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 30
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It was on the 22d of December, 1784, that the engrossed bill incorporating the Protestant Episcopal Church came up on its passage; and as soon as the blanks were filled the question was taken, and the bill passed by a vote of forty seven to thirty- eight; Madison, Marshall, Grayson, Tazewell, and Jones (of King
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George) voting in the affirmative, and Nicholas, with Johnston, Porter, Stuart, and Roane, in the negative. John Taylor (of Caroline) was absent. To have a true notion of this bill, the reader will remember that it sprang from a resolution which accorded equal privileges to all sects, and that he has only to strike out the words "the Protestant Episcopal Church" and insert "the Baptist" or "the Presbyterian," and the case will be identically the same. Madison was doubtless the author of the bill, and while drawing it had in his possession (certainly under his guardianship) the famous bill concerning religious freedom, and a few months later drew the celebrated memorial, which was signed by thousands and returned to the Assembly by a large number of counties; and it is plain that if he had deemed the present bill hostile in any respect to the cause of religious free- dom, instead of drafting it and of voting for it, he would have been its warmest opponent.
On the 24th another aspect of the religious question was pre- sented. The bill establishing a provision for the teachers of the Christian religion came up on its passage, and a motion was made to postpone its consideration until the fourth Thursday of November next, and was carried by a vote of forty-five to thirty- eight; Nicholas, with Madison, Johnston, Trigg, Stuart, Strother, Spencer Roane, Porter, and Matthews, voting in favor of post- poning, and John Marshall, Cropper, Benjamin Harrison, Jones (of King George), Eyre, Ruffin, Corbin, Willis Riddick, and Tazewell against it. The postponement was made with a view of consulting the opinions of the people upon it; and the bill was published in hand-bills, with the ayes and noes on postponing it annexed, copies of which were furnished to every member, who was instructed to obtain full information of the public will on the subject.
It has been seen that Nicholas encountered all the leading religious questions of the day, and, although attached to the Episcopal Church, and urged by the eloquent persuasion of his pious mother against all hostile movements aimed at the Church of her affections, he steadily upheld in its broadest sense the doctrine of a disconnection of the State with religious affairs, passing a bowshot beyond Madison himself, and deserves all the credit that flows from such a course of action. On the other hand, it is due to the cause of justice to say that the policy of
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the majority was not only fair and liberal, but tended to multiply and strengthen individual sects instead of aggrandizing any one of them at the expense of others; and that in affording the people an opportunity of deciding whether a contribution should be levied for the support of any particular form of Christian wor- ship which the tax-payer preferred, they acted with deliberation, prudence, and wisdom.
Although the session was occupied with many interesting sub- jects, those already specified embrace the only occasions on which the vote of Nicholas was recorded in the list of ayes and noes. It may be said, however, that in the main he belonged to the younger branch of the great party, of which Henry had long been the leader, engrafting upon the old trunk certain vigorous and fruitful scions from the gardens of "Montpelier" and "Mon- ticello."
He was returned to the House of Delegates at the April elec- · tion of 1785, and in the following October took his seat in the body. He was now to be present and to bear an honorable part in the deliberations of a session which, in the number of distin- guished men who composed the House, in the variety and mag- nitude of the subjects which were discussed and settled, and in the absorbing interest which it naturally excited among the people of all conditions and denominations, civil and religious, was hardly ever exceeded in our annals. It was, indeed, a
glorious school for a young politician. We can readily imagine the sense of responsibility felt by Nicholas when, a few days after taking his seat, he saw Madison rise in his place and report, from the Committee of Courts of Justice (of which he was chair- man), a budget of one hundred and seventeen bills, contained in the Revised Code, and not of a temporary nature, and heard him recite deliberately the title of each.290 To maintain and defend so many important bills was a gigantic task, which no statesman had hitherto attempted, but which Madison, then in his thirty-fifth year, and in the prime and pride of his great powers-and flushed with the glory he had won in the Congress
290 This happened on the 30th of October, 1785. The bills were seve- rally read a second time, says the Journal; but. as a matter of fact, they were not read at all, except in a parliamentary sense, and were referred to a committee of the whole House on the following day.
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of the Confederation-not only undertook, but carried through, with the skill and tact and that ever-abounding illustration that he always brought to bear upon every serious public exhibition of his life. These bills involved almost the entire policy of domestic legislation, and their critical examination and discus- sion were calculated to call forth the finest faculties of the mind and all the wisdom of human experience. Among his associates, beside Madison, the Corypheus of the group, were the veteran Harrison, who, lately Governor, now filled the Speaker's chair, and his old colleague John Tyler, John Taylor (of Caroline), and his namesake (of Southampton), Joseph Prentis, Meriwether Smith, James Innes, French Strother, Cuthbert Bullitt, Stuart (of Augusta) and his venerable colleague Zachariah Johnston, Turberville, Henry Lee (of the Legion), S. Jordan Cabell, Isaac Coles, the Bowyers, the Carys, and many others, who had either attained to distinction or were soon to win it.
