Part 31 (1/2)
To form a compact relative to the navigation of the rivers Potomac and Pocomoke, and of part of Chesapeake Bay, commissioners were appointed by the Legislatures of Virginia and Maryland, who a.s.sembled in Alexandria in March, 1785. While at Mount Vernon on a visit [4] they agreed to propose to their respective governments the appointment of other commissioners, with power to make conjoint arrangements, to which the a.s.sent of Congress was to be solicited, for maintaining a naval force in the Chesapeake, and to establish a tariff of duties on imports to which the laws of both States should conform. When these propositions received the a.s.sent of the Legislature of Virginia an additional resolution was pa.s.sed, directing that which respected the duties on imports to be communicated to all the States in the Union, who were invited to send deputies to the meeting.
On the 21st of January, 1786, a few days after the pa.s.sage of these resolutions, another was adopted appointing Edmund Randolph, James Madison, Walter Jones, St. George Tucker, and Meriwether Smith, commissioners, ”who were to meet such as might be appointed by the other States in the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situation and trade of the said States; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial relations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony, and to report to the several States such an act relative to this great object, as, when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress a.s.sembled effectually to provide for the same.”
In the circular letter transmitting these resolutions to the respective States, Annapolis, in Maryland, was proposed as the place, and the ensuing September (1786) as the time of meeting.
Before the arrival of the period at which these commissioners were to a.s.semble the idea was carried by those who saw and deplored the complicated calamities which flowed from the inefficacy of the general government, much further than was avowed by the resolution of Virginia.
”Although,” said Mr. Jay, one of the most conspicuous patriots of the Revolution, in a letter to Was.h.i.+ngton, dated the 16th of March, 1786, ”you have wisely retired from public employments, and calmly view, from the temple of fame, the various exertions of that sovereignty and independence which Providence has enabled you to be so greatly and gloriously instrumental in securing to your country, yet I am persuaded you cannot view them with the eye of an unconcerned spectator.
”Experience has pointed out errors in our national government which call for correction, and which threaten to blast the fruit we expected from our tree of liberty. The convention proposed by Virginia may do some good, and would perhaps do more, if it comprehended more objects. An opinion begins to prevail that a general convention for revising the articles of confederation would be expedient. Whether the people are yet ripe for such a measure, or whether the system proposed to be attained by it is only to be expected from calamity and commotion, is difficult to ascertain.
”I think we are in a delicate situation, and a variety of considerations and circ.u.mstances give me uneasiness. It is in contemplation to take measures for forming a general convention. The plan is not matured. If it should be well connected and take effect, I am fervent in my wishes that it may comport with the line of life you have marked out for yourself to favor your country with your counsels on such an important and single occasion. I suggest this merely as a hint for consideration.”
To the patriots who accomplished the great revolution which gave to the American people a national government capable of maintaining the union of the States and of preserving republican liberty, we must ever feel grateful and admire and honor them for their services during that arduous and doubtful struggle which terminated in the triumph of human reason and the establishment of a free government. To us who were not actors in those busy scenes, but who enjoy the fruits of the labor without having partic.i.p.ated in the toils or the fears of the patriots who achieved such glorious results, the sentiments entertained by the most enlightened and virtuous of America at that eventful period cannot be uninteresting.
”Our affairs,” said Mr. Jay, in a letter of the 27th of June (1786), ”seem to lead to some crisis, some revolution--something that I cannot foresee or conjecture. I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war. Then, we had a fixed object and, though the means and time of obtaining it were often problematical, yet I did firmly believe that we should ultimately succeed, because I did firmly believe that justice was with us. The case is now altered, we are going and doing wrong and therefore I look forward to evils and calamities, but without being able to guess at the instrument, nature, or measure of them.
”That we shall again recover and things again go well, I have no doubt.
Such a variety of circ.u.mstances would not, almost miraculously, have combined to liberate and make us a nation for transient and unimportant purposes. I therefore believe we are yet to become a great and respectable people, but when or how, only the spirit of prophecy can discern.
”There doubtless is much reason to think and to say that we are woefully, and, in many instances, wickedly misled. Private rage for property suppresses public considerations, and personal rather than national interests have become the great objects of attention. New governments have not the aid of habit and hereditary respect, and, being generally the result of preceding tumult and confusion, do not immediately acquire stability or strength. Besides, in times of commotion, some men will gain confidence and importance who merit neither, and who, like political mountebanks, are less solicitous about the health of the credulous crowd than about making the most of their nostrums and prescriptions.
”What I most fear is that the better kind of people (by which I mean the people who are orderly and industrious, who are content with their situations, and not uneasy in their circ.u.mstances) will be led by the insecurity of property, the loss of confidence in their rulers, and the want of public faith and rect.i.tude, to consider the charms of liberty as imaginary and delusive. A state of uncertainty and fluctuation must disgust and alarm such men and prepare their minds for almost any change that may promise them quiet and security.”
