USA > Kentucky > The political beginnings of Kentucky. A narrative of public events bearing on the history of that state up to the time of its admission into the American Union > Part 13
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The Political Beginnings of Kentucky.
alliance with Spain, admitted to Washington his own inter- view (in October, 1788) with Connolly, and the discussion between them, Muter participating, of an establishment of commercial and military alliance with England :
" He (Connolly) presently entered upon his subject, urged the great im- portance the navigation of the Mississippi must be to the inhabitants of the Western waters, shewed the absolute necessity of our possessing it, and concluded with assurances that, were we disposed to assert our rights re- specting the navigation, Lord Dorchester was cordially disposed to give us powerful assistance; that his Lordship had (I think he said; four thousand troops in Canada besides two regiments at Detroit, and could furnish us with arms, ammunition, clothing, and money ; that with his assistance we might possess ourselves of New Orleans, fortify the Balize at the mouth of the river, and keep possession in spite of the utmost efforts of Spain to the contrary. He made very confident professions of Lord Dorchester's wishes to culti- vate the most friendly intercourse with the people of this country. . . . At taking his leave he begged very politely the favor of our correspondence ; we both promised him, provided he would begin it, and devise a means of carrying it on." 1
The mission of Connolly to Kentucky resulted in noth- ing of practical worth to the British interest. But he was able to turn a few minds to the contemplation of an English Protectorate, and to elicit some correspondence from those with whom he had conferred, and so to bring vividly before his government the schemes of Spain and the designs of
Thomas Marshall to Washington, 12th February, 1789; Butler, History of Ken- tucky, edition of 1836, Appendix, p. 520.
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intelligent French agents. Its story may be briefly sketched before resuming the thread of the narrative of convention history.
The news brought back by Connolly to Detroit in the winter of 1788 slowly found its way to Lord Dorchester at Quebec. Its pith was sent, in the early spring of 1789, to Lord Sydney. Dorchester, on the 11th April, 1789, wrote that he was informed of the friendly feeling manifested by the Spanish officials at New Orleans toward certain Ken- tuckians, and that special permits had been issued for the transportation of quantities of tobacco down the Missis- sippi, to be purchased on the King's account. He adverted to the invitation extended at d'Arges' suggestion to such Americans as might contemplate settling along the river between the thirty-first and thirty-third parallels. After referring to Morgan's colony at New Madrid, and the corres- pondence established with New Orleans, and the apprehen- sion still prevalent that Congress would surrender in a Spanish treaty the navigation of the Mississippi, he used this language:
"In a late Convention, held at Danville, it has been proposed by those who are gained over to the Spanish views to throw themselves under the protection of that power.
" But the general result of more private councils among them is said to be to declare Independence of the Federal Union, take possession of New Orleans, and look to Great Britain for such assistance as might enable them
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to accomplish these designs. A Committee of private correspondence has been appointed by them to influence all the inhabitants west of the moun- tains in the same measures.
"I enclose some of their political reflexions on the state of affairs in the Western country." 1
The inclosure thus forwarded by Dorchester to London presents a hitherto unproved fact in the history of the West. It demonstrates that a sentiment, limited no doubt in extent, had been established by Connolly's efforts, and that a few prominent men were inclined to look with complacency upon the suggested British protectorate.
It reads as follows :
" DESULTORY REFLECTIONS BY A GENTLEMAN OF KENTUCKY.
" I. The River Mississippi being the channel by which the Western set- tlements of America must export their products, we may form a just esti- mate of the importance of this channel by casting our eyes over a map comprehending that vast and luxuriant country watered by its branches.
" 2. As the balance inclines the beam, the Atlantic States of America must sink as the Western settlements rise. Nature has interposed obstacles and established barriers between these regions which forbid their connec- tion on principles of reciprocal interest, and the flimsy texture of repub- lican government is insufficient to hold in the same political bonds a people detached and scattered over such an expanse of territory, whose views and interests are discordant.
