USA > Virginia > The history of the Virginia federal convention of 1788, with some account of eminent Virginians of that era who were members of the body, Vol. I > Part 36
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such pliant, yielding stuff as to revoke a solemn decision to gratify your capricious wishes. He concluded with an animated appeal to the members to accept the Constitution. Unless we look for a perfect Constitution, he said, we ought to take this. From India to the Pole you will seek a perfect Constitution in vain. It may have defects, but he doubted whether any better system can be obtained at this time. Let us try it. Experience is the best test. The new system will bear equally upon all, and all will be equally anxious to amend it. 'I regard, he said, the members of Congress as my fellow-citizens, and rely upon their integrity. Their responsibility is as great as can well be expected. We elect them, and we can remove them at our pleasure. In fine, the question is, whether we shall accept or reject this Con- stitution ? ¿ With respect to previous amendments, they are equal to rejection, They are abhorrent to my mind. I consider them the greatest of evils. I think myself bound to vote against every measure which I believe to me a total rejection, than which nothing within my conception can be more imprudent, destruc- tive, and calamitous.
The sensation produced by the speech of Innes was profound. The loose report of it which has come down to us presents some of the main points on which he dwelt, and enables us to form a vague opinion of the mode in which he blended severe argument with the loftiest declamation ; but it affords only a faint likeness of the original, and conveys no idea of the prodigious impression which the speech made at the time. And what that impression was we know from conclusive authority. Old men have been heard to say that, exalted by the dignity of his theme and con- scious that the issue was to be instantly decided, he spoke like one inspired. The tones of tender affection when he spoke of our Northern brethren, who had fought side by side with us in battle and had achieved with us the common liberty ; of fierce disdain when he described his opponents as lowering the flag of his country to ingratiate the petty princes of Europe ; of appre- hension when he portrayed the terrible power of England and her thirst for vengeance; of unutterable scorn when he repelled the charge that Northern men would make hewers of wood and drawers of water of the people of the South ; and of passionate patriotism when he conjured the House not to throw away the fruits of the Revolution by rejecting the proposed system, but in
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a spirit of fraternal love to ratify it without amendment; his atti- tudes and his gestures, as he moved his gigantic stature to and fro, and the unbroken and overflowing torrent of his speech, were long remembered. His friends were liberal in their congratula- tions, and declared that he had surpassed himself-that he had surpassed any speaker whom they had ever heard. But the expectations of friends are sometimes easily satisfied. There is, however, one witness whose testimony is beyond cavil. Henry . could hardly find words to express the admiration with which the eloquence of Innes had inspired him. It was grand. It was magnificent. It was fit to shake the human mind. 253
Statesmen of real genius, of pure morals, and of sincere patriot -. ism, though pitted by heated and hating partisans against each other, rarely undervalue one another. In the breasts of such men detraction, envy and jealousy, which corrode the temper of meaner spirits, find no durable abiding-place. Innes appreciated the magnanimity of Henry ; and when, in the early part of the following year, the character of his great rival was traduced in a series of articles by an anonymous writer in a Richmond paper, and when, from the political complexion of those articles and from the research, pungency and point with which they were written, public opinion had fixed their authorship on Innes, he wrote to Henry to contradict the rumor, and to assure him of his highest admiration and esteem. 254
Tyler followed Innes. He was many years younger than his colleague, Harrison, who had spoken in the early part of the day. Indeed, when Harrison, in the debate on Henry's resolutions against the Stamp Act, was a leading member of the House of Burgesses, Tyler, then a boy of sixteen, was looking on from the
253 See the speech of Henry, to be noticed in this day's debate. The only instance that occurs to me of an opponent extolling, at a time of intense excitement, in such exalted terms, the speech of a rival whom he followed in debate and whom he sought to overthrow, was in the debate in the House of Commons on the peace of ISO3, when Fox, rising after Pitt, said of his speech that " the orators of antiquity would have admired-probably would have envied it."
