LIBRARY i i nJFQRNlA DAVIS ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FRAMING OF THE CONSTITUTION UNITED STATES. i Y/Jlf Alo/irtfy .-/tfr Ctiv SW HISTORY OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROMULGATION OF THE Constitution of flje United States. EDITED BY HAMPTON L CARSON, SECRETARY OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CENTENNIAL COMMISSION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION AND BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. 1889. LIBRARY Or CALJFQBWA DAVIS PREFACE. THESE memorial volumes have been prepared by direction of the Constitutional Centennial Commission. The magnificent demonstration at Philadelphia on the I5th, 1 6th, and iyth of September, 1887, showing alike the popular and the official allegiance, on the part of the States and of the nation, to the great Act of 1787, created a profound impression upon the vast throngs of witnesses. It is not known that upon any other occasion in history a great and contented people have united with their rulers in giving a like expression to their satis- faction with their government. Industry, commerce, labor, learn- ing, literature, religion, statesmanship, the arts of peace and of war, the official and the private world, all happily participated in this imposing display of affection and reverence for the Charter which gives equal liberty and equal protection to all. The executive, the legislative, and the judiciary of the Union were associated with the like representation of the State gov- ernments, in the perfect harmony of a common devotion. The presence of honored citizens and subjects of foreign lands, both official and private, added to the interest of the ceremonies. The frequent expressions of delighted surprise and admira- tion, coming from all classes, justified the belief of the Commis- vi PREFACE. sion that the leading features and incidents of the celebration should be collected and preserved in a durable memorial. It was believed that .it would be alike interesting to the people of this generation and to their posterity who may hope to celebrate another centennial commemoration in the same historic city. The executive officers of the Commission have therefore undertaken the task, and now offer to the public the result of their labors. They venture to hope that it will serve to excite the interest of their fellow-citizens in the principles of our gov- ernment, as well as to perpetuate in the hearts of our country- men the memory of its noble founders. As an auxiliary to this object, and as a prelude to their account of the ceremonies which belonged to the celebration, they have prepared a compact history of the progress of the American Colonies towards a general confederation, and of the imperfection of that first act of union, which rendered a more perfect constitution necessary. A history of the formation of our present Constitution follows, carefully derived from the authentic records of the time, and showing the meaning of its framers in respect to various clauses which are still the subjects of debate. Besides these notes upon the invaluable work of the founders of our government, they have prepared brief sketches of the lives of the men who took part in that memorable convention, that their memories may be preserved with their work. They acknowledge their obligations to the patriotism and the generosity of the citizens of Philadelphia, by whose aid alone the Commission is enabled to publish these commemorative volumes, and desire particularly to express their grateful appre- PREFACE. vii ciation of the invaluable aid of Mr. Frederick D. Stone, the accomplished librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The portraits of the fratners of the Constitution are from original and authentic sources, and in all cases preference has been given to those which have not been repeatedly engraved. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, of New York City, for the most generous assistance. The Constitution is produced from photographs taken directly from the original document in the State Department at Wash- ington. In illustrating the civic and industrial display a selection has been made from instantaneous photographs of the procession. To supply omissions, occasioned by insufficient light towards the close of the day, individual exhibits have been used as far as practicable. Each State participating in the military display is represented by one or more regiments, or by grouping individual photographs of soldiers and officers where no other illustrations could be found. Efforts were made to secure an illustration of the repre- sentatives of North Carolina, but without success. Memorial Day is illustrated by a phototype from a painting by Mr. H. R. Poor, of Philadelphia, from a number of photographs taken on the spot. But few of the commissioners responded to the request for reports of the share taken by their States and Territories, and such as were received could not be printed without constant repe- tition of matter which appears in the History of the Constitutional Centennial Commission, and the reports of its sub-committees. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. PAGES HISTORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION AND OF THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO ITS ADOPTION. By John A, Kasson I BIOGRAPHIES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. By Hampton L. Carson 135 THE CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 238 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 255 HISTORY OF THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 259 HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CENTENNIAL COMMISSION. By Hampton L. Carson . 261 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION. By William J. Latta 331 REPORT OF THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE VOLUNTEER MEDICAL CORPS. By C. J. Cleborne, M.D 338 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF RECEPTION OF GUESTS. By William H, Staake .... 355 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON Music. By William Henry Lex 398. SELECTIONS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE COMMISSION 401 THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE FRAMING OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES BY A FRENCH SPECTATOR. By L. Vossion 447 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I. George Washington .... Frontispiece. The Capitol at Washington .... Facing I Independence Hall (Exterior) . . " 135 Independence Hall (Interior) . . " 136 John Langdon " 144 Nicholas Oilman " 146 Nathaniel Gorham " 147 Rufus King " 148 William Samuel Johnson " 149 Roger Sherman " 150 Alexander Hamilton " 152 William Livingston " 155 William Paterson 158 Jonathan Dayton " 160 Benjamin Franklin " 162 Thomas Mifflin " 165 Robert Morris " 166 George Clymer " 168 Jared Ingersoll " 170 James Wilson " 171 Gouverneur Morris " 173 George Read " 176 Gunning Bedford, Jr " 178 John Dickinson " 179 Richard Bassett Facing 182 James McHenry " 184 Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer ... " 185 Daniel Carroll " 187 John Blair 188 James Madison " 189 William Blount " 193 Richard Dobbs Spaight " 194 Hugh Williamson " 195 John Rutledge " 196 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney ... " 199 Charles Pinckney " 202 Pierce Butler " 203 William Few " 205 Abraham Baldwin " 206 William Jackson " 207 Elbridge Gerry " 209 Edmund Randolph " 211 George Mason " 214 Caleb Strong " 215 Oliver Ellsworth " 219 John Francis Mercer " 223 Luther Martin " 225 George Wythe 227 XII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME /. James McClurg Facing 228 Alexander Martin " 230 , William Richardson Davie .... " 231 John Lansing, Jr " 234 Fac-simile of the Constitution of the United States " 238 Patrick Henry " 264 Hall of the Carpenters' Company . " 265 Portraits of Members of the Execu- tive Committee of the Constitu- tional Centennial Commission : John A. Kasson, Amos R. Little, Hampton L. Carson, Facing 278 Thomas Cochran, Joel J. Daily, Fac-simile of the Card of Invita- tion Facing 302 Portraits of Chairmen of Sub-Committees : A. Loudon Snowden, Samuel Dickson, R. C. McMurlrie, Facing 304 Thomas M. Thompson, C. J. Cleborne, Portraits of Chairmen of Sub-Committees : Clinton P. Paine, Wm. Henry Lex, John F. Hartranft, Wm. J. Latta, Theodore E. Wiedersheim, Portraits of Chairmen of Sub-Committees : Jas. A. Beaver, Edwin H. Filler, Jesse E. Peyton, John Bardsley, John E. Reybum, Facing 305 Facing 306 Plan of Stations on the Route of the Industrial and Military Parades Facing 343 Plan of Dressing Stations at the City Hall < 34 c Plan of Dressing Stations at Independence Square ,*, ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PROMULGATION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITKD STATKS. HISTORY OF THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. BY JOHN A. K AS SON. I. INTRODUCTORY. THE political debates of the present generation leave a painful impression of the neglect of constitutional study. A failure to apprehend the reasons upon which constitutional pro- visions were founded has too frequently led astray the public judgment. In this neglect numerous theories of construction have found their source, which in turn have led to additional debate, until the public records of discussion on constitutional questions have become a massive collection, which obscures, far more than it enlightens, the popular mind. In politics, as in religion, the commentaries have superseded the authority, as they have darkened the simplicity, of the original text. It has become a duty of patriotism to awaken the spirit of constitutional inquiry, emancipated from the prejudices of party. VOL. I. 2 2 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. The existing histories of the Constitution, and the legal com- mentaries upon it, afford ample material for forming a correct judgment. But, unfortunately for the general public, they are too voluminous or too expensive for the attainment of a wide circulation among the people. The Constitutional Centennial