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. II > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
156 The meeting at Annapolis.
...... ..
166
VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788.
enclosures were read, and committed to the whole House on the state of the Commonwealth. On the 3d of November the House went into committee on the subject, and, when it rose, Matthews reported a resolution declaring "that an act ought to pass in conformity to the report of the commissioners assembled at Annapolis on the 4th of September last, for appointing commis- sioners on the part of this State to meet commissioners on the part of the other States in convention, at Philadelphia, on the second Monday in May next, with powers to devise such further provision as shall appear to them necessary to render the Con- stitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and to report such an act for that purpose to the United States, in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them, and afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, will effectually provide for the same." It was unani- mously agreed to by the House, and Matthews, George Nicholas, Madison, Nelson, Mann Page, Bland, and Corbin were ordered to bring in a bill in pursuance with its tenor. The object of the resolution was evidently to amend the Articles of Confederation in the form prescribed by them.
On the 6th of November Matthews 157 reported a bill "for appointing delegates from this Commonwealth to a convention proposed to be held in the city of Philadelphia in May next, for the purpose of revising the Federal Constitution"; which was received and read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time. On the 7th it was read a second time, and committed to the whole House on the following day. But on the following - day something more than a phantom appeared to the eyes of the Federal party. It will be remembered that on the 13th of Janu- ary, 1786-a few days before the House of Delegates adjourned at the last session-a resolution had been deliberately adopted which required not less than three nor more than five commis- sioners to meet a similar number on the part of Maryland and adjust the commercial relations of the two States; but that, at
157 Alexander Hamilton, who drafted the circular of the Annapolis meeting to the States, was a West Indian; and Thomas Matthews, who reported the resolution declaring the expediency of appointing com- missioners on the part of Virginia to the Convention at Philadelphia, and the bill above mentioned appointing the deputies, was also a West Indian.
167
ALEXANDER WHITE.
the last day of the session, when it is probable a quorum was hardly present, the Federal party had introduced the Annapolis resolution, and appointed delegates to carry its purposes into effect. It was now determined by the majority that, in the face of the preliminaries for calling a General Federal Convention, the commissioners, under the resolution of the 13th of January, should be appointed, and should, without delay, effect the con- templated meeting. It was also determined to seek the concur- rence of Pennsylvania, and to obtain the consent of Congress. This fearful resolution passed without a division, was immedi- ately transmitted to the Senate by Corbin, and received the sanction of that body on the 22d. The House then resolved itself into a committee on the bill to call the General Convention; and, when it rose, Matthews reported the bill with amendments, which were concurred in, and the bill, with the amendments, was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. And on the following day it passed the House without a division, was carried to the Senate by Matthews, and was concurred in by that body, and communicated to the House on the 23d.138 On the 25th the commissioners, under the resolution of the 13th of January, were elected by joint ballot, the choice falling on Saint George Tucker, William Ronald, Robert Townsend Hooe, Thomas . Pleasants, and Francis Corbin. And on the 4th of December George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, George Mason, and George Wythe were elected, by joint ballot of both houses, deputies to the General Con- vention.
At the first glance the appointment of two sets of commis- sioners at the same time for what should seem one and the same object may appear inconsistent, and the game of two opposing parties. That there was deep management on the side of the Federalists proper (headed by Madison) is probably true; but it was not observed by the majority; or, if observed, it was disre-
158 There is another illustration of the respect manifested by the Assembly to Congress, and shows that the case of disrespect alluded to by Mr. Madison must have been isolated, and the result of some casual impulse ; if (as we have before intimated) Mr. Madison had not confounded, after a lapse of years, the nature of the votes on a par- ticular occasion. See the proceedings in full in the House Journal, November 23, 1786, page 55.
168
VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788.
garded, as the Federal scheme merely pointed to an amendment of the Articles of Confederation in the form prescribed by that instrument, and any proposed amendment would be required to pass the ordeal of the Assembly. But the truth is, that the majority were eminently patriotic. They loved the Union, and were willing to make it as efficient as was consistent with the independence of Virginia. They well knew that some time would elapse before the meeting of the Convention, and still more before its work was ended, and yet still more before that work could be received and approved by every State in the Con- federation. They remembered the delay in ratifying the Arti- cles of Confederation, to which Virginia had promptly assented as early as 1777, but which did not take effect till 1781. Mean- time, the commercial relations of Virginia with Maryland and Pennsylvania required immediate attention. The interests of those States would be materially advanced by a uniform tariff, and those of Virginia most of all.
