USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. II > Part 21
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324
MARSHALL-INNES.
[CHAP. V.
force of arms, to pay their dues.ª Surely such a course would be more adverse to freedom than the adoption of a strong government, which would raise money by regular process! He prophesied that increase of trade would make imports alone sufficient to pay the expenses of the system, if it were allowed to act, and his prophecy has been fulfilled. Mr. Corbin's name deserves honourable notice for his labours, though he has not been reckoned among the brilliant and the great.
John Marshall spoke but little, yet always with signal success, for the new government. His was a rare mind. He has been thought to have been without imagination, and deficient in the higher sensibilities, which give power to words. But he reasoned with resistless force ; he seized upon the attention, and carrying it captive with him, pressed into the centre of opposing arguments, until they were undermined and destroyed. He kept before him the point to be proved, and having laid his premises, he built upon them until the truth was forced into the mind of the hearer, with a certainty approaching the theorems of exact science. In the balances of the Constitution he found appropriate matter for an exercise of his analysis, and he un- folded them with a clearness and skill which made doubt irrational, and faith secure. b
James Innes was eloquent in behalf of the govern- ment proposed. He was Attorney-General of the State, and had been so closely employed in the Court of " Oyer and Terminer," that he could not ª Debates, 84. ৳ Ibid., 163-172, 297-299.
325
JAMES MADISON.
1788.]
attend the early stages of the debate. He did not utter a word until the very last day of the argu- ment, but he then made a speech of great strength and beauty. Deprecating local prejudices, he asked, " Had we this political jealousy in 1775? If we had, it would have damped our ardour and in- trepidity, and prevented that unanimous resistance which enabled us to triumph over our enemies. It is not a Virginian, Carolinian, or Pennsylvanian, but the glorious name of an American, that ex- tended from one end of the continent to the other, that was then beloved and confided in."ª Colonel Innes was an orator in every sense of the word; if he erred in any respect, it was in continuing too long the march of mind ; he never descended from the "car of triumph" when once it was gained ; Patrick Henry bore high testimony to his powers, when he declared him " to be endowed with great eloquence; eloquence splendid, magnificent, and sufficient to shake the human mind !""b
But beyond all others, James Madison was the successful champion of the Constitution. He knew it in all its parts, from the most expanded to the most minute; he had been the author of many of its provisions, and had studied its character with the eye of a philosophic patriot. He was ready to meet every objection brought against it, and did in fact, during the debate, defend it first as a whole, and then clause by clause, to the end. He showed the mixed nature of the scheme. Some objected because it was a government of the people : it con-
a Debates, 451, 452. b Ibid. 465; Wirt, 206.
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326
PATRICK HENRY.
[CHAP. V.
solidated instead of confederating, and melted the states into one popular mass ; yet were there others who thought the states would have too much con- tact with Congress, and the people too little. Mr. Madison proved that the Government was in some respects popular, in some respects federal. It was to be ratified by the people in conventions : in this it was popular; but by the people divided into thirteen sovereignties : in this it was federal. The House of Representatives were to be elected by the people : in this it was popular ; but the Senate was to be equally filled from the states: in this it was federal. Congress was to have power to lay taxes on individuals : in this the Government was con- solidated ; but the states might effect amendments : in this it was confederate. The President was to be commander-in-chief of army and navy : this was a feature of consolidation ; but the states might arm and train the militia: this preserved the confede- racy.ª So ingenious a system was worthy of so able an advocate.
The ranks of the opposers were marshalled and led on by Patrick Henry. We have seen enough of his past displays to know, that now when a sub- ject was before him which enlisted his strongest feelings, he would not sink beneath it. Some of the most powerful speeches he ever delivered, were made during this debate. He felt alarm, apprehen- sion for his country ; the new government seemed to him to threaten her liberties ; he feared its con- solidating tendencies. He asked why the Consti-
a Debates, 76.
327
PATRICK HENRY.