Commission, therefore, have thought it wise to add to their work commemorating the great anniversary a condensed history of that instrument, which even the busy American people may find time to read. We especially appeal to the youth and to the young man- hood of the country, now preparing in the schools and univer- sities for the higher duties and functions of citizenship, to abandon the study of the superficial theories of modern party politics for the nobler study and profounder thoughts of our constitutional Fathers, the creators of our free and powerful government and the founders of a republic which in a single century has advanced to the foremost rank of nations. The present union of the States, for which the Fathers so long struggled against reciprocal fears and jealousies, and amidst clashing interests, will be perfected in proportion as we agree in our appreciation of the Constitution which created and pre- serves it. All vigorous and harmonious national life demands some object of common reverence and devotion. In monarchical coun- tries this object is the Crown, or the person on whose head it rests. In our republic no living President, accepted or rejected as he is by a varying majority and at frequent intervals, can ever become the object of general and concentrated respect and affection. It is the great Charter bequeathed to us by our Fathers, and that alone, which can give to our whole country its central object of obedience and reverence, an object which shall rise above all the changing purposes and alliances of the passing hour. It stands supreme, above us all, ruling our rulers THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONFEDERACY. 3 and receiving their oath-bound allegiance. It is surrounded by many guards against the assaults of transient human passion and the aggression of man's selfish ambitions. It rises impe- rially above the Congress, the Courts, and the President. It was living before we came, it will live after we depart. There it stands, and is ordained to remain, immovable, unchangeable, save in accordance with the laws of its own life, grand in its simplicity, majestic in its power. To this only Sovereign of our jurisdiction and Lord Protector of our rights and liberties our allegiance and our devotion are worthily consecrated. May the youth of our time, when they shall be seated in the places of trust and authority, show themselves the enlightened and willing servants of this immortal Sovereign. II. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONFEDERACY. THE Act which was signed at Philadelphia on September 17, 1787, was not so much a sudden creation, an inspired fact of that memorable year, as it was a logical growth out of many years of thoughtful and painful experience. The principles of that nationalized union which the Consti- tution accomplished had already been stirring in the breasts of the wise and the patriotic for three generations. As far back as 1643, four weak colonies in New England combined in a union for their defence against all common dangers, and pro- vided for its continuance by a common parliament. In 1697, William Penn proposed an annual "congress," consisting of two delegates from each colony. They were to have power to pro- vide ways and means for supporting their union, maintaining their common safety, and regulating their commerce. In 1754, Franklin prepared a plan for the union of the colonies, with a triennial legislature, and a governor-general to be appointed by the English government. Each colony was to retain the control 4 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. of its exclusively domestic affairs. A decade later, James Otis, in the Massachusetts Assembly, pronounced for an American congress in such emphatic tones that delegates from nine of the colonies were induced to assemble in New York in i 765, to con- sider their common interests and to protest against imperial taxation. The activity of British parliamentary aggression increased. In like proportion the spirit of American union became more active; and in 1774 the delegates from the inhabitants of twelve colonies met, as a Continental Congress, for the protection of their common rights. The conception of a continental, or American, union and legislature was becoming more and more familiar to the people. In 1775, Joseph Hawley proposed an annual parliament with two Houses. In January, 1776, there appeared a pamphlet from the hand of Thomas Paine, in which he advocated with all the vigor and terseness of his unsurpassed rhetoric a more resolute advance. " Let a continental conference be held," said he, " to frame a continental charter, drawing the line of business and jurisdic- tion between members of Congress and members of Assembly, always remembering that our strength and happiness are con- tinental, not provincial. . . . We have every opportunity and every encouragement to form the noblest, purest CONSTITUTION on the face of the earth." The convention which he proposed for this end was to consist of two members for each corporate colony, chosen by its legislature, like senators in the present Con- gress ; two more to be chosen by the Colonial Congress out of each colonial delegation; and a larger number to be chosen directly by the people, like the present House of Representatives. Six months later the Colonial Congress, in which now all the thirteen colonies were represented, denounced the dominion of England, and declared their own complete and final indepen- dence. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONFEDERACY. 5 In discussing the nature of our union of States, whether per- petual or dissoluble at the will of its members, the disputants have not attached sufficient significance to this great act of the 4th of July, 1776. It was not a declaration of independence by each separate colony as a distinct civil corporation. It was a joint and national act, the act of "ONE PEOPLE, to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them." The colonies, separately, did not proclaim their independence nor claim among the powers of the earth a separate and equal station. It was a united national act which dissolved all their pro- vincial obligations. " We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in general Congress assembled, . . . do, in the name, and by the authority of the good PEOPLE of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare" freedom, inde- pendence, and the absolution of allegiance to the British crown, with " power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do." All these rights and powers were declared to be in the " United," not the individual, States. This conception of their act frequently appears in the debates of the Constitutional Convention and in later debates. In the South Carolina Legislature in 1788, on the question of calling a convention to ratify the new Union, one of their most notable statesmen, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, speaking of the Declaration of Independence, said : " This admirable manifesto sufficiently refutes the doctrine of the individual sovereignty and independence of the several States. . . . The separate independ- ence and individual sovereignty of the several States were never thought of by the enlightened band of patriots who framed this 6 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. Declaration. The several States are not even mentioned by name in any part. . . . 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 benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses." An argument and a prophecy in one state- ment. The Declaration formed the only constitution or written bond of the independent United States until the last State ratified the Articles of Confederation, March i, 1781. But the colonies, now States, did not proceed upon that theory of united rights to its logical result of fortifying the central authorities. Having a history of both separate and joint resistance to a common sovereign in England, they were jealous of any centralized power which was not aimed sharply and directly against the military power from which they sought deliv- erance. Some of them, being more liable to invasion and plunder than others, were unwilling even to allow central con- trol of the military forces and operations. Communications with many of the colonies were limited and difficult, and personal knowledge of leaders insufficient to secure confidence. Military organization was everywhere local. Local jealousies were easily inflamed, and personal ambitions were abundant. Local appeals to protect home interests only were largely effective in closing the eyes of the people to the greater proposition, that local interests could only be permanently protected by a common devotion to the general and united interests. They could not understand that a central power, located in Philadelphia or Annapolis, could watch equally well the coasts of Rhode Island and of Virginia, or apply equally just regulations of commerce to New York and South Carolina. The obstacles to the crea- tion of an effective legislative and executive power over all the States were enormous, and appeared insurmountable. While THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONFEDERACY. 