The principal occasion on which the two parties came into direct collision, and which resulted in the total defeat of the Federal party proper, occurred on the 2d of January, 1787, on a motion to amend the bill to amend and reduce into one the several laws concerning naval officers, by adding a clause in the following words: "That the before-mentioned duties shall not be demanded or paid until the commissioners appointed on behalf of this State to negotiate with commissioners on behalf of the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania, for the establishment of similar commercial duties and regulations within this and the said States, shall have reported to the Executive that the State of Maryland has imposed duties similar and equal to those before imposed by this act; in which case, the Executive is hereby authorized and required to direct, by proclamation, the said duties to be paid; and in the mean time the present duties shall continue to be collected in pursuance of the laws now in force and of this act." 159 The ayes and noes were called, and the amendment failed by a vote of seventy-one to thirty-seven ;
159 House Journal, January 2, 1787, page 135. The ayes and noes in full on this amendment well deserve to be studied, if the historical student has a wish to note the somersaults which some of the voters were to turn in less than eighteen months.
169
ALEXANDER WHITE.
Madison, David Stuart, Richardson, Marr, Thornton, Temple, Gordon, Corbin, Turpin, Bland, Bullitt, and Dawson in the minority, and George Nicholas, Pride, Samuel J. Cabell, Johns- ton, Trigg, McFerran, Strother, Joseph Jones (of Dinwiddie), King, Meriwether Smith, Thomas Smith, Clendenin, Isaac Coles, Goodall, Prunty, George Jackson, Isaac Vanmeter, Robertson, Willis Riddick, McKee, Allen, Briggs, Cary, and Matthews in the majority. On the 4th the bill came up on its passage, when the Federalists ventured another battle, and were again defeated by a vote of seventy-nine to thirty-two. The bill was sent to the Senate by Madison, who was one of the minority of thirty-two, and received the assent of that body on the 9th.
The design of the Federalists proposing the amendment was to postpone any permanent agreement between Maryland and Virginia, which, by facilitating the collection of customs, might render the adoption of any general system less urgent upon this State. The success of the amendment would have laid Virginia at the mercy of Maryland, who might impose what duties she pleased upon imports, while Virginia might remain helpless and without a revenue to meet her ordinary expenses. Moreover, a state of commercial embarrassment was more favorable to the views of the Federalists than a prosperous system of domestic revenue, as it might serve to demonstrate the absence of any stringent necessity for an entire change in our Federal policy. This vote may be taken as a fair exhibition of the policy of both parties and their relative strength.
The question of the navigation of the Mississippi was one of the great topics of the present session. That river once held to Virginia a relation as intimate as the Chesapeake and the James hold at the present time. The account of the Mississippi debate in the Convention, which has been already reported, explains the state of public opinion on the subject. Let it suf- fice for the present to say that at a moment when the fate of the Commonwealth was believed to hang by a single hair, Virginia had given a reluctant consent to allow the surrender of the navi- gation of that river to become a subject of negotiation with Spain; but as soon as the imminent jeopardy was removed she returned to her true feelings, and opposed all negotiation on such
5
170
VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788.
a question. 160 It had been recently discussed in Congress, and there was an evident design on the part of that body, or of its Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to cede the exclusive navigation of the river to Spain for a term of years, embracing an entire gene- ration. At this crisis the House of Delegates determined to mark out in unequivocal terms the policy which Virginia would maintain; and on the 29th day of November, 1786, discussed the subject in full in Committee of the Whole. When the com - mittee rose, General Matthews reported to the House three reso- lutions, the first of which set forth that the common right of navigating the Mississippi, and of communicating with other nations through that channel, ought to be considered as the bountiful gift of nature to the United States, as the proprietors of the territories watered by that river and its eastern branches, and as morover secured to them by the late Revolution. The second declared that the confederacy, having been formed on the broad basis of equal rights in every part thereof to the protec- tion and guardianship of the whole, a sacrifice of the rights of any part to the supposed real interest of another part would be a flagrant violation of justice, a direct contravention of the end for which the Federal Government was instituted, and an alarm- ing innovation in the system of the Union. The third recom- mended that the delegates of Virginia in Congress 161 ought to be instructed in the most decided terms to oppose any attempt that may be made in Congress to barter or surrender to any nation whatever the right of the United States to the free and common
