This is a brief summary of our one hour discussion.
This special edition of the American Revolution podcast features a discussion with author Kia Kennedy about his new book, "The Ride, Paul Revere, and The Night That Saved America". The discussion centers around the events leading up to the Battles of Lexington and Concord and Paul Revere's crucial role.
Kennedy was drawn to Revere both personally, recalling his childhood fascination with Longfellow's poem, and intellectually, admiring Revere's ability to rise to the occasion during a pivotal moment in history. Unlike many other Founding Fathers who were wealthy and educated elites, Revere was a tradesman, a silversmith, which makes his close relationships with figures like John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren remarkable.
Freemasonry played a significant role in Revere's life, initially as a networking opportunity for his business and later as a forum for exchanging ideas. Although there were different lodges with varying social demographics, their charters and agendas were not explicitly political, but rather social groupings.
The enduring fame of Paul Revere is largely attributed to Longfellow's poem, written 85 years later as a call to action against slavery. While the poem took some poetic liberties, it captured the spirit of Revere's actions and transformed him into a powerful symbol and rallying cry that continues to be used today. Even without the poem, Revere was considered the principal rider of the revolution prior to his famous ride.
The discussion addresses the historical treatment of William Dawes, the other rider that night. While Dawes is sometimes presented as having been unjustly overshadowed by Revere, the sources suggest that Revere was the primary figure who successfully alerted the countryside. Revere himself mentioned Dawes in his account. The idea that Revere was drunk or ineffective is considered "poppycock".
The events leading up to the ride, including the Powder Alarm, highlighted the need for a rapid response system among the Patriots. It is suspected that Revere played a key role in organizing a "phone tree" system to quickly mobilize the militia. Revere was a trusted messenger for the Patriots, delivering news about the Powder Alarm to Philadelphia. The use of lanterns in the Old North Church was another method, devised by Revere, to signal the British movements.
On the night of April 18th, 1775, Joseph Warren dispatched both Revere and Dawes to warn Hancock and Adams in Lexington about the movement of British troops from Boston. Revere crossed Boston Harbor by boat, evading British naval ships, while Dawes left Boston via land before the curfew. Revere arrived in Lexington before Dawes despite leaving later and facing more obstacles.
On their way to Concord, Revere and Dawes were joined by Samuel Prescott. The three were intercepted by British soldiers, leading to Revere's capture. Prescott was the only one of the three to reach Concord and alert the town. Revere, during his capture, informed the British soldiers about the impending Patriot response. The British captors eventually released Revere and the other captured Patriots as they realized their vulnerable position.
The discussion touches on the motivations of British General Thomas Gage, who, despite orders from London, was hesitant to arrest Patriot leaders like Hancock and Adams, possibly fearing it would ignite a war before reinforcements arrived. Gage likely viewed the expedition to Lexington and Concord as another raid to secure arms, similar to events at Portsmouth and the Powder Alarm. However, the Patriots' organized response, as seen in Leslie's Retreat and the retrieval of arms from Portsmouth by Revere, demonstrated their preparedness.
The participants also discuss the Minutemen, a select subgroup of the militia who were prepared to mobilize at a moment's notice.
Financially, Revere was paid for his services as a rider and had earned a good income as a silversmith earlier in his life. John Hancock was a significant financier of the Patriot movement.
The discussion briefly considers an alternative historical scenario where the British successfully captured Hancock and Adams and seized the stores at Concord. The consensus is that this would have been a devastating blow to the Patriot cause, potentially delaying American independence significantly. However, it is also argued that the Patriot spirit of resistance would likely have persisted.
The location where Hancock and Adams went after the battles was Woburn. Revere returned to Lexington to retrieve Hancock's forgotten trunk, which contained important Patriot papers, and was present when the first shots were fired.
There is no known direct meeting between George Washington and Paul Revere, although Revere was involved in the Massachusetts militia and may have had indirect contact.
The discussion briefly addresses Revere's involvement in dentistry and how it later helped identify Dr. Warren's body.
When asked about comparisons to David Hackett Fischer's book on the subject, Kennedy expressed respect for the work but noted differences in emphasis and interpretation, particularly regarding General Gage.
Kennedy's book, The Ride, was released on March 25th.
Last week, we covered how the Constitutional Convention spent about three days setting up the procedures that they would follow and selecting officers to run the Convention.
On Wednesday, May 30,1787, the Committee of the Whole finally got down to business. Chairman Nathaniel Gorham brought the committee to order. Their first point of discussion was the Virginia Plan, introduced by Edmund Randolph, but largely written by James Madison.
Before we dive into that, I want to say that, typically with this podcast, I’ve tried to stick to events in chronological order. I’m going to depart from this slightly for the next few weeks. I want to focus on several of the Constitutional debates that occurred during the convention. But the delegates did not just deal with one issue and then move on to the next. Instead, they debated an issue for a while, they went on to another, then came back to the first one again. Since I want to focus on this important event over a few episodes, I’m going to take a look at a particular issue or set of issues in each episode, then cover the debate over the course of the entire convention until the delegates reached a final outcome.
Representation in Congress
The biggest issue to be tackled by the convention was how the states would be represented in Congress. In the Continental Congress, as in the convention itself, each state received one vote. It did not matter that more than ten times as many people lived in Virginia as did in Delaware, both states got the same one vote. From the perspective of the Confederation Congress, this made sense. The Congress was simply a coordinating body between the states on how to deal with Britain and run the war. It was not involved in making the bulk of the laws that impacted people. It served essentially as a regional international body that coordinated affairs on behalf of the sovereign states which needed to work together.
Supporters of proportional representation saw this new congress as something that would have more regulatory power. These representatives in this new congress would be elected directly by the people and would legislate on their behalf. It made no sense that some people would have much greater say in congress, simply because they lived in a state that had a smaller population. The seven smallest states made up only about a quarter of the population, but would have a majority say in Congress. That was simply anti-democratic.
