or are too indolent or too much engaged in other matters to come forward, or too much disunited among themselves to act in unison ; while those of the other description (or I wn much mistaken) will be formed into one solid phalanx. Need I go out of tliis district for proof? In my opinion, Chatham Fitzhugh, or you, are the characters most likely to unite the suffrages of the fed- eral interest in it. Neither will serve. What is the consequence? LETTEES AXD PAPERS. 487 Wliy, a third is proposed, in whom all cannot agree ; a fourth and a fifth will have advocates, and neither will be chosen. This is my idea of the matter. I give it to you, however, in confidence, for I have been already dragged into public view on these occasions more than is agreeable to me. It would seem to me good policy for the federal delegates (now in assembly) of each district to confer freely together, and resolve to support the fittest character therein ; at any rate, not to be disunited. Sorry, indeed, should I be if Mr. Madison meets the same fate ia the district of which Orange composes a part as he has done in the assembly ; and to me it seems not at all improb- able. The expensive manner in which I live (contrary to my wishes, but really unavoidable), the bad years of late, and my consequent short crops, have occasioned me to run in debt, and to feel more sensibly the want of money than I have ever done at any period of my whole life, and obliges me to look forward to every source from whence I have a right to expect relief. Under these circumstances I must ask you what prospect I have, and in what time (after it becomes due) I may expect to receive the present year's annuity. Washington to Colonel Henry Lee, 12 Dec, 1788. Ex. Your intention to decline offering yourself for the AVestmoreland district, since you have received advice of Mr. John Page's doing it, is an unequivocal proof, if proof was wanting, of your friendly dispo- sitions to the new government ; but whether it is the most effectual way of serving it is another question. Whether Mr. Page's interest or yours is best in the district I am not sufficiently informed to decide ; but of one thing I am sure, and that is that these matters (to stand upon equal ground with the opponents of the constitution) ought to be the result of previous consultation and arrangement. 8t. John Crevecoeur to Jefferson, N'eio Yoi'k, 5 Jan., 1789. Ex. Notwithstanding all these untoward appearances, I am convinced^ that the nail is clinched. This country can remain no longer without a government, and the sticklers for amendments are only those who are head over heels in debt. Our governor is not a man of sufficient abilities to become the head of a party. Colonel Hamilton is just set out for Albany ; not that he is a member of the house, but to be on the spot and help in directing his friends. 488 APPENDIX, Sir John Temple to Lord Carmarthen, Kew Yorh, 7 Jan., 1789. Ex. 3Iany difficulties have arisen, and are daily arising, concerning the organization of the new constitution ; anti-federalism daily gains ground in many of the states, so much so that it appears to me doubt- ful whether ever the said constitution will take place until it be altered or modified, and the tedious progress of state and general conventions for that purpose will render it at least a considerable time before any firm government shall be established. J. E. HovmnJ, Governor of Maryland, to 'Washington, Annapolis, ^23 Jan., 1789. In this state, the federal ticket has been carried by a very large majority. Knowing that this circumstance will give you pleasure, I have taken the earliest opportunity of communicating it. One circum- stance I will add : that, in the county which bears your name, out of 1,164 taken, there was not one for the anti-federal ticket. Tobias J^ear to John Langdon, Mount Vernon, SI Jem., 1789. Ex. Since the assembly of this state have finished all matters relative to the government so far as dej^ended upon them, the aspect of these affairs have assumed a more settled form, and will enable a person to speak with some degree of certainty upon them. ]Mr. Henry, the leader of the opposition in this state, finding himself beaten off the ground by fair argument in the state convention, and outnumbered upon the important question, collected his whole strength and pointed his whole force against the government in the assembly. He here met with but a feeble opposition, for those great characters who had supported the system in the convention were not members of the assembly. There was not now a single speaker who could cope with him. He led on his almost unresisted phalanx, and planted the standard of hostility upon the very battlements of fed- eralism. In plain English, he ruled a majority of the assembly, and his edicts were registered by that body with less opposition than those of the Grand ^lonarque have met with from his ])arliaments. He chose the two senators, R. H. Lee and Colonel Grayson, both of whom had de- clared themselves opposed to the government. He divided the state into districts, obliging every district to choose one representative who LETTERS ATs'D PAPERS. 