160 See letter of Madison to H. Niles (Madison Papers, Vol. I, Appen- dix, No. IV).
161 The delegates in Congress elected at the present session were William Grayson, James Madison, Richard Henry Lee, Joseph Jones, and Edward Carrington. Jones having declined, Henry Lee, Jr. (Legion Harry) was chosen in his place. It has been seen in the debates what an important part some of these gentlemen had to perform. By the way, the members of Congress were elected at each session of Assembly by the process of bringing in a fresh bill at every election appointing delegates to Congress. Leave was asked to bring in the bill, and when the bill was reported it passed through the stages of an ordinary bill in both houses. When the bill became a law the election was held by joint ballot of the houses.
العجم لحوم
171
ALEXANDER WHITE.
use of the river Mississippi, and to protest against the same as a dishonorable departure from the comprehensive and benevo- Jent policy which constitutes the vital principle of the confede- racy; as provoking the just resentments and reproaches of our Western brethren, whose essential rights and interests would be thereby sacrificed and sold; as destroying that confidence in the wisdom, justice, and liberality of the Federal councils, which is so necessary at this crisis to a proper enlargement of their authority; and, finally, as tending to undermine our repose, our prosperity, and our Union itself; and that the said delegates ought to be instructed to urge the proper negotiations with Spain for obtaining her concurrence in such regulations touching the mutual and common use of the said river as may secure the permanent harmony and affection of the two nations, and such as the wise and generous policy of His Catholic Majesty will per- ceive to be no less due to the interests of his own subjects than to the just and friendly views of the United States. These reso- lutions were unanimously adopted by the House, and Matthews was ordered to take them to the Senate, which body concurred in them on the 8th, without amendment.
These resolutions record an era in human affairs. It may be truly affirmed that, if Virginia had cast her weight in the oppo- site scale, no American boat, not a bale of American cotton, would have rested on the waters of Mississippi for a generation to come. The West, all hope of profitable agriculture being blasted, would have remained unpeopled; and those strong incentives which, in better days and under the auspices of a new system controlled by Southern statesmen, led to the purchase of Louisiana and the free and perpetual ownership and use of that mighty river, would not have existed, nor that public opinion which was necessary to sustain that magnificent acquisition. Honor to the men who laid the foundation of that great work, and whose names, almost forgotten in the land of their birth, it is our present purpose and ardent desire to make familiar to those who inherit the results of their splendid statesmanship and heroic courage.
A graceful act of the present session was the purchase and manumission of the slave James, the property of William Armi- stead, of New Kent. The subject was brought before the House
1
172
VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788.
of Delegates by a petition from the slave himself, setting forth, among other things, a certificate from the Marquis de Lafayette, that James had done him essential services while he commanded in Virginia, and that the intelligence which the negro had received from the enemy's camp was industriously collected and most faithfully delivered as a spy; and that he properly acquitted himself in some important commissions which the Marquis had given him. The bill of purchase and manumis- sion passed both houses unanimously. This is the only instance, which at present occurs to us, in which a petition from a slave was presented to the House of Delegates.
On the 15th day of October, 1787, the General Assembly again came together, and a quorum of both houses appeared on the first day of the session. The modest and estimable Prentis, who was soon to be called to the bench of the District Court, was re-elected Speaker of the House of Delegates without oppo- sition-an honor the more valuable as he was nominated by General Matthews, who was eminent as a parliamentarian, and who, at a subsequent date, filled the Speaker's chair for several years, and was sustained by Governor Harrison, who had more than once presided in the House, had been Governor, and had filled the leading posts abroad.
