Part 35 (1/2)

WILLIAM BLOUNT,

RICHARD DOBBS SPAIGHT,

HUGH WILLIAMSON.

_South Carolina_.

JOHN RUTLEDGE,

CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY,

CHARLES PINCKNEY,

PIERCE BUTLER.

_Georgia_.

WILLIAM FEW,

ABRAHAM BALDWIN.

Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.

1. Footnote: ”Life of Was.h.i.+ngton,” p. 389.

2. Footnote: ”Men and Times of the Revolution, or Memoirs of Elkanah Watson.”

3. Footnote: Marshall, ”Life of Was.h.i.+ngton.”

4. Footnote: It is a very interesting fact that the proposition in which the Convention that formed the Const.i.tution originated should have been made at Mount Vernon, in Was.h.i.+ngton's presence, if not by himself.

As Faneuil Hall is called the Cradle of Liberty, Mount Vernon may be regarded as the Cradle of the Const.i.tution.

5. Footnote: The occasion and effect of this insurrection, commonly called Shay's Rebellion, are thus described by a recent writer. The jealousy felt toward the statesmen of the Republic, or toward the upper by the middle cla.s.s--if the terms may be allowed--was likely to operate fatally in marring the project of a Const.i.tution, and rendering any innovation for the purpose impracticable; since the dissentient States were resolved not to choose delegates, or accede to the desire of Virginia.

These democratic opinions of the middle cla.s.ses, however, and the resolutions founded upon them, were eventually shaken and overturned by the extreme to which they were carried by the lower orders. These were no sooner inspired by the same political feelings, than, after their fas.h.i.+on, they rose in insurrection; bade defiance not only to Congress, but to the State authorities themselves; and, collecting in armed bands, threatened to effect a serious revolution by taking law and property into their own hands. The New England States, princ.i.p.ally Ma.s.sachusetts, were the scenes of these disorders, which took place toward the close of 1786.

A body of 2,000 men, a.s.sembled in the northwestern region of the State, chose one of their number, Daniel Shay, for leader. They asked for suspension of taxes, and the remission of paper money; but it was known that their favorite scheme was that of an agrarian law--a general division of property. Respectable cla.s.ses were, of course, thrown into alarm; Congress recovered a portion of that vigor which had marked it during the war; troops were dispatched, under General Lincoln and other officers, against the insurgents; and the citizens of the New England towns forgot their late jealousy of the military so far as to join them in the task of putting down their domestic foes. Funds were raised by private subscription to supply the emptiness of the public treasury; and an efficient force was enabled to march, in the midst of winter, against the insurgents, who were soon dispersed and reduced.

The rebellion thus suppressed was productive of the most salutary result. The middle cla.s.ses, terrified at the exaggeration of their own doctrines, and at the risk of exciting the mob as supporters, rallied universally to the support of Congress.

Jealousy of those above was counterbalanced by fear of those below; and the majority of the State Legislatures was brought to coincide with the views of the Federal statesmen. Convinced by late experience of the necessity of an established and general government, even for purposes of domestic security, the hitherto refractory States named, without hesitation, their delegates to the appointed convention for forming a const.i.tution. Rhode Island alone refused.

6. Footnote: Sparks, ”Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton.”

7. Footnote: George Ticknor Curtis, ”History of the Const.i.tution of the United States.”

PART VI.