7 their independence was national, their personal aspirations were still provincial. They could not agree upon the terms of a league or confederation. Congress had proposed Articles of Confederation, vesting very limited, but inherent, powers in Con- gress, in 1777. But the war was nearly over before their acceptance by all the States. The primary cause of this delay is to be found in the fact that Congress was not elected by the people. Its members were simple delegates of the provincial authority, and revocable at will, like diplomatic agents. They had no inherent authority. The strongest and ablest men remained largely at home, pre- ferring the dignity of the controlling authority in the State to that of a subordinate agent at Philadelphia Washington made urgent appeals on this subject, especially to his friends in Virginia. He wrote to George Mason in 1779: "I cannot refrain lamenting in the most poignant terms the fatal policy, too prevalent in most of the States, of employing their ablest men at home in posts of honor or profit till the great national interest is fixed upon a solid basis. . . . Where are our men of abilities ? Why do they not come forth to save our country ? Let this voice, my dear sir, call upon you, Jeffer- son, and others." He had before appealed to Harrison, Wythe, Nicholas, Pendleton, and Nelson " not to be satisfied with places in their own State while the common interests of America were mouldering and sinking into irretrievable ruin, but to attend to the momentous concerns* of an empire." Nothing shows more conclusively than these touching ap- peals from the great heart of Washington that the separate colonial States did not yet grasp the idea of a great continental nation. The union had become for them an organism designed only to establish the independence of the individual States. Their vision was checked by the boundary-line defined in their colonial charter. They saw not yet the finger of God pointing 8 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. to a grand, united people, spanning the continent with a supreme and powerful central government, protecting popular liberty, securing personal rights, and symbolized by a starry flag with which the world should have none to compare, so radiant with hope, so illustrious in peace, and so bright with promise to mankind. In the mean time Congress remained a mere adviser of the States. It could only recommend measures which the States had the liberty to adopt or reject, in whole or in part. Congress had become a beggar at their doors. Nothing is so difficult to persuade as the surrender of power by its possessors. The States were in fact assuming a sovereign power, and could not be induced to voluntarily transfer it to another authority. The force of adversity, even of necessity, was required to convince them that only by the surrender of a part could they possess the benefits of the whole. The leaders of the patriotic movement soon became con- vinced that no combination of a central government could be accomplished through the action or the recommendation of that Amphictyonic Council, styled a Congress. Mr. Edward Rut- ledge, as early as August, 1776, suggested to Robert R. Living- ston the appointment by the States of a new and special Con- gress for the purpose of organizing a confederation. There does not appear any encouraging echo to this proposition, from any authoritative quarter, until four years later. Meantime Con- gress struggled along as best it could, directing warlike and diplomatic operations through its committees, and always subject to the changing will of the several States, and to their refusal or neglect of the duties required of them for the general welfare. The difficulties of the situation became more and more apparent as the war dragged its weary course, and complaints against the army, as well as coming from the army, were heard. In 17^0 the four New England States gave expression to their impatience THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONFEDERACY. g over the intolerable condition of central affairs by meeting in convention at Boston, in the month of August. They demanded a substantial union, with a visible head, and a Congress " compe- tent for the government of all those common and national affairs which do not nor can come within the jurisdiction of the particular States." They invited their own States and New York, with all others disposed to come, to meet in convention at Hartford. The following month Governor Clinton recommended the acceptance of the invitation, saying, " Our embarrassments in the prosecution of the war are chiefly to be attributed to a defect of power in those who ought to exercise a supreme jurisdiction ; for while Congress only recommends, and the different States deliberate upon the propriety of the recommendation, we cannot expect a union of force or council." Philip Schuyler, supported by the Senate, responded in words the truth of which has been strongly reinforced at a later period of our history : " We perceive the defects of the present system, and the necessity of a SUPREME AND COERCIVE TOWER in the government of these States ; and are per- suaded that, unless Congress are authorized to direct uncontrol- lably the operations of war, and enabled to enforce a compliance with their requisitions, the common force can never be properly united." Hamilton demanded more emphatically an immediate convention, with full authority to set up a vigorous confederation. General Greene also expressed the feeling of the army when he wrote to a Congressional delegate, " Call a convention of the States, and establish a Congress upon a constitutional footing." The Hartford Convention assembled in November, New York only being present with the Eastern States. Their resolutions were not only patriotic, but statesmanlike. After adopting prop- ositions to strengthen the public credit, they agreed upon a communication to be addressed to all the States. Experience had by this time clearly shown that the merely recommendatory powers of Congress were wholly insufficient. They must be VOL. I. 3 10 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. changed to mandatory. "All government supposes the power of coercion," they said ; " this power, however, never did exist in the general government of the continent, or has never been exercised. . . . The States, individually considered, while they endeavor to retain too much of their independence, may finally lose the whole. . . . We shall be without a solid hope of peace and freedom unless we are properly cemented among ourselves." An account of all their proceedings was transmitted to Congress, and to General Washington, as well as to all their sister States. The patriotic earnestness of this convention appears to have at last moved the diverse minds towards greater union and a stronger central power. Their report was read in open Con- gress in December, and referred to a committee which embraced some of the strongest members. Pennsylvania and New Jersey gave further evidence of a desire to increase the powers of Congress. Finally, on March i, 1781, amid expressions of general satis- faction, the last signature was affixed to the Articles of Confed- eration, in the presence of Congress. In view of their ratifica- tion, Mr. Duane, of New York, wrote: "Let us devote this day to joy and congratulation, since by the accomplishment of our federal union we are become A NATION. In a political view it is of more real importance than a victory over all our enemies." The final ratification was formally announced to the several States, and to diplomatic agents abroad for the information of friendly foreign governments. As we now read these Articles, we are amazed that they should have been the subject of congratulation, as if they were the completion of the work of national organization. Yet it is only by an appreciation of the patriotic gratification then ex- pressed over that narrow grant of national power that we can understand the extent of the reluctance of the States, particu- THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. II larly of the delinquent States, to surrender for the general wel- fare the least share of their newly-acquired independence. Time, discussion, experience, personal association, all were needed as ripening influences for the real constitution and union which were still in the bud, and still exposed to many dangers of cold and heat. On all affairs of serious import each State would fain reserve a power of veto. Local fear and jealousy lurked in every paragraph of this frail bond. A review of the powers which it refused, or closely limited, will disclose to us the unhappy con- dition in which it left a struggling but hopeful nation. III. THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, 1781. EACH State retained "every power, jurisdiction, and right not expressly delegated." By this they prohibited all development induced by the logic of events and by the necessities of inevitable growth. The States agreed to defend each other against any attack made upon them, under whatever pretence. The free inhabitants of one State were to have equal privi- leges of movement, trade, etc., in all other States, subject only to the prevailing conditions of local citizens. Each State was to have one vote, and a number of delegates not less than two nor more than seven, all maintained at the expense of the State sending them, and prohibited from receiving any salary or emolument from the United States, even if admin- istering an office under them. The delegates were to be annu- ally appointed, and revocable at the will of the State. They were to meet in Congress on the first Monday of November of each year. The sixth article prohibited each State from any alliance, treaty, or confederation with each other, or with a foreign State, without consent of Congress, and from laying any duties incon- 12 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. sistent with the treaties then in negotiation with France and Spain. Commercial regulation and imposts and duties remained within the power of each State. The several States retained the right to issue letters of marque and commissions to vessels of war, after war should have been declared. But the power to make war and peace was vested in Congress. Taxes for war-charges and for the common expenses were to be laid and levied by the individual States in their respective pro- portions, without power in Congress to enforce or interfere with their collection. The United States could make no treaty of commerce which should restrain a State from prohibiting the exportation or impor- tation of any goods or commodities whatever. The States retained the power to coin money, while granting the same power to Congress ; but Congress might regulate the alloy and value. The States retained power also to appoint the regimental officers in the army of the United States. The plan of the confederation contemplated a government of national affairs by special committees of Congress. It could appoint