Question: Who is considered to be “The Father of the Constitution”?
1. George Washington
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. James Madison
4. James Monroe
(Answer: 3. James Madison, author of the Virginia Plan upon which most of the Constitution is based. Madison kept extensive notes on the Convention providing us with a detailed account of its deliberations. He was also the author of the ‘Bill of Rights’ and our fourth president.)
After creating a new kind of central government, Madison stated that it would “… decide forever the fate of republican governments.”
At the end of 1786 it was clear the Articles of Confederation weren’t working and needed amendment, although many felt they should be completely rewritten and a stronger central government created. A convention to amend the Articles was called to meet in Philadelphia on May 25th, 1787. All 13 states were asked to send delegates.
Only 55 of the 74 delegates appointed by the states attended. Rhode Island refused to send delegates and several of the most influential of the new nation’s leaders were not in attendance. Patrick Henry refused to attend, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were in France, and John Jay was at the Foreign Office in New York.
George Washington debated whether he should attend. He was concerned that after giving up power by resigning his commission at the end of the Revolution he would look like he was attempting to reenter politics damaging his portrayal as a modern-day Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer/soldier who gave up power. His friends persuaded him that if he did not attend he would be accused of wanting the federal government to fail so that he could orchestrate a military coup and take over the government. He attended the convention and was immediately elected its president.
Those delegates attending were an exceptional assemblage of leaders including James Madison, George Mason, Edmund Randolph and George Washington, all from Virginia.
From Pennsylvania came James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris and the 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin, who was crippled with gout. Alexander Hamilton represented New York; John Dickinson came from Delaware, William Paterson from New Jersey; John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney represented South Carolina.
Massachusetts sent Elbridge Gerry; Luther Martin came from Maryland and the three delegates from Connecticut were Oliver Ellsworth, Rodger Sherman and William Samuel Johnson.
Franklin was the oldest member and Jonathan Dayton, the 27-year-old delegate from New Jersey, was the youngest. The average age was 42.
Most of the delegates had studied