254 I allude to the letters of " Decius," the first of which appeared in the Richmond Independent Chronicle of the 7th of January, 1789. Of these letters I may say something in the sequel. The letter of Innes is in the Henry papers at "Red Hill."
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gallery. But, from his long and exclusive devotion to the inte- rests of the Commonwealth, he had gained an ascendancy in the public councils which was possessed by few of his contempo- raries, and which caused him to be singled out as a fit person to bring forward the resolution inviting the meeting at Annapolis. He was also a ready, forcible, and, not unfrequently, an eloquent speaker, and was generally followed as a leader by the delegates from the tide-water counties. It was doubtless with a view of rousing the fears of some of the smaller counties on the seaboard, which had shown a disposition to sustain the new system, that he now spoke, not only more at length than he had yet done, but with a force and a freedom unlooked for by his opponents.
He said that he was inclined to have voted silently on the question about to be put ; but, as he wished to record his oppo- sition for the eyes of posterity, he felt bound to declare the prin- ciples on which he opposed the Constitution. His objections in the first instance were founded on general principles ; but when upon a closer examination he saw the terms of the Constitution expressed in so indefinite a manner as to call forth contradictory constructions from those who approved it. he could find no peace in his mind. If able gentlemen who advocate this system can- not agree in construing it, could he be blamed for denouncing its ambiguity ? The gentleman (Innes) has brought us to a de- grading condition. We have no right to propose amendments. He should have expected such language after the Constitution was adopted ; but he heard it with astonishment now. The gentleman objected to previous amendments because the people did not know them. Did they know their subsequent amend- ments? (Here Innes rose and made a distinction between the two classes of amendments. The people would see those that were subsequent, and, if they disliked them, might protest against them. ) Tyler continued : Those subsequent amendments, he said, I have seen, and, although they hold out something that we wish, they are radically deficient. What do they say about direct taxation ? about the judiciary ? The new system contains many dangerous articles. Shall we be told by the gentleman that we shall be attacked by the Algerians, and that disunion shall take place, unless we adopt it? Such language I did not expect here. Little did I think that matters would have come to this when we separated from the mother country. There, every
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man is amenable to punishment. There is far less responsibility in that system. British tyranny would have been more tolerable. Under the Articles of Confederation every man was at least se- cure in his person and in his property. Liberty was then in its zenith. Human nature will always be the same. Men never were nor ever will be satisfied with their happiness. When once we begin these radical changes, where shall we find a place of rest ? He contended that, if the new system were put into ope- ration unamended, the people would not bear it; that two om- nipotent agents exercising the right of taxation without restraint, could not co exist ; that a revolt or the destruction of the State governments would follow ; that as long as climate produces its effects upon men, men would differ from each other in their tastes, their interests, and affections; and that a consolidated system could only be sustained under a military despotism. He discussed in detail the policy of amendments, and concluded that . the public mind would not be satisfied until the great questions at issue should be settled by another Convention. , He reviewed the chances of interference by foreign powers, and argued that as it was their interest to be at peace with us, they would obey the dictates of interest. He deprecated the idea of a great and powerful government. Self-defence in the present age and con- dition of the country was all that we ought to look for. He said he sought invariably to oppose oppression. His course through the Revolution would justify him. He held now a paltry office, away with it. 255 It had no influence upon his conduct. He was no lover of disunion. He wished Congress to possess the right of regulating trade, as he thought that a partial and ever-varying system of regulation by the individual States would not suffice, and he had proposed to vest that right in the general govern- ment ; but since this new government had grown out of his
255 Tyler was appointed one of the Commissioners of Admiralty in July, 1776, by the Convention, and performed the duties of his office under a State appointment until 1781, when the Articles of Confedera - tion took effect, and when his appointment as Judge of Admiralty was renewed by the Federal government. By the ninth of those articles the general government received the power "' of establishing rules for deciding in all cases what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or by the naval forces of the United States shall be divided or appropriated."