"3. Thus local causes, irresistible in their nature, must produce a seces-
I Dorchester to Sydney, No. 107, 11th April, 1789, MIS. Canadian Archives, Colonial Office Records, Series Q., Vol. XLI, p. 283. A copy of this despatch, furnished by Mr. Brymner, is given in the appendix.
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sion of the Western settlements from the Atlantic States, and the period is not very distant. But these people must for ages continue agricultural; of consequence foreign protection will be expedient to their happiness, and this protection must necessarily comprehend the right of navigating the Mis- sissippi, with a marine to protect its commerce. That power which com- mands the navigation of the Mississippi as completely commands the whole country traversed by its waters as the key does the lock, the citadel the outworks.
" 4. The politics of the Western Country are verging fast to a crisis, and must speedily eventuate in an appeal to the patronage of Spain or Britain. No interruption can be apprehended from Congress, the seditious temper and jarring of the Atlantic States forbid general arrangements for the pub- lic good, and must involve a degree of imbecility, distraction, and capricious policy which a high toned monarchy can alone remedy, but the revolutions and changes necessary to reconcile the people to such a government must involve much delay. Great Britain ought to prepare for the occasion, and she should employ the interval in forming confidential connexions with men of enterprize, capacity, and popular influence resident on the Western Waters." I
I Dorchester to Sydney, No. 107, 11th April, 1789, enclosure. This communication to Lord Dorchester, through his agent, has not before been published. It must natur- ally excite curiosity as to its authorship, a curiosity not likely to be easily satisfied. The Canadian archives, of which this is a part, are copies taken from originals in the Colonial Office at London, so that inspection of handwriting is difficult to be had. Yet it is well established that Connolly conferred with no more than four men of importance in Kentucky, Gen. James Wilkinson, Gen. Charles Scott, Col. Thomas Marshall, and Judge George Muter. The mind naturally turns to one of these as the probable author. Wilkinson seems excluded from the list of probable authors, as well by the concise style of the paper, so different in construction from his usual diffuse productions, as by the fact that he was fully committed to Spain. And his committal was the more binding because he had large pecuniary profit in his intrigue, and his political affiliations were in no small degree controlled by financial considerations. Scott was a brave, straight- forward soldier, ever found reliable, brave, and truthful. His literary accomplishments were utterly unequal to the production of such a paper. There is left the unpleasant suggestion that Thomas Marshall or George Muter was its author. There is no positive proof that either did, yet the circumstance remains that they were the only others who conferred with Connolly, and that Marshall admits his agreement to correspond
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While Dorchester was thus apprised of the favor shown Wilkinson by Miro (which indeed was no secret), and flat- tered with the hope of establishing a British party in the Ohio Valley, another fact came to his knowledge that quite disturbed him. His agents procured a copy of an able paper that had been transmitted to the French Minister at New York, and he hastened to transmit it to his own gov- ernment.1
He rightly judged that it was "written by a man of judg- ment," and that its proposition " to induce France to take possession of New Orleans, and thereby to secure to herself all the trade of that vast country, was one deserving a states- man's consideration. He repeated how "some discontented persons of consideration" had "caught the idea that Great Britain might be placed in the room of France," and "had made offers of their service to bring it about." The over- ture to Great Britain seemed to be gaining, for "some dis-
with Connolly upon political subjects. The reader must in justice remember that the entire history of Thomas Marshall's life is inconsistent with a treasonable intent. If he or Muter were indeed the writer the pen did certainly outrun cool judgment and real political desire. The method of Humphrey Marshall's history applied to their complications would do them cruel injustice.
I Dorchester to Sydney. Secret Despatch No. 112, 7th June, 1789, Canadian Archives, Colonial Office Records, Series Q, Vol. XLII, p. 13, with enclosure of copy of the French paper. For the text see appendix. The name of the writer of the memorial addressed to the French Minister is not given, nor is it possible to ascertain it with certainty. A somewhat plausible conjecture might be hazarded that it was from the pen of Creve- cœur, sometime French consul at New York, who traveled through Kentucky in 1787- 88. But the writer and his friends of the Filson Club incline to the opinion that Tar- deveau was its author.