Having already reviewed the proceedings of this session, I shall confine myself to a notice of the votes given by Nicholas on the different questions as they arose. His two first votes reflect credit upon his independence, as he voted to send back to the people two prominent men whose elections were contested on just and legal grounds. He succeeded in sending Arthur Lee home; but he failed in the case of Harrison, who, having been beaten by Tyler in Charles City on the first Monday in the past April, moved over with a pot-boiler's outfit to Surry, and on the fourth Monday offered himself as a candidate for the House of Delegates, and was elected. As soon as Harrison took his seat in the House he became a candidate for the chair of the Speaker, which Tyler had filled the year before, and for which his name was now presented to the House, and defeated him. Harrison had no title to a seat in the body, and any other per- son in his position would have been ejected unanimously; but his public services and the Speakership saved him from the fate of Lee.
The subject of the manumission of slaves was discussed on the 13th of December. A report was made from a standing com- mittee, which recommended that so much of the petition of sun- dry citizens of Halifax as prayed for the repeal of the act to authorize the manumission of slaves was reasonable. A motion
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was made to strike out the words "is reasonable" and insert "be rejected," which was lost by the casting vote of the Chair, the House being equally divided; Nicholas voting against striking out (that is, in favor of the repeal of the act to author- ize the manumission of slaves) and Madison voting for striking out (that is, against the repeal). The main question was then put on the resolution as reported, and, some two or three members coming in, it was decided in the affirmative by a vote of fifty- one to fifty-two-a majority of a single vote. This decision would seem to show how equally divided the politicians of that day were on the subject of manumission. Present public senti- ment sustains the vote which Nicholas gave on this occasion.
The same subject was renewed on the 24th of December. The bill carrying into effect the report of the committee, which had been approved by the House, was read the first time, and when the question was on its second reading, it was rejected by . the decided vote of fifty-two to thirty-five-Nicholas in favor of the second reading and Madison against it. There must have been something in the details of the bill offensive to the House; for as soon as it was rejected a committee-of which Nicholas was a member-was ordered to bring in a bill to repeal the act in question, which was duly brought in and passed, under the title of an act concerning slaves, without a division.
When the celebrated bill for establishing religious freedom came up on its second reading,231 on a motion to strike out the preamble from the pen of Jefferson and insert the sixteenth section of the Declaration of Rights in its stead, Nicholas voted with the majority against the amendment; and when the bill was read a third time, on the following day, he was one of the large majority (seventy-four to twenty) which voted for its passage. And when the bill came back from the Senate again and again, with the amendments of that body, he always voted to retain, as far as possible, the language of its author and its catholic spirit.292
Those who voted for the bill for establishing religious freedom merit the applause of their country. They gave to the world a
291 December 16, 1785.
292 The bill was bandied between the two houses for nearly a fortnight. For a correct view of the original bill, with the amendments in a single view, see Randall's Life of Jefferson, Vol. I, 219.
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conspicuous and deliberate example of liberal legislation on the question of religion, and showed that, at that early day, they fully appreciated the subject in all its bearings. What could fairly be done by act of Assembly they accomplished. But while history bestows all fair and liberal praise upon the friends of the bill, it is due to justice not to visit with harsh censure the small minority of members whose votes are recorded against it. The truth is that, in a certain sense, the bill came too late. Had it been passed when it was written by its author, its effect would have been original as well as conclusive. But it had been kept back seven or eight years, and until the substantial policy which it prescribed was secured by law. The equality of all sects had already been recognized and established, and the same privileges were offered to all. With this view of the case, those who voted against the bill, while they regarded it as effecting no new or real change in existing laws, were strongly inclined to interpret the language of the preamble as in some instances hostile to the orthodox doctrines of the Christian religion. 293 Hence they sought to substitute for the long preamble, with its questionable theology, the seventh section of the Declaration of Rights, which was succinct, thorough, explicit-covering the whole ground of religious freedom-and, from its origin, imparting dignity and authority to the act, while it was wholly free from religious ambiguity. It is also probable that the minority were favorable to the policy of assessments-a policy which Patrick Henry, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and other illustrious patriots approved, and which was not only compatible with the bitterest hostility to an establishment, but actually rendered the existence of such an institution impossible; and though they believed that the bill establishing religious freedom did not necessarily condemn the policy of assessments, as recorded in the bill, to carry that purpose into effect, yet that such a meaning might be placed upon it; and they preferred that the policy of assessments should be decided independently and on its own merits. A glance at the names of the minority will detect those
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293 It should be remembered that the bill, as we now have it, was freed by the Senate from some strong objections which pious men might entertain to its details; but when the bill passed the House of Delegates, on the 17th, it contained these objectionable parts.