489 should be an inhabitant of that district, taking care to arrange matters so as to have the county of which Mr. Madison is an inhabitant thrown into a district of which a majority were supposed to be unfriendly to the government, and by that means exclude him from the representa- tive body in congress. lie wrote the answer to Governor Clinton's letter, and likewise the circular letter to the executives of the several states (one of which, I presume, your Excellency has received before this time), requesting that the states might unite in desiring congress to call another general convention, etc. And after he had settled every- thing relative to the government wholly (I suppose) to his satisfaction, he mounted his horse and rode home, leaving the little business of the state to be done by anybody who chose to give themselves the trouble of attending to it. This, I believe, is a pretty fair state of facts so far as they relate to the legislature. One thing, however, should be remarked, viz., that the doings of the assembly upon the government have been represented out of the state as their almost unanimous deed. This is not the case ; there was a respectable minority in point of number, and in any other view they would be considered by all good men as far outweighing their opponents ; and the voice of the people, in the choice of electors since the assembly have risen, clearly shows that their sentiments were not justly represented in that body, for they have made choice of gen- tlemen for that business of whom a great majority were warm and decided supporters of the government. But the fullest proof of the disposition of the people will be given in their choice of representa- tives to congress which will take place on Monday next, and of these, six, at least, will be federal characters. This the opposite party them- selves acknowledge, and the more sanguine in favor of the government speak with confidence of seven or eight out of ten that will be warm supporters of the system. There can be but little doubt of Mr. Madi- son's election, for, notwithstanding their unwearied efforts to exclude him from any share in the government by the arrangement of the dis- trict, and every other obstacle that could be suggested, his personal appearance in the district and the exertions of his friends have so far turned the current in his favor that they chose a decided federalist as an elector in spite of every opposition. If he should be left out, not only this state but the whole continent will sustain a considerable loss by being deprived of his superior abilities. Mr. Richard H. Lee has declared that, in his opinion, the govern- 490 APPET^DIX. raent ought to have a fair trial in its present form, and that he shall be opposed to any premature amendments. John Adams to Jefferson, Braintreey 1 March, 1789. Ex. In four days the new govei-nment is to be erected. Washington appears to have an unanimous vote, and there is probably a plurality, if not a majority, in favor of your friend. It may be found easier to give authority than to yield obedience. Amendments to the constitu- tion Avill be expected, and no doubt discussed. Will you be so good as to look over the code, and write me your sentiments of amendments which you think necessary or useful ? That greatest and most necessary of all amendments, the separation of the executive power from the legislative, seems to be better understood than it once was ; without this our government is in danger of being a continual struggle between a junta of grandees for the first chair. The success of the new plan will depend, in the first place, upon a revenue to defray the interest of the foreign and domestic debt. But how to get a revenue? how to render smuggling and evasion shameful ? You must expect the first operations will be very slow. Mrs. A., and your old admirer, my son, John Quincy Adams, desire their re- spects to you. "With unabated respect, esteem, and affection, I am, my dear sir, your friend and humble servant, etc. Washington to Captain Richard Coincay, ^ March, 1789. Ex. Dear Sir : Never till within these two years have I ever experi- enced the want of money. Short crops, and other causes not entirely within my control, make me feel it now very sensibly. To collect money without the intervention of suits (and these are tedious) seems impracticable, and land which I have offered for sale will not command cash at an under value, if at all. Under this statement I am inclined to do what I never expected to be driven to — that is, to borrow money on interest. Five hundred pounds would enable me to discharge what I owe in Alexandria, etc. ; and to leave the state (if it shall not be in my power to remain at home in retirement) without doing this would be exceedingly disagreeable to me. Having thus fully and candidly explained myself, jjermit me to ask if it is in your power to supply me with the above, or a smaller sum. Any security, you may best like I can give, and you may be assured that it is no more my inclination LETTERS AND PAPERS. 491 than it can be yours to let it remain long unpaid. Could I get in one fourth part of what is due to me on bonds, or sell any of the landed property which I am inclined to dispose of, I could do it with ease ; but, independently of these, my rents and crops would soon enable me to do it, provided I am tolerably successful in the latter and have com- mon justice done me in the former. Your answer will much oblige yours, etc. Washington to Cajytain Richard Conway, G 3Iarch, 1780, Ex. Dear Sir : I am much obliged by your assurance of money. Mr. Lear waits upon you for it, and carries a bond, drawn in the manner you requested. I am very well satisfied to allow six per cent, (the interest of Maryland), because I have not the smallest doubt of the readiness with which you could lend any sum on those terms. If it is necessary that the bond