1788.]
tution had dared to say, " We, the people," instead of " We, the states." The powers of the President seemed to him enormous, ruinous. "This Consti- tution is said to have beautiful features, but when I come to examine these features, sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting : it squints towards mo- narchy !"ª The federal judiciary encountered his warm opposition. He could not separate from it the ideas of injustice, of expense, of hazard, to the people. As the time for a final vote approached, Mr. Henry's anxiety increased, and his eloquence grew more impressive. While he was once speak- ing, and when he had wrought his hearers to a paroxysm of feeling, a furious storm arose; light- nings flashed, thunder pealed, and rain poured down in torrents. At the same time the spirit of the orator had soared to " etherial mansions," and invoked celestial witnesses to view the crisis of his country. The effect could not be borne; the mem- bers rose in confusion, and the meeting was dis- solved.b
Yet the attentive reader of the "Debates," will find in Mr. Henry's speeches, more of declamation than of argument; more appeals to passion, than addresses to reason. It was indeed found by the reporter, impossible to follow him in his loftiest flights, yet it is believed that all of sound logic that he presented, has been preserved, and it bears but a small proportion to his glowing remonstrances and passionate harangues. He entered the body
* Debates, 52 ; Wirt, 198.
৳ Debates, 446 ; Wirt, 210.
328
MASON-MONROE.
[CHAP. V.
determined to oppose the new government to the last, and this spirit made him undiscriminating. He found nothing to approve in the Constitution. Assuredly it could not have been expected that the wisest men in America should have debated four months, and yet produced nothing good; but it would be hard to find a single clause in the Con- stitution, which was received with favour by Pat- rick Henry.
George Mason waged war upon the system. He had opposed it in Philadelphia, and now carried his struggle to the final vote in Virginia. He urged that it was not a federal but a national government; that the power to collect taxes directly from the people proved its character, and that no republic could long endure in a country as extensive as America.ª He thought the power of the President overwhelming, and strongly inveighed against the extensive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which was to cover "law and fact." Once he crossed swords violently with Mr. Madison, but before their colloquy was closed, all bitter feeling was removed.b
James Monroe opposed the government, at the head of which his country was afterwards to place him. He loved the Union, and believed that the states loved the Union; but he thought their go- vernment ought to be strictly a union of the states, and not a melting together of the people. He be- lieved democratic independencies might safely con- federate. The great leagues of the world passed in review before him: the Amphyctionic, the
a Debates, 32, 33, 69. b Ibid. 370-376.
329
1788.] n WILLIAM GRAYSON.
Achaean, the Germanic, the Swiss Cantons. Poly- bius furnished him with passages to prove the happy structure of the Achaean League, but the German princedoms were only kept together by danger and the Emperor. He compared the Con- federation and the Constitution : add to the first absolute power over commerce, and he would ap- prove it; take away from the last the power of direct taxes, and he would approve it.ª This right to tax the people was the point he dreaded : how could a few representatives from a country cover- ing nearly a million of square miles, tell what would be most suitable subjects of taxation ; what would least oppress, what would best be endured ?b
Among the ablest opponents of the system, was William Grayson, from the county of Prince Wil- liam. He was always heard with attention, and he poured out streams of legal and historical light upon his subject. Yet one of his objections would now fall harshly upon the ear of America. "It would be dangerous to have a fleet in our present weak, dispersed, and defenceless situation. The powers of Europe, who have West India posses- sions, would be alarmed at any extraordinary mari- time exertions; and knowing the danger of our arrival at manhood, would crush us in our infancy."c Views like these would not long have suited the people that could send forth such frigates as the Constitution and the United States, and such naval. chiefs as Hull and Bainbridge, Decatur, Lawrence, Perry and MacDonough.
a Debates, 153-158. b Ibid. 159. c Ibid. 208.
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330
"SWEEPING CLAUSE."
[CHAP. V.
Of the powers given to the Legislature of the General Government, none was regarded with more jealousy than that providing that Congress should be authorized to make all laws " necessary and proper" for carrying out its own powers or any powers given by the Constitution to the Government, or to any of its departments.ª This was familiarly called the " sweeping clause," and was viewed in very different lights by the contending parties. The friends of the plan insisted that this clause con- veyed no new power to Congress; that it was pro- vided simply to make efficacious the powers already given ; that it was only the means to enable the go- vernment to meet its prescribed ends. But on the other hand, it was insisted that the clause was broad enough to include any and every power that Congress might choose to claim ; that, by construc- tion and implication, it would authorize an infringe- ment of the liberty of the press, and of the right of jury trial; that, in truth, it was the germ from which might grow powers of undefined magnitude, and destructive of freedom.