Supporters of equal votes for states were more concerned about competing state interests. Many small states had suffered from having to give in to their larger and more powerful neighbors. Larger states had frequently set up systems to their own advantage. Large states would not even have to consider the interests of smaller states. Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts contained a majority of the entire population. If they could agree on things, they would never need to do anything that served the interests of the other states.
Before the convention had even begun the Pennsylvania delegates had suggested that proportional representation be a given in the new government. Anything else would make this new government a collection of states rather than a single united country. When Delaware’s delegation showed up with instructions that they could not even negotiate on the matter of equal representation of states, it showed that there were many on each side that were fundamentally unwilling to negotiate on this point.
On the very first day of debate, George Reed told the delegates that the Delaware delegation was prepared to walk out and leave the convention if the delegates voted for proportional representation. It appears that the majority was prepared to support it, no one wanted Delaware to leave on the first day. After some consideration, they tabled the debate on the issue and moved on to other things.
The issue lay dormant for a couple of weeks until on June 9, William Paterson of New Jersey called for the debate to be renewed. New Jersey was a leading supporter of equal votes for states. It was relatively small and was threatened by its larger Pennsylvania and New York neighbors. The same day that the debate renewed, another leading advocate of the equal votes system arrived at Congress, Luther Martin of Maryland.
The New Jersey delegates argued for a continuation of equal state representation. In addition to the argument that small states would be overwhelmed in a proportional system, they also argued that the convention did not have the authority to make such fundamental changes to the Confederation Congress. They were there to suggest a few additional powers, not fundamentally rewrite the power structure. In response to arguments that that proportional representation was critical to making the government accountable to the people, another New Jersey Delegate, David Brearly offered, a suggestion. Rather sarcastically, he noted that if states no longer mattered, perhaps they should just redraw all the state lines so that all the states had an equal population. He knew full well that the larger states were not going to shrink in size so that other states neighbors could grow.
By the end of the day, everyone realized that the majority still supported proportional representation. The equal states faction once again requested the matter be tabled.
New Jersey Plan
The following week, on June 15, Paterson proposed an entirely new plan in place of the Virginia Plan. He introduced what came to be known as the New Jersey Plan. This plan looked much more like what many delegates had envisioned when discussing a federal convention designed to amend the Articles of Confederation, not replace it with a completely new government.
Under the New Jersey Plan, voting in Congress would work the same as it always had under the Articles of Confederation. There would be a single house and each state would receive one vote.
Supporters of this plan noted that this convention was not called to create a national government. It was designed to make some amendments to the Articles of Confederation to make it more workable. This Confederation consisted of a group of sovereign states that worked together for their common interests. Creating a Congress where states were represented by population would mean that smaller sovereign states would essentially lose their sovereign status. They would have no way to prevent larger states from imposing their will on the other states. Equal voting by states was critical to the sovereignty of smaller states.
Further, there was no need for two houses of Congress. Each state had a vote in Congress. Gumming up this process with some elitist second house that could thwart the will of the representative house went against the idea of self-government. This notion of an upper-house was similar to the House of Lords in Britain. There was a small group of elites who could thwart the more popular house based on no real legitimate basis, only their elite status. A single house in Congress was just fine.
So, essentially leaving the basic structure of the Continental Congress as is, the New Jersey plan went on to address the real changes that its supporters thought were necessary to amend the Articles of Confederation.
One of the big problems in the Confederation Congress was the inability to raise money to pay off war debts and other debts. This plan authorized congress to tax imports, impose a stamp tax, and through postage fees. Tax evaders would be tried in state courts, but with appeals going to a new federal judiciary.
Congress could also raise additional funds by demanding funds based on a state’s population, including 3/5 of all slaves. The Confederation Congress already had this power, but the plan advocates suggested giving Congress greater powers of enforcement.
The New Jersey Plan also recommended an executive branch, perhaps a committee, that would be in control of the military and other necessary government functions. The executive could be removed by a majority of state governors.
The plan also recommended the creation of a federal judiciary, appointed by the Executive and which would hear cases involving impeachments of Federal officers, as well as certain appeals from state courts.
The New Jersey Plan declared that laws by Congress would be the supreme law of the land, thus overruling any conflicting state laws. State judges would be required to uphold federal laws. It also gave Congress the power to admit new states into the union, establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and ensure that citizens of each state received equal treatment when they were before courts in other states. That's a quick summary of the New Jersey Plan.
Under this plan, the Congress would not change much at all from the way it operated under the Articles of Confederation. Rather, it simply added executive and judicial branches to the mix. There were a few tweaks like they didn’t need a unanimous vote to requisition taxes from the states, but no major structural changes.
This New Jersey Plan was meant to be a more comprehensive plan, addressing more than simply the question over proportional representation, which is this week's topic. This was meant to serve as a basis for all the changes the Convention should consider. For the prior three weeks, all debate had centered around the Virginia Plan, which had recommended an entirely new form of national government. The New Jersey Plan was designed to bring the overall debate back to the idea of making some reasonable amendments to the Articles of Confederation without completely recreating government from scratch.
These two competing visions would dominate the remainder of the Convention, which still had months of debate to come. For now though, I just want to focus on how the New Jersey Plan shaped debate over the issue of representation in Congress.
Wealth Representation
Before we return to the continuing debate over proportional vs. equal representation, I should mention that there was another proposal for a different kind of representation. Several delegates suggested that representation should be based on wealth. This was raise particularly by the South Carolina Delegation, which thought that its slave population, which was a measure of wealth, and which would be included in any system of taxation by the federal government, should also give them a greater number of votes in the Congress.
