Mankind may amuse themselves with theoretick systems of liberty, and
trace its social and moral effects on sciences, virtue, industry and
every improvement of which the human mind is capable; but we can
only discern its true value by the practical and wretched effects
of slavery; and thus dreadfully will they be realized, when the
inhabitants of the Eastern States are dragging out a miserable
existence, _only_ on the gleanings of their fields; and the Southern,
blessed with a softer and more fertile climate, are languishing in
hopeless poverty; and when asked, what is become of the flower of their
crop, and the rich produce of their farms—they may answer in the
hapless stile of the Man of _La Mancha_,—“The steward of my Lord has
seized and sent it to _Madrid_.”——Or, in the more literal language of
truth, The _exigencies_ of government require that the collectors of
the revenue should transmit it to the _Federal City_.
Animated with the firmest zeal for the interest of this country, the
peace and union of the American States, and the freedom and happiness
of a people who have made the most costly sacrifices in the cause
of liberty,—who have braved the power of Britain, weathered the
convulsions of war, and waded thro’ the blood of friends and foes to
establish their independence and to support the freedom of the human
mind; I cannot silently [2] witness this degradation without calling
on them, before they are compelled to blush at their own servitude,
and to turn back their languid eyes on their lost liberties—to
consider, that the character of nations generally changes at the
moment of revolution.——And when patriotism is discountenanced and
publick virtue becomes the ridicule of the sycophant—when every man
of liberality, firmness and penetration who cannot lick the hand
stretched out to oppress, is deemed an enemy to the State—then is the
gulph of despotism set open, and the grades to slavery, though rapid,
are scarce perceptible—then genius drags heavily its iron chain
—science is neglected, and real merit flies to the shades for security
from reproach—the mind becomes enervated, and the national character
sinks to a kind of apathy with only energy sufficient to curse the
breast that gave it milk, and as an elegant writer observes, “To bewail
every new birth as an increase of misery, under a government where the
mind is necessarily debased, and talents are seduced to become the
panegyrists of usurpation and tyranny.” He adds, “that even sedition
is not the most indubitable enemy to the publick welfare; but that
its most dreadful foe is despotism which always changes the character
of nations for the worse, and is productive of nothing but vice, that
the tyrant no longer excites to the pursuits of glory or virtue; it
is not talents, it is baseness and servility that he cherishes, and
the weight of arbitrary power destroys the spring of emulation.”(1)
If such is the influence of government on the character and manners,
and undoubtedly the observation is just, must we not subscribe to the
opinion of the celebrated _Abbé Mablé_? “That there are disagreeable
seasons in the unhappy situation of human affairs, when policy requires
both the intention and the power of doing mischief to be punished; and
when the senate proscribed the memory of _Cæsar_ they ought to have
put _Anthony_ to death, and extinguished the hopes of _Octavius_.”
Self defence is a primary law of nature, which no subsequent law of
society can abolish; this primæval principle, the immediate gift of
the Creator, obliges every one to remonstrate against the strides of
ambition, and a wanton lust of domination, and to resist the first
approaches of tyranny, which at this day threaten to sweep away
the rights for which the brave sons of America have fought with an
heroism scarcely paralleled even in ancient republicks. [3] It may be
repeated, they have purchased it with their blood, and have gloried
in their independence with a dignity of spirit, which has made them
the admiration of philosophy, the pride of America, and the wonder of
Europe. It has been observed, with great propriety, that “the virtues
and vices of a people when a revolution happens in their government,
are the measure of the liberty or slavery they ought to expect—An
heroic love for the publick good, a profound reverence for the laws,
a contempt of riches, and a noble haughtiness of soul, are the only
foundations of a free government.”(2) Do not their dignified principles
still exist among us? Or are they extinguished in the breasts of
Americans, whose fields have been so recently crimsoned to repel the
potent arm of a foreign Monarch, who had planted his engines of slavery
in every city, with design to erase the vestiges of freedom in this his
last asylum. It is yet to be hoped, for the honour of human nature,
that no combinations either foreign or domestick have thus darkned
this Western hemisphere.—On these shores freedom has planted her
standard, diped in the purple tide that flowed from the veins of her
martyred heroes; and here every uncorrupted American yet hopes to see
it supported by the vigour, the justice, the wisdom and unanimity of
the people, in spite of the deep-laid plots, the secret intrigues, or
the bold effrontery of those interested and avaricious adventurers for
place, who intoxicated with the ideas of distinction and preferment
have prostrated every worthy principle beneath the shrine of ambition.