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of some of the purest, most liberal, and most undaunted Repub- licans of their times. 294
On the 11th of January, 1786, an engrossed bill to amend the act restricting foreign vessels to certain ports within the Common- wealth was put upon its passage, and was carried by a vote of fifty to forty-six -- Nicholas happening to be out of the House at the time. With his usual policy Madison sustained the bill.
Numerous and important as were the subjects discussed and settled during the session, one of the most memorable, not only in our own State but throughout the Union, was reserved to the last day. Soon after the Journal was read John Tyler rose in his place and offered the following resolution:
" Resolved, That Edmund Randolph, James Madison, Walter Jones, Saint George Tucker, and Meriwether Smith, Esqs., be appointed commissioners, who, or any three of whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appointed by the other States in the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situations and trade of the said States; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent har- mony; and to report to the several States such an act relative to
294 In my assumed character of attorney for the Commonwealth of the past, though I shall not hesitate to condemn any man or measure when it is just so to do, I abhor any indirect reflection on the men and measures of the early days of the Commonwealth. One of the minority against the bill was that sterling patriot, John Page, the class- niate of Jefferson and his life long friend-the only member of the Council of Dunmore who stood up for Patrick Henry in his powder foray. Throughout the war he was a true patriot and a thorough Republican. As a member of the first Congress under the present Constitution, and as a Republican elector of ISoo, he rendered most efficient service to his country, which was recognized by the Assembly when they conferred the office of Governor upon him. His paper, addressed to Meriwether Jones, when that gentleman was collecting materials for a continuation of Burk, is thoroughly democratic. In Church and State he was ever fair and liberal. In private life he was so pure that he was requested, as we are told by Bishop Meade, to take orders, that he might be elected the Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Virginia. He died at Richmond October 11, 1808; aged sixty-four. Peace and honor to his gentle and gracious memory.
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this great object as, when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress effectually to provide for the same."
It was twice read and agreed to without a division. Matthews was ordered to take it immediately to the Senate, which body acted on it forthwith and approved it, with certain amendments. The House concurred in some of the amendments and refused to concur in others. Matthews again took the bill to the Senate, which receded from its amendments, and the resolution was a la w. 295 Annapolis was chosen as the place of meeting; and measures were there and then adopted which resulted in the call of the General Convention which formed the present Federal Constitution. How short is the space traversed by the vision of the wisest men! Had Tyler been re-elected at the beginning of the session to the Speaker's chair, the loss of which, under the circumstances, was deeply mortifying to him, he could not have taken the honorable part in debate at this important juncture which now confers so much credit upon his character; nor could he have made a solitary motion on the floor of the House; and he would have forfeited the honor of having offered a resolution which may be said to have laid the corner-stone of the Federal Constitution, and which will cause his remotest posterity to rejoice in the glory of their ancestor. I doubt not that Nicholas, who was the neighbor and the intimate friend of Madison through life, was privy to the plan of presenting the resolution by the hands of a leading member of the majority at this late stage of the session; and though he did not offer it himself, he cordially approved it, and in this way connected his name honor- ably with an extraordinary epoch.
Having obtained a competent knowledge of the conduct of public bodies and of the prominent politicians of the State, and having been engaged in the adjustment of some of the most delicate and interesting questions of the day, Nicholas now with- drew for a season from public life and devoted his attention to his private affairs. It was not until the assembling of the pres- ent Convention, on the 2d day of June, 1788, that he appeared in a public body. He was returned, as the colleague of his brother George, from the county of Albemarle; and, though he
205 See the history of the resolution treated in detail, ante.
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did not engage formally in debate, he was regarded as one of the most useful and most effective friends of the new Federal system. His votes have already been recorded; and it will suffice to say that he opposed the scheme of previous amendments and voted in favor of the ratification of the Constitution. When the Con- vention adjourned he returned to Albemarle and embarked with fresh zest in agricultural pursuits, which, above all the honors of political life which he lived to attain, were the source of his purest enjoyments.
The adoption of the Federal Constitution had wrought a material change in our political system. The progress of the new administration was watched with the strictest vigilance; but the subject which more particularly attracted the attention of a large majority of the Assembly and of the people was the proba- ble fate of the amendments, which Virginia had proposed by her Convention, to the Constitution. One session of the new Con- gress had been held, and some of the amendments had been adopted, but the fate of others was deemed very uncertain. The Assembly met on the 19th day of October, 1789, and Nicholas appeared in the House of Delegates as a member from Albemarle. He saw in the chair of the Speaker Thomas Mat- thews, with whom he had previously served in the House and lately in the Convention; and among the members-though Tazewell and Prentis had been translated to the bench, and Grayson, Lee, Madison, Coles, Page, Moore, White, and Bland were in the new Congress-were some of the ablest friends and of the most uncompromising opponents of the new government. Patrick Henry, however, was still a member, and Benjamin Har- rison, Edmund Randolph, Dawson, Strother, Henry Lee (of the Legion), Wormeley, Richard Lee, Edward Carrington, Briggs, Edmunds (of Sussex), Norvell, Marshall, and a number of old 'politicians, who, having flung aside forever (as they supposed) the armor of politics, had determined to venture another cam- paign and observe the progress of a fresh political organization.