The debate over wealth representation was not limited to the slavery question. Gouverneur Morris, who was an outspoken opponent of slavery at the convention, also supported the idea of wealth representation. States which contributed more to the federal government in the form of taxes should also have a greater say in the policies of that government.
The idea of representation being tied to the level of taxes given to the government, and that taxes would be tied to the wealth of each state meant that wealthier states that had more taxes would also get more votes. So this idea had some support in both wealthier free states and in the southern states.
Later in the convention, this idea was dropped. Southern states were happy to let it drop in favor of representation based on population, as long as 3/5ths of their slaves were counted in the population, in order to give the more power. The consensus was that this was going to be a republic, which means people should be represented equally. Wealthier people should not be given additional voting power because of their wealth.
Debate Continues
As a result, the main debate centered around representation based on population vs. equal state representation. New Jersey plan author Paterson pointed out that a proportional plan where states like Delaware and Georgia had two delegates, would require a house of more than 180 delegates to be proportional. A second house half that size would increase the size of Congress to an unworkable 270 people. That seemed absurdly large and would be a great expense to operate. A single house legislature did not need a second house as a check. The executive council and the states served as a check on the federal legislature. That was all that was needed.
All of that day, Friday, and the next Saturday, the delegates argued over the two plans. James Wilson of Pennsylvania was one of the strongest advocates for proportional representation. From his point of view, the government was supposed to be from the people. It was the people who should be represented, not the states. If each state had equal representation, the people of some states would simply be more powerful than others. That was completely unacceptable.
Ironically, at the time, Wilson’s home state of Pennsylvania did not have proportional representation. Each county, plus the city of Philadelphia, had six representatives. That was the same, regardless of population. Some counties had over 30,000 and some had less than 5000, yet each county had the same representation in Pennsylvania's state legislature.
The following day was a Sunday, so both sides had a chance to regroup and consider other options. On Monday, Alexander Hamilton took the floor for the entire day, criticizing both the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. This was the longest speech given at the convention. Hamilton was, by far, the most extreme nationalist at the convention. He proposed a government that had proportional representation. But he wanted an elected chief executive who would sit for life and who would appoint all of the state governors. The president would also have the power to veto all state and local laws.
This was much closer to the colonial model where a king, sitting for life, would appoint all colonial governors. In fact, Hamilton said that he considered the British model of government, as it was practiced in Britain, “the best in the world.” Many of Hamilton’s extreme views were shared by no one else at the convention. He could not even get anyone to second his motion to introduce his plan. Many began calling him a monarchist. His speech did, however, have the effect of making the Virginia Plan’s radical changes seem more moderate in comparison.
The following day, Madison attacked the New Jersey Plan. He argued that it did not fix the major defects that existed in the Articles of Confederation. The states would continue to hold too much power, leaving the federal government impotent. Foreign powers would continue to try to drive a wedge by negotiating directly with the states.
At the end of the day, a vote was called on the issue. The delegates voted in favor of proportional representation. By a vote of 7-3-1. New York’s delegation, despite being a fairly large state, voted in the minority, with the other two delegates outvoting Hamilton. New Jersey, and Delaware also voted in the minority. Maryland had only two delegates present, cancelling out each other’s vote.
For the rest of the week, the convention debated a number of other issues related to the Virginia Plan, but the equal states faction were not happy. The only reason they did not walk out of the convention was a hope that they could revisit the issue again. Delegates realized that even if a majority supported proportional representation, if that meant that four or five states might refuse to join the union under those terms, that would be devastating.
Connecticut Compromise
There was, of course, an obvious compromise. As early as June 11, even before the introduction of the New Jersey Plan, Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman raised the idea of having the states represented equally in the Senate while having proportional representation in the House. Neither side was happy with the idea at the time. The equal states faction still only wanted a single body legislature. The proportional votes faction saw they had majority support and did not want to give the small states more power in either legislative body.
For the rest of June, the convention did not really reconsider the vote to have proportional representation in both houses. The equal states faction accepted the reality that they best they could get was equal representation in a single house. That was the so-called Connecticut Compromise, since it had been first introduced by Roger Sherman of Connecticut.
The minority equal states faction still had the power to walk and prevent the convention from having any chance at all for ratification. Just before the Fourth of July break, Franklin suggested the creation of a “grand committee” to come up with an acceptable compromise. The committee could consist of one delegate from each state. Most of the hard core advocates of proportional representation, men like Hamilton, Wilson, and Madison were not placed on the committee.
On July 5, the committee’s chairman, Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, reported the committee’s recommendation that the Senate have equal representation for each state and that the House have proportional representation based on population.
The committee’s recommendations did not settle the matter. The proportionalists, who knew the majority supported their views, continued to fight. Madison, Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris continued to argue for proportional representation in both houses over the next ten days. Their argument was essentially that the small states benefited the most from a union of states and would not walk away from this. If they did, the large states would probably eventually just conquer the smaller states in open warfare and eventually absorb them. No one wanted that.
Charles Pinckney proposed a compromise that would put the states into different classes in the Senate. Larger states would have more representatives in the Senate, but the smaller states would still get disproportionately larger representation than their population justified. Wilson and Madison got on board with the plan. They hoped it would be enough for the small states. The small states, however, suspected they could win on equal representation in the Senate, voted down the compromise.
The following day, July 16, the delegates held a vote on the Grand Committee recommendations. They approved it 5-4. Connecticut and North Carolina accepted the compromise, along with smaller states New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. New York probably would have voted yes as well, but its delegates had already left the convention, and so New York did not vote at all. Massachusetts was tied and did not vote.
While the hard core supporters of proportional representation, men like Madison and Wilson, were not happy with this outcome, they accepted the result and did not try to revisit the issue for the rest of the convention.
Next week, we’ll look at the other issues regarding the creation of a new federal Congress.