Yet these are the men who tell us republicanism is dwindled into
theory—that we are incapable of enjoying our liberties—and that we
must have a master.——Let us retrospect the days of our adversity,
and recollect who were then our friends; do we find them among the
sticklers for aristocratick authority? No, they were generally the same
men who now wish to save us from the distractions of anarchy on the one
hand, and the jaws of tyranny on the other; where then were the class
who now come forth importunately urging that our political salvation
depends on the adoption of a system at which freedom spurns?—Were not
some of them hidden in the corners of obscurity, and others wrapping
themselves in the bosom of our enemies for safety? Some of them
were in the arms of infancy; and others speculating for fortune, by
sporting with public money; while a few, a very few of them [4] were
magnanimously defending their country, and raising a character, which I
pray heaven may never be sullied by aiding measures derogatory to their
former exertions. But the revolutions in principle which time produces
among mankind, frequently exhibits the most mortifying instances
of human weakness; and this alone can account for the extraordinary
appearance of a few names, once distinguished in the honourable walks
of patriotism, but now found in the list of the Massachusetts assent to
the ratification of a Constitution, which, by the undefined meaning of
some parts, and the ambiguities of expression in others, is dangerously
adapted to the purposes of an immediate _aristocratic tyranny_; that
from the difficulty, if not impracticability of its operation, must
soon terminate in the most _uncontrouled despotism_.
All writers on government agree, and the feelings of the human mind
witness the truth of these political axioms, that man is born free and
possessed of certain unalienable rights—that government is instituted
for the protection, safety and happiness of the people, and not for
the profit, honour, or private interest of any man, family, or class
of men——That the origin of all power is in the people, and that
they have an incontestible right to check the creatures of their own
creation, vested with certain powers to guard the life, liberty and
property of the community: And if certain selected bodies of men,
deputed on these principles, determine contrary to the wishes and
expectations of their constituents, the people have an undoubted right
to reject their decisions, to call for a revision of their conduct, to
depute others in their room, or if they think proper, to demand further
time for deliberation on matters of the greatest moment: it therefore
is an unwarrantable stretch of authority or influence, if any methods
are taken to preclude this peaceful and reasonable mode of enquiry
and decision. And it is with inexpressible anxiety, that many of the
best friends of the Union of the States—to the peaceable and equal
participation of the rights of nature, and to the glory and dignity of
this country, behold the insiduous arts, and the strenuous efforts of
the partisans of arbitrary power, by their vague definitions of the
best established truths, endeavoring to envelope the mind in darkness
the concomitant of slavery, and to lock the strong chains of domestic
despotism on a country, which by the most glorious and successful
struggles is but newly emancipated from the spectre of foreign
dominion.—— [5] But there are certain seasons in the course of human
affairs, when Genius, Virtue, and Patriotism, seems to nod over the
vices of the times, and perhaps never more remarkably, than at the
present period; or we should not see such a passive disposition prevail
in some, who we must candidly suppose, have liberal and enlarged
sentiments; while a supple multitude are paying a blind and idolatrous
homage to the opinions of those who by the most precipitate steps are
treading down their dear bought privileges; and who are endeavouring
by all the arts of insinuation, and influence, to betray the people
of the United States, into an acceptance of a most complicated system
of government; marked on the one side with the _dark_, _secret_ and
_profound intrigues_, of the statesman, long practised in the purlieus
of despotism; and on the other, with the ideal projects of _young
ambition_, with its wings just expanded to soar to a summit, which
imagination has painted in such gawdy colours as to intoxicate the
_inexperienced votary_, and to send _him_ rambling from State to State,
to collect materials to construct the ladder of preferment.
But as a variety of objections to the _heterogeneous phantom_, have
been repeatedly laid before the public, by men of the best abilities
and intentions; I will not expatiate long on a Republican _form_ of
government, founded on the principles of monarchy—a democratick branch
with the _features_ of aristocracy—and the extravagance of nobility
pervading the minds of many of the candidates for office, with the
poverty of peasantry hanging heavily on them, and insurmountable, from
their taste for expence, unless a general provision should be made
in the arrangement of the civil list, which may enable them with the
champions of their cause to “_sail down the new pactolean channel_.”