The members of the House, who were members of the present Convention, were William Cabell, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison, William Watkins, Parke Goodall, French Strother, Thomas Smith, Andrew Moore, George Nicholas, Thomas Mat- thews, Theodoric Bland, Nathaniel Burwell, William Ronald, Francis Corbin, James Monroe, Edmund Custis, John Trigg, Joseph Jones, Meriwether Smith, Samuel Richardson, John Guerrant, Isaac Coles, John Marr, Green Clay, Samuel Hop- kins, Willis Riddick, Thomas Turpin, Cuthbert Bullitt, Robert Lawson, John Dawson, John Howell Briggs, Thomas Edmunds, Zachariah Johnston, Archibald Stuart, Martin McFerran, George Mason, David Stuart, John Early, John S. Woodcock, Daniel Fisher, Ralph Humphreys, George Jackson, John Prunty, John Marshall, William Norvell, Benjamin Temple, Levin Powell, Littleton Eyre, James Webb, Archibald Woods, Anthony Walke, Walker Tomlin, William McKee, John Allen, Richard Cary, Samuel Edmison, Bushrod Washington, Miles King, Samuel
173
ALEXANDER WHITE.
Jordan Cabell, David Patteson, William Thornton, Joseph Jones, David Stuart, James Gordon, Edmund Ruffin, and Alexander White.
Madison was in Congress, which was then sitting in New York, as his published letters show; but probably at no period of our history was the House of Delegates composed of an abler body of men. As a characteristic of the times, it may be mentioned that Daniel Boone was a member from one of the counties of Kentucky.
Norvell, whose grave demeanor and weight of public service well fitted him for the post, was placed at the head of the Com- mittee of Religion; Harrison, at the head of the Committee of Privileges and Elections; George Nicholas, at the head of the Committee of Propositions and Grievances; Patrick Henry, at the head of the Committee of Courts of Justice; and Matthews, at the head of the Committee of Commerce.
The Senate was also successful in getting a quorum on the first day of the session, and elected John Jones their Speaker by a majority of one vote over General Edward Stevens. 162
Stevens Thomson Mason, John Pride, Walter Jones, and Bur- well Bassett, members of the present Convention, were also members of the Senate. 163
The first general business was the re-election of Edmund Ran- dolph as Governor, and the choice of James Madison, Edward Carrington, Henry Lee, John Brown, and Cyrus Griffin as mem- bers of Congress for the following year. The new Federal
162 General Edward Stevens and General Adam Stephen were fre- quently confounded in their own day, and still more frequently in later times. General Adam Stephen was a member of the present Conven- tion, and is noticed elsewhere. General Edward Stevens was almost our contemporary, as he died as late as 1820. He was an excellent man and a gallant soldier. He is buried near Culpeper Courthouse, in this State.
163 There were two gentlemen by the name of Burwell Bassett in the Assembly at the present session. The one in the Senate, and not the one in the House, was a member of the present Convention. Great care is necessary in deciding on individuals of the same name. Thus there were Cabells and Joneses in both houses, a Paul Carrington on the bench, and another in the House. This care is more imperative, as the Journals have no index.
174
VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788.
Constitution, which had been promulgated some days before, 164 was now in the hands of most of the members for the first time, but did not seem to produce any sensible. effect on legislation. Several years had elapsed after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation by Virginia before they went into operation; and it is probable that the members thought that a similar lapse of time might occur in the case of the new Constitution.
The House of Delegates soon adopted three resolutions-the first of which instructed the Executive to procure several thou- sand stand of arms and accoutrements for the use of the militia of the State, and to distribute them in the several counties in proportion to the number of militia; the second provided that a corps of cavalry should be raised out of the militia of each county by voluntary enlistment; and the third repealed the laws obliging the militia to furnish themselves with arms. These resolutions were referred to a committee consisting of Matthews, Nicholas, Henry, Ronald, Harrison, Monroe, Archibald Stuart, and Marshall-nearly all of whom had taken an active part in military service during the late war. Leave was given to bring in a bill declaring tobacco receivable in payment of certain taxes for the year 1787; and Nicholas, Gordon, and Cabell were ordered to bring it in. Leave was also given to bring in a bill to reduce into one the acts imposing duties on imported articles, . and another to amend the laws of revenue and provide for the support of civil government, and the regular payment of all the debts due by the Commonwealth; all of which ultimately became laws.