- - -
Next Episode 348 Convention Creates a Legislature (coming soon)
T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, pillows, totes, notebooks, wall art, and more. Get your favorite American Revolution logo today. Help support this podcast. https://merch.amrevpodcast.com
American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give. Make a one time donation through my PayPal account. You may also donate via Venmo (@Michael-Troy-20) or Zelle (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)
You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber. This is an option making monthly pledges. Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.
An alternative to Patreon is SubscribeStar. For anyone who has problems with Patreon, you can get the same benefits by subscribing at SubscribeStar.
Help Support this podcast on "BuyMeACoffee.com"
Visit the American Revolution Podcast Bookshop. Support local bookstores and this podcast!
Last week we covered the events leading up to the Constitutional Convention. This week, we will take a look at the start of the convention and how the delegates set up the procedures for the convention itself.
The Convention Begins
As I mentioned last week, the Convention was supposed to begin on Monday May 14, 1787. Only two state delegations showed up that day, so the delegates that did just had to sit around and wait. Many of them used that time to chat informally amongst themselves, hanging out in bars or in someone’s parlor to exchange ideas.
I guess technically there was no minimum requirement since the Convention had not yet set any standards. The delegates, however, did not want to look like a tiny minority was setting rules for everyone else. They informally accepted the requirement under the Articles of Confederation that delegates from at least seven states, in other words a majority of the thirteen states, were present.
The delegates had to wait nearly two weeks until the New Jersey delegation finally showed up on Friday, May 25. They were the seventh state delegation to show up, enough to make a quorum and begin their business. There were at least partial delegations from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. There was also a single delegate from Massachusetts and one from Georgia. But the Convention decided that at least two delegates must be present from each state in order to represent that state.
The convention met in the east room of the Pennsylvania State House, what we call Independence Hall today. This was the same 40x40 foot room where the Continental Congress had met when it was in Philadelphia. By this time, of course, the Continental Congress had been meeting in New York city for several years.
The room was set up with tables so that each state delegation could sit together. The tables were covered with green table cloths that matched the window drapes, and surrounded by wooden Windsor chairs. The delegations were arranged by geography with the northern state delegations seated at tables at the northern end of the room, then the middle state delegations in the middle, and the southern delegations on the southern side of the room.
There were never more than eleven delegations there at any time. Rhode Island never sent a delegation. The New Hampshire delegation did not arrive until July. By the time New Hampshire arrived, the New York delegation had left. The states had selected a total of seventy-four men to serve as delegates. Only 55 of those actually attended the convention. Many of the conventions came and went, being absent sometimes for days or weeks at a time. On most days, there were probably no more than thirty or forty delegates present. Of those, maybe about twenty of them formed the hard core that were there for most of the Convention and did most of the work on the Constitution.
On that first day, the convention accepted the credentials of the 29 delegates from seven states that were present that day. Normally, this would be a rather boring and pro forma event. But when the Delaware delegation presented its credentials, it noted its instructions required that the delegation not accept any change that altered the one-state, one-vote power structure that existed in the Articles of Confederation. Since there were a great many delegates who thought that was one of the biggest problems that needed to be fixed, those limiting instructions which set a line in the sand before debate even began, created an immediate frustration. That said, this was not the time to argue over that. Such a time would come later.
With the state delegation credentials completed, the next thing for the Convention was to pick a president. That is, someone to preside over the Convention. There really was no debate over this. Robert Morris of Pennsylvania rose to nominate George Washington. The honor of nominating Washington was supposed to go to Benjamin Franklin, but he was too sick to attend that day. The 81 year old Franklin was becoming quite enfeebled by this time, frequently bedridden with gout or other ailments. Franklin had to be carried to the convention. The warden of the Walnut Street Prison had sent trustee-prisoners, four of them, to carry Franklin in a sedan chair from his home which was about a block and a half from the state house. Despite his condition, Franklin had made the trip several times, only to have to turn around and go home due to the lack of a quorum. It’s not clear why Franklin stayed home on the Friday when the convention finally reached a quorum. By some accounts, he was having a flare up of his kidney stones. It was also raining particularly hard that morning. For whatever reason, Franklin missed the first day, and requested that Robert Morris take up the honor of nominating Washington as president.
Typically a nomination might begin by singing the praises of the nominee. In this case, there was little need. Everyone knew Washington was the man. Morris only noted that he made the nomination on behalf of instructions by the Pennsylvania state delegation. John Rutledge of South Carolina was given the honor of seconding Washington’s nomination. He only added that he was confident that the choice would be unanimous. He was right. It was unanimous. No one else was even nominated.
Washington rose to thank the Convention for the honor, then fell into a short “aw shucks” response, much like when he was selected as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. He told the delegates he lamented his lack of better qualifications and asked for their indulgence in advance for any errors he might make.
When Morris and Rutledge escorted Washington to the chair, Madison took a seat right in front of Washington so that he could take notes. Madison had appointed himself to take notes. No one asked him to do this.
In fact, Congress selected William Jackson to serve as the Convention’s secretary on that first day as well. Jackson was responsible for taking notes during the Convention. Jackson had been an aide-de-camp to General Benjamin Lincoln during the war. After the war, he became an attorney and acted as a business agent for Robert Morris. This appears to have been the most contentious vote of the day. James Wilson of Pennsylvania nominated Benjamin Franklin’s grandson, Temple Franklin to serve as secretary. Again, I would have guessed Benjamin Franklin himself would have made the nomination had he not been sick in bed. Hamilton nominated Jackson. The vote by state went for Jackson by a vote of five to two.
