CHAP. I. Sept. 26. The restraint on the power of regulating commerce and navigation would have been fatal to the wealth 1787. and prosperity of New York. Nevertheless, the propositions 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 constitution, in which the essential safeguards of liberty had been omitted. To this it was replied that congress had certainly a right of its own to propose amendments, but that these must be addressed to the legislatures of the states, and would require ratification by all the thirteen; but that the act of the federal 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 consideration.' 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 respect, forward the acts of the convention to the executives of every state to be laid before their respective legislatures. On the instant Abraham 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 unanimously against Lee; so did 'Madison to Washington, New Oct., 1787; Life of R. H. Lee, ii. York, 30 Sept., 1787; R. H. Lee 74, 76. to Samuel Adams, New York, 5 2 Gilpin, 643; Elliot, 566. I. Sept. Delaware and the only member from Maryland, with CHAP. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire. Virginia, on the return of 1787. Madison, joined them by the inflexible majority of 27. Madison, Carrington, and Henry Lee, against Grayson and Richard Henry Lee. All the states except New York were for the motion; and all except New York and Virginia were unanimously so. The majority in congress was impatient to express its approval of the acts of the convention in still stronger language; Carrington, of Virginia, therefore, seconded 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 effacement of every motion adverse to the reference of the constitution. Accordingly, congress, when it next assembled, expunged from its journal the proposed 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. Sept. CHAP. having one delegate, Rhode Island being alone altoI. gether unrepresented, that the said report, with the 1787. resolutions and letter accompanying the same, be 28. 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 resolves 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 tendency to aristocracy in every part of the proposed constitution, which he slighted as the work of visionary young men,' who wished to change the thirteen distinct independent republics under a federal head into one consolidated government.' He waylaid Gerry when bound for home, and assisted him in preparing an official letter to explain his refusal to sign the constitution. He addressed himself to Samuel Adams, the "dear friend with whom he had long toiled in the vineyard of liberty," submitting to his wisdom and patriotism the objections to the new constitution which he had proposed in congress in the form of amendments, but disingenuously substituting other words for his remonstrance against vesting congress with power to regulate commerce. He extended his intrigues to Pennsylvania and Delaware, hoping to delay their decisions. 'Journals of Congress, iv. 782. 2 Letters from the Federal Farm er, 8. 3 9 Letters from the Federal Farmer, 6. I. Sept. "I am waiting with anxiety for the echo from Vir- CHAP. ginia, but with very faint hopes of its corresponding with my wishes," wrote Madison from New York 1787. city to Washington.' The party in power in New York was passionately opposed to the constitution; but already 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 propitiatory 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 constitution 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 political 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, writes of Washington: "He is in perfect 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 1 Madison to Washington. Gilpin, 646; Elliot, 567. Washington to Henry, 24 Sept., 1787. Sparks, ix. 265. CHAP. of government." Throughout the whole country he I. was the centre of interest; in Virginia of power. 1787. The leaders of opposition answered him frankly, but with expressions of deference and affection. Oct. "The seeds of civil discord," replied Harrison, “are plentifully sown in very many of the powers given both to the president and congress. If the constitution 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 regulation 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 wisest service in shaping the constitution, now from wounded pride resisted his inmost convictions, enumerating his objections, of which the grant to congress of power to regulate commerce by a bare majority was the capital one.* Next came a letter from Richard Henry Lee, who avowed himself "compelled by irresistible conviction of mind after long reflection to doubt about the new system for federal government," and to express the 1 A. Donald to Jefferson, 12 Nov., 1787. MS. 'Sparks, ix. 266, 267. Note. 3 Sparks, ix. 266. Note. |