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contented persons of consideration, he said, "proposed going into the Western Country, and were convinced that by their influence they could effect a separation of it from the Atlantic States, provided England would supply arms and ammunition," and (as he doubted not would be asked) "money for private or public purposes."
So serious was the impression made on Lord Dorchester, that he speedily procured from some evidently well-informed resident a paper of detailed "Observations upon the Colony of Kentucky,"" in which a mass of information likely to be useful, should negotiations become serious, was condensed. Its author's name was not divulged, but the paper indicates a well - informed and educated resident of the District, one familiar with affairs and accustomed to act in public matters.
From these sources of information it is ascertained that three great powers were actively interested in the probable political fate of the West in the autumn of 1788.
Spain had her double plan; for Miro's hopes were in Wilkinson, and Gardoqui, as he said, reposed unbounded confidence in Morgan and the colony at New Madrid. Eng. land, through Connolly, had certainly committed some to the scheme of her protectorate. France had her agents to cul- tivate popular approval of the scheme under which she
" These "Observations upon the Colony of Kentucky" were transmitted enclosed in the despatch of Dorchester to Sydney, No. 126, 27th August, 1789, Canadian Archives, Colo- nial Office Records, Series Q., Vol. XLII, p. 83, and are printed in the appendix.
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might, by friendly concession on the part of Spain, resume possession of New Orleans, smoothing all resentments by guaranteeing to the Americans a free right of navigation, and to the Spaniard perfect security against American intru- sion into the territory west of the Mississippi.
The new State was to be saved from each of the three. And the only escape from the peril of foreign influence was the immediate organization as a Commonwealth, and admis- sion without delay into the Federal Union.
It seems passing strange that the quarter-sessions law argument made by Muter in the letter he published about the time of Connolly's visit to himself and Marshall, and which went forth to affect the convention of November, could have induced the convention to defer a step so critic- ally important. And it is equally strange that Muter and Marshall, fully informed as they professed to be of the dan- ger from Spanish influence, and themselves having conferred with the British agent, should have put forth so technical an objection to the immediate framing of a Constitution and application for admission to the Union.
Every consideration of public safety and loyalty demand- ed that unanimity which Brown invoked in the convention of November, and the adoption without delay of the Constitu- tion which he had sketched, which Jefferson and Madison had revised and approved, and he was prepared to offer.
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The Convention of November, 1788.
The recommendation that members be chosen for a con- vention that should exercise plenary powers was received with universal favor. Candidates took the field. As the time for elections approached, a long letter addressed by Judge Muter to the " Kentucky Gazette" made its appear- ance on the 15th October, asserting that the plan suggested, of immediately framing a Constitution and asking admission to the Union, was full of danger and illegality, and even smacked of high treason against the Commonwealth of Vir- ginia. Coming as it did from the Chief Justice of the District, this declaration attracted much attention and car- ried much weight. His brother Judges, McDowell and Wallace, did not, it would seem, share his view, but they had not sufficient time to reach the people by counter-publica- tion, if indeed they cared to rush into print.
Judge Muter contended that to form a Constitution and to organize for government "before the consent of the legis- lature of Virginia for that purpose first obtained," would be directly in the teeth of the Virginia Statute denouncing as high treason the setting up of governments within her lim- its. He criticised the large powers which the new conven- tion was intended to wield, because under them it might, he said, be argued that the convention could treat with Spain to
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obtain the navigation of the Mississippi, should it seem con- ducive to the public interest to do so, a proceeding which he judged to be repugnant to the Constitution. He argued that the delegates should be instructed not to form a Consti- tution or provide an organization of local government until Virginia could give consent, and to make no application whatever directed to obtaining the navigation of the Missis- sippi other than to the legislature of Virginia and the Con- gress of the United States.