Hitherto, for the most part, the ruling majority, which, since 1765, had usually controlled the local and, at a later day, the Federal politics of Virginia, had remained unbroken by any seri- ous schism; but in the recent struggles consequent upon the formation of the new Federal system some of its younger and more promising members had favored that scheme, and were in
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a state of isolation in respect of their old friends. Was this state of parties to continue, or were the old majority to unite with the youthful seceders, or were the youthful seceders to return to the fold ? In other words, should the brilliant and accom- plished Edmund Randolph, who happened to be the latest of the seceders, or Patrick Henry, the old and eloquent oracle of the Republican hosts, be the leader of the majority ?
The second day of the session was marked by a deep and ingenious design on the part of the Federalists-as the friends of the Constitution were called. It was proposed that a com- mittee be appointed to prepare an address to President Wash- · ington, declaring the high sense felt by the House of his eminent merit, congratulating him on his exaltation to the first office among freemen, assuring him of their unceasing attachment, and supplicating the Divine benediction on his person and adminis- tration. It passed unanimously. Henry Lee, who doubtless offered the resolution, was appointed chairman of the committee of eight to prepare the address; Nicholas was one of its mem- bers. Of the eight, all were Federalists but two. The address was reported on the 27th, was recommitted, was reported with- out amendment on the following day, and was unanimously adopted.
On the 5th of November Nicholas was placed on a committee to bring in a bill for the cession of ten miles square for the per- manent seat of the Federal Government. Henry Lee, who offered the resolution, was chairman, and Edward Carrington, John Marshall, and Corbin were members. It is remarkable that there was not an opponent of the Constitution on the com- mittee, which was appointed by the Speaker, who was a Fede- ralist. The bill was duly reported, and passed both houses. This was the first connection of Nicholas with the ten miles square, within which, in the process of time, he was to act a conspicuous part. Nicholas opposed the bill for regulating and fixing the salaries of the officers of civil government, which pre- vailed by a vote of seventy to sixty five. I hope that the ground of his opposition was the meanness of the salaries. When the test question concerning the payment of the taxes in specie came up on the 13th of November, which seems to have settled the subject in favor of hard money, he happened to be out of the House.
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The first regular skirmish between the new parties occurred on the 5th of December on a resolution reported from the Com- mittee of the Whole, which declared that the Assembly ought to call the attention of Congress to the propriety of acting on the amendments to the Constitution · proposed by Virginia, not included in those already acted upon. A motion was made to strike out the resolution entirely and insert a more stringent one in its place, and was negatived by the casting vote of the Speaker-the vote being sixty-two to sixty-two. Henry was absent, and Randolph, Marshall, and Nicholas carried the day by the aid of the Speaker.
The act for establishing religious freedom was not altogether conclusive of all the topics connected with the late establishment; and the Baptist Association petitioned for a sequestration of the glebes. Their memorial was referred to the Committee of Reli- gion, which (November 27th), reported that the disposition of church property was a serious question, not to be decided in haste, and that it ought to be referred to the people. A motion was made to amend the report by substituting in its stead an amendment, which declared that the House would uphold the act for establishing religious freedom forever; that the contest for the glebes, churches, and chapels was not a religious question, but should be decided by the rules of private property, etc. The report and amendment were then referred to the Committee of the Whole, which reported (December 9th) a resolution post- poning the Baptist memorial, with its appendages, to the 3Ist day of March next. The resolution prevailed by a vote of sixty-nine to fifty-eight-Nicholas, William Cabell, Jr., Edmund Randolph, John Marshall, Mann Page, Clement Carrington, Norvell, King, Booker, Henry Lee (of the Legion), and others in favor of postponing, and Johnston, John Trigg, James Breck- enridge, Prunty, Vanmeter, Green Clay, Crockett, McClerry, McKee, Hugh Caperton, and others against it. The vote plainly indicated a geographical caste, the East voting in the affirmative and the West in the negative. When we estimate the comparatively small value of the property in question-its position, the doubt and uncertainty likely to result from the contest for its possession, during which the houses would be turned into ruins, to say nothing of the public time and money spent therein, and the prejudices engendered during the strife-it
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would have been wise to adopt the amendment, which referred the right of property in the glebes and buildings to the courts of law, where, at this stage of the contest, it certainly belonged; and it is to the credit of Nicholas that he took this view of so perplexing a question.
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