Some gentlemen, with laboured zeal, have spent much time in urging the
necessity of government, from the embarrassments of trade—the want
of respectability abroad and confidence of the public engagements at
home:—These are obvious truths which no one denies; and there are few
who do not unite in the general wish for the restoration of public
faith, the revival of commerce, arts, agriculture, and industry,
under a lenient, peaceable and energetick government: But the most
sagacious advocates for the party have not by fair discusion; and
rational argumentation, evinced the necessity of adopting this many
headed monster; of such motley mixture, that its enemies cannot trace a
feature of Democratick or Republican [6] extract; nor have its friends
the courage to denominate a Monarchy, an Aristocracy, or an Oligarchy,
and the favoured bantling must have passed through the short period of
its existence without a name, had not Mr. _Wilson_, in the fertility of
his genius, suggested the happy epithet of a _Federal Republic_.—But
I leave the field of general censure on the secresy of its birth, the
rapidity of its growth, and the fatal consequences of suffering it
to live to the age of maturity, and will particularize some of the
most weighty objections to its passing through this continent in a
gigantic size.—It will be allowed by every one that the fundamental
principle of a free government is the equal representation of a free
people——And I will _first_ observe with a justly celebrated writer,
“That the principal aim of society is to protect individuals in the
absolute rights which were vested in them by the immediate laws of
nature, but which could not be preserved in peace, without the mutual
intercourse which is gained by the institution of friendly and social
communities.” And when society has thus deputed a certain number of
their equals to take care of their personal rights, and the interest
of the whole community, it must be considered that responsibility is
the great security of integrity and honour; and that annual election
is the basis of responsibility,—Man is not immediately corrupted, but
power without limitation, or amenability, may endanger the brightest
virtue—whereas a frequent return to the bar of their Constituents is
the strongest check against the corruptions to which men are liable,
either from the intrigues of others of more subtle genius, or the
propensities of their own hearts,—and the gentlemen who have so warmly
advocated in the late Convention of the Massachusetts, the change from
annual to biennial elections; may have been in the same predicament,
and perhaps with the same views that Mr. _Hutchinson_ once acknowledged
himself, when in a letter to _Lord Hillsborough_, he observed, “that
the grand difficulty of making a change in government against the
general bent of the people had caused him to turn his thoughts to a
variety of plans, in order to find one that might be executed in spite
of opposition,” and the first he proposed was that, “instead of annual,
the elections should be only once in three years:” but the Minister
had not the hardiness to attempt such an innovation, even in the
revision of colonial charters: nor has any one ever defended Biennial,
Triennial or Septennial Elections, either in the [7] British House of
Commons, or in the debates of Provincial assemblies, on general and
free principles: but it is unnecessary to dwell long on this article,
as the best political writers have supported the principles of annual
elections with a precision, that cannot be confuted, though they may be
darkned, by the sophistical arguments that have been thrown out with
design, to undermine all the barriers of freedom.
2. There is no security in the profered system, either for the rights
of conscience or the liberty of the Press: Despotism usually while
it is gaining ground, will suffer men to think, say, or write what
they please; but when once established, if it is thought necessary to
subserve the purposes, of arbitrary power, the most unjust restrictions
may take place in the first instance, and an _imprimator_ on the Press
in the next, may silence the complaints, and forbid the most decent
remonstrances of an injured and oppressed people.
3. There are no well defined limits of the Judiciary Powers, they seem
to be left as a boundless ocean, that has broken over the chart of
the Supreme Lawgiver, “_thus far shalt thou go and no further_,” and
as they cannot be comprehended by the clearest capacity, or the most
sagacious mind, it would be an Herculean labour to attempt to describe
the dangers with which they are replete.
4. The Executive and the Legislative are so dangerously blended as to
give just cause of alarm, and everything relative thereto, is couched
in such ambiguous terms—in such vague and indefinite expression, as
is a sufficient ground without any objection, for the reprobation of a
system, that the authors dare not hazard to a clear investigation.
5. The abolition of trial by jury in civil causes.—This mode of
trial the learned Judge Blackstone observes, “has been coeval with the
first rudiments of civil government, that property, liberty and life,
depend on maintaining in its legal force the constitutional trial by
jury.” He bids his readers pauze, and with Sir Matthew Hale observes,
how admirably this mode is adapted to the investigation of truth
beyond any other the world can produce. Even the party who have been
disposed to swallow, without examination, the proposals of the _secret
conclave_, have started on a discovery that this essential right was
curtailed; and shall a privilege, the origin of which may be traced to
our Saxon ancestors—that has been a part of the law of nations, even
in the fewdatory systems of France, [8] Germany and Italy—and from the
earliest records has been held so sacred, both in ancient and modern
Britain, that it could never be shaken by the introduction of Norman
customs, or any other conquests or change of government——shall this
inestimable privilege be relinquished in America—either thro’ the fear
of inquisition for unaccounted thousands of public monies in the hands
of some who have been officious in the fabrication of the _consolidated
system_, or from the apprehension that some future delinquent possessed
of more power than integrity, may be called to a trial by his peers in
the hour of investigation.