The letter of Judge Muter had the support of Col. Thomas Marshall after its publication, probably before. It does not appear what caused this change of opinion, and induced such strong opposition to the identical measures that had commanded their support and vote in the conven- tion of the preceding July. Col. Marshall was of strong and logical mind. Judge Muter was far from being self-reliant or tenacious of opinion. It may be almost read between the lines that the document was thought out by Col. Marshall.
The legal obstacle thus suggested by the Chief Justice raised doubts in many minds that had not before perceived any difficulty. And the result was that the delegates who assembled in November, though all agreed as to the urgent necessity for a State Government and admission to the Union, were no longer unanimous in approval of immediate action.
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Brown had returned to Kentucky and was sent as a dele- gate from the County of Mercer; McDowell, Greenup, Jouett, and Innes being his colleagues. From each of the then seven counties a full representation attended. Among the more distinguished were Wilkinson, Thomas Marshall, Muter, Crockett, and Allen, representing Fayette; Richard C. Anderson and Sebastian among the members from Jefferson ; John Logan and Montgomery from Lincoln; William Irvine from Madison, and John Edwards from Bourbon.
It was soon apparent that the unanimity of the former convention as to the expediency of prompt action no longer existed. It was still the hope of McDowell, Greenup, Brown, Innes, and others that the convention would proceed to the formation of a Constitution and make application to Con- gress for admission of the new State, trusting to Virginia to assent. Muter, Marshall, Edwards, and others were found opposed. The arguments put forth in Muter's public letter were used against every proposition for action, and they found adherents in such numbers as to make unanimity hopeless.
The thoughts of Brown had long been employed upon the question of a form of fundamental government for the new West, and he had attended the convention prepared to present for its consideration a plan of Constitution that had
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engaged his thoughts for years,' upon which he had taken the opinion of Jefferson, and to the revision of which Madi- son lent his aid. The draft of a Constitution which Madison had promised in May, and the thoughts which he promised to put in writing in September, though long delayed, came in time to be presented with the sanction of his name, had the convention proceeded in its work. In anticipation of that assemblage he again wrote to Brown in relation to the political topics that would be of critical importance to the men of Kentucky. His letter bears so directly on the much controverted action, purpose, and wishes of Brown (and with him Innes), that it may here properly be put in more access- ible form than the MS. It reads as follows:
"Dear Sir :
" NEW YORK, Sep'r 26, 1788.
"I have been duly favored with yours of the 26th ulto from Pittsburg. I believe you are already pretty well acquainted with my ideas of govern- ment so far as they vary from the plan chalked out by Mr. Jefferson. But in compliance with your request on that subject I will take the first con- venient occasion of explaining them in writing. The delay cannot, I pre- sume, be material, as the formation of a Government for Kentucky must
" The framing of a Constitution for the new State they hoped soon to organize was one of the subjects on which the members of the Political Club bestowed its labors. At its " Regular Meeting, Saturday, February 17, 1787," it was
" Resolved, that a Committee be appointed to prepare a Bill of Rights and Constitution or form of Government, which they shall think agreeable to and convenient with the local situation of this District, and make report, and that Mr. Innes, Mr. Brown, Mr. Greenup, Mr. Belli, and Mr. Todd be a Committee for the same."
The preparation thus made was very probably the sketch which Brown submitted to Jefferson.
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already be concluded, or suspended for reasons which will not cease imme- diately. On the other subject which employed our confidential conversa- tion, just before your departure, you are also possessed of my sentiments. It has been frequently since in my mind as its importance made unavoidable, and the first impressions have been in no degree weakened by my reflec- tions. Having no cypher concerted with you, it would perhaps be improper to commit my thoughts to a letter which is to pass through so precarious a conveyance. It will be sufficient to say that I anticipate every political calamity from the event which was for the first time suggested to my con- templation ; and that I cannot but persuade myself that it will by degrees be viewed in all quarters as no less unnecessary than it certainly is critical and hazardous. Besides a variety of considerations which encourage this persuasion, and which being well known need not be mentioned, I will add with pleasure the two following resolutions lately passed in Congress, which wear a very different aspect from some former proceedings, and which I sincerely believe are the result of the real opinions which prevail on the subject :
"'IN CONGRESS, Sepr 16, 1788.