So why was Madison taking notes when it was Jackson's job to do this? Madison did not trust Jackson, or anyone else, to keep a full record of the debates. On that point he was correct. Jackson only recorded formal motions and votes. He did not record any of the debate over those motions. Madison believed the record of the debates would be very important and therefore took it upon himself to record them. As a result, Madison’s notes are the best record we have of the debates at the Convention.
The Convention did not really dive into any other issues that day. Instead, it also appointed Nicholas Weaver as the messenger for the convention and Joseph Fry as door-keeper. Both men served in similar roles for the Pennsylvania legislature which normally met in that same room.
With the clerical appointments done, the delegates turned to the creation of a rules committee that would determine how the Convention would work. After that it adjourned until Monday.
Rules of the Convention
George Wythe of Virginia would serve as chair the rules committee. He was a longtime attorney and legislator who had served in the Virginia legislature for decades and had also served in the Continental Congress. In Virginia, he had served on the committee, along with Thomas Jefferson, to re-codify all of the state’s laws after independence. He also served as a judge and a law professor during and after the war.
Also appointed to the rules committee was Charles Pickney of South Carolina. Pickney was one of the youngest delegates at the convention, still in his late 20s. He was a Charleston lawyer, and had served in the South Carolina militia during the war. He had been taken prisoner when the British captured Charleston in 1780. Since he was a militia officer, and not a Continental officer, he was paroled after a few months. He served in the Continental Congress after the war and had been a vocal advocate in the Congress to approve this Convention.
The final member of the committee was New York delegate, Alexander Hamilton. I'm not going to get into much detail on Hamilton's background. You should know this already. He was about the same age as Pickney. Hamilton had served as an aide to Washington during the war, before moving to an independent command. He was appointed to the Continental Congress near the end of the war
After the war, he began a legal practice in New York City. Marrying into the powerful Schuyler family, increased Hamilton’s stature, but he had a pretty strong reputation on his own for a young man with no respected family of his own.
Hamilton had a reputation of dominating most committees where he was appointed. But by most accounts, Wythe dominated the drafting of the rule. Hamilton certainly had input, but Wythe chaired the committee and was very much the senior to the other two members.
The committee worked over the weekend and reported the rules on Monday. By that time a few more delegates had arrived, including delegates from Connecticut and Maryland. This brought the total number of state delegations to nine.
The delegates voted on the recommendations of the rules committee. One of the most controversial rules, at least for those not in attendance at the convention, was secrecy. In order to encourage free and open debate on all issues, there would be no public records of the debates. Delegates had to take an oath that they would not speak or write about anything that happened during the convention until after it had ended. Sentries would be stationed by the doors to prevent any spectators or journalists from trying to overhear debates. At one point during the debates, they moved upstairs to a second floor room in the State House so they could open windows to help endure the summer heat, but wanted to make sure people were not listening by the open windows.
The rule regarding secrecy might seem rather anti-democratic today. But keep in mind that the convention was not really a group of lawmakers. They were there simply to come up with recommendations for other people to enact.
The members took the secrecy requirement very seriously. George Washington even stopped recording discussions in his private diary. There were a few minor leaks. French officials recorded some information about the convention in letters home, indicating they had talked to someone inside. At one point, early in the convention, someone dropped a copy of the Virginia plan outside the meeting chamber. Washington sternly admonished the delegates to be more careful. There were a few private letters that were later discovered to have discussed some matters before the convention, but amazingly nothing really found itself into the public newspapers or the public discourse until the convention ended.
A second rule involved reconsideration of votes. They would take votes on issues over the course of the convention, but a vote deciding a matter would not mean it was final. Delegates could bring any matter up for reconsideration, as long as they gave a day’s notice. While there was an argument that this could prevent the convention from actually making any progress since no issue would ever be finalized, it was necessary since votes on controversial issues might cause some delegations to walk out of the convention. Knowing that they could have a chance to reconsider the matter in the future meant that they could stay and continue to debate.
Voting would be done by state, not by individuals. Since states had sent wildly differing sized delegations, and those delegation sizes had nothing to do with the size or power of the state, offering individual votes made little sense. For example, New York had three delegates present. Delaware had five. The Pennsylvania delegation wanted each delegation to have voting power more proportionate with its own population, but several delegations from small states threatened to walk out. In the end, the delegates agreed that each state delegation would decide amongst themselves how that state would cast its single vote.
The delegates also agreed that a quorum to do any business would require the presence of delegates from at least seven states. The convention also approved some more basic rules, like an instruction that memes would not read, gossip among themselves, nor interrupt when someone else was speaking. Anyone speaking would address their remarks to the President, and that no delegate, unless given special leave, would speak twice on a subject before every delegate had a chance to speak. Any member who spoke out of order could be called to order, not only by the chair, but by any other delegate. There were other basic rules of procedure, which I won’t cover in more detail here. No one wants me to discuss parliamentary procedure for the entire episode.
The rules committee also recommended a rule that any delegate could call for a roll-call vote on any motion. The majority of delegates voted down this recommendation. George Mason argued that putting delegates on the record with a position might make it more difficult for them to change their minds later. Following the establishment of the rules for the convention, the delegates adjourned for the day.
While not a formal rule, the convention met for about five hours a day, six days a week, taking off only Sundays and for the Fourth of July holiday. There would also be a break later in the summer. The reason for relatively short days in session was that it gave delegates time to go out and have even more informal discussions with each other as a way of coming to consensus. Because of the secrecy rule, they could not speak with others outside the Convention, but could speak with each other in a more casual environment.
Introducing the Virginia Plan
The following day, Edmund Randolph of Virginia rose to introduce the resolution that the Articles of Confederation ought to be “corrected and enlarged” to ensure the “common defense, security of Liberty, and general welfare.” This made clear at the outset that the convention was going to have a broad mandate, not just matters of trade.