6. Though it has been said by Mr. _Wilson_ and many others, that a
Standing-Army is necessary for the dignity and safety of America, yet
freedom revolts at the idea, when the Divan, or the Despot, may draw
out his dragoons to suppress the murmurs of a few, who may yet cherish
those sublime principles which call forth the exertions, and lead to
the best improvements of the human mind. It is hoped this country
may yet be governed by milder methods than are usually displayed
beneath the bannerets of military law.—Standing armies have been the
nursery of vice and the bane of liberty from the Roman legions to the
establishment of the artful Ximenes, and from the ruin of the Cortes
of Spain, to the planting of the British cohorts in the capitals of
America:—By the edicts of an authority vested in the sovereign power
by the proposed constitution, the militia of the country, the bulwark
of defence, and the security of national liberty if no longer under
the controul of civil authority; but at the rescript of the Monarch,
or the aristocracy, they may either be employed to extort the enormous
sums that will be necessary to support the civil list—to maintain
the regalia of power—and the splendour of the most useless part of
the community, or they may be sent into foreign countries for the
fulfilment of treaties, stipulated by the President and two-thirds of
the Senate.
7. Notwithstanding the delusory promise to guarantee a Republican form
of government to every State in the Union—If the most discerning
eye could discover any meaning at all in the engagement, there are
no resources left for the support of internal government, or the
liquidation of the debts of the State. Every source of revenue is in
the monopoly of Congress, and if the several legislatures in their
enfeebled state, should against their own feelings be necessitated to
attempt a dry tax [9] for the payment of their debts, and the support
of internal police, even this may be required for the purposes of the
general government.
8. As the new Congress are empowered to determine their own salaries,
the requisitions for this purpose may not be very moderate, and the
drain for public moneys will probably rise past all calculation: and
it is to be feared when America has consolidated its despotism, the
world will witness the truth of the assertion—“that the pomp of an
Eastern monarch may impose on the vulgar who may estimate the force of
a nation by the magnificence of its palaces; but the wise man judges
differently, it is by that very magnificence he estimates its weakness.
He sees nothing more in the midst of this imposing pomp, where the
tyrant sets enthroned, than a sumptuous and mournful decoration of the
dead; the apparatus of a fastuous funeral, in the centre of which is a
cold and lifeless lump of unanimated earth, a phantom of power ready to
disappear before the enemy, by whom it is despised!”
9. There is no provision for a rotation, nor anything to prevent the
perpetuity of office in the same hands for life; which by a little
well timed bribery, will probably be done, to the exclusion of men of
the best abilities from their share in the offices of government.—By
this neglect we lose the advantages of that check to the overbearing
insolence of office, which by rendering him ineligible at certain
periods, keeps the mind of man in equilibrio, and teaches him the
feelings of the governed, and better qualifies him to govern in his
turn.
10. The inhabitants of the United States, are liable to be dragged from
the vicinity of their own country, or state, to answer the litigious
or unjust suit of an adversary, on the most distant borders of the
Continent: in short the appelate jurisdiction of the Supreme Federal
Court, includes an unwarrantable stretch of power over the liberty,
life, and property of the subject, through the wide Continent of
America.
11. One Representative to thirty thousand inhabitants is a very
inadequate representation; and every man who is not lost to all sense
of freedom to his country, must reprobate the idea of Congress altering
by law, or on any pretence whatever, interfering with any regulations
for time, places, and manner of choosing our own Representatives.
12. If the sovereignty of America is designed to be elective, the
circumscribing the votes to only ten electors in this State, [10] and
the same proportion in all the others, is nearly tantamount to the
exclusion of the voice of the people in the choice of their first
magistrate. It is vesting the choice solely in an aristocratic junto,
who may easily combine in each State to place at the head of the Union
the most convenient instrument for despotic sway.
13. A Senate chosen for six years will, in most instances, be an
appointment for life, as the influence of such a body over the minds
of the people will be coequal to the extensive powers with which they
are vested, and they will not only forget, but be forgotten by their
constituents—a branch of the Supreme Legislature thus set beyond
all responsibility is totally repugnant to every principle of a free
government.
14. There is no provision by a bill of rights to guard against the
dangerous encroachments of power in too many instances to be named: but
I cannot pass over in silence the insecurity in which we are left with
regard to warrants unsupported by evidence—the daring experiment of
granting _writs of assistance_ in a former arbitrary administration
is not yet forgotten in the Massachusetts; nor can we be so ungrateful
to the memory of the patriots who counteracted their operation, as so
soon after their manly exertions to save us from such a detestable
instrument of arbitrary power, to subject ourselves to the insolence
of any petty revenue officer to enter our houses, search, insult, and
seize at pleasure. We are told by a gentleman of too much virtue and
real probity to suspect he has a design to deceive—“that the whole
constitution is a declaration of rights,”—but mankind must think for
themselves, and to many very judicious and discerning characters, the
whole constitution with very few exceptions appears a perversion of
the rights of particular states, and of private citizens.——But the
gentleman goes on to tell us, “that the primary object is the general
government, and that the rights of individuals are only incidentally
mentioned, and that there was a clear impropriety in being very
particular about them.” But, asking pardon for dissenting from such
respectable authority, who has been led into several mistakes, more
from his predilection in favour of certain modes of government, than
from a want of understanding or veracity. The rights of individuals
ought to be the primary object of all government, and cannot be too
securely guarded by the most explicit declarations in their favor.