Another objection to the plan strongly urged by its opponents was the want of a "Bill of Rights."b The advocates of the system urged that this was not necessary ; that the proper office of a Bill of Rights was to limit the general sovereignty of go- vernment, and reserve certain immunities to the
a Constitution U. S., art. i., sec. time, but he wrote a letter about the viii. cl. 18.
New Government to James Madison, b This was Mr. Jefferson's leading which will be found in the " Works," objection. He was in Paris at the ii. 272, 274, 277.
331
1
AMENDMENTS.
1788.]
people; that this had been its ascertained meaning' in English history ; that such precaution was not required in the government proposed, because its sovereignty was not general but special, because its powers were few and clearly defined, and because beyond them it could not act. But many were not satisfied with this reasoning; they looked to the " sweeping clause" with apprehension, and wished to see farther barriers erected around their liberties.
We will not dwell farther upon the objections to the plan, urged in this celebrated debate. Those most prominent have been set forth in the views already given, and it will be the less necessary to display them in full, because they are reflected in the Amendments to the Constitution, which Vir- ginia advised, and to which we must now attend. As the struggle approached its close, it became evident that the plan would be adopted ; but it was equally evident that a large majority of members wished for additions and changes in order to make the Government acceptable to them. The question then arose whether these amendments should be previous or subsequent, that is, whether they should be insisted on before the Constitution was ratified at all, or whether it should first be ratified and then efforts be made to amend it. Patrick Henry fought bravely for previous amendments, and introduced a scheme of his own for the purpose ;ª but he was opposed with equal vigour, and was at length de- feated.
On the 25th day of June the final vote was taken
a Debates, 424.
332
ADOPTION.
[CHAP. V.
on the question of ratification. Eighty-nine mem- bers voted in the affirmative, and seventy-nine in the negative. Thus ten voices made Virginia a party to the Federal Union under the New Con- stitution. Immediately after this vote, two com- mittees were appointed, oneª to prepare and report a proper form for ratifying the system adopted ; the other' to prepare and report such amendments as, in their opinion, ought to be recommended for the new Government. The first committee soon re- ported a form, which was adopted without delay. It is cautiously worded, and though, in a spirit of high patriotism, it ratifies the Constitution in full, yet, in behalf of the people of Virginia, it declares the limits of Federal power, and the inviolability of the rights of conscience and of the press. c
The other committee reported on the 27th of June. They had prepared a Bill of Rights and a list of amendments, which they wished added to the Constitution. These were nearly identical with those previously offered by Patrick Henry, in his effort to obtain a conditional ratification.ª It will not be necessary to detail them in full ;e but it will be highly proper to show how far they finally pre- vailed, in order that we may see to what extent
a Consisting of Governor Ran- Tyler, John Marshall, Monroe, Ro- dolph, Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Madison, nald, Bland, Meriwether Smith, and Simms .- Debates, 469. Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Corbin.
b Consisting of Hon. George Wythe, Paul Carrington, and John Blair, Governor Randolph, Messrs. Harrison, Mathews, Henry, George Mason, Nicholas, Grayson, Madison, 475.
c 'The form is in the " Debates," 469, 470.
d Debates, 424.
· They are in the Debates, 471-
333
AMENDMENTS SECURED.
1788.]
Virginia has been instrumental in securing liberty for America. Immediately after the new Govern- ment went into effect, amendments were proposed, and having been duly ratified by the Legislatures of nine states, were made parts of the Constitution. Nearly every material change suggested by Vir- ginia was adopted. For, one article of amendment provided for freedom in religion, and of speech, and of the press, and for the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition for redress of grievances.ª Others declared that the people should have a right to have and bear arms, that soldiers should not be improperly quartered in private houses ; that no unreasonable searches and seizures should take place; that excessive bail, and exces- sive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments should not be.b Others secured a fair trial by jury in criminal and civil cases, and took away the jurisdiction of the Federal courts in all cases where individuals sought to sue a state. And another said that, " the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."ª
Thus we have conducted the " Old Dominion" from feeble beginnings, to her appropriate place in the most powerful and enlightened confederacy of
a Collate Amend. art. iii. with Vir-
b Collate Am. iv. v. vi. x. with Virginia prop. bill, 13, 14, 17, 18.
c Compare Am. vii. viii. ix. xiii. ginia proposed Bill of Rights, art. 15, with Virginia prop. bill, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 20.
and prop. am. 15.
d Compare Am. xii. with Virginia prop. amend. i. 11, 17.