"'On the report of the Committee, &c., to whom was referred the report of the Secy of F affairs, on a motion of the Delegates of North Carolina stating the uneasi- ness produced by a report that Congress are disposed to treat with Spain for the sur- render of their claim to the navigation of the River Mississippi, and proposing a Reso- lution intended to remove such apprehensions :
"' Resolv'd, That the said report not being founded in fact, the Delegates are at liberty to communicate all such circumstances as may be necessary to contradict the same and to remove misconceptions.
"' Resolv'd, That the free navigation of the River Mississippi is a clear and essen- tial right of the United States, and ought to be considered and supported as such.'
"The terms of the last resolution, and particularly the word essential, which was not inserted without attention to its force, mark in strongest terms the light in which the subject is now regarded. In addition to these acts is another entered on the secret journal, but tacitly allowed to be con- fidentially communicated, which explicitly forbids any further negotiation with Spain, and hands over the business with this assertion of right to the
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ensuing government. We have no late intelligence from Europe, nor have I anything further to add at present than that I am, with the sincerest esteem and attachment, your friend and servant.
"JS. MADISON, JR.""
It is an interesting episode in Kentucky history that the task of laying down the lines of her Constitution should have enlisted the solicitude of Jefferson and Madison through the intervention of Brown. The draft sketched by Brown and elaborated by Jefferson was revised by Madison. It was ready for presentation to the convention. Unfortu- nately the MS. of the proposed Constitution has eluded all the search made for it. It is supposed to have perished in the burning of the public offices at Frankfort.
It is much to be regretted that the plan so matured did not gain so much as a hearing in the convention of 1788.
It seems to have been agreed that the immediate forma- tion of a State Constitution could not be undertaken in the divided state of opinion as to its strict legality.
The proceedings of this convention, though republished
' Madison to Brown, 26th September, 1788. MS. in the writer's possession.
2 Madison wrote to Brown from New York under date 12th October, 1788: "I find . by the act of your late convention that another is to take place in November, with power to prepare a form of government for Kentucky. In consequence of this information I shall forthwith execute the request contained in your letter from Fort l'itt, and forward - the remarks on Mr. Jefferson's draft by the next mail. I am sorry it is not in my power to do so by this. The delay proceeded from an idea that the subject would have been previously decided in Kentucky, or not immediately resumed." (Madison to Brown, New York, 12th October, 1788. MS.) This letter has heretofore been published. (Lit- tell, Political Transactions, &ºc., p. 74.)
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in 1806,' are but imperfectly stated by Marshall in his histo- ry .? A reference to the MS. journal is needed to correct his omissions and show certain important connections between the occurrences.3 The debate, from Marshall's account, must have been elaborate. He was not a delegate, nor, so far as can be gathered from his writings, was he pres- ent, but the entries on the journal (such as "after some time spent" in Committee of the Whole) corroborate his statement in this regard.
, On the third day of its session (Wednesday, 5th Novem- ber, 1788) the convention received petitions from Mercer and Madison counties "praying that a manly and spirited address be sent to Congress to obtain the navigation of the river Mississippi." These requests were referred to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the District. A special committee was the same day raised, consisting of Edwards, Marshall, Muter, Jouett, Allen, and Wilkinson, charged with the preparation of "a decent and respectful address to the Assembly of Virginia for obtaining an Inde- pendence of the District of Kentucky, agreeable to the late resolution and recommendation of Congress."
The debate upon the petitions concerning the navigation of the Mississippi was had next day, Innes being chairman
1 Littell, Political Transactions, Appendix No. XIX, p. 41.
2 Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 356, edition of 1812.
3 Original MS. Journal, Convention of November, 1788.
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of the Committee of the Whole. Upon his report and motion the convention
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