This has been the opinion of the Hampdens, the Pyms, and [11] many
other illustrious names, that have stood forth in defence of English
liberties; and even the Italian master in politicks, the subtle and
renowned Machiavel acknowledges, that no republic ever yet stood on a
stable foundation without satisfying the common people.
15. The difficulty, if not impracticability, of exercising the equal
and equitable powers of government by a single legislature over an
extent of territory that reaches from the Mississippi to the Western
lakes, and from them to the Atlantic Ocean, is an insuperable objection
to the adoption of the new system.—Mr. _Hutchinson_, the great
champion for arbitrary power, in the multitude of his machinations to
subvert the liberties in this country, was obliged to acknowledge in
one of his letters, that, “from the extent of country from north to
south, the scheme of one government was impracticable.” But if the
authors of the present visionary project, can by the arts of deception,
precipitation and address, obtain a majority of suffrages in the
conventions of the states to try the hazardous experiment, they may
then make the same inglorious boast with this insidious politician, who
may perhaps be their model, that “the union of the colonies was pretty
well broken, “and that he hoped to never see it renewed.”
16. It is an undisputed fact that not one legislature in the United
States had the most distant idea when they first appointed members for
a convention, entirely commercial, or when they afterwards authorized
them to consider on some amendments of the Federal union, that they
would without any warrant from their constituents, presume on so bold
and daring a stride, as ultimately to destroy the state governments,
and offer a _consolidated system_, irreversible but on conditions that
the smallest degree of penetration must discover to be impracticable.
17. The first appearance of the article which declares the ratification
of nine states sufficient for the establishment of the new system,
wears the face of dissension, is a subversion of the union of
Confederated States, and tends to the introduction of anarchy and civil
convulsions, and may be a means of involving the whole country in blood.
18. The mode in which this constitution is recommended to the people to
judge without either the advice of Congress, or the legislatures of the
several states is very reprehensible—it is an attempt to force it upon
them before it could be thoroughly [12] understood, and may leave us in
that situation, that in the first moments of slavery in the minds of
the people agitated by the remembrance of their lost liberties, will be
like the sea in a tempest, that sweeps down every mound of security.
But it is needless to enumerate other instances, in which the proposed
constitution appears contradictory to the first principles which ought
to govern mankind; and it is equally so to enquire into the motives
that induced to so bold a step as the annihilation of the independence
and sovereignty of the thirteen distinct states.——They are but
too obvious through the whole progress of the business, from the
first shutting up the doors of the federal convention and resolving
that no member should correspond with gentlemen in the different
states on the subject under discussion; till the trivial proposition
of _recommending_ a few amendments was artfully ushered into the
convention of the Massachusetts. The questions that were then before
that honorable assembly were profound and important, they were of such
magnitude and extent, that the consequences may run parallel with the
existence of the country; and to see them waved and hastily terminated
by a measure too absurd to require a serious refutation, raises the
honest indignation of every true lover of his country. Nor are they
less grieved that the ill policy and arbitrary disposition of some of
the sons of America has thus precipitated to the contemplation and
discussion of questions that no one could rationally suppose would
have been agitated among us, till time had blotted out the principles
on which the late revolution was grounded; or till the last traits of
the many political tracts, which defended the separation from Britain,
and the rights of men were consigned to everlasting oblivion. After
the severe conflicts this country has suffered, it is presumed that
they are disposed to make every reasonable sacrifice before the altar
of peace.——But when we contemplate the nature of men and consider
them originally on an equal footing, subject to the same feelings,
stimulated by the same passions, and recollecting the struggles
they have recently made, for the security of their civil rights; it
cannot be expected that the inhabitants of the Massachusetts, can be
easily lulled into a fatal security, by the declamatory effusions of
gentlemen, who, contrary to the experience of all ages would persuade
them there is no danger to be apprehended, from vesting discretionary
powers in the hands of man, which he may, or may not abuse. The very
suggestion, that [13] we ought to trust to the precarious hope of
amendments and redress, after we have voluntarily fixed the shackles on
our own necks should have awakened to a double degree of caution.—This
people have not forgotten the artful insinuations of a former
Governor, when pleading the unlimited authority of parliament before
the legislature of the Massachusetts; nor that his arguments were very
similar to some lately urged by gentlemen who boast of opposing his
measures, “_with halters about their necks_.”