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334
VIRGINIA-THE UNION.
[CHAP. V.
states that the world has ever known. We have seen that when she first became independent of the mother country, she adopted, with singular direct- ness of purpose, measures necessary to secure civil and religious freedom within her own borders. We have seen that when the proposed Union was presented, she examined it with jealous eyes, and subjected it to the ordeal of minds keen, brilliant, learned, and ardently in love with liberty. We have marked her care in debating, and her caution in adopting it. We have seen that even in the act of receiving it, she sought, and sought with suc- cess, to infuse into its soul some of her own health- ful qualities; that she procured amendments guaran- tying the natural rights and the first interests of man. And now it might be supposed that, as she had become incorporated in a Union which will, we hope, endure to the end of time, at this point her individual history would properly close. Most true it is, that henceforth in the American heavens, the great system absorbs the thoughts, and Vir- ginia is but a single planet, revolving in this sys- tem. Yet her very change of position had pre- sented phases interesting to behold ; and if she was no longer paramount in dignity, she had at least not lost her power to maintain the equilibrium of other planets, or to develope the rich resources hid in her own bosom.
PART IV.
CHAPTER VI.
Subsequent course of Virginia-Sometimes adverse to that of the Federal Government-Admission of Kentucky to the Union-Memorial of Qua- kers-Rise and progress of parties-Federalists-Republicans-Foreign element-French Revolution-Its excesses-Conflict of feeling in Ame- rica-Popular sentiment in Virginia-President Adams-His leading measures-Virginia's jealousy-Founding of the armory at Richmond- Muskets-Cannon-Passage of the Alien and Sedition Laws-Indigna- tion of the Republican party in Virginia-Legislature of 1798-'99- Resolutions written by Mr. Madison, and offered by John Taylor, of Caroline-Animated debate-George Keith Taylor-General Lee-Mr. Mercer-Mr. Daniel-Mr. Pope, from Prince William-James Barbour -William B. Giles-Resolutions amended and adopted-Kentucky Resolutions-George Washington's letter to Patrick Henry-Mr. Henry is elected to the Legislature from Charlotte-He prepares to defend the Alien and Sedition Laws-His death-Death of Washington-Session of 1799-1800-Mr. Madison's celebrated Report-Brief review of its doctrines as subsequently explained-Their illustration in Virginia- James Thompson Callender-His libellous pamphlet-Judge Samuel Chase-Holds a Federal Court in Richmond-Callender's indictment, trial, conviction, and punishment-Virginia offers no resistance-Elec- tion of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency.
IN the progress of this work, we have kept stea- dily in view the design of presenting Virginia alone to the thoughts of the reader. Now that she has become united with the General Government, it will be more difficult to follow her fortunes as a state with distinctness, but this very difficulty will make the task more important. Intimately con- nected as she was with her sisters, she yet retained her identity, and continued in her new relations, VOL. II. 22
338
KENTUCKY
[CHAP. VI.
to act out the same principles that had been an- nounced by her statesmen early in the Revolution. Whenever her course was coincident with that of the Federal Government, the history of the two may be considered as so interwoven, that no at- tempt should be made to separate them. But this was not always the case. There were to be times of conflict, verging even to dissolution. Therefore our office in continuing the history of the state, will be to tell, not merely of her internal interests and changes, but of the seasons when she was obliged to reassert her sovereignty, and remind the Con- gress that their powers were limited. In these as- pects, she will still appear in bold relief.