one of its own members to preside ; but so jealous were they of the semblance of a single executive that they limited his service to one year, and made him then ineligible for the two years following, ignoring all the benefits of personal experience in affairs, even in time of war. Having enumerated the narrow powers which Congress might exercise, they put upon that body the following further limitation : ' The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war ; nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace ; nor enter into any treaties or alliances ; nor coin money ; nor regulate the value thereof; nor ascertain the sums and ex- penses necessary for the defence and welfare of the United States THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 13 or any of them ; nor emit bills ; nor borrow money on the credit of the United States ; nor appropriate money ; nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised ; nor appoint a com- mander-in-chief of the army or navy; unless nine States assent to the same." This required a majority of two-thirds for any of these acts. The consent of nine of the thirteen States was required to vest any power in the General Committee of Thirteen, authorized to sit in the recess of Congress ; and even then no power could be delegated to this committee which was enumerated in the Articles as specially requiring the assent of nine States for its valid exercise. The Articles further declared that " the Union shall be per- petual ;" and styled the compact, " Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union." No amendment could be made except by agreement of Congress, with the ratification of every State. Each State bound itself to abide by the decisions of the Congress in all matters submitted to their jurisdiction by the Articles of Confederation. This " firm league of friendship" between the States was re- ported from a committee on July 12, 1776, and was under debate from time to time for two years. At the date of July 9, 1778, only ten States had ratified it. And when Maryland completed the ratification, in March, 1781, these Articles represented the entire progress of the country towards a solid union during the five years of experience of war and weakness and inefficiency of the government. Justice demands of history some explanation of this unsatisfactory result, which shall be consistent with the undoubted patriotism and the unquestioned intellectual ability of the statesmen of that time. The colonies were originally established under the control 6f different political and religious ideas, and their immigration 14 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. was from variant nationalities. The New England colonies were of more uniform composition than any other group. Protestant individuality and sturdy personal independence were there most emphasized. Commerce became their controlling interest. The town-meeting, the common school, the church-meeting, and the militia formed the foundation of their social organization. The elements in New York were largely of Dutch origin, not given to enthusiasm, not sympathetic, but tenacious of opinion and of property interests. There were found large agricultural estates and seigniorial rights which divided the control with commercial interests. English hereditary characteristics both here and in New Jersey mingled with and modified those of continental origin. In Pennsylvania the elements of population were com- posite. The English religious opinions and sentiments introduced by Penn influenced a more lethargic population from continental Eur'ope, and disposed their minds to the arts of peace and the love of concord. Her moral position was that of a mediator. The controlling elements in Virginia were of good English origin, exercising a positive dominion over that portion of the white population which represented an inferior immigration of question- able antecedents. Like the trained leaders of New England, the educated leaders in Virginia and in South Carolina were men of clear perceptions, decided opinions, and strongly attached to political theories. The Southern States were generally controlled in their material interests by the demands of agriculture. While slavery existed in small degree in the Northern States, it was a powerful interest only in the South. The dominant religious sentiment also varied in the various States. In some the church and schools were supported by State taxation, in others not. To these various and often conflicting elements must be added the pro-slavery and anti-slavery dissension already existing, and not limited by geographical divisions. Besides these considerations, there existed that natural distrust THE ARTICLES GF CONFEDERATION. 15 of strangers, and especially of their influence in any degree over domestic affairs of the different colonies, which can only be obviated by frequent association and intimate acquaintance. The close association of the officers of the army during the war of independence, their participation in common perils and struggles and for a common object, had with them effected to a large extent the removal of this distrust. The movement for a closer union of the States found among them its most ardent supporters and constant advocates. Their descendants, in the Society of the Cincinnati, commemorate still the patriotic efforts of their ancestors to accomplish the great constitutional union. The opposition, both inert and active, to a genuine and vigorous national authority, appeared most uniformly in the local legislatures, and among men who were not personally engaged in the war. They transferred their opposition towards alien English control to alien American control ; for they still regarded the other colonies, in some proportion to the distance of their territory, as aliens and strangers to their respective common- wealths. Their confederation itself, therefore, was little more than a treaty between forced allies, who were jealous of each other, and would each retain a veto upon the acts of all, except in those few points where the immediate danger from Europe controlled their fears of domestic rivalry. Nor was human nature a century ago free from those imper- fections which to-day mark the characteristics of our public life. Personal envies and jealousies and competitions were too rife for the best expedition of public affairs. Personal criticisms were violent and often reckless. In a time of war, when all the in- struction of history enforces the necessity of a concentration of power in a vigorous, decisive, central authority, thirteen authori- tative heads were interposed, which, in turn, were subject to thir- teen other widely separated heads. No presiding officer could remain in his place more than one year in three, lest one man I 6 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. or one State should offer talents and furnish experience which mio-ht lead to an excessive influence for himself or his State. & From the perusal of the records of that epoch we rise with amazement at the unshaken patience, moderation, and firmness of Washington, who persistently sought the establishment of con- fidence and concord, and kept himself unsullied and faithful amidst the virulence, jealousies, and passions of the time. IV. PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. THE abler men among the patriots then in military and civil life were not deceived by any fond hopes flowing from the adop- tion of this instrument. They clearly foresaw the difficulties and embarrassments still interposed against the successful adminis- tration of government, alike in war and peace. Hardly had the announcement of the ratification of the Confederation reached the various State capitals before the letters and pamphlets of the time disclosed its defects and insufficiency. Again was heard a call for a constitutional convention. Within a few months from the approval of the Confederacy by Maryland the dissatisfaction found wide and emphatic expression. Washington, whose efforts to secure the organization of a vigorous union and government were as constant as his devotion to his weighty military duties, showed a painful consciousness that the Confederate constitution was wholly inadequate to the demands of the time. He regarded it as chiefly important in completing the formal alliance of the States. " If the powers granted to the head of the States," he said, "are inadequate, the defects should be considered and remedied. Danger may spring from delay. The present temper of the States is friendly to the establishment of a lasting union ; the moment should be improved ; if suffered to pass away it may never return ; and, after gloriously and successfully contending against the usurpations of Britain, we may fall a prey to our own PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 17 follies and disputes. ... A nominal head, which at present is but another name for Congress, will no longer do. That honor- able body . . . must dictate, and not merely recommend. . . . Without a controlling power in Congress it will be impossible to carry on the war." Hoping that public affairs would now put on a different aspect, he added, "but not unless Congress is vested with, or will assume, greater powers than they exert at present, and will dispense them freely, upon general principles, to the ministers of State." He addressed himself in this sense, and with urgency, to leaders in different States. In the mean time Congress itself had appointed a second and able committee to examine the Articles, " to prepare an exposition of the Confederation," a plan for its complete execution, and supplemental articles. This committee reported a series of sub- jects upon which laws should be framed for the execution of the Articles, but declined to make an " exposition" of the Articles for the significant reason, among others, that " the omission to enu- merate any Congressional powers would become an argument against their existence, and it will be early enough to insist upon them when they shall be exercised and disputed." So early did questions of constitutional construction arise ; and so promptly was the necessity for " supplemental articles" made apparent. They proposed seven distinct recommendations for increasing the powers of Congress. All this was made known to the States, but apparently without producing a movement for their adop- tion. Such incomplete measures encountered a double opposition. The States were in large part unwilling to have any force applied to their delinquency, and equally unwilling to diminish their reserved powers. The friends and advocates of a strong national government, on the other hand, were indifferent to these half- measures, knowing how far they failed of affording relief to the country. Of the latter class Hamilton expressed the sentiments VOL. I. 4 1 8 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. when he published these words : " There is hardly a man who will not acknowledge the Confederation unequal to a vigorous prose- cution of the war, or to the preservation of the Union in peace. The Federal government, too weak at first, will continually grow weaker. . . . We ought without delay to enlarge the powers of Congress. Every plan of which this is not the foundation will be illusory." During the years 1781-82 the condition of the finances was constantly growing worse, paper money had become almost worthless, the army wanted pay, requisitions were disobeyed, and anxiety and distress were general. Congress organized with more or less success some departments of administration ; but these found themselves seriously ineffective for want of powers and want of revenue. France agreed to make another small loan, with assurance that nothing more must be expected from her, and accompanied by reproaches upon the unwillingness of the States to exert themselves. At this time of general conflict of material interests, of social elements, of political aims, and of personal ambitions, Schuyler and Hamilton urged, and both branches of the legislature of New York adopted, resolutions (July, 1782) unanimously recommending Congress to propose "and each State to adopt the measure of assembling a general convention of the States, specially author- ized to revise and amend the Confederation, reserving a right to the respective legislatures to ratify their determinations." These resolutions were communicated to Congress, and to the State governments. Meantime, the proposition to so enlarge the powers of Con- gress that they might obtain a revenue from duties on imports had been ratified by all the States except Rhode Island. Con- gress was about to send a committee to obtain the assent of that State when the Virginia Legislature (December, 1782), on the motion of Richard Henry Lee, most unexpectedly retracted PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 19 its previous assent, on the ground that it involved a surrender of the State sovereignty. This refusal on the part of so important a Confederate mem- ber as Virginia gave a shock to the Confederacy itself. It seemed not only a refusal of this particular measure for the support of the Union, but its principle tended against all powers in Congress which should operate in any way directly upon the citizens of a State. Yet it proved a step in the march to a more perfect union. Parties in that State divided, one led by the mover of that resolution, and supported by Arthur Lee, Mercer, and Bland ; the other, by Madison, with the positive sup- port of Washington. Meanwhile, its immediate effect operated to the serious disadvantage of the country. Hostilities had practically terminated. Adjustment of new commercial relations with Great Britain remained to be effected. Congress had no power to regulate commerce or pass a navigation act. After the peace, the question whether American vessels were national or State was raised in Parliament (May, 1783). Lord Thurlow said : " I have read an account which stated the government in America to be totally unsettled, and that each province seemed intent on establishing a distinct, independent, sovereign State." And Parliament decided to commit all American commercial rights to the arbitrary will of the King in council. Jay wrote that no time should be lost in raising and maintaining a national spirit in America. Gouverneur Morris replied that the British restrictions would do us "more political good than commercial mischief;" true energy in our general government would yet be supplied. Lord North discussed our situation, and predicted utter powerlessness in our Confederacy, each State having re- served to itself every power relative to imports, exports, prohi- bitions, and duties, and recommended that the States be sepa- rately dealt with. They did not fail to discover in this the means of further weakening a power which with perfect union 20 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. might become formidable. Slowly these English views reached and affected American opinion. Lafayette also by correspond- ence urged the consolidation of the Union. Additional pressure was brought to bear upon public opinion by the discontent and urgent demands of the army for their pay, long time in arrears. Their violent and indignant spirit was only- subdued by the discreet action, patriotic words, and personal intervention of Washington, who besought them not to sully their glory by a mutinous act at the close of a glorious career. Upon their disbandment, a few months later, they organized the Society of Cincinnati, with the emphatic pledge of an "unalter- able determination to promote and cherish union between the States," and separated without a penny of pay. The influence of the army was reinforced by that of the public creditors, who were wholly unprovided for ; not only the creditors at home, but also in France and Holland, all of whom became clamorous for some action looking to the payment of their obligations. Ham- ilton expressed utter want of confidence in temporary revenue measures which depended on State action. In April, 1783, and after the announcement of peace, Con- gress took up the New York resolutions for a general consti- tutional convention, and referred them to a committee of nine. Washington's earnestness for a more complete union was mani- fested with the profound sincerity and warmth of an apostle of religion. He addressed communications of great force, both to Congress and to all the governors of States, urging the impera- tive necessity of prompt and united action to rescue the country from bankruptcy and disorder, and to preserve by their union the inestimable rights secured through the long struggles of the Revolutionary war. " The honor, power, and true interest of this country must be measured by a continental scale. To form a new constitution that will give consistency, stability, and dignity to the Union, and sufficient powers to the great council of the PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 21 nation for general purposes, is a duty incumbent on every man who wishes well to his country. ... If a spirit of discussion or obstinacy and perverseness should in any of the States attempt to frustrate all the happy effects that might be expected to flow from the Union, that State which puts itself in opposition to the aggregate wisdom of the continent will alone be responsible for the consequences. . . . Happiness is ours, if we seize the occa- sion and make it our own. . . . Whatever measures have a ten- dency to dissolve the Union, or to violate or to lessen the sov- ereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independence of America." These sentiments were sup- ported by an irresistible argument, based on the then existing condition of affairs, and were communicated by the governors to their legislatures in every State. He formulated no plan, but avowed his desire " to see energy given to the Federal Consti- tution by a convention of the people." The first effect of this circular letter to the States was that of inducing some of them to reverse their earlier action against the power of Congress to levy the import duties within the States, which had been proposed as the first measure for the restoration of public credit. Virginia, also, after a bitter struggle, passed over to the side of Washington. Its second effect was to check the tide of what Hamilton styled "the epidemic phrenzy" of absolute, separate sovereignty of each individual State. But Congress continued irresponsive to the efforts of its ablest men in favor of a better union ; and in September its committee recommended a postponement of action on the New York reso- lutions. The British order prohibiting American ships from carrying produce to British colonies did more than all previous argu- ments to arouse the States to the necessity of enlarging Con- gressional power, in order by general legislation to resent and resist such foreign assaults on American interests. In April, 22 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 1784, the new Congress agreed to a proposition that this body should be empowered, with the assent of nine States, and for the term of fifteen years, to exercise prohibitory powers over foreign commerce. Jefferson, knowing how much hostile foreign powers depended on the fact that each State was always pro- testing for its separate sovereignty and independence of central control, in his draft of instructions for our diplomatic agents abroad, spoke of "the United States as one nation upon the principles of the Federal Constitution." Rhode Island, which had before objected to the use even of the words " Federal gov- ernment," alleging there was no such "government," but only a union, again interposed her voice now. At the vote taken upon this phrase of Jefferson, he was sustained by eight States against two. The fact is worthy of note as one of the signs of an ad- vance in the conception of a national government for the future. Washington had often before, as after this time, made free use of the word nation, as applied to the United States. Early in 1784, though now a private citizen, Washington addressed to the governor of Virginia an earnest appeal for a stronger bond of union. The clearness of his views appears from the following extract: "An