Washington doubts the Solidity of the Confederation.—Correspondence
with John Jay on the Subject.—Plan of a Convention of all the States
to revise the Federal System.—Washington heads the Virginia
Delegation.—Insurrection in Massachusetts.—The Convention.—A Federal
Constitution organized.—Ratified.
From his quiet retreat at Mount Vernon, Washington, though ostensibly
withdrawn from public affairs, was watching with intense solicitude the
working together of the several parts in the great political
confederacy; anxious to know whether the thirteen distinct States, under
the present organization, could form a sufficiently efficient general
government. He was daily becoming more and more doubtful of the solidity
of the fabric he had assisted to raise. The form of confederation which
had bound the States together and met the public exigencies during the
Revolution, when there was a pressure of external danger, was daily
proving more and more incompetent to the purposes of a national
government. Congress had devised a system of credit to provide for the
national expenditure and the extinction of the national debts, which
amounted to something more than forty millions of dollars. The system
experienced neglect from some States and opposition from others each
consulting its local interests and prejudices, instead of the interests
and obligations of the whole. In like manner treaty stipulations, which
bound the good faith of the whole, were slighted, if not violated by
individual States, apparently unconscious that they must each share in
the discredit thus brought upon the national name.
In a letter to James Warren, who had formerly been president of the
Massachusetts Provincial Congress, Washington writes: “The confederation
appears to me to be little more than a shadow without the substance, and
Congress a nugatory body, their ordinances being little attended to. To
me it is a solecism in politics; indeed it is one of the most
extraordinary things in nature, that we should confederate as a nation,
and yet be afraid to give the rulers of that nation (who are creatures
of our own making, appointed for a limited and short duration, and who
are amenable for every action and may be recalled at any moment, and are
subject to all the evils which they may be instrumental in producing)
sufficient powers to order and direct the affairs of the same. By such
policy as this the wheels of government are clogged, and our brightest
prospects, and that high expectation which was entertained of us by the
wondering world, are turned into astonishment; and from the high ground
on which we stood, we are descending into the vale of confusion and
darkness.”[113]
Not long previous to the writing of this letter, Washington had been
visited at Mount Vernon by commissioners, who had been appointed by the
legislatures of Virginia and Maryland to form a compact relative to the
navigation of the rivers Potomac and Pocomoke, and of part of the
Chesapeake Bay, and who had met at Alexandria for the purpose. During
their visit at Mount Vernon, the policy of maintaining a naval force on
the Chesapeake, and of establishing a tariff of duties on imports to
which the laws of both States should conform, was discussed, and it was
agreed that the commissioners should propose to the governments of their
respective States the appointment of other commissioners, with powers to
make conjoint arrangements for the above purposes; to which the assent
of Congress was to be solicited.
The idea of conjoint arrangements between States, thus suggested in the
quiet councils of Mount Vernon, was a step in the right direction, and
will be found to lead to important results.
From a letter, written two or three months subsequently, we gather some
of the ideas on national policy which were occupying Washington’s mind.
“I have ever been a friend to adequate powers in Congress, without which
it is evident to me, we never shall establish a national character, or
be considered as on a respectable footing by the powers of Europe.—We
are either a united people under one head and for federal purposes, or
we are thirteen independent sovereignties, eternally counteracting each
other—If the former, whatever such a majority of the States as the
constitution points out, conceives to be for the benefit of the whole,
should in my humble opinion, be submitted to by the minority.—I can
foresee no evil greater than disunion; than those _unreasonable_
jealousies (I say unreasonable, because I would have a _proper_ jealousy
always awake, and the United States on the watch to prevent individual
States from infracting the constitution with impunity) which are
continually poisoning our minds and filling them with imaginary evils
for the prevention of real ones.”[114]
An earnest correspondence took place some months subsequently between
Washington and the illustrious patriot, John Jay, at that time Secretary
of Foreign Affairs, wherein the signs of the times were feelingly
discussed.
“Our affairs,” writes Jay, “seem to lead to some crisis, 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 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....
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 circumstances, will be led by the
insecurity of property, the loss of public faith and rectitude, to
consider the charms of liberty as imaginary and delusive. A state of
uncertainty and fluctuation must disgust and alarm.” Washington, in
reply, coincided in opinion that public affairs were drawing rapidly to
a crisis, and he acknowledged the event to be equally beyond his
foresight. “We have errors,” said he, “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, constituted 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 constituents?
By the rotation of appointments must they not mingle frequently with the
mass of the citizens? Is it not rather to be apprehended, if they were
not 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.