To this interesting letter Was.h.i.+ngton made the following reply:
”Your sentiments, that our affairs are drawing rapidly to a crisis, accord with my own. What the event will be, is also beyond the reach of my foresight. We have errors to correct; we have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good without the intervention of coercive power. I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation, without lodging somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the authority of the State governments extends over the several States. To be fearful of investing Congress, const.i.tuted as that body is with ample authorities for national purposes, appears to me the very climax of popular absurdity and madness. Could Congress exert them for the detriment of the people, without injuring themselves in an equal or greater proportion? Are not their interests inseparably connected with those of their const.i.tuents? By the rotation of appointment, must they not mingle frequently with the ma.s.s of citizens? Is it not rather to be apprehended, if they were possessed of the powers before described, that the individual members would be induced to use them, on many occasions, very timidly and inefficaciously, for fear of losing their popularity and future election? We must take human nature as we find it; perfection falls not to the share of mortals. Many are of opinion that Congress have too frequently made use of the suppliant humble tone of requisition, in applications to the States, when they had a right to a.s.sert their imperial dignity, and command obedience. Be that as it may, requisitions are a perfect nullity, where thirteen sovereign, independent, disunited States are in the habit of discussing, and refusing or complying with them at their option. Requisitions are actually little better than a jest and a by-word throughout the land.
If you tell the Legislatures they have violated the treaty of peace, and invaded the prerogatives of the confederacy, they will laugh in your face. What then is to be done? Things cannot go on in the same train forever. It is much to be feared, as you observe, that the better kind of people, being disgusted with these circ.u.mstances, will have their minds prepared for any revolution whatever. We are apt to run from one extreme into another. To antic.i.p.ate and prevent disastrous contingencies would be the part of wisdom and patriotism.
”What astonis.h.i.+ng changes a few years are capable of producing! I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking; thence to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremendous!
what a triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions! what a triumph for the advocates of despotism, to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious! Would to G.o.d that wise measures may be taken in time to avert the consequences we have but too much reason to apprehend.
”Retired as I am from the world, I frankly acknowledge I cannot feel myself an unconcerned spectator. Yet, having happily a.s.sisted in bringing the s.h.i.+p into port, and having been fairly discharged, it is not my business to embark again on a sea of troubles.
”Nor could it be expected that my sentiments and opinions would have much weight on the minds of my countrymen. They have been neglected, though given as a last legacy in the most solemn manner. I had then perhaps some claims to public attention. I consider myself as having none at present.”
The convention at Annapolis was attended by commissioners from only six States--New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. These, after appointing Mr. d.i.c.kinson their chairman, proceeded to discuss the objects for which they had convened. Perceiving that more ample powers would be required to effect the beneficial purposes which they contemplated, and hoping to procure a representation from a greater number of States, the convention determined to rise without coming to any specific resolutions on the particular subject which had been referred to them.
Previous to their adjournment, however, they agreed on a report to be made to their respective States, in which they represented the necessity of extending the revision of the Federal system to all its defects, and recommended that deputies for that purpose be appointed by the several Legislatures, to meet in convention in the city of Philadelphia on the second day of the ensuing May (1787).
The reasons for preferring a convention to a discussion of this subject in Congress, were stated to be, ”that in the latter body it might be too much interrupted by the ordinary business before them and would, besides, be deprived of the valuable counsels of sundry individuals who were disqualified by the const.i.tution or laws of particular States or by peculiar circ.u.mstances from a seat in that a.s.sembly.”
A copy of this report was transmitted to Congress in a letter from the chairman, stating the inefficacy of the Federal government and the necessity of devising such further provisions as would render it adequate to the exigencies of the Union. On receiving this report, the Legislature of Virginia (1786) pa.s.sed an act for the appointment of deputies to meet such as might be appointed by other States, to a.s.semble in convention at Philadelphia at the time and for the purposes specified in the recommendation from the convention which had met at Annapolis.
When the plan of a convention was thus ripened and its meeting appointed to be at Philadelphia in May, 1787, Mr. Madison communicated to Was.h.i.+ngton the intention of that State to elect him one of her representatives on this important occasion. He explicitly declined being a candidate, yet the Legislature placed him at the head of her delegation, in the hope that mature reflection would induce him to attend upon the service. The governor of the State, Mr. Randolph, informed him of his appointment by the following letter:
”By the enclosed act you will readily discover that the a.s.sembly are alarmed at the storms which threaten the United States. What our enemies have foretold seems to be hastening to its accomplishment, and cannot be frustrated but by an instantaneous, zealous, and steady union among the friends of the Federal government. To you I need not press our present dangers. The inefficacy of Congress you have often felt in your official character, the increasing languor of our a.s.sociated republics you hourly see; and a dissolution would be, I know, to you a source of the deepest mortification. I freely then entreat you to accept the unanimous appointment of the General a.s.sembly to the convention at Philadelphia.
For the gloomy prospect still admits one ray of hope--that those who began, carried on, and consummated the Revolution, can yet restore America from the impending ruin.”
”Sensible as I am,” said Was.h.i.+ngton in his answer, ”of the honor conferred on me by the General a.s.sembly of this commonwealth, in appointing me one of the deputies to a convention proposed to be held in the city of Philadelphia in May next, for the purpose of revising the Federal const.i.tution, and desirous as I am on all occasions of testifying a ready obedience to the calls of my country, yet, sir, there exist at this moment circ.u.mstances which I am persuaded will render this fresh instance of confidence incompatible with other measures which I had previously adopted and from which, seeing little prospect of disengaging myself, it would be disingenuous not to express a wish that some other character, on whom greater reliance can be had, may be subst.i.tuted in my place, the probability of my nonattendance being too great to continue my appointment.