extension of Federal powers would make us one of the most wealthy, happy, respectable, and powerful nations that ever inhabited the terrestrial globe. With- out these, we shall soon be everything which is directly the reverse. I predict the worst consequences from a half-starved, limping government, always moving upon crutches and tottering at every step." The new Legislature of Virginia was better disposed to strengthen the Union. Even Patrick Henry showed a yielding spirit, and Jefferson's favorable influence was pro- nounced. In the Congressional session of this year four States were absent, three, becoming dissatisfied, withdrew, and the powerless remainder finding themselves deserted went home in utter feeble- PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 23 ness. The next (Fifth) Congress, which should have assembled in November, was long without a quorum. The French charge d'affaires reported to his government that in America there was "no general government, neither Congress nor President, nor head of any one administrative department." It seemed a near approximation to anarchy in Federal affairs. In the following winter Noah Webster published a proposed " new system of government which should act, not on the States, but directly on individuals, and vest in Congress full power to carry its laws into effect." The year 1785 brought to view two influences bearing upon the constitutional union, and moving in opposite directions. The Congress had chosen for its President this year Richard Henry Lee, a bitter opponent of inherent Congressional powers ; and the New York Legislature appointed its delegates so that a majority of them joined Lee in his opposition, thus changing the position of that influential State. On the other hand, the exces- sive flooding of American markets with English goods, the British obstructions to the ship-building and the carrying trades, and restrictions upon their home markets against the products of American fishery, had combined to produce ruin to our manu- factures, disaster to producing interests, and the exhaustion of the metallic currency of the country. The industrial Americans were in a state bordering on despair, and found it vain to look for relief to a Congress without power to provide a remedy. When single States sought relief by protective duties, this only served as a premium to another State to concentrate in its own ports a free foreign trade, thus made yet more valuable to itself. Duties against imports from other States necessarily followed. At this juncture Congress transferred its seat to New York. Its assemblage there was welcomed by the industrial interests of that city with an address, in which they showed their disagree- ment with the recent choice of delegates by their legislature; 24 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. saying, " We hope our representatives will coincide with the other States in augmenting your power to every exigency of the Union." The Chamber of Commerce also begged them to counteract the injurious restrictions of foreign nations. Popular movements in the same direction appeared in Philadelphia and Boston. Penn- sylvania and New York both increased their duties, in unequal degree, the one on numerous foreign goods, the other on such goods as were imported in British bottoms. The Legislature of Massachusetts pledged itself to use its most earnest endeavor to put the Federal government " on a firm basis, and to perfect the Union ;" and formally admitted that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate to the purposes to be effected. They ordered their resolutions to be communicated to Congress, and to the executive of each State. They also, as well as New Hampshire and Rhode Island, passed retaliatory acts against Great Britain, to continue " until a well-guarded power to regulate trade shall be intrusted to Congress." Like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts established highly protective duties. In addition to the embarrassments of commerce resulting from this discordant action of the States in respect to duties on imports, and from the absence of a central power to combat the injuries to trade flowing from the action of foreign govern- ments, great confusion was created by the numerous and variable standards of value and the unsteady financial laws of the several States. In some the creditors were obliged to ac- cept real and personal estate at an appraised value in satisfac- tion of their judgments. In others depreciated paper was legal tender in payment for purchases, on a fixed scale of deprecia- tion. In others it must be received at its par value. Numerous stay-laws were enacted. Even in Massachusetts the cour^ were interrupted by riotous force. Legislation on the relation between debtor and creditor was constantly changing. There was no security for one side or the other. The rate of ex- PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 25 change in interstate transactions was alarmingly variable. One of the States authorized the court and jury to decide questions of debt to the best of their knowledge, agreeably to equity and good conscience. In the pressure of the times some States appeared to abandon hope of a metallic currency, and took refuge in new emissions of paper money. A British agent writes to his government : " 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." Georgia re- deemed its paper with specie certificates at the rate of one thousand for one, while Delaware adopted the rate of one to seventy-five. Virginia, overwhelmed with depreciated paper, stopped its issue after 1781, and undertook to redeem it in loan certificates at the rate of one thousand for one. Judg- ments could be satisfied by the tender of hemp, tobacco, flour, at a rate fixed by the county courts, and even taxes were paid in tobacco. Under these conditions contracts wholly lost the protection of the laws under which they were made. The debtors were far more numerous than creditors, and practically controlled legislation by demands which rested on the emergency alone, ungoverned by principle. Good men everywhere were strug- gling against the general demoralization, and openly protesting against it. It led them strongly towards the plan of a new con- stitution for the Confederacy, which should destroy this power in the States by conferring on Congress exclusive authority to reg- ulate the legal-tender money of the country, and to prohibit the States from impairing the obligation of contracts. During this year (1785) the common efforts of Maryland and Virginia to unite the waters of the Potomac and Ohio for the improvement of commerce, and the especial desire of Maryland for a canal connecting the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, for which the co-operation of Pennsylvania and Delaware was need- VOL. I. 5 26 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. ful, induced Maryland to make a further proposition. If even these two limited lines of internal communication could not pro- ceed without a common understanding of several States, how could all the commercial relations of the future go on if liable to the conflicting legislation of independent States? The Legisla- ture of Maryland in this connection addressed a communication to that of Virginia, proposing that commissioners from all the States should be invited to meet and regulate the restrictions on commerce for the whole. Madison quickly saw the opportunity to inaugurate the long-desired movement for a more perfect Union, and, holding himself in the background, persuaded a State-sovereignty member to offer the resolution which he pre- pared, for the appointment of commissioners by Virginia, to meet commissioners from all the States, to examine and report on the requisite increase of the powers of Congress over trade, their action being subject to the ratification of every State. It was quietly called up at a later period, and passed (January, 1786); and Madison was placed at the head of the commission. An- napolis was proposed as the place, and September as the time, for the assembling of the commissioners. No New England State appeared, and no Southern State south of Virginia, while even Maryland was absent from her own capital. The five States present were represented by men from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia, who believed in more far- reaching provisions than those suggested by the original reso- lution. Their sessions were soon closed, with a recommendation to their States to obtain a meeting of all the States at Philadel- phia in the following May, to consider the situation of the country, and to devise the measures necessary to make the Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union. Before the meeting at Annapolis, new efforts were made in Congress to enlarge its powers. Charles Pinckney reported from a committee seven amendments to the Articles of Confederation, PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 2J giving Congress power to regulate foreign and domestic trade, and to collect duties, which, however, must be paid over to the State in which collected ; to punish treason, and crimes committed on the high seas ; to establish an appellate court of seven judges with jurisdiction of certain Federal questions ; to establish a new system of revenue, eleven States consenting ; and regulating the payment of quotas by States. After long and sometimes violent discussion, these propositions were abandoned to that great file of ever-accumulating unfinished business. The country ceased to expect relief from its Congress. New Jersey was gained to the plan of a convention for enlarging the powers of the general government. The taxation on her imported goods, introduced through the port of New York, and the practical assessment of her own citizens for the sole benefit of the New York State Treasury, opened her eyes to the necessity of a reform in the Union. The general situation of the country in the summer of 1 786 was deplorable. From a careful official report made to the Count de Vergennes in September of that year, it appears that the condition especially of New