His introductory speech mentioned the commercial discord that had arisen between states, some states like Massachusetts had dealt with internal rebellions, paper money was causing havoc, and states were violating treaties. The current articles gave the Congress no power to prepare for foreign invasions, to enforce treaties, to raise money, to establish commercial regulations, or really prevent the states from doing anything they wanted. He feared the United States could fall into anarchy and fulfill the prophecies of those who predicted that a republic could not stand on its own without a king.
As head of the Virginia delegation, Governor Randolph introduced Madison’s draft plan for a new constitution, the so-called Virginia Plan that I discussed last week. Among its more controversial recommendations was a congress where states would be represented by population rather than the old one-state, one-vote standard. Again, I won’t go over all the proposals again here, but we will get into them as the debate begins.
The important thing to remember is that it was the Virginia Plan that would become the basis of discussion as the Convention began its debate.
Committee of the Whole
To begin debate on the Virginia Plan, the Convention voted to meet as a Committee of the Whole. This was a common parliamentary fiction used at the time, and still used today. A committee of the whole means everyone at the convention sat on the committee. The point of doing this was to allow debate and discussion to remain informal and to avoid the more rigid parliamentary rules that would apply when the Convention met in regular session.
It also meant that Washington would not have to sit at the head of the Convention all day, every day. The convention voted Nathaniel Gorham to sit as chairman of the Committee of the Whole. During this time, Washington took his seat with the Virginia delegation and acted just like any other delegate. In this role, Washington was free to debate just like any other delegate. Even so, the general mostly kept his mouth shut. He only rose to speak once during the entire convention, and it was on a relatively minor point near the end of the convention.
Washington knew that his name and reputation gave his words far more power than he would have liked. He did not want to be seen as bullying the delegates. Even simply by arguing a point just like any other delegate, he words would have more power and receive more deference than any other delegate would get. Instead, he kept a low profile. This is not to say that he never expressed an opinion. Washington regularly spent time outside of the convention, speaking informally with other delegates and sharing his opinion on things. He just didn’t want to be seen as dominating the debate at the convention itself. While the delegates debated in the Committee of the Whole, Washington tried to stay above the fray.
Gorham of Massachusetts was a long time legislator, serving in the Provincial Congress and the Massachusetts legislature. He was also a delegate at the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention and a state judge. Gorham had also recently served as President of the Continental Congress.
The selection of Gorham appears to have been pretty uncontroversial, and perhaps decided in outside discussions ahead of time. The vote was seven to one, with the one vote going to John Rutledge of South Carolina. The vote was taken in secret, but I’ve seen other historians speculate that the vote for Rutledge came from Gorham himself, just to appear humble and keep the vote from being unanimous.
Once Gorham took his seat at the head of the convention, the Committee of the Whole took up the Virginia Plan as the matter under debate.
Next week: we will dive into that debate, and will cover the most controversial issue that the convention would face.
T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, pillows, totes, notebooks, wall art, and more. Get your favorite American Revolution logo today. Help support this podcast. https://merch.amrevpodcast.com
American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give. Make a one time donation through my PayPal account. You may also donate via Venmo (@Michael-Troy-20) or Zelle (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)
You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber. This is an option making monthly pledges. Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.
An alternative to Patreon is SubscribeStar. For anyone who has problems with Patreon, you can get the same benefits by subscribing at SubscribeStar.
Help Support this podcast on "BuyMeACoffee.com"
Visit the American Revolution Podcast Bookshop. Support local bookstores and this podcast!
We last left off with the nationalists in Episode 341. In that episode, the Annapolis Convention in September, 1786 resulted in a poor showing of delegates and a report that they should try again the following year.
Many Americans did not want this to happen. While the existing situation between the states might not be optimal, many feared handing over more power to a central government. For them, things were good enough the way they were. States could work out their issues through the Continental Congress Another overarching and more powerful government risked the freedoms they had won from Britain in the Revolutionary War.
Another faction, however, disagreed. They saw the states slowly drifting apart, politically and economically. The war that had forced them to unite was over. People were returning to their parochial interests. To these men, this seemed like a huge mistake. The states themselves were fighting over issues of trade, borders, and other things.
Foreign powers in Europe were already trying to divide the states in order to gain more influence with them. For example, shortly after the war ended, Spain closed the Mississippi River to American navigation. Spain was willing to grant better trade deals with America if the US would agree to Spain’s control of the Mississippi River for 30 years. New England states were fine with that since they really wanted the trade and didn’t care about the Mississippi River. Southern and Western states cared much more about river to bring their goods to market, than they did did trade with Spain. The result was a deep political division that threatened to split the Union.
If the union failed, it would be far easier for foreign powers to prevail in their interests against America. Smaller states had much less negotiating power than a united nation would. Divide and conquer was the way tyrants operated. Americans needed a government that would keep them united.
The initial reasons for meeting in a national convention were over issues of trade and commerce. The Nationalists wanted free trade between the states, and to use their collective power to negotiate better trade agreements abroad. The other issue that stuck out for many was the repayment of debts from the war. For some, this was a fundamental issue of fairness. The country should repay those who helped to make independence a reality. But it was also a matter of interest. Failure to repay foreign powers would result in an even more restricted ability to trade abroad, and could even result in another war. Some states had made great efforts to pay off their war debts, while others had barely done anything. This also created resentment among states over nationalizing the remainder of the war debt.
Over the course of late 1786 and early 1787, events swung opinion in favor of a stronger government. The riots in New England, the worst being Shays Rebellion, which we discussed last week, convinced many that the current confederation of states would not be strong enough to maintain law and order. The example of democracy run amok in Rhode Island also convinced many wealthier men that greater protection of private property and a government that would protect such rights, was a necessity.
State Delegations
The report from Annapolis Convention recommended that the states try again by meeting in Philadelphia in May 1787. Each state legislature would need to appoint a delegation to attend the Convention.