“What then is to be done? things cannot go on in the same strain
forever. It is much to be feared, as you observe, that the better kind
of people, being disgusted with these circumstances, will have their
minds prepared for any revolution whatever. We are apt to run from one
extreme to another.... I am told that even respectable characters speak
of a monarchical form of government without horror. From thinking
proceeds speaking, thence 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
God 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 assisted in
bringing the ship into port, and having been fairly discharged, it is
not my business to embark again on the sea of troubles.
“Nor could it be expected that my sentiments and opinions would have
much weight in the minds of my countrymen. They have been neglected,
though given as a last legacy, in a most solemn manner. I then perhaps
had some claims to public attention. I consider myself as having none at
present.”
His anxiety on this subject was quickened by accounts of discontents and
commotions in the Eastern States produced by the pressure of the times,
the public and private indebtedness, and the imposition of heavy taxes,
at a moment of financial embarrassment.
General Knox, now Secretary at War, who had been sent by Congress to
Massachusetts to inquire into these troubles, thus writes about the
insurgents: “Their creed is, that the property of the United States has
been protected from the confiscation of Britain by the joint exertions
of _all_, and therefore ought to be _the common property of all_, and he
that attempts opposition to this creed, is an enemy to equity and
justice, and ought to be swept from off the face of the earth.” Again,
“They are determined to annihilate all debts, public and private, and
have agrarian laws, which are easily effected by the means of unfunded
paper, which shall be a tender in all cases whatever.”
In reply to Colonel Henry Lee in Congress, who had addressed several
letters to him on the subject, Washington writes: “You talk, my good
sir, of employing influence to appease the present tumults in
Massachusetts. I know not where that influence is to be found, or, if
attainable, that it would be a proper remedy for the disorders.
_Influence_ is not _government_. Let us have a government by which our
lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the
worst at once. There is a call for decision. Know precisely what the
insurgents aim at. If they have _real_ grievances, redress them, if
possible; or acknowledge the justice of them, and your inability to do
it at the moment. If they have not, employ the force of government
against them at once. If this is inadequate, _all_ will be convinced
that the superstructure is bad and wants support. To delay one or other
of these expedients, is to exasperate on the one hand, or to give
confidence on the other.... Let the reins of government, then, be braced
and held with a steady hand, and every violation of the constitution be
reprehended. If defective let it be amended; but not suffered to be
trampled upon whilst it has an existence.”
A letter to him from his former aide-de-camp, Colonel Humphreys, dated
New Haven, November 1st, says: “The troubles in Massachusetts still
continue. Government is prostrated in the dust, and it is much to be
feared that there is not energy enough in that State to reëstablish the
civil powers. The leaders of the mob, whose fortunes and measures are
desperate, are strengthening themselves daily; and it is expected that
they will soon take possession of the continental magazine at
Springfield, in which there are from ten to fifteen thousand stand of
arms in excellent order.
“A general want of compliance with the requisitions of Congress for
money seems to prognosticate that we are rapidly advancing to a crisis.
Congress, I am told, are seriously alarmed, and hardly know which way to
turn or what to expect. Indeed, my dear General, nothing but a good
Providence can extricate us from the present convulsion.
“In case of civil discord, I have already told you it was seriously my
opinion that you could not remain neuter, and that you would be obliged,
in self-defense, to take one part or the other, or withdraw from the
continent. Your friends are of the same opinion.”
Close upon the receipt of this letter, came intelligence that the
insurgents of Massachusetts, far from being satisfied with the redress
which had been offered by their General Court, were still acting in open
violation of law and government; and that the chief magistrate had been
obliged to call upon the militia of the State to support the
constitution.
“What, gracious God? is man,” writes Washington, “that there should be
such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his conduct. It was but the
other day, that we were shedding our blood to obtain the constitutions
under which we now live; constitutions of our own choice and making; and
now we are unsheathing the sword to overturn them. The thing is so
unaccountable, that I hardly know how to realize it, or to persuade
myself that I am not under the illusion of a dream.”
His letters to Knox show the trouble of his mind, “I feel, my dear
General Knox, infinitely more than I can express to you, for the
disorders which have arisen in these States. Good God! who, besides a
tory, could have foreseen, or a Briton predicted them? I do assure you
that, even at this moment, when I reflect upon the present prospect of
our affairs, it seems to me to be like the vision of a dream.... After
what I have seen, or rather what I have heard, I shall be surprised at
nothing; for, if three years since, any person had told me that there
would have been such a formidable rebellion as exists at this day
against the laws and constitution of our own making, I should have
thought him a bedlamite, a fit subject for a mad-house.... In
regretting, which I have often done with the keenest sorrow, the death
of our much lamented friend, General Greene, I have accompanied it of
late with a query, whether he would not have preferred such an exit, to
the scenes which, it is more than probable, many of his compatriots may
live to bemoan.”
To James Madison, also, he writes in the same strain. “How melancholy is
the reflection, that in so short a time we should have made such large
strides towards fulfilling the predictions of our transatlantic foes!