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scheme to effect a desirable object, he lamented that he had put his hand to it. It never entered his head that we should quit liberty and throw ourselves into the hands of a great and ener- getic government. But, if we are to surrender liberty, we surely ought to know the terms of the surrender. The new system, however, as construed by its own friends, does not accord us that poor privilege. He said he was not prone to jealousy ; that he would trust his life to the members of this House, but he could not trust the Constitution as it stood. Its unlimited power of taxation, the supremacy of the laws of the union, and of trea- ties, were, in his opinion, exceedingly dangerous. There was no responsibility. Who would punish the President? If we turn out our own ten representatives, what can we do with the re- maining fifty-five? The wisdom of Great Britain gave each colony its separate legislature, a separate judiciary, and the ex- clusive right to tax the people. When that country infringed our rights, we declared war. This system violates all those precious rights. In 1781 the Assembly were compelled by the difficulties of the times to provide by law that forty members should con- stitute a quorum. That measure has been harshly blamed by gentlemen ; but if we could not trust forty then, are we to be blamed for not trusting to ten now? After denouncing the im- policy and the folly of altering or amending a contract when it was signed and sealed, he concluded by saying that his heart was full-that he could never feel peace again till he saw the de- fects of the new system removed. Our only consolation, he said, is the virtue of the present age. It is possible that the friends of this system, when they see their country divided, will reconcile the people by the introduction of such amendments as shall be deemed necessary. Were it not for this hope he would despair. He should say no more, but that he wished his name to be seen in the yeas and nays, and that it may be known hereafter that his opposition to this new system arose from a full persuasion and conviction of its being dangerous to the liberties of his country.
The fierce and uncompromising assault of Tyler called up Adam Stephen. Stephen had risen some days before for the purpose of rebuking Henry for the course which he had pursued in debate, but had not gone fully into a discussion of the new scheme, Nor did he now proceed to examine that system in detail, but in a highly figurative strain of eloquence advocated
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its ratification without previous amendments. . The country, he said, was in an unhappy condition, and that the members had been sent here to accept or reject the new system. That was their sole duty. Still he would concede future amendments, and he felt assured that such amendments would at an early day be engrafted on the Constitution. . He praised the Constitution as embodying in just proportions the virtues of the three dif- ferent kinds of government. Let gentlemen remember that we now have no Federal government at all. It is gone. It has been asked where is the genius of America? He would answer that it was that genius which convoked the Federal Convention, and which sent us here to decide upon the merits of the system framed by that body. What has now become of that genius? that benefi- cent genius which convoked the Federal Convention ? "Yon- der she is," he said, " in mournful attire, her hair dishevelled, distressed with grief and sorrow, supplicating our assistance against gorgons, fiends, and hydras, which are ready to devour her and carry desolation throughout her country. She bewails the decay of trade and the neglect of agriculture-her farmers discouraged, her ship carpenters, blacksmiths, and all other tradesmen unemployed. She casts her eyes on these, and de- plores her inability to relieve them. She sees and laments that the profits of her commerce go to foreign States. She further bewails that all she can raise by taxation is inadequate to her necessities. She sees religion die by her side, public faith pros- tituted, and private confidence lost between man and man. Are the hearts of her citizens so steeled to compassion that they will not go to her relief?" He closed his remarks by holding up the magnanimity of Massachusetts in ratifying the Constitution in a spirit of union, and by declaring that the question was whether Virginia should be one of the United States or not.