England was sufficient to impart a sentiment of despair. The common masses of the people, driven by distress, demanded the emission of paper money for their relief. Massachusetts had seen its prodigious evils in other States and refused it. These people then took arms and dispersed the courts, demanded their abolition, and that of the State Senate, and cried out for a new emission of paper, and other wild objects from which they imagined relief would come. In New Hamp- shire three hundred mutineers assembled to break up a court of justice, and intimidated their legislature. Many of the people of Connecticut made efforts for the abolishment of debts and the dissolution of the courts. Hundreds of farms were there offered for sale for the payment of taxes ; and specie was so scarce that they hardly brought one-tenth of their value. A British agent 28 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. reported upon the like facts, and added : " Indeed, dissatisfaction and uneasiness prevail more or less throughout this country; the greater part of the people poor, and many in desperate circum- stances, do not, it seems, want any government at all, but had rather have all power and property reduced to a level." The five State delegations at Annapolis, aware of this public condition, and knowing that additional commercial authority in Congress was totally inadequate as a remedy, wisely resolved to rely only on a convention with general powers to revise the entire Consti- tution of the Union. Guarded as was their language, it revealed to the intelligence of the country the imperative nature of radical relief. A Virginia member of Congress wrote from New York in October to Washington : " We are all in dire apprehension that a beginning of anarchy with all its calamities has approached, and have no means to stop the dreadful work." He added the suggestion that Washington's unbounded influence, if brought to bear, might quell the seditious spirit. Washington in his reply used the words, "Influence is no government." Moved by the steady force of her great unionists, and by the increasing disorders of the several States, Virginia took at last, in December, 1786, a firm and loyal decision. Her Assembly, with unexpected unanimity, adopted the recommendation of the Annapolis Convention, and appointed the great names of Wash- ington, Madison, Mason, and Randolph to represent her views in the Philadelphia Convention. Wisely remembering that State legislatures had exercised the right of agreeing to national measures and then revoking that agreement at will, that part of the 'Annapolis report which suggested that the act of the coming convention should be effective when "confirmed by the legisla- tures of every State" was modified in the Virginia resolution by requiring confirmation by the States. By this method timid legis- latures could transfer the decision to the people in special con- vention, as in fact the unionists desired. This act of Virginia PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 29 was transmitted by Governor Randolph to Congress and to the governors of all the States. New Jersey was the first of the States to accept the proposition. Pennsylvania, most constantly loyal to the Union, quickly adopted it, followed by North Carolina and Delaware. Rufus King, who had long used his great influ- ence in Massachusetts against the increase of central power, wrote Governor Gerry that he was inclined favorably to this project, though he thought it illegal in form of inception. "Events are hurrying us to a crisis," he said. " Prudent and sagacious men should be ready to seize the most favorable circumstances to establish a more perfect and vigorous government." New York, still obstinate under Governor Clinton, ignored the An- napolis invitation, and desired Congress to call a general con- vention. When the New York delegates moved it under their instructions, without mentioning time or place, it met with entire failure. King, of Massachusetts, then saw his opportunity to reconcile his past with his present views, and perhaps to bring New York into the movement. He accordingly offered (Febru- ary, 1787) a plain resolution, by which Congress advised a con- vention to be held at the time and place which the action of Virginia had already fixed, but without naming the act of that State. It was at once accepted by Congress, and satisfied the theorists of that school with the method of initiating the con- vention. States could now appoint members either to the con- vention called at the suggestion of the Annapolis meeting and upon the invitation of Virginia, or pursuant to the recommenda- tion of Congress ; and in either case they would find themselves in one common convention. It was doubtless a wise and useful measure, in view of the rivalries of men and of the jealousies of State precedence. Massachusetts, troubled with a recent insurrection, accepted in February. New York a few days later concurred, and ap- pointed Yates and Lansing, who represented more especially the 30 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. ideas of State sovereignty, and Hamilton, who was a strong unionist, to be her delegates to the convention. South Carolina and Georgia appointed their delegates in April. Connecticut sent a strong delegation in May, and Maryland soon followed. New Hampshire delayed till June. Rhode Island alone maintained her isolation to the end as a non-union State, by a legislative majority of twenty-two votes against the convention. Pending these proceedings for a convention, and late in Feb- ruary, Madison wrote to Governor Randolph: "Our situation is becoming every day more and more critical. No money comes into the Federal treasury ; no respect is paid to the Federal authority ; and people of reflection unanimously agree that the existing Confederacy is tottering to its foundation." He added that men in the East were suspected of leaning towards mon- archy ; others were predicting the partition of the States into two or more confederacies. He believed that unless a radical amendment of the present system was effected the partition would take place. In April he again wrote that " unless the Union was efficiently organized on republican principles the par- tition of the empire into rival and hostile confederacies will ensue." By the foregoing tedious and often unavailing steps did the people of the United States advance towards a more perfect government. The causes of this slow approximation to a result so necessary to their security from foreign foes, and so indispen- sable to the establishment of equal and common privileges among the citizens of different States, are not obscure. The vast extent of their territory, the communication limited by sail on the water lines, and by poor wagon-roads and bridle-paths on land, were great hinderances to a friendly and intimate knowledge of their mutual interests. The different controlling industries in various States created apprehensions of adverse legislation by a body in which these various interests should be unequally represented. PRELIMINARIES OF THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 31 Some States were more deeply in debt than others, and in deeper poverty. These feared the power and influence of the more wealthy and prosperous States. In some of them the spirit of repudiation was rife and bold ; and these desired to retain the position of aliens towards any power which might be animated by a strong sense of justice. Their ideas of a home government could not be expanded to embrace a continent, or even its Atlantic region. Slavery, increased by annual importations of human beings as property, had obtained a solid territorial domination in one section, and but a small and unsteady foothold in another. There was as yet no brotherhood among the States, except in small groups. The limited number of delegates to Congress, many of them frequent absentees, and who represented the legislatures, not the people, were insufficient instruments for propagating ideas of union among a widely scattered popular constituency. There were fewer numbers in the Congress than in most of the State legislatures. The latter were lords, the former servants. Congressional opinion was in perpetual chains, and had the timidity which attaches to subserviency. Too much courage of conscience involved the sacrifice of position. Constant rotation in office diminished or destroyed the growth and useful- ness of experience. The enlarged views acquired from the height of central government were ever nullified by the narrower aspi- rations of local sovereignty. Authority, whether executive, legis- lative, or judicial, if intrusted to persons not appointed by the State legislature itself, and irresponsible to the State, seemed to the people an abandonment of personal rights, and a return to foreign jurisdiction. All citizens of the United States were animated by the identical love of personal liberty and of free institutions which characterized each; yet each remained blind to the truth that there was greater security in the combined force of all than could be found in single independence and sovereignty. For war they admitted the need of union. In peace only the 32 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. stress of commercial conflict between the States and with foreign countries could induce them to strengthen the bonds of a general government. While these were the prevailing sentiments, among leaders there was abundant diversity in theories of government for the Union. Systems, plans, projects, had been discussed for many years, and so often defeated or ignored that it hardly seemed within human power to revive an old or propose a new one with any reasonable probability of its general adoption. The predis- position of each State was to reject the plan of every other State. The rivalries of persons and of communities reinforced this preju- dice, and covered any new scheme with clouds of doubt. It was not, therefore, to be regretted that some men of strong intellect who might have been delegates to this convention, but who were enemies to a consolidation of the Union, preferred