should be taken in Maryland, I will exchange the one now sent for another to be given at Georgetown, or opposite to Alexandria (at whichever ferry I may pass). I would have done it this day, but being to set off to-morrow for Fredericksburg, in order, probably, to discharge the last act of personal duty I may (from her age) ever have it in my power to pay my mother, it would be very inconvenient for me. Upon collecting my accounts by Mr. Lear, the other day, it was found that though five hundred pounds will enable me to discharge them, yet it is incompetent to this and the other purpose, the ex- penses of my journey to New York, if I go thither. If, therefore, you could add another hundred pounds to the former sum, it would be very acceptable. Mr. Lear is provided with a bond for this sum also. As you said nothing about security in your letter, none is given, but I am not less willing and ready, notwithstanding, to include it in an- other bond if you desire it. John JOangdon to Washington, JVeio YbrJc, 6 April, 1789. Sir : I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency the informa- tion of your unanimous election to the office of president of the United States of America. Suffer me, sir, to indulge the hope that so auspicious a mark of public confidence will meet your approbation, and be considered as a sure pledge of the affection and support you are to expect from a free and an enlightened people. 492 APPEJ^DIX. G. Washington to Bohert B. Livingston, JVeio York, 31 May, 1789. Sir : The new and busy scenes in which I have been constantly en- gaged since my arrival in this place, and which will not allow me to paj^ that pointed attention to the favors of my friends that my incli- nation would lead me to do, will, I trust, apologize for this late ac- knowledgment of your letter of the fifteenth instant. To you, sir, and others who know me, I believe it is unnecessary for me to say that when I accej^ted of the important trust committed to my charge by my country, I gave up every idea of personal gratifica- tion that I did not think was compatible with the public good. Under this impression I plainly foresaw that the part of my duty which obliged me to nominate persons to offices would, in many instances, be the most irksome and unpleasing ; for however strong my personal attachment might be to any one — however desirous I might be of giv- ing a proof of my friendship — and whatever might be his expectations, grounded upon the amity which had subsisted between us, I was fully determined to keep myself free from every engagement that could embarrass me in discharging this part of my administration. I have, therefore, uniformly declined giving any decisive answer to the numer- ous applications which have been made to me ; being resolved, when- ever I am called upon to nominate persons for those offices which may be created, that I will do it with a sole view to the public good, and shall bring forward those who upon every consideration, and from the best information I can obtain, will, in my judgment, be most likely to answer that great end. The delicacy with which your letter was written, and your wishes insinuated, did not require me to be thus explicit on this head with you ; but the desire which I have that those persons whose good opin- ion I value should know the principles on which I mean to act in this business, has led me to this full declaration ; and I trust that the truly worthy and respectable characters in this country will do justice to the motives by which I am actuated in all my public transactions. I have the honor to be, with due consideration and very great esteem, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant, G. Washixgtox. Morgan Lems to Hamilton, BhinehecJc, 2^. June, 17S9. Deai; Sir : T am informed the inhabitants of New York have it in contemplation to make Mr, King one of our senators. Under this LETTERS AND PAPEES. 493 persuasion I have thrown it out in conversation to several of the country members, and have found it very generally disapproved of, so much so that I am satisfied it cannot at present be accomplished. I am afraid, too, it would interfere with the appointment of General Schuyler, in this way. Many persons think we are bound to sujjport Judge Yates, in oi'der to convince the public that our only object in pushing him for the government was not merely the removal of Mr. Clinton. This may operate with many as a reason for supporting the judge against the general. How will it answer to try the old chief for the southern district ? This, I imagine, will give pretty general satisfaction. The old gentleman will be provided for, and Judge Yates satisfied with stepping into the chief justice's chair. Give me your sentiments upon this subject ; and also upon the mode most proper to be adopted in the appointment of senators. Mrs. L. joins in compliments to Mrs. H. with, dear sir, your friend and humble servant, Morgan Lewis.