We were then told by him, in all the soft language of insinuation,
that no form of government, of human construction can be perfect—that
we had nothing to fear—that we had no reason to complain—that we
had only to acquiesce in their illegal claims, and to submit to
the requisition of parliament, and doubtless the lenient hand of
government would redress all grievances, and remove the oppressions
of the people:—Yet we soon saw armies of mercenaries encamped on
our plains—our commerce ruined—our harbours blockaded—and our
cities burnt. It may be replied that this was in consequence of an
obstinate defence of our privileges; this may be true; and when the
“_ultima ratio_” is called to aid, the weakest must fall. But let the
best informed historian produce an instance when bodies of men were
entrusted with power, and the proper checks relinquished, if they were
ever found destitute of ingenuity sufficient to furnish pretences
to abuse it. And the people at large are already sensible, that the
liberties which America has claimed, which reason has justified, and
which have been so gloriously defended by the swords of the brave; are
not about to fall before the tyranny of foreign conquest: it is native
usurpation that is shaking the foundations of peace, and spreading
the sable curtain of despotism over the United States. The banners of
freedom were erected in the wilds of America by our ancestors, while
the wolf prowled for his prey on the one hand, and more savage man
on the other; they have been since rescued from the invading hand of
foreign power, by the valor and blood of their posterity; and there
was reason to hope they would continue for ages to illumine a quarter
of the globe, by nature kindly separated from the proud monarchies of
Europe, and the infernal darkness of Asiatic slavery.—And it is to
be feared we shall soon see this country rushing into the extremes of
confusion and violence, in consequence of the proceeding of a set of
gentlemen, who disregarding [14] the purposes of their appointment,
have assumed powers unauthorized by any commission, have unnecessarily
rejected the confederation of the United States, and annihilated the
sovereignty and independence of the individual governments.—The causes
which have inspired a few men to assemble for very different purposes
with such a degree of temerity as to break with a single stroke the
union of America, and disseminate the seeds of discord through the land
may be easily investigated, when we survey the partizans of monarchy in
the state conventions, urging the adoption of a mode of government that
militates with the former professions and exertions of this country,
and with all ideas of republicanism, and the equal rights of men.
Passion, prejudice, and error, are characteristics of human nature;
and as it cannot be accounted for on any principles of philosophy,
religion, or good policy; to these shades in the human character
must be attributed the mad zeal of some, to precipitate to a blind
adoption of the measures of the late federal convention, without giving
opportunity for better information to those who are misled by influence
or ignorance into erroneous opinions.——Litterary talents may be
prostituted, and the powers of genius debased to subserve the purposes
of ambition or avarice; but the feelings of the heart will dictate the
language of truth, and the simplicity of her accents will proclaim
the infamy of those, who betray the rights of the people, under the
specious, and popular pretence of _justice_, _consolidation_, and
_dignity_.
It is presumed the great body of the people unite in sentiment with
the writer of these observations, who most devoutly prays that public
credit may rear her declining head, and remunerative justice pervade
the land; nor is there a doubt if a free government is continued, that
time and industry will enable both the public and private debtor to
liquidate their arrearages in the most equitable manner. They wish to
see the Confederated States bound together by the most indissoluble
union, but without renouncing their separate sovereignties and
independence, and becoming tributaries to a consolidated fabrick of
aristocratick tyranny.——They wish to see government established,
and peaceably holding the reins with honour, energy, and dignity;
but they wish for no _federal city_ whose “_cloud cap’t towers_”
may screen the state culprit from the hand of justice; while its
exclusive jurisdiction may [15] protect the riot of armies encamped
within its limits.—They deprecate discord and civil convulsions, but
they are not yet generally prepared with the ungrateful Israelites
to ask a King, nor are their spirits sufficiently broken to yield
the best of their olive grounds to his servants, and to see their
sons appointed to run before his chariots.—It has been observed by
a zealous advocate for the new system, that most governments are the
result of fraud or violence, and this with design to recommend its
acceptance—but has not almost every step towards its fabrication
been fraudulent in the extreme? Did not the prohibition strictly
enjoined by the general Convention, that no member should make any
communication to his Constituents, or to gentlemen of consideration
and abilities in the other States, bear evident marks of fraudulent
designs?—This circumstance is regretted in strong terms by Mr.