‘Leave them to themselves, and their government will soon dissolve.’
Will not the wise and good strive hard to avert this evil? Or will their
supineness suffer ignorance and the fine arts of self-interested and
designing, disaffected, and desperate characters, to involve this great
country in wretchedness and contempt? What stronger evidence can be
given of the want of energy in our government than these disorders? If
there is not power in it to check them, what security has a man for
life, liberty, or property? To you, I am sure I need not add aught on
the subject. The consequences of a lax or inefficient government are too
obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each
other, and all tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the
whole; whereas, a liberal and energetic constitution, well checked and
well watched, to prevent encroachments, might restore us to that degree
of respectability and consequence to which we had the fairest prospect
of attaining.”
Thus Washington, even though in retirement, was almost unconsciously
exercising a powerful influence on national affairs; no longer the
soldier, he was now becoming the statesman. The opinions and counsels
given in his letters were widely effective. The leading expedient for
federate organization, mooted in his conferences with the commissioners
of Maryland and Virginia, during their visit to Mount Vernon in the
previous year, had been extended and ripened in legislative Assemblies,
and ended in a plan of a convention composed of delegates from all the
States, to meet in Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of
revising the federal system, and correcting its defects; the proceedings
of the convention to be subsequently reported to Congress, and the
several Legislatures, for approval and confirmation.
Washington was unanimously put at the head of the Virginia delegation;
but for some time objected to accept the nomination. He feared to be
charged with inconsistency in again appearing in a public situation,
after his declared resolution to the contrary. “It will have also,” said
he, “a tendency to sweep me back into the tide of public affairs, when
retirement and ease are so much desired by me, and so essentially
necessary.”[115] Beside, he had just avowed his intention of resigning
the presidency of the Cincinnati Society which was to hold its triennial
meeting in May in Philadelphia, and he could not appear at the same time
and place on any other occasion, without giving offense to his worthy
companions in arms, the late officers in the American army.
These considerations were strenuously combated, for the weight and
influence of his name and counsel were felt to be all-important in
giving dignity to the delegation. Two things contributed to bring him to
a favorable decision: First, an insinuation that the opponents of the
convention were monarchists, who wished the distractions of the country
should continue, until a monarchical government might be resorted to as
an ark of safety. The other was the insurrection in Massachusetts.
Having made up his mind to serve as a delegate to the convention, he
went into a course of preparatory reading on the history and principles
of ancient and modern confederacies. An abstract of the general
principles of each, with notes of their vices or defects, exists in his
own handwriting, among his papers; though it is doubted by a judicious
commentator[116] whether it was originally drawn up by him, as several
works are cited, which are written in languages that he did not
understand.
Before the time arrived for the meeting of the convention, which was the
second Monday in May, his mind was relieved from one source of poignant
solicitude, by learning that the insurrection in Massachusetts had been
suppressed with but little bloodshed, and that the principals had fled
to Canada. He doubted, however, the policy of the legislature of that
State in disfranchising a large number of its citizens for their
rebellious conduct; thinking more lenient measures might have produced
as good an effect, without entirely alienating the affections of the
people from the government; beside depriving some of them of the means
of gaining a livelihood.
On the 9th of May, Washington set out in his carriage from Mount Vernon
to attend the convention. At Chester, where he arrived on the 13th, he
was met by General Mifflin, now speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly,
generals Knox and Varnum, Colonel Humphreys, and other personages of
note. At Gray’s Ferry the city light horse were in attendance, by whom
he was escorted into Philadelphia.
It was not until the 25th of May that a sufficient number of delegates
were assembled to form a quorum; when they proceeded to organize the
body, and by a unanimous vote Washington was called up to the chair as
president.
The following anecdote is recorded by Mr. Leigh Pierce, who was a
delegate from Georgia. When the Convention first opened, there were a
number of propositions brought forward as great leading principles of
the new government to be established. A copy of them was given to each
member with an injunction of profound secrecy. One morning a member, by
accident, dropped his copy of the propositions. It was luckily picked up
by General Mifflin, and handed to General Washington, who put it in his
pocket. After the debates of the day were over, and the question for
adjournment was called for, Washington rose, and previous to putting the
question, addressed the committee as follows: “Gentlemen, I am sorry to
find that some one member of this body has been so neglectful of the
secrets of the convention, as to drop in the State House a copy of their
proceedings; which, by accident, was picked up and delivered to me this
morning. I must entreat gentlemen to be more careful, lest our
transactions get into the newspapers, and disturb the public repose by
premature speculations. I know not whose paper it is, but there it is
(throwing it down on the table); let him who owns it take it.” At the
same time he bowed, took his hat, and left the room with a dignity so
severe that every person seemed alarmed. “For my part, I was extremely
so,” adds Mr. Pierce, “for, putting my hand in my pocket, I missed my
copy of the same paper; but advancing to the table, my fears soon
dissipated. I found it to be in the handwriting of another person.”