* Secretary W. W. Grenville to Lord Dorchester {secret), Whitehall, 20 Oct., 1789. My Lord : Your lordship's despatches Nos. 107, 113, and 126, which relate to the new settlements in Kentucky, contain information highly important to the future interests of his Majesty's provinces in North America, and his Majesty has, therefore, seen with great satisfaction the attention which you have given to this subject. It appears ex- tremely desirable that the turn of affairs in those settlements should lead to the establishment of a government distinct from that of the Atlantic states, and that if this should be the case, every means should be t.aken to improve and cultivate a connection with the former, as being likely to prove highly advantageous to the interests of this coun- try. But this business does not (as far as I am enabled to judge from the information of which I am hitherto in possession) appear to be in a situation in which any direct or open interference on our part would be in any respect a proper or prudent measure. The great object of your lordship's endeavors should, therefore, be to cultivate such an intercourse with the leading men in the new settlements as might give ' The letter is addressed to Alexander Senator, June 24th." The later endorse- Hatnilton, Esq., New York, honored by Colo- ment, without date, is " A good enough fed- nel Fish. The first endorsement made at eralist at that time. A. II." the time is " llorgan Lewis, '89, Mr. King, 494 APPENDIX. to this country a facility of acting, if at any time a proper occasion should occur, and enable your lordship, even at present, in some de- gree to influence their conduct by representations and advice. It is particularly desirable to prevent any close connection being formed between them and the Spanish government. Their mutual jealous- ies on the subject of the Mississippi are, I trust, sufficient to re- tard this event, but if, contrary to expectation, it should appear likely to take place, your lordship should exert yourself to coun- teract it by all such measures as may not give any just ground of complaint to Spain. It is not, however, to be wished that your lord- ship should for this purpose make use of any promises of eventual, and still less of immediate, assistance, against the Atlantic states. His Majesty's servants, on the contrary, entirely concur in the pru- dence and propriety of the conduct held by your lordship in this re- spect, wishing that, whenever the case should occur, this country may be left at liberty to decide, according to then existing circum- stances, as to the degree of support which it may be proper to hold out. The necessity of this caution is the more evident from the uncertain situation in which we stand toward the United States with respect to the posts which were ceded at the peace, and have since been retained as a just indemnification for the non-execution of that treaty. A connection with the Kentucky settlers might, in the event of any dispute with the Atlantic states, be of great advantage ; and the means of cultivating such a connection ought, therefore, carefully to be kept in view while the point which I have mentioned remains unsettled ; but, on the other hand, it is desirable that no measures should be taken which might have the effect of bringing forward any such dispute w^hich might otherwise be avoided. Having thus stated the general outline of what occurs to me on this subject, i have only to recommend it to your lordship to persevere in the same cautious line of conduct which you have already observed with respect to it, and to endeavor, if possible, to cultivate a close cor- respondence and intercourse with the principal persons among the Kentucky settlers, observing, however, very carefully, not to use any language which can in the smallest degree make this country a party to any attack on the possessions of his Catholic Majesty, with whom his Majesty is on a footing of peace and good correspondence. I am, etc. W. W. Grenville. LETTERS AISD PAPERS. 495 Secretary W. W. Grcnville to Lord Dorchester, Whitehall, 29 Oct., 1789. Ex. There will be a considerable difficulty in the mode of describing the boundary between the district of upper Canada and the territories of the United States, as the adhering to the line mentioned in the treaty with America would exclude the posts which are still in his Majesty's possession, and which the infraction of the treaty on the part of America has induced his Majesty to retain, while, on the other hand, the including them by express words within the limits to be estab- lished for the province by an act of the British parliament, would probably excite a considerable degree of resentment among the in- habitants of the United States, and might perhaps provoke them to measures detrimental to our commercial interests. Possibly the best solution for this difficulty might be to describe the upper district by some general words, such as " All the territories, etc., etc., etc., pos- sessed by and subject to his Majesty, and being to the west or south- west of the boundary line of lower Canada, except such as are in- cluded within the present boundaries of the government of New Brunswick," ^ Count 3foustier to Count 3Iontmorin, New Y'orh, 5 June, 1789. Ex. The second revolution through which the United States have passed by the change of their federal government has put them in an entirely new light. This has appeared to me to exact greater details. This is the motive which has determined me to collect and to present to you different observations that may assist in forming a fixed opinion on the actual situation of the United States, and on the turn they may gradually take. The constitution of the United States has defined with precision the different branches of the government ; but their powers are still sus- ceptible of many modifications, according to the usage that each branch may establish for that part which is confided to it, and according to the impression which its exercise will have produced. It is already beyond doubt that, in spite of the asserted beauty of the