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II.

Jan.

CHAP. because they "beget smuggling," are "always preju dicial to the fair trader, and eventually to the revenue 1788. itself;" tend to render "other classes of the com8. munity tributary in an improper degree to the manufacturing classes," to "give them a premature monopoly 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 powers; 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 mankind;" he closed with the words: "A nation without 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 Madison 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 The Federalist, lxxxv.

1 The Federalist, xxxv.

The Federalist, i.

II.

sea, to Delaware bay, to the Chesapeake, to the Mis- CHAP. sissippi, and to the watercourse of the St. Lawrence, and having the easiest line of communication from 1788. the ocean to the great West, needed, more than any other state, an efficient government; and yet of the thirteen it was the most stubborn in opposition. More than half the goods consumed in Connecticut, in New Jersey, in Vermont, and the western parts of Massachusetts, were bought within its limits and paid 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 preferred to appropriate the revenue to its own purposes; 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 republicans published inflammatory tracts, and circulated large editions of the Letters from the Federal Farmer by Richard Henry Lee. They named themselves federal 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 committee of correspondence and sought connections throughout the land. They sent their own emissaries to attend the proceedings of the Massachusetts convention, and, if possible, to frustrate its acceptance of the union. Their letters received answers from Lowndes, from Henry and Grayson, from Atherton of New Hampshire, and from Richard Henry Lee who told

1 Williamson to Iredell, 7 July, 1788. McRee's Iredell, ii. 227, 228.

CHAP. them that "the constitution was an elective despot

II.

1788. Jan.

31.

ism."

At the regular meeting of the legislature in January, 1788, Clinton recommended the encouragement of commerce and of manufactures, but sent in the proceedings of the federal convention without remark.' All others remaining silent for twenty days, Egbert Benson, on the last day of January, proposed a state convention in the precise mode recommended by congress. 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 delayed 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 opposition 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 would at 'Ind. Gazetteer, 19 Jan., 1788.

2 Hamilton, i. 454.

II.

all events adhere to it. Clinton himself began to think CHAP. it absolutely necessary that the state should in some form secure a representation under the new constitu- 1788. tion.'

The greater number of his friends were, like him, averse to its total rejection; but, while some were willing to be content with recommendatory amendments, and others with explanatory ones, to settle doubtful constructions, the majority seemed unwilling to be reconciled with less than previous amendments. All the while the people of the state were drifting toward union.*

17.

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 George Clinton, 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 clearness 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,

1 Cyrus Griffin, President of the Continental Congress, to Thomas Fitzsimons, 16 June, 1788. MS. Compare Jay's Jay, i. 268.

2

Thompson's Long Island, ii.

504, 505.

4

495.

Thompson's Long Island, ii.

19.

CHAP. showing the superiority of a republic to a confederacy; II. without a strong federal government and union New 1788. York was incapable of self-defence, and the British 19. posts within the limits of the state would continue to form connections with hostile tribes of Indians, and be held in defiance of the most solemn treaties.'

June

In the course of the discussion every objection that had been made to the constitution either in Massachusetts or in Virginia was strongly stated; and re20. plied to. Lansing, adhering to the system of the confederation, loved union; but loved liberty more." Melancthon Smith declared himself most strongly impressed with the necessity of union, and refused to say that the federal constitution was at war with public liberty. Hamilton, speaking in the spirit 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 respect 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 constitution; 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 certainly I think not otherwise."

1 Elliot, ii. 208–216.
2 Elliot, ii. 219.

• Hamilton's Works, i. 462.

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