Martin, a member from Maryland, who acknowledges “He had no idea that
all the wisdom, integrity, and virtue of the States was contained
in that Convention, and that he wished to have corresponded with
gentlemen of eminent political characters abroad, and to give their
sentiments due weight”—he adds, “so extremely solicitous were they,
that their proceedings should not transpire, that the members were
prohibited from taking copies of their resolutions, or extracts
from the Journals, without express permission, by vote.”——And the
hurry with which it has been urged to the acceptance of the people,
without giving time, by adjournments, for better information, and
more unanimity has a deceptive appearance; and if finally driven to
resistance, as the only alternative between that and servitude, till in
the confusion of discord, the reins should be seized by the violence
of some enterprizing genius, that may sweep down the last barrier of
liberty, it must be added to the score of criminality with which the
fraudulent usurpation at Philadelphia, may be chargeable.——Heaven
avert such a tremendous scence! and let us still hope a more happy
termination of the present ferment:—may the people be calm and wait
a legal redress; may the mad transport of some of our infatuated
capitals subside; and every influential character through the States,
make the most prudent exertions for a new general Convention, who
may vest adequate powers in Congress, for all national purposes,
without annihilating the individual governments, and drawing blood
from every pore by taxes, impositions and illegal restrictions.—This
step might [16] again re-establish the Union, restore tranquility
to the ruffled mind of the inhabitants, and save America from the
distresses, dreadful even in contemplation.——“The great art of
governing is to lay aside all prejudices and attachments to particular
opinions, classes or individual characters to consult the spirit of
the people; to give way to it; and in so doing, to give it a turn
capable of inspiring those sentiments, which may induce them to relish
a change, which an alteration of circumstances may hereafter make
necessary.”——The education of the advocates for monarchy should have
taught them, and their memory should have suggested that “monarchy
is a species of government fit only for a people too much corrupted
by luxury, avarice, and a passion for pleasure, to have any love for
their country, and whose vices the fear of punishment alone is able to
restrain; but by no means calculated for a nation that is poor, and
at the same time tenacious of their liberty—animated with a disgust
to tyranny—and inspired with the generous feeling of patriotism and
liberty, and at the same time, like the ancient Spartans have been
hardened by temperance and manly exertions, and equally despising
the fatigues of the field, and the fear of enemies,”——and while
they change their ground they should recollect, that Aristocracy is
a still more formidable foe to public virtue, and the prosperity
of a nation—that under such a government her patriots become
mercenaries—her soldiers cowards, and the people slaves.——Though
several State Conventions have assented to, and ratified, yet the voice
of the people appears at present strong against the adoption of the
Constitution.——By the chicanery, intrigue, and false colouring of
those who plume themselves, more on their education and abilities,
than their political, patriotic, or private virtues—by the imbecility
of some, and the duplicity of others, a majority of the Convention of
Massachusetts have been flattered with the ideas of amendments, when it
will be too late to complain——While several very worthy characters,
too timid for their situation, magnified the hopeless alternative,
between the dissolution of the bands of all government, and receiving
the proffered system _in toto_, after long endeavouring to reconcile
it to their consciences, swallowed the indigestible panacea, and in a
kind of sudden desperation lent their signature to the dereliction of
the honourable station they held in the Union, and have broken over the
solemn compact, by which they were bound to support their own excellent
constitution till the period [17] of revision. Yet Virginia, equally
large and respectable, and who have done honour to themselves, by
their vigorous exertions from the first dawn of independence, have not
yet acted upon the question; they have wisely taken time to consider
before they introduce innovations of a most dangerous nature:——her
inhabitants are brave, her burgesses are free, and they have a Governor
who dares to think for himself, and to speak his opinion (without first
pouring libations on the altar of popularity) though it should militate
with some of the most accomplished and illustrious characters.
Maryland, who has no local interest to lead her to adopt, will
doubtless reject the system——I hope the same characters still
live, and that the same spirit which dictated to them a wise and
cautious care, against sudden revolutions in government, and made
them the last State that acceded to the independence of America, will
lead them to support what they so deliberately claimed.——Georgia
apprehensive of a war with the Savages, has acceded in order to insure
protection.——Pennsylvania has struggled through much in the same
manner, as the Massachusetts, against the manly feelings, and the
masterly reasonings of a very respectable part of the Convention:
They have adopted the system, and seen some of its authors burnt in
effigy—their towns thrown into riot and confusion, and the minds of
the people agitated by apprehension and discord.
New-Jersey and Delaware have united in the measure, from the locality
of their situation, and the selfish motives which too generally govern
mankind; the Federal City, and the seat of government, will naturally
attract the intercourse of strangers—the youth of enterprise, and the
wealth of the nation to the central States.