The opening events, under which the new go- vernment commenced its career, could not but be interesting to Virginia. She saw, with pride, her best and greatest son raised to the head of the Union, by the vote of his country, and in the first years of his administration, several Virginians of eminent talents, were successively assigned to of- fices of honour and responsibility. Neither could she be indifferent to the change which stilled dis- cord, restored public credit, and raised America to her proper dignity in the eyes of the world.
(1792.) Among the earliest acts of the Govern- ment, was the admission of Kentucky as a state, to the privileges of the Union. She was the daughter of Virginia. We have already noted her birth and infancy. As she budded into girlhood, her mother took special delight in looking upon her charms, and developing them to greatest advantage. Unlike
339
MADE A STATE.
1792.]
the jealous matrons of artificial society, Virginia never sought to keep back her fair child for fear she should eclipse her in beauty. Whether she was too proudly conscious of her own attractions to shrink from comparison, or too generous even to think of competition, we do not know, but it is cer- tain that she introduced Kentucky to her friends of the Union, while the daughter was yet very young. In 1785, the Legislature passed an act declaring on what terms, and in what mode, the " District" might be erected into a state.ª In 1788, another act was passed on the subject, but it having been found that its provisions were incompatible with the real views of Virginia, and injurious to the dis- trict, a final bill became law on the 18th December, 1789.' This gave to the free male inhabitants of Kentucky, who were over twenty-one years of age, a right to elect from their respective counties, mem- bers, to meet in a convention at Danville, and de- cide upon the terms offered by Virginia. They were, in substance, that the boundaries between the states should remain as before ; that the new state should take upon herself a due proportion of the public debt, and the payment of sums expended for her defence against the Indians; that private rights and interest in lands should be secured ; that the navigation of the river Ohio should be free to all the citizens of the Union, and that the autho- rity and jurisdiction of Virginia might be deter- mined for ever, at any time subsequent to the 1st November, 1791, as to the Convention might ap-
a Hening, xii. 37. b 1 R. C., 57-60.
340
MEMORIAL OF QUAKERS.
[CHAP. VI.
pear expedient. Under these arrangements, Ken- tucky gradually assumed all the incidents of a sovereign state, and in 1792, she was admitted to the Federal Union.
In the same year we note, as a fact illustrating the manners and spirit of the times, a petition to the Assembly from sundry societies of Quakers through the state. It seems that for many sessions past, the House of Delegates had adopted the praiseworthy practice of having a chaplain to con- duct morning prayers, and invoke Divine favours in behalf of their proceedings. It is hard to con- ceive a valid argument against this practice. It infringed not religious liberty, for each member voted for whom he pleased; and the duties of the minister were too humble, too purely spiritual, to gratify a worldly ambition. But the Quakers pro- tested against this rule, and urged its repeal ;ª at the same time demanding full freedom in religion, they asked that they might not be compelled to take off their hats before men in authority! How far these petitions immediately acted we do not know, but it is certain that for nearly half a cen- tury, the Legislature of Virginia have discarded a chaplain, and that Quakers, within her borders, may wear their hats when and where they please.
While the early years of the new government were passing away, Virginia was often an actor in, and always an attentive witness of, its most ex- citing scenes. The germ of party spirit had been planted in America a very short time after the
a Journal of House of Delegates, 1792, 25, 26.
341
POLITICAL PARTIES.
1792.]
Revolution, but it did not develope itself in might until the governing policy of the first administra- tion began to appear. Then the names of " Fede- ralist" and of " Republican," became familiar; the first was the distinctive title of those who thought most favourably of the General Government, and who were willing so to construe its charter as to extend rather than restrict its powers. Believing that upon this government would depend the real permanency and success of American interests, they viewed it with sincere admiration, and sup- ported it with patriotic zeal. Whatever may have been their errors, the Federalists of oid embraced in their ranks some of the purest and most intel- lectual men the world has ever known. The other title of " Republican," was applied to those who looked with jealousy upon the Federal Government, who confined its powers by the most rigid con- struction of the Constitution, of which the words would admit, and who sought to repress it by a frequent recurrence to the "reserved rights" of the state governments, and the people. This party was generally predominant in Virginia. It was led by men of splendid talents, of warm feelings, popular in debate, and high in the confidence of masses of the social system.
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