The subject of the new Federal Constitution came up on the 25th in the House of Delegates. The House went into com- mittee, and, after debate, Prentis resumed the chair, and Mat- thews reported a series of resolutions providing that the pro- ceedings of the Federal Convention, as transmitted to the General Assembly through the medium of Congress, ought to be sub- mitted to a convention of the people for their free and full inves- tigation and discussion; that every citizen, being a freeholder of this Commonwealth, ought to be eligible to a seat in the Con- vention, and that the people thereof ought not to be restrained
164 The General Convention had adjourned on the 17th day of Sep- tember.
..
L
175
ALEXANDER WHITE.
in their choice of Delegates by any of those legal or constitu- tional restrictions which confine them in the choice of delegates to the Legislature; that it be recommended to each county to elect two delegates, and to each city, town, or corporation enti- tled by law to representation in the Legislature to elect one delegate to the said Convention; that the qualifications of the electors be the same as those established by law; that the elec- tion for delegates aforesaid be held at the several places appointed by law for holding the elections for delegates to the General Assembly, and that the same be conducted by the officers who conducted the elections for delegates, and conformably to the rules and regulations thereof; that the election of delegates shall be held in the month of March next, on the first day of the court to be held for each county, city, or corporation, respectively, and that the persons so chosen shall assemble in the State House, in the city of Richmond, on the fourth Monday of May next; that two thousand copies of these resolutions be forthwith printed and dispersed by the members of the General Assembly among their constituents; and that the Executive transmit a copy of them to Congress and to the Legislature and Executive of the respective States. These resolutions were read a second time, and the vote was taken upon them. The first, which required the Constitution to be submitted to an independent convention, was adopted unanimously; the remaining ones were adopted, though not unanimously; but no division was called for. Mat- thews was ordered to take them to the Senate, which body sent them back by Stevens Thomson Mason on the 3Ist with amend- ments, which were concurred in by the House. A bill contain- ing the substance of the resolves was duly reported in the House, passed that body and the Senate, and on the 12th of December became a law.165 This act was ordered to be sent to the several States in like manner with the resolves. Thus was Virginia not only the first to call the General Convention and to appoint delegates to attend it, but was the first to provide by law for the submission of the work of its hands to the people of a State.
165 What the amendments of the Senate to the resolves were does not appear in the Journal of either house. It is probable that the change of the time of meeting to the first Monday in June was the most important.
176
VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788.
A great blunder was committed by the opponents of the Con - stitution in allowing the first resolution of the series to be adopted. If they ever designed to assail that instrument as exceeding the powers of the body which framed it, as was pal- pable on its face, then was the time to act. The submission of it to the people at once removed all such objections, and estab- lished its legitimacy. Motives of delicacy may have operated in producing unanimity on the subject; and it is not improbable that its opponents relied upon their strength in the proposed convention-which was substantially the General Assembly under another name-in which body they had long been ascendant; and it may have been that parties, at this early stage, had not been distinctly organized.
This session was distinguished by the number and variety of the topics of legislation which were discussed and settled. No opinion seemed to have been entertained that a great change was impending. On the contrary, the acts embraced the whole subject of customs, the construction of a fort, 166 the building of a marine hospital for sick and disabled seamen, and other mea- sures of a commercial character. One of the leading measures, which passed and repassed between the houses more than once, was the establishment of district courts. Under its provisions Joseph Prentis, Gabriel Jones, Saint George Tucker, and Rich - ard Parker were elected judges. An act passed to amend the county courts. Appropriations were made to the lunatic hos- pital, and one-sixth of the surveyors' fees in the Kentucky dis- trict were devoted to the support of the Transylvania Seminary. A company was chartered to connect the waters of the Elizabeth river with those of the Pasquotank; and the Dismal Swamp canal, which has long contributed to the wealth and prosperity of Virginia and North Carolina, has been the result. A safety fund was provided for the gradual extinction of the public debt. All acts which prevented the speedy collection of British debts were repealed; and this was done when our negroes, who were carried off at York and from the city of New York, were unpaid for, and when the Western posts, from which the Indians on our borders were supplied with arms, were still retained, in spite of
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.