Stephen was succeeded by a member who had not yet partici- pated in debate, but who, as a representative of the Valley, was listened to with profound respect. Zachariah Johnston came from Augusta, a county which had been distinguished by the valor of its sons in the Indian wars, especially at the battle of Point Pleasant, 256 and in the Revolution; which had hailed the
256 One of the Augusta companies that marched to Point Pleasant reminded one of Frederick the Second's tall regiment. We are told 22
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conduct of the Virginia members of the Congress of 1774 in a patriotic letter still extant, and which had urged the Convention of May, 1776, before that body had dissolved the allegiance of the Colony to the crown, to establish an independent govern- ment, and to form an alliance of the States.257 The position of the Valley helped to give a cast to the politics of its inhabitants. Its waters ran to the east and sought the Atlantic through the Chesapeake. Its rich lands were thinly settled. The emigra- tion, which had since the war been winding its way to Kentucky, passed through its breadth, and not only left none behind, but was taking off some of its citizens. The people of the Valley
by Dr. Foote " that the company excited admiration for the height of the men and their uniformity of stature. In the bar-room of Sampson Mathews a mark was made upon the walls, which remained until the tavern was consumed by fire about seventy years after the measure- ment of the company was made The greater part of the men were six feet two inches in their stockings, and only two were but six feet." --- Foote's Sketches of Virginia, second series, 162.
[Sampson Mathews was a brother of Colonel George Mathews of the Revolution, subsequently Governor of Georgia, etc., and the brothers, prior to the Revolution, were merchants and partners under the firm name of Sampson and George Mathews .- ED.]
257 The address of the freeholders of Augusta, dated February 22, 1775, to Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell, and the letter to the delegates in Congress are now well known, and may be found in the American Archives compiled by Mr. Force, but it is a mistake to sup- pose that my allusion in the discourse on the Convention of 1776, in the sketch of Thomas Lewis, to a memorial of Augusta had any refer- ence to these papers. They are honorable to the people of Augusta, but they did not refer to independence. The memorial to which I allude in the text was presented by Thomas Lewis in the Convention of May, 1776, and distinctly pointed to the establishment of an inde- pendent State government and a Federal union. (See Journal, page II.) The only paper which can stand near this, and a noble paper it is, is the instructions forwarded by the freeholders of Buckingham to Charles Patteson and John Cabell, then delegates in the same Conven- tion. These instructions were drawn before the resolution of the Con- vention instructing the delegates in Congress to declare independence had reached Buckingham, and require the delegates from that county to form an independent government. These instructions were printed in the Virginia Gazette of June 14, 1776, though written certainly be. fore the middle of the previous month. The paper should be printed and framed and hung from every wall in Buckingham.
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were, therefore, more disposed to look to the East than to the West, and no appeal founded on the probable loss of the navi- gation of the Mississippi had any effect upon them .. In fact, the stoppage of the navigation of that stream was more likely to prove a benefit than an injury to them. It would check emigra- tion. It would not only keep their own people at home, but it would probably collect the emigrants from the East within the borders of the Valley. On the other hand, the dangers which the people of the Valley had most to apprehend, were from the Indians, who might not molest their own firesides, but who, if they made an inroad on the frontiers, must be repelled mainly by their arms. Hence a strong and energetic government, which might bring at any moment the military resources of the Union to bear upon the Indians, had in itself nothing unpleasing in the sight of the Valley people. And when we recall the subsequent Indian campaigns, during which two well-equipped armies of the Federal government, officered by brave and skillful men, were surprised and slain, it should appear that their fears were not wholly groundless.
Only one member from the Valley had spoken ; but Stephen was an old soldier, and was apt to view political questions more in the spirit of a soldier than of a statesman. Thomas Lewis was a man of large experience in civil affairs; but it was now believed that he would support the Constitution.258 It was plain that the opponents of that paper regarded the Valley delegation with alarm. It was mainly composed of men who had seen hard military service, and were devoted to Washington ; and a large proportion of such men were in favor of a scheme of govern- ment which their chief had assisted in framing; which bore his august name on its face ; which was recommended to the Con- gress of the Confederation in an eloquent letter from his pen, and the adoption of which it was well known that he had used all the just influence of his character to secure.259 Nor were the
258 In the discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1776, trusting to the researches of others instead of consulting the records for myself, I inadvertently represented Lewis as voting against the ratification of the Constitution. He voted in favor of it.