plan which has been adopted, it would have been necessary to renounce its intro- duction if the same man who presided over its formation had not been placed at the head of the enterprise. The opinion of General Wash- ington was of such weight that it alone contributed more than any 496 APPEISTDIX. other measure to cause the present constitution to be adopted. The extreme confidence in his patriotism, his integrity, and his intelligence forms to-day its principal support. It has become popular much more out of respect for the chief of the republic than by any merit of its own. All is hushed in presence of the trust of the people in the savior of the country. INDEX TO LETTERS AND PAPERS. PAGE Adams, John, to Jefferson, 1 March, 1789 490 Bancroft, Edward, to William Fra- ser, 2 Sept., 1786 388 Bland, Theodoric, from Washing- ton, 15 Aug., 1786 380 Bowen, Jabez, from Washington, 9 Jan., 1787 407 Brown, John, to Jefferson, 10 Aug., 1788 477 Carmarthen, Lord, from Temple, 7 July, 1786 371 from Temple, 4 Oct., 178;5 308 from Temple, 5 April, 1787. . . . 413 from Temple, 7 June, 1787 425 from Temple, 7 Jan., 1789 438 Carrington, E., to Jefferson, 9 June, 1787 428 to Jefferson, 23 Oct., 1787 445 to Jefferson, 10 Nov., 1787 450 to Jefferson, 24 April, 1788 464 to Jefferson, 14 May, 1783 468 to Madison, 18 Dec, 1786 400 to Madison, 13 June, 1787 42S to Madison, 25 July, 1787 436 to Madison, 23 Sept., 1787 441 to Madison, 18 Jan., 1788 453 to Madison, 8 April, 1788 463 to Madison, 23 April, 1788 464 to Madison, 17 June, 1788 470 to Madison, 19 Oct., 1788 480 to Madison, 9 Nov., 1788 483 to Madison, 15 Nov., 1788 483 to Madison, 18 Nov., 17S8 483 to Madison, 26 Nov., 1788. .... 484 to Monroe, 7 Aug., 1787 436 Carroll, Dan. , to Madison, 28 April, 1788 466 VOL. II. 32 Carter, Charles, from Washington, 20 Jan., 1788 457 Conway, Richard, from Washing- ton, 4 March, 1789 490 from Washington, 6 March, 1789. 491 Corbin, Francis, to Madison, 21 Oct., 1788 482 Council, Lords of, to Dorchester, 13 July, 1787 430 Craik, Dr. James, from Washing- ton, 4 Aug., 1788 476 Crevecosur, St. John, to Jefferson, 20 Oct., 1788 481 to Jefferson, 5 Jan., 1789 487 Cutting, J. B., to Jefferson, 11 Ju- ly, 1788 472 to Jefferson 482 Dane, Nathan, to Rufus King, 10 July, 1787 430 Donald, A., to Jefferson, 12 Nov., 1787 451 Dorchester, Lord, to Secretary of State, 24 Oct., 1787 448 to Lord Sydney, 16 Jan., 1787.. 408 to Sydney, 28 Feb., 1787 414 to Sydney, 8 Nov., 1787 449 Enclosures from, 14 Oct., 1788. 480 from W. W. Grenville, 20 Oct., 1789 493 from W. W. Grenville, 29 Oct., 1789 495 from Lords of the Council, 13 July, 1787 430 from Sydney, 5 April, 1787. . . . 416 from Sydney, 14 Sept., 1787. . . 439 Fitzsimons, Thomas, from C. Grif- lin, 15 Feb., 1788 461 from C. Griffin, 26 May, 1788. . 469 498 INDEX TO LETTEES AND PAPEKS. PAGE Fitzsimons, Thomas, from C. Grif- lin, 10 June, 1788 470 Fowler, John, from Washington, 2 Feb., 1788 459 Fraser, William, from Edward Bancroft, 2 Sept., 1786 388 Gadsden, C, to Jefferson, 29 Oct., 1787 448 Gale, B., to W. S. Jolmson, 19 April, 1787 418 Gerry, E., to Monroe, 11 June, 1787 428 Gorham, Nathaniel, to Washing- ton, 21 July, 1788 475 Grayson, William, to Madison, 24 Mav, 1787 423 to Madison, 31 Aug., 1787 439 to Monroe, 22 Nov":, 1786 404 to Monroe, 30 April, 1787 418 to Monroe, 29 May, 1787 424 to Monroe, 8 Auq'., 1787 437 to Monroe, 22 Oct., 1787 445 Granville, W. W., to Lord Dor- chester, 20 Oct., 1789 483 to Lord Dorchester, 29 Oct., 1789 405 Griffin, C, to Thomas Fitzsimons, 15 Feb., 1788 461 to T. Fitz.simons, 26 May, 1788. 469 to T. Fitzsimons, 16 June, 1788. 470 to Madison, 14 April, 1788 403 Hamilton, from Jolm Langdon, 21 June, 1788 471 from Morgan Lewis, 24 June, 1789 492 Hill, Ilcnry, to Washington, 1 Oct., 1786 397 IIoAvard, J. E., to Washington, 23 Jan., 1789 488 IIum])hrcvs, D., to JclTer.son, 29 Nov.; 1788 484 to Wasliington, 9 Nov., 1786... 403 to Wasliington, 20 Jan., 1787.. 409 to Washington, 9 April, 1787 . . 417 from Wasliington, 10 (Jet., 1787. 443 Jackson, Major, to Washington, 17 Sept., l'787 441 Jay, J., to Washington, 25 July, 1787 '.. 430 to Wasliington, 3 Feb., 1788. . . 4r,() to Wasliington, 24 March, 1788. 402 to Wasliington, 23 July, 1788. . 475 PAGE Jefferson to Madison, 6 Feb., 1788. 400 to Monroe, 9 Aug., 1788 476 to W. Smith, 2 Feb., 1788 459 from John Adams, 1 March, 1789. 490 from John Brown, 10 Aug. , 1788. 477 fromE. Carring-ton, 9 June,1787. 426 from Carrington, 23 Oct., 1787. 445 from Carrington, 10 Nov., 1787. 450 from Carrington, 24 April, 1788. 464 from Carrington, 14 May, 1788. 468 from St. John Crevecceur, 20 Oct., 1788 481 from Crevecceur, 5 Jan., 1789. 487 from J. B. Cutting, 11 July, 1788. 472 from J. B. Cutting 482 from A. Donald, 12 Nov., 1787. 451 from C. Gadsden, 29 Oct., 1787. 448 from D. Humphreys, 29 Nov., 1788 484 from Monroe, 16 July, 1786.... 371 from Monroe, 19 Aug., 1786. . . 381 from Monroe, 12 Oct., 1786 401 from Monroe, 12 July, 1788 473 from David Ramsay,7 April,1787. 417 from G. Wythe, 13 Dec, 1786.. 405 from G. Wythe. 22 Dec, 1786.. 407 Jenifer, Daniel of St. Thomas, from Washington, 27 April, 1788. . 406 Johnson, Thomas, from Washing- ton, 12 Nov., 1786 403 Johnson, Wm. Sam., to his son, 27 June, 1787.. 430 from B. Gale, 19 April, 1787. . . 418 King. Rufus, to Monroe, 30 July, "1786 373 from N. Dane, 16 July, 1787 . . 430 from John Langdon,23 Feb.,1788 401 from J. Langdon, 6 T\Iav, 1788.. 467 from J. Langdon, 21 June, 1788. 