Mr. Pierce found his copy at his lodgings, in the pocket of a coat which
he had changed that morning. No person ever ventured to claim the
anonymous paper.
We forbear to go into the voluminous proceedings of this memorable
convention, which occupied from four to seven hours each day for four
months; and in which every point was the subject of able and scrupulous
discussion by the best talent and noblest spirits of the country.
Washington felt restrained by his situation as president, from taking a
part in the debates, but his well-known opinions influenced the whole.
The result was the formation of the constitution of the United States,
which (with some amendments made in after years) still exists.
As the members on the last day of the session were signing the engrossed
constitution, Dr. Franklin, looking towards the president’s chair, at
the back of which a sun was painted, observed to those persons next to
him, “I have often and often, in the course of the session, and the
vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun
behind the president, without being able to tell whether it was rising
or setting; at length I have the happiness to know it is a rising and
not a setting sun.”[117]
“The business being closed,” says Washington in his diary (Sept. 17th),
“the members adjourned to the city tavern, dined together, and took a
cordial leave of each other. After which I returned to my lodgings, did
some business with and received the papers from, the secretary of the
convention, and retired to meditate on the momentous work which had been
executed.”
“It appears to me little short of miracle,” writes he to Lafayette,
“that the delegates from so many States, different from each other, as
you know, in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices, should unite
in forming a system of national government so little liable to
well-founded objections. Nor am I such an enthusiastic, partial, or
undiscriminating admirer of it, as not to perceive it is tinctured with
some real, though not radical defects. With regard to the two great
points, the pivots upon which the whole machine must move, my creed is
simply, First, that the general government is not invested with more
powers than are indispensably necessary to perform the functions of a
good government; and consequently, that no objection ought to be made
against the quantity of power delegated to it.
“Secondly, that these powers, as the appointment of all rulers will for
ever arise from, and at short, stated intervals recur to, the free
suffrages of the people, are so distributed among the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches into which the general government is
arranged, that it can never be in danger of degenerating into a
monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any other despotic or
oppressive form, so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of
the people.
“It will at least be a recommendation to the proposed constitution, that
it is provided with more checks and barriers against the introduction of
tyranny, and those of a nature less liable to be surmounted, than any
government hitherto instituted among mortals.”
“We are not to expect perfection in this world; but mankind, in modern
times, have apparently made some progress in the science of government.
Should that which is now offered to the people of America, be found on
experiment less perfect than it can be made, a constitutional door is
left open for its amelioration.”
The constitution thus formed, was forwarded to Congress, and thence
transmitted to the State legislatures, each of which submitted it to a
State convention composed of delegates chosen for that express purpose
by the people. The ratification of the instrument by nine States was
necessary to carry it into effect; and as the several State conventions
would assemble at different times, nearly a year must elapse before the
decisions of the requisite number could be obtained.
During this time, Washington resumed his retired life at Mount Vernon,
seldom riding, as he says, beyond the limits of his own farms, but kept
informed by his numerous correspondents, such as James Madison, John
Jay, and generals Knox, Lincoln, and Armstrong, of the progress of the
constitution through its various ordeals, and of the strenuous
opposition which it met with in different quarters, both in debate and
through the press. A diversity of opinions and inclinations on the
subject had been expected by him. “The various passions and motives by
which men are influenced,” said he, “are concomitants of fallibility,
and ingrafted into our nature.” Still he never had a doubt that it would
ultimately be adopted; and, in fact, the national decision in its favor
was more fully and strongly pronounced than even he had anticipated.
His feelings on learning the result were expressed with that solemn and
religious faith in the protection of heaven, manifested by him in all
the trials and vicissitudes through which his country had passed. “We
may,” said he, “with a kind of pious and grateful exultation, trace the
finger of Providence through those dark and mysterious events, which
first induced the States to appoint a general convention, and then led
them, one after another, by such steps as were best calculated to effect
the object, into an adoption of the system recommended by the General
Convention; thereby, in all human probability, laying a lasting
foundation for tranquillity and happiness, when we had but too much
reason to fear, that confusion and misery were coming rapidly upon
us.”[118]
The testimonials of ratification having been received by Congress from a
sufficient number of States, an act was passed by that body on the 13th
of September, appointing the first Wednesday in January, 1789, for the
people of the United States to choose electors of a President according
to the constitution, and the first Wednesday in the month of February
following for the electors to meet and make a choice. The meeting of the
government was to be on the first Wednesday in March, and in the city of
New York.
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