259 Washington enclosed copies of the Constitution to many promi- nent men throughout the Union. See the form of his letter to them,
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tender ties which bound the soldier to Washington severed by the peace. The society of the Cincinnati had been called into existence; its diplomas, admirably printed, for the times, on parchment, were seen neatly framed, and were to be seen in the rude cabins of the frontier as well as in the costlier dwellings of the East ; and of that influential body he was the head. Stuart, of Greenbriar, who had behaved with gallantry at Point Plea- sant, and who has handed down in his Memoir a description of the battle, lived on the other side of the mountain; but by mar- riage, by association, and by similarity of interest, was induced to sustain the policy of the Valley people. Stuart, of Augusta, had left William and Mary College to engage in the war, and, fighting gallantly at Guilford, had seen his commander, who was his own father,260 fall from his horse, pierced with many wounds, and dragged off the field by the enemy, to be incarcerated in a prison-hulk on the seaboard. Darke, as well as his colleague, Stephen, fortemque Gyan fortemque Cloanthum, the opponents of the Constitution knew regarded that instrument with affec- tion. Moore, of Rockbridge, who had seen arduous service in the Northern army, and was present when the flag of St. George was lowered on the field of Saratoga, had received instructions to oppose the new system; but it was believed that he would disobey them. 261 Gabriel Jones was not a soldier, but an able lawyer ; but his shrewdness in business ; his vast wealth, made up of lands and cash ; his hatred of paper money, and the ec- centric cast of his character, would insensibly lead him to ap- prove an energetic and hard-money government.
In this state of apprehension respecting the opinions of the
and the manly answers of Harrison and Henry, in the Writings of Washington. Index to the volumes in the XII Volume, Articles, Harri- son and Henry.
260 [Major Alexander Stuart, whose sword, presented by his grandson, Hon. Alex. H. H. Stuart, is among the relics of the Virginia Historical Society .- ED.]
26] He did disobey them ; but, though warmly opposed by the cele- brated William Graham [founder of Liberty Academy, now Washing- ton and Lee University], he was returned from Rockbridge at the next election of the House of Delegates by a large majority. General Moore was not present at the battle of Point Pleasant, as is repre- . sented by Dr. Foote, and in Howe's Virginia.
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members from the Valley, the words of Johnston were closely watched. Of the sentiments held by others, however, he said nothing, but in a few sentences removed all doubt about his own. After presenting some remarks appropriately introduced respecting the nature and value of government, and offering a deserved compliment to Pendleton, he discussed, concisely and clearly the legislative department, and pointed out its fine adap- tation, in his opinion, to attain the end in view. He approved the provisions touching the militia, which, as the father of a large family, he regarded with caution ; saw no danger to religious freedom, or fear from direct taxation, and defended the irregu- larities of the new system by an illustration drawn from the num- ber of fighting men in the county of Augusta and in the county of Warwick, and argued that the representation in the House of Representatives was more equal and more just than in our own House of Delegates. He saw full responsibility in the houses . . of Congress. Men would not be wicked for nothing, and when they became wicked we would turn them out. When the mem- bers of Congress knew that their own children would be taxed, there was sufficient responsibility. He animadverted sternly on the amendments brought forward by the opponents of the new scheme. They had left out the most precious article in the bill of rights. They feared, he said, that emancipation would be brought about. That had begun since the Revolution ; and, do what you will, it will come round. If slavery, he said, were totally abolished, it would do much good. He now looked forward to that happy day when discord and dissension shall cease. Division was a dreadful thing. The Constitution, he admitted, might have defects; but where do the annals of the world show us a perfect constitution ? He closed his remarks by a novel and well-drawn parallel between the condition of the British people, who, when they had overthrown monarchy, were unable to gov- ern themselves, and had in despair called Charles the Second to the throne, and the condition of our own country, warning the members of the fate which might overtake them, if, by rejecting the Constitution, they became involved in disunion and anarchy. 262
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