New Jersey was the first to appoint a delegation in November, 1786. It included William Paterson, former attorney general of the state, Chief Justice David Brearley, and former governor William Livingston.
In December, Virginia appointed a nine member delegation to the Convention. Most prominent on that list was George Washington. They also appointed James Madison, the legislator who seemed to most strongly back a stronger national government. Edmund Randolph, who had been Attorney General when he attended the Annapolis Convention, had since won election as governor, would also go to Philadelphia as governor of the state. George Mason, famous for having authored the Virginia Bill of Rights and who had also been at the Mount Vernon Conference, also received an appointment, despite the fact that he had retired from the legislature.
The state also appointed two former governors: Patrick Henry and Thomas Nelson. Henry declined to go, saying later he supported states rights and opposed the goals of the convention. Nelson also begged out, citing health issues. The state also appointed Richard Henry Lee, who also declined. He cited his recent appointment to the Confederation Congress and the difficulty of traveling between New York and Philadelphia to try to do both.
Pennsylvania also appointed a seven member delegation around the same time as Virginia. Its delegation included president of the state, Benjamin Franklin, as well as top financial leaders, Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris.
Some states, even larger ones, appointed smaller delegations. New York appointed only three members. One was Alexander Hamilton. Governor George Clinton, who was skeptical of a stronger federal government also appointed two close political supporters who wanted power to remain with the states, mostly to keep Hamilton in check. Massachusetts appointed only four delegates, while tiny Delaware appointed five, including John Dickinson.
Maryland did not get around to appointing delegates until near the end of April, 1787. After those appointments, all five of the appointees declined to serve. As a result, the state had to appoint a second round of delegates, which it only did on May 26, the day after the convention began in Philadelphia.
New Hampshire had appointed a delegation in January, but did not authorize any travel expenses. When none of the delegates went, the state appointed another four person delegation in June, more than a month after the convention began, but again refused to pay any expenses. One of the delegates, John Langdon, finally agreed to pick up expenses for the delegation, which allowed him and Nicholas Gilman to go to Philadelphia. They arrived in late July, meaning New Hampshire did not participate in most of the debates.
Rhode Island never appointed a delegation at all. The pro-paper money faction was still in charge there. They did not trust the convention. They believed monied interests from other states would try to reign in their economic policies, which were benefiting small farmers and debtors.
Many states that did send delegates also provided instructions on just how far the delegates could go. Delaware, for example, instructed its delegates that they could not agree to any changes that would eliminate the one-state one-vote system that existed under the Articles of Confederation. Massachusetts required that there be no change to the annual election of members of Congress and the right of states to recall them at any time. It also instructed its delegates to maintain term limits on members of Congress.
There were also some notable absences of founding fathers from the list. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were away in Europe in diplomatic posts. Samuel Adams was in a political fight with John Hancock at the time and did not receive an appointment. Adams was also highly skeptical of a stronger federal government, but Hancock did appoint others who shared Adams’ skepticism.
The Confederation Congress gave its own approval to the Convention in February, 1787 after letting it sit in committee for about four months. The convention would be “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting [the proposed revisions] to Congress and to the several legislatures.”
George Washington Hesitates
George Washington was particularly hesitant to attend the convention. His initial concern was that it would violate the public pledge he had made in 1783 when he resigned from the Continental Army never to meddle in public matters again. As I’ve said before, he considered himself retired. He was more than happy to spend the rest of his life living on his comfortable plantation. He especially did not want to lend his name to an effort that would be controversial. He worried that the convention might be seen as an extralegal effort to overthrow the existing republican government. He did think changes needed to be made, but if he lent his name to this effort and it went off the rails and failed, it could ruin his good name.
Another reason for skipping the convention was the Society of the Cincinnati. Washington had agreed years earlier to be the national leader of this group of veteran officers. The Society had become controversial. At its first meeting in 1784, Washington had called on its members to make significant reforms in some of its more controversial practices. The members had largely ignored Washington. The group was set to have its second triennial meeting in Philadelphia at the same time as the Convention.
Washington did not want to attend the meeting of the Cincinnati because of the Society’s controversy. At the same time, he did not want to look like he was protesting this group of some of his closest friends by his refusal to attend. He wrote to the Society’s other leaders that he no longer wished to serve as president of the Society when his term ended in 1787, and that he would not attend the national meeting in Philadelphia because he was retired from public life. He cited his poor health and busy schedule as reasons.
If Washington then attended the Constitutional Convention, which met at the same time in the same place, his excuses for skipping the meeting of the Cincinnati would look, well, insincere - to put it politely. For these reasons, Washington sent his regrets to Governor Randolph and said he would not attend the Constitutional Convention.
Randolph and Madison, however, refused to take no for an answer. The nationalists were relying on Washington’s reputation as a way to encourage other states to attend this convention. He was the most well respected figure on the Continent. His attendance lent immediate credibility to the Convention.
Randolph responded to Washington’s letter declining the appointment by saying he would hold Washington’s spot open for the time being, hoping that circumstances might change his mind, noting that he could always replace Washington on the delegation later if needed. Randolph, Madison, and others in the Virginia delegation then began a pressure campaign to convince Washington to attend.
As time passed, word spread across the continent that Washington would attend the Convention as part of the Virginia delegation. This put Washington on the spot. If he went, he looked like he supported the convention. If he did not go, he looked as if he opposed it. There was no good way for him to look neutral. Madison and the other delegates also put personal pressure on Washington to attend, impressing on him that the United States could fall apart if this convention was not a success and that everything they had worked and fought for could die along with it.
Many states remained reluctant even to name delegates to the Convention. Washington’s name was a big draw for many states who might have skipped the convention, just as they did the one at Annapolis the year before.