to remain at home, and permitted their places to be filled by friends of the national movement. It was of supreme importance that the scheme of reform to be devised should have the general sanction of the initiatory body before demanding that of the States. This could better be accomplished by unionists of different shades of opinion than by the doubtful co-operation of persistent separatists. It would hardly be possible to find a more melancholy picture for the contemplation of patriots than that presented by the States of the Union at the time of their appointment of dele- gates to Philadelphia. The public debt was in no part paid, and no provision whatever was made for its payment. The Confed- eracy was without revenue of its own, and without resources. Whatever gold or silver existed in the country was sent beyond seas to pay for imported goods. None of the States fully re- sponded to Confederate requisitions; some partially complied, and New Jersey expressly refused to comply. The navigation laws of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland treated the other States as aliens, as if they were European THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 33 countries. South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York were taxing the trade of other States passing through their ports, and developed angry sentiments in their nearest neighbors. Connecticut taxed Imports even from Massachusetts. The treaties made by the Confederation were violated in the States with impunity. Compacts were made between States in violation of the articles of the Confederacy, even by such States as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. The demoralization had gone so far that Virginia not only re- fused to apply for the sanction of its compact with Maryland by Congress, but even voted against advising Congress of its exist- ence. The legislatures and the people showed equal disregard of public and private obligations. Respect for the Confederacy had ceased at home, and it was the object of contempt abroad. Thoughtful men doubted of the capacity of the people for self- government, and began to whisper of monarchy as a cure of public disorders. Surrounded by doubts, but inspired by hope, and powerfully urged by the dangers and distresses of the country, the dele- gates to this Convention made their journey by slow stages from their respective States to the city of Philadelphia, now to become once more the centre of a nation's hopes. V. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. THE Convention was summoned for the i4th of May, 1787. The necessary quorum of seven States did not appear until the 25th of May, when the majority of the New Jersey delegates presented their credentials. Three days later Massachusetts and Maryland increased the number to nine. The representation of Connecticut and Georgia added two more States on the 3Oth and 3istof May. That of New Hampshire did not arrive until the 23d of July, after the majority of the New York delegates had VOL. I. 6 34 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. withdrawn; so that only eleven States were voted at any one time, out of the twelve represented. Rhode Island alone refused to be represented, having rejected the proposition by a legis- lative majority of twenty-two votes. A number of her leading citizens, however, forwarded a letter of sympathy to the Con- vention. Of the characters composing this Convention, the French minister wrote to his government : " If all the delegates chosen to this Convention at Philadelphia are present, Europe will never have seen an assembly more respectable for talents, for knowl- edge, for the disinterestedness and patriotism of those who com- pose it. General Washington, Dr. Franklin, and a great number of other distinguished personages, though less known in Europe, have been called thither." It was certainly most fortunate for the country, for the prestige of the Convention, and lor the solidity of its work, that Virginia set the example of intrusting her commission to her greatest names. Where Washington led the way, followed by Madison, Governor Randolph, George Mason, and Chancellor Wythe, no other State would be willing to refuse a contribution of its most reputable, noblest characters. Pennsylvania responded with Franklin's vast experience and wisdom gathered on two conti- nents, with Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris, and was further strengthened by the great ability of Wilson. South Carolina sent John Rutledge, with the two Pinckneys. New Jersey offered her chancellor, Livingston, with Chief- Justice Brearley, William Paterson, and Dayton. New York reluc- tantly commissioned her chief unionist, Alexander Hamilton, a born statesman, who combined indomitable force of character with a genius for the organization of States. Delaware gave her patriotic Read and her venerable Dickinson as aids in the great work. Connecticut, so rich in contributions of soldiers to the Revolutionary struggle, ranked herself in the forefront of the THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 35 Convention when Sherman and Ellsworth and Johnson appeared there. The voice of Massachusetts found eloquent expression in Rufus King, and her opinions gathered strength from the high reputation of Governor Gerry and the wisdom of Gorham. If ever a government could be formed fresh from the brain of man, instinct with a vigorous life, and admirable in form as that fabled goddess who sprang full-armed from the brow of Jove, it might surely be expected from the midst of this assembly of the wisest and purest and most patriotic characters to which the old European or the young American continent had ever given birth. If the effort should fail now and here, the boldest of our national patriots were prepared to await in silence and unhappy resignation the alternative fates of anarchy or despotism. The completed roll of delegates who were actually present in the Convention at some time during its deliberations shows the following names : From New Hampshire (2) John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. From Massachusetts (4) Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, Caleb Strong. From Connecticut (3) William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sher- man, Oliver Ellsworth. From New York (3) Robert Yates, Alexander Hamilton, John Lansing. From New Jersey (5) William Livingston, David Brearley, William Churchill Houston, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton. From Pennsylvania (8) Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared In- gersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris. From Delaware (5) George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom. From Maryland (5) James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, John Francis Mercer, Luther Martin. 36 THE FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. From Virginia (7) George Washington, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, Jr., George Mason, George Wythe, James McClurg. From North Carolina (5) Alexander Martin, William Rich- ardson Davie, William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson. From South Carolina (4) John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler. From Georgia (4) William Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, William Houstoun. Of these, eight members had signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence. The whole number of appointments made was sixty- five, of whom only fifty-five attended the Convention ; and of them only thirty-nine affixed their names to the Constitution at the end of their deliberations, three expressly refusing, and others absent. Hamilton was born in Nevis, one of the Leeward Islands ; Wilson in Scotland ; Robert Morris and Davie in England. Paterson, Fitzsimons, McHenry, and Butler were of Irish birth. The other delegates were native Americans. Some of them had been educated in England, but most of them in the country of their birth, which they had rescued from foreign domination, to which they had given the principles of liberty, and which they now desired to endow with the rights of a republic and with the organization of a united, free, and stable government. The Convention at the outset provided for secret sessions. The conflict of opinion throughout the country was so great that they feared to exasperate existing divisions, and to provoke hostil- ities while their plan was in construction, if each day's immature proceedings and discussions were given to the public. They also believed that a more sincere and frank expression of personal opinions could be obtained from the delegates, and compro- THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 37 mises of jarring judgments could be better secured, if they were exempt from the exterior influence of bitter prejudices. They decided, therefore, that no communication of their resolutions should be made until the whole completed work could be laid before the country, and that no individual votes should be re- corded, this record being made by States. The dilatory arrival of the majority of the delegations gave opportunity for private and personal comparison of views between the few delegates who were earliest in Philadelphia. The mem- bers from Virginia met in frequent consultation, and brought themselves into harmonious relations upon a rough draft of con- stitutional principles which Madison had prepared. This docu- ment, modified by their consultations, was afterwards authorita- tively presented to the Convention as the plan of Virginia. The moral force of the then leading State of the Confederacy was thus, from the beginning, thrown into the wavering balance in favor of a wholly new Constitution, and against any partial amendment of the existing Articles of Confederation. Her very able delegation succeeded, though afterwards much divided upon details, in keep- ing the action of the Convention upon the original basis pro- posed by them. The discussion upon their resolutions began in committee of the whole house, Mr. Gorham, of Massachusetts, in the chair, on the 3