471 Kno.x, Gen., to 11. R. Livingston, 10 Feb., 1788 461 to President Sullivan, 21 May, 1787 423 to Washintrton, 14 Jan., 1788.. 455 to Washington, 10 March, 1788. 402 to Wnshington. 25 Max, 1788 . . 409 from Washington, 27 Ajn-il, 1787. 418 Lafayette, from R. R. Livingston, 24 April, 1787 418 from Llviniislon, 17 Sept., 1788. 478 from Washington, 10 .Ian., 1788. 455 from Washington, 28 May, 1788. 409 INDEX TO LETTEES AND PAPEES. 499 Langflon, John, to Hamilton, 21 June, 17S8 471 to Kufus Kin<,', 23 Feb., 1788. . 461 to Rufus Kino-, 6 May, 1788 .. . 4G7 to Rufus King, 31 June, 1788. . 471 to Washington, G Nov., 1787.. . 448 to Washington, 6 April, 1789 . . 4'Jl from Tobias Lear, 31 Jan., 1789. 488 from Washington, 3 Dec, 1787. 452 Lathrop. Dr. John, to Washing- ton, 16 May, 1788 468 Lear, Tobias, to John Langdon, 31 Jan., 1789 488 Lee, Charles, to Washington, 14 April, 1788 463 Lee, H., Jr., to Madison, 19 Nov., 1788 484 to Washington, 17 Oct., 1786. . 403 from Washington, 13 Dec., 1788. 487 Lewis, Morgan, to Hamilton, 24 June, 1789 493 Lincoln, B., to Washington, 19 March, 1788 462 to Washington, 34 Sept., 1788.. 479 to Washington, 35 Oct., 1788. . 483 from Washington, 3 April, 1788. 463 Livingston, R. R., to Lafayette, 34 April, 1787 418 to Lafayette, 17 Sept., 1788. . . . 478 from General Knox, 10 Feb., 1788 461 from Washington, 31 May, 1789. 493 McHenrv, James, to Washington, 18 May, 1788 468 from Washington, 37 April, 1788 465 Madison, from Edward CaiTington, 18 Dec, 1786 406 from Carrington, 13 June, 1787. 438 from Carrington, 35 July, 1787. 436 from Carrington, 33 Sept., 1787. 441 from Carrington, 18 Jan., 1788. 456 from Carrington, 8 April, 1788. 463 from Carrington, 33 April, 1788. 464 from Carrington, 17 June, 1788. 470 from Carrington, 19 Oct., 1788. 480 from CaiTington, 9 Nov., 1788. 483 from Carrington, 15 Nov., 1788. 483 from Carrington, 18 Nov., 1788. 483 from Carrington, 36 Nov., 1788. 484 from Dan. Carroll, 38 April, 1788. 466 from F. Corbin, 31 Oct., 1788. . 482 Madison, from William Grayson, 24 May, 1787 ." 433 from Grayson, 31 Aug., 1787. .. 439 from Cyrus Griffin, 14 April, 1788. 463 from Jefferson, 6 Feb., 1788. . .. 460 from Henry Lee, 19 Nov., 1788. 484 from James Madison, Sr., 30 Jan., 1788 457 from Monroe, 14 Aug., 1786 380 from Monroe, 30 Aug., 1786 387 from Monroe, 3 Sept., 1786 388 from Monroe, 13 Sept., 1786. . . 393 from Monroe, 39 Sept., 1786. ... 397 from Monroe, 16 Dec, 1786 405 from Monroe, 13 Oct., 1787 444 from Monroe. 7 Feb., 1788 460 from Monroe, 34 Sept., 1788. . . 479 from Wm. Moore, 31 Jan., 1788. 458 from Wm. Short, 7 May, 1787. . 419 from ^V'ashington, 10 Oct., 1787. 443 from Washington, 3 May, 1788. 467 from Washington, 33 June, 1788. 471 from Washington, 17 Nov., 1788. 483 Madison, James, Sr., to Madison, 30 Jan., 1788 457 Mason, George, Sr., to George Ma- son, Jr., 30 May, 1787 431 to George Mason,. Jr., 1 June, 1787. 424 Mercer, John Francis, from Wash- ington, 14 Jan., 1788 455 Monroe to Jefferson, 16 July, 1786. 371 to Jefferson, 19 Aug., 1786 381 to .Jefferson, 13 Oct., 1786 401 to Jefferson, 13 July, 1788 473 to Madison, 14 Aug., 1786 380 to Madison, 30 Aug., 1786 387 to Madison, 3 Sept., 1786 388 to Madison, 13 Sept., 1786 393 to Mndison, 39 Sept., 1786 397 to Madison, 16 Dec, 1786 405 to Madison, 13 Oct., 1787 444 to Madison, 7 Feb., 1788 460 to Madison, 34 Sept., 1788 479 from Carrington, 7 Aug., 1787.. 436 from E. Gerry, 11 June, 1787... 438 from Grayson, 22 Nov., 1786. . . 404 from Grayson, 30 April, 1787. .. 418 from Grayson, 29 May, 1787.. . . 424 from Grayson, 8 Aug., 1787.. . . 437 from Grayson, 22 Oct., 1787. . . 445 from Jefferson, 9 Aug., 1788. . . 476 from Rufus King, 30 July, 1786. 373 500 ES^DEX TO LETTERS AND PAPERS. Montmorin, from Otto, 20 July, 1787 431 Report to, 8 Oct., 1787 443 from Moustier, 5 June, 1789... 4'Jo from Otto, 23 Oct., 1787 447 from Otto, 10 Nov., 1787 449 from Otto, 7 Dec, 1787 -. . 453 from Otto, 15 Dec, 1787 454 Moore, Wm., to Madison, 81 Jan., 1788 458 Morris, Gouverneur, to Washing- ton, 29 April, 1788 467 Moustier, Count, Instructions to, 13 Oct., 1787 448 to Montmorin, 5 June, 1789. . . . 495 Nelson, Gen., from Washington, 3 Aug., 1788 475 Oliio Company, Memorial of, 21 July, 1787 438 Otto to Montmorin, 20 July, 1787. 431 to Montmorin, 23 Oct., 1787 ... 447 to Montmorin, 10 Nov., 1787 . . 449 to Montmorin, 7 Dec, 1787. ... 453 to Montmorin, 15 Dec, 1787. . . 454 to Vergennes, 13 Aug., 1786. . . 878 to Vergennes, 23 Aug., 1786. . . 384 to Vergennes, 10 Sept., 1786. . . 389 to Vergennes, 20 Sept., 1786. . . 395 to Vergennes, 10 Oct., 1786 . . 399 to Vergennes, 10 Nov., 1786. . , 403 to Vergennes, 10 Feb., 1787 ... 410 to Vergennes, 16 Feb., 1787 . . 413 to Vergennes, 5 Marcli, 1787 . . . 415 to Vergennes, 10 April, 1787... 417 from Vergennes, 25 Aug., 1780. 386 from the Cabinet of Versailles, 30 Aug., 1787 438 Parsons, Sam\iel H., to Washing- ton, 21 April, 1788 463 Powell, Samuel, to Washington, 13 Nov., 1787 451 from Wasliington, 18 Jan., 1788. 456 fromWasliington, 15 Sept., 1788. 478 Ramsav, David, to Jefferson, 7 April, 1787 417 Randolph, ?]., to Washington, 2 April, 1787 410 to Washington, 27 Dec, 1787.. 455 from Washington, 19 Nov., 1786. 404 Rochamljcau to Wa,shington, 13 :\Iav, 1787 420 to Wa.shington, 18 Jan., 1788.. 45U PAGE Rochambeau, from Washington, 27 Nov., 1788 484 Schuyler, Gen., to his son, J. B. Schuyler, 20 June, 1788 472 Secretary of State, from Lord Dor- chester 24 Oct., 1787 448 Short, W. . to Madison, 7 May, 1 787. 