Connecticut has pushed it through with the precipitation of her
neighbour, with few dissentient voices;—but more from irritation and
resentment to a sister State, perhaps partiality to herself in her
commercial regulations, than from a comprehensive view of the system,
as a regard to the welfare of all.——But New York has motives, that
will undoubtedly lead her to rejection, without being afraid to appeal
to the understanding of mankind, to justify the grounds of their
refusal to adopt a Constitution, that even the framers dare not to
risque to the hazard of revision, amendment, or reconsideration, least
the whole superstructure should be demolished by more skilful and
discreet architects.——I know not what part the Carolinas [18] will
take; but I hope their determinations will comport with the dignity and
freedom of this country—their decisions will have great weight in the
scale.——But equally important are the small States of New Hampshire
and Rhode Island:—New York, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and
these two lesser States may yet support the liberties of the Continent;
if they refuse a ratification, or postpone their proceedings till the
spirits of the community have time to cool, there is little doubt but
the wise measure of another federal convention will be adopted, when
the members would have the advantage of viewing, at large, through
the medium of truth, the objections that have been made from various
quarters; such a measure might be attended with the most salutary
effects, and prevent the dread consequences of civil feuds.——But
even if some of those large states should hastily accede, yet we have
frequently seen in the story of revolution, relief spring from a
quarter least expected.
Though the virtues of a Cato could not save Rome, nor the abilities of
a Padilla defend the citizens of Castile from falling under the yoke
of Charles; yet a _Tell_ once suddenly rose from a little obscure
city, and boldly rescued the liberties of his country.——Every age
has its Bruti and its Decci, as well as its Cæsars and Sejani:—The
happiness of mankind depends much on the modes of government, and the
virtues of the governors; and America may yet produce characters who
have genius and capacity sufficient to form the manners and correct
the morals of the people, and virtue enough to lead their country to
freedom. Since their dismemberment from the British empire, America
has, in many instances, resembled the conduct of a restless, vigorous,
luxurious youth, prematurely emancipated from the authority of a
parent, but without the experience necessary to direct him to act
with dignity or discretion. Thus we have seen her break the shackles
of foreign dominion, and all the blessings of peace restored on the
most honourable terms: She acquired the liberty of framing her own
laws, choosing her own magistrates, and adopting manners and modes of
government the most favourable to the freedom and happiness of society.
But how little have we availed ourselves of these superior advantages:
The glorious fabric of liberty successfully reared with so much labor
and assiduity totters to the foundation, and may be blown away as
the bubble of fancy by the rude breath of military combinations, and
politicians of yesterday.
[19] It is true this country lately armed in opposition to regal
despotism—impoverished by the expenses of a long war, and unable
immediately to fulfil their public or private engagements that appeared
in some instances, with a boldness of spirit that seemed to set at
defiance all authority, government, or order, on the one hand; while
on the other, there has been, not only a secret wish, but an open
avowal of the necessity of drawing the reins of government much too
taught, not only for a republicanism, but for a wise and limited
monarchy.——But the character of this people is not averse to a degree
of subordination, the truth of this appears from the easy restoration
of tranquility, after a dangerous insurrection in one of the states;
this also evinces a little necessity of a complete revolution of
government throughout the union. But it is a republican principle
that the majority should rule; and if a spirit of moderation should
be cultivated on both sides, till the voice of the people at large
could be fairly heard it should be held sacred.—And if, on such a
scrutiny, the proposed constitution should appear repugnant to their
character and wishes; if they, in the language of a late elegant pen,
should acknowledge that “no confusion in my mind, is more terrible
to them than the stern disciplined regularity and vaunted police of
arbitrary governments, where every heart is depraved by fear, where
mankind dare not assume their natural characters, where the free spirit
must crouch to the slave in office, where genius must repress her
effusions, or like the Egyptian worshippers, offer them in sacrifice
to the calves in power, and where the human mind, always in shackles,
shrinks from every generous effort.” Who would then have the effrontery
to say, it ought not to be thrown out with indignation, however some
respectable names have appeared to support it.——But if after all, on
a dispassionate and fair discussion, the people generally give their
voices for a voluntary dereliction of their privileges, let every
individual who chooses the active scenes of life strive to support the
peace and unanimity of his country, though every other blessing may
expire—And while the statesman is plodding for power, and the courtier
practising the arts of dissimulation without check—while the rapacious
are growing rich by oppression, and fortune throwing her gifts into
the lap of fools, let the sublimer characters, the philosophic lovers
of freedom who have wept over her exit, retire to the calm shades of
contemplation, there they may look down with pity on the inconsistency
of human nature, the revolutions of states, the rise of kingdoms, and
the fall of empires.
An / Examination / into the / leading principles / of the /
Federal Constitution / proposed by the late / Convention / held at
Philadelphia. / With / Answers to the principal objections / that have
been raised against the system. / By a Citizen of America. /—Ut patria
sua felicitate cæteris præstaret, efficit. / Xenoph. Lacedæm. Resp. /
Philadelphia: / Printed and sold by Prichard & Hall, in Market Street,
/ the second door above Lætitia Court. / M.DCC.LXXXVII.