Others began to pressure Washington to go. Henry Knox, who was putting down Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts, took time to write to Washington about the chaos and about the need to have a stronger government. Knox had been Washington’s chief of artillery during the war and had a close relationship with the commander.
Similarly, David Humphreys of Connecticut wrote to Washington about the need for him to attend. Humphries had been Washington’s closest aide in the final years of the war. Humphries had been with him when he resigned his command, and had traveled home to Mount Vernon with him at the end of the war. Soon an all out letter writing campaign began with Benjamin Franklin and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, William Livingston of New Jersey, and John Jay of New York all writing to Washington to convince him that his attendance was vital to the convention’s success.
Finally, by the end of March, just over a month before the convention was scheduled to begin, Washington wrote to Randolph, reluctantly agreeing to go.
Meeting in Philadelphia
The report from the Annapolis Convention has recommended the time and place for the Convention to meet. It had suggested May 14, 1787 in Philadelphia. You may recall that the Continental Congress left Philadelphia, or you might even say they fled the city, in 1783 at the end of the war. A bunch of soldiers had surrounded the State House, later called Independence Hall, and were demanding their promised benefits. When state officials refused to offer protection for Congress, they ended up leaving the city, first meeting in New Jersey and Maryland, before finally settling in New York City in 1785.
Despite the decision of Congress to leave, Philadelphia was still considered a good meeting place for national events. It was the largest city on the Continent, and was in a relatively central location. There were two other major conventions going on at the same time. The Society of the Cincinnati was meeting in Philadelphia, as was a national convention of Presbyterian ministers.
Madison’s Vices
James Madison was the first to arrive. He rode into Philadelphia on May 3, nearly two weeks before the Convention was scheduled to begin. He had come straight from New York where he was serving in the Continental Congress. In Philadelphia, he got a room at the boarding house across the street from the State House. Madison had been preparing for this convention for months. He wrote a paper called “Vices of the Political System of the United States” which laid out the problems with the current system.
Among the problems that Madison identified were the failure of the states to provide proper financing to the government. Many states simply ignored Congressional requisitions. States also interfered with Congress’ authority, such as making their own treaties with each other and Indian tribes, and often ignoring Congress’ treaties with Indians and with foreign countries.
States regularly acted in their own self interest and against the national interest. Issues regarding trade, naturalization, building infrastructure such as canals were all being blocked by parochial interests.
Madison noted the inability of states to protect basic rights of republican government. Powerful minorities might rise up and void the acts of elected governments, a reference to incidents such as Shays’ Rebellion. Governments did not always have the power to enforce their own laws. He also noted that slavery made a sham of republican government.
States had the power to ignore laws passed by Congress, and have their local courts enforce their actions. States were also passing all sorts of crazy laws, and often regularly changing their laws so frequently that it was hard to keep up with them. Many of the laws were just stupid, or as Mandison more politely put it “prove a want of wisdom.” Many state leaders acted only aout of personal ambition or interest rather than the public good. Even when laws were the will of the people, Madison often noted that the people were willing to violate basic rights out of personal interest. There needed to be checks and balances.
Virginia Plan
Madison also brought with him a draft Constitution, which came to be known as the Virginia Plan. It called for a bicameral legislature. One house would be elected by the people of each state based on the population of free inhabitants. The second house would be elected by the first house, chosen from nominations sent by the state legislatures.
It called also for a national Executive to be chosen by the legislature to ensure execution of the laws. The executive and members of a judiciary would have the power to review all laws and veto ones that they did not like.
The national government would have the power to admit new states to the union and ensure that all states maintain a republican form of government. States would be obligated to support the Union and its laws, but that there would be a way for the states to amend the Constitution.
The plan was clearly a draft, with many details to be determined by the Convention. But Madison was looking for a radical change from the Confederation. This would be a national government with three branches and with a connection directly to the people through voting, not just appointments by state officials. Madison would have more than a week before other delegates arrived. He did call on Benjamin Franklin, who lived only a block away and who was happy to discuss plans with the young delegate from Virginia.
Delegates Arrive
The next delegate to arrive in Philadelphia came on May 13, when George Washington rode into town. Of course, the entry of the admired former general got far more attention than Madison's arrival. As when he traveled anywhere, Washington made regular stops to attend parties and parades in his honor. The Philadelphia Light Horse met Washington and escorted him into town.
Washington had made reservations at the same boarding house were Madison was staying. But Pennsylvania delegate Robert Morris insisted that Washington stay in his nearby mansion as his personal guest.
The next day, three more Virginia delegates arrived in town. The Virginia and Pennsylvania Delegations walked to the State House the following morning. But that was about it. No one else had arrived at the appointed time.
The members opened the Convention, meeting in the east room of the State House the same room where the Continental Congress had met. then immediately adjourned due to the lack of a quorum. Rather than getting down to business, the delegates would have to wait for more state delegations to arrive.
It took nearly two weeks for delegations from seven states to make it to Philadelphia to hold a quorum. Over that time, delegates dribbled in slowly. Poor weather was partly to blame. No one seemed to think it was a big deal if they showed up late.
Finally, on Friday May 25, the Convention had a quorum to do business.
Next week, we’ll discuss how the convention begins.
T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, pillows, totes, notebooks, wall art, and more. Get your favorite American Revolution logo today. Help support this podcast. https://merch.amrevpodcast.com
American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give. Make a one time donation through my PayPal account. You may also donate via Venmo (@Michael-Troy-20) or Zelle (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)
You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber. This is an option making monthly pledges. Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.
An alternative to Patreon is SubscribeStar. For anyone who has problems with Patreon, you can get the same benefits by subscribing at SubscribeStar.
Help Support this podcast on "BuyMeACoffee.com"
Visit the American Revolution Podcast Bookshop. Support local bookstores and this podcast!