419 Smith, William, from Jefferson, 2 Feb., 1788 459 States General, from Van Berckel, 12 Sept., 1780 393 Stone, T., to Washington, 30 Jan., 1787 409 Stuart, David, to Washington, 8 Nov., 1786 402 to Washington, 19 Dec, 1786. . 406 to Washington, 25 Dec, 1786 . . 407 from Washington, 19 Nov., 1786, 404 from Washington, 2 Dec, 1788. 486 Sullivan, President, from Knox, 21" Mav, 1787 423 Sydney to Dorchester, 5 April, 1 787, 416 to Dorchester, 14 Sept., 1787.. . 439 from Dorchester, 16 Jan., 1787. 408 from Dorchester, 28 Feb., 1787. 414 from Dorchester, 8 Nov., 1787. 449 Temple to Lord Carmarthen, 7 Julv, 1786 371 to Carmarthen, 4 Oct.. 1786.. . . 398 to Carmarthen, 5 April, 1787. , . 416 to Carmarthen, 7 June, 1787 , . . 425 to Carmarthen, 7 Jan., 1789.. . . 488 Trumbull, Jonathan, to Washing- ton, 20 June. 1788 471 Van Berckel to the States General, 12 Sept., 1786 393 Vergeimes to Otto, 25 Auff., 1780. 386 from Otto, 13 Aug., 1786 378 from Otto, 23 Aug., 1786 384 from Otto, 10 Sept., 1786 889 from Otto, 20 Sept., 1786 395 from Otto, 10 Oct., 1780 390 from Otto, 10 Nov., 1786 403 from Otto, 10 Feb., 1787 410 from Otto, 16 Feb., 1787 412 from Otto, 5 Marcli, 1787 415 from Otto, 10 April, 1787 417 Washington to Theodoric Bland, 15 Aug., 1786 380 to .Tabez Bowc^n, 9 Jan., 1787.. 407 to Charles Carter, 20 Jan., 1788. 457 to R. Conway, 4 ]Marcli, 1789 . . 490 ES-DEX TO LETTERS AND PAPERS. 501 "Washington to Conway, 6 ^Marcli, 1789 491 to Ur. James Craik, 4 Aug., 1788. 47(5 to John Fowler, 2 Feb., 1788. . 459 to D. Humphreys, 10 Oct., 1787. 443 to Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, 27 April, 1788 4G6 to T. Johnson, 12 Nov., 178G . . 403 to General Knox, 27 April, 1787. 418 to Lafayette, 10 Jan., 1788 455 to Lafayette, 28 May, 1788 .... 4G9 to John Langdon, 3 Dec., 1787. 452 to Plenry Lee, 12 Dec, 1788. . 487 to B. Lincoln, 2 April, 1788.. . . 4(52 toR. R. Livingston, 31 May, 1789. 492 to J. McHenry, 27 April, 1788.. 4G5 to Madison, 10 Oct., 1787 443 to Madison, 2 Mav, 1788 407 to Madison, 23 June, 1788 471 to Madison, 17 Nov., 1788 483 to J. F. Mercer, 14 Jan., 1788. . 455 to General Nelson, 3 Aug., 1788. 475 to Samuel Powell, 18 Jan., 1788. 45G to Samuel Powell, 15 Sept., 1788. 478 to E. Randolph, 19 Nov., 178G. 404 to Rochambeau, 27 Nov., 1788. 484 to David Stuart, 19 Nov., 178G. 404 to David Stuart, 2 Dec, 1788. . 48G to a\Irs. ]\Iary Washington, 15 Feb., 1787 412 from N. Gorham, 21 July, 1788. 475 from Henry Hill, 1 Oct., 178G. . 397 from J. E. Howard, 23 Jan., 1789. 488 from D. Humphreys, 9 Nov., 178G ' 403 from Humphreys, 20 Jan., 1787. 409 from Humphreys, 9 April, 1787. 417 from Jackson, 17 Sept., 1787. . . 441 from John Jay, 25 July, 1787 . . 43G from Jay, 3 Feb., 1788 460 from Jay, 24 March, 1788 4G2 from Jay, 23 July, 1788 ....... 475 from Knox, 14 Jan., 1788 455 Washington, from Knox, 10 March, 1788 402 from Knox, 25 May, 1788 4G9 from J. Langdon, 6 Nov., 1787. 448 from Langdon, G April, 1789. . . 491 from Dr. John Lathrop, IG iMay, 1788 468 from H. Lee, Jr., 17 Oct., 1786. 402 from Charles Lee, 14 April, 1788. 463 froniB. Lincoln, 19 March, 1788. 462 from Lincoln, 24 Sept., 1788... 479 from Lincoln, 25 Oct., 1788. ... 482 from McHenry, 18 May, 1788.. 468 from G. Morris, 29 April, 1788. 467 from Samuel H. Parsons, 21 April, 1788 463 from S. Powell, 13 Nov., 1787.. 451 froniE. Randolph, 2 April. 1787. 416 from E. Randolph, 27 Dec, 1787. 455 from Rochambeau, 12]May, 1787. 420 from Rochambeau, 18 Jan. , 1788. 456 from T. Stone, 30 Jan., 1787. . . 409 from David Stuart, 8 Nov., 1786. 402 from D. Stuart, 19 Dec, 1786. . 406 from D. Stuart, 25 Dec, 1786. . 407 from Jonathan Trumbull, 20 June, 1788 471 Washington, Mrs. Mary, from Washington, 15 Feb., 1787.. 412 Wj'the, George, to Jefferson, 13 Dec, 1786 405 to Jefferson, 22 Dec, 1786 407 MISCELLANEOUS. Articles of Confederation, Re^iort on Federal Powers, 7 Aug., 1786 373 British Ministry, Information for, 5 Jan., 1787 407 Information for, 8 March, 1787. 415 Information for, June, 1787. . . . 424 Information for, 14 Oct., 1788. 480 THE END. D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. New revised edition of BancrofCs History of the United Stales. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, from the Discovery of the Continent to the Establishment of tiie Constitution in 1789. By George Banoeoft. An entirely new edition, complete in six vol- umes, 8vo, printed from new type, and bound in cloth, uncut, with gilt top, $2.50 ; sheep, $3.50 ; half calf, $4.50 per volume. Vol. YI con- tains the History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States, and a Portrait of George Bancroft. In this edition of his great work the author has made extensive changes in the text, condensing in places, enlarging in others, and care- fully revising. It is practically a new work, embodying the results of the latest researches, and enjoying the advantage of the author's long and mature experience. The original octavo edition was published in twelve volumes. " On comparing this work with the corresponding volume of the ' Centenary' edition of 1S76, one is surprised to see how extensive changes the author has found desirable, even after so short an interval. The first tbing that strikes one is the increased number of chapters, resulting from subdivision. The first vol- ume contains t«o volumes of the original, and is divided into thirty-eight chapters instead of eighteen. This is in itself an improvement. But the new arrange- ment is not the result merely of subdivision : the matter is rearranged in such a manner as vastly to increase the lucidity and continuousncss of treatment. In the present edition Mr. Bancroft returns to the principle of division into periods, abandoned in the ' Centenary ' edition. His division is, however, a new one. As the permanent shape taken by a great historical work, this new arrangtmtnt is certainly an improvement." — The yation {New York). " It has not been granted to many historians to devote half a century to the history of a single people, and to live long enough, and, let us add, to be willing and wise enough, to revise and rewrite in an honored old age the work of a ■nhole lifetime." — New York Mail and Express. " The extent and thoroughness of this revision would hardly be guessed with- out comparing the editions side by side. The condensation of the text amounts to something over one third of the previous edition. There has also been very considerable recasting of the text. On the whole, our examination of the first volume leads us to believe that the thought of the historian loses nothing by the abbreviation of the text. A closer and later approximation to the best results of scholarship and criticism is reached. The public gains by its more compact brevity and in amount of matter, and in economy of time and money." — Ihe Independent {New York). " There is nothing to be said at this day of the value of ' Bancroft.' Its au- thority is no longer in dispute, and as a piece of vivid and realistic historical writing it stands among the best works of its class. It may be taken for granted that this new edition will greatly extend its usefulness." — Philadelphia North American. New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3. & 5 Bond Street. D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, from the Revolution to the Civil War. By John Bach McMastek. To be completed in five volumes. Vols. I and II, 8vo, now ready, cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. Scope of the Work. — Li the course of this narrative much is written of warSy eo7isj>iracie.t, and rehelliojts ; of Presidents, of Conp-esses, of etnbassies, of treaties^ of the ambition of political leaders, and of the rise of great parties in the nation. Yet the history of the people is the chief theme. At evert/ stage of the splendid prog- ress which separates the America of Washington and Adams from the America in which we live, it has been the author^a purpose to describe the dress, the occupations, the amusements, the literary canons of the times ; to note the changes of manners and morals ; to trace the growth of that humane spirit which abolished punishment for debt, and reformed the discipliiie of prisons and of jails ; to recount the manifold improvements which, in a thoiisand ways, have multiplied the conveniences of life and ministered to the happiness of our race ; to describe the rise and progress of that long series of mechanical inventions and discoveries which is now the admiration of the world, and our just pride and boast ; to tell how, under the benign influence of liberty and peace, there sprang up, in the course of a single century, a prosperity unparal- leled in the annals of human affairs. " The pledge given by Mr. McMaster, that ' the history of the people shall be the chief theme,' is punctiliously and satisfactorily fulfilled. He carries out his promise in a complete, vivid, and delightful way. We should add that the literary execution of the work is worthy of the indefatigable industi'y and unceasing vigi- lance with which the stores of historical material have been accumulated, weighed, and sifted. The cardinal qualities of style, lucidity, animation, and energy, are everywhere present. Seldom, indeed, has a book, in which matter of substantial value has been so happily united to attractiveness of form, been offered by an American author to his fellow-citizens." — New York Sun, " To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe their life, their literature, their occupations, their amusements, is Mr. ilcMaster's object. His theme is an important one, and we congratulate him on his success. It has rarely been our province to notice a book with so many excellences and so few defects." — Xew York Herald, " Mr. McMaster at once shows his grasp of the various themes and his special capacity as a historian of the people. liis aim is high, but he hits the mark." — New York Journal of Commerce, " I have had to read a good deal of history in my day, but I find so much freshness in tlie way Professor McMaster has treated his subject that it is quite like a new story." — Philadelphia Press. " Mr. McMaster's success as a writer seems to us distinct and decisive. In the first place he has written a remarkably readable history. His style is clear and vigorous, if not always condensed. Ho has the faculty of felicitous comparison and contrast in a marked degree. Jlr. McMaster has produced one of the most spirited of liistories, a book which will be widely read, and the entertaining quality of which is conspicuous beyond that of any work of its kind." — liostov Gazette, New York: D, APPLETON & CO., I. 3. & 5 Bond Street. r-\ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Si SEP 27 72 |j0?oio-uWJ INTERLIBRAKY LOANS SEP 13 1972 iiiiw 07 ^^^ TWO WEEKS FROM DATE QF RECElW*"' ^ * ' NON-m^D//ieL«Mr u%cB71972 RENEWAL LDjiRL OC RECO ^y m ^ — ' v^ ^'^ m- i0 lEC'O lOM i 3019' CD-UBI 2 197B SEP 22 197(1 1983 Form L9-Series 4930 / JK 116. P^Zl 1889 2 ^"m 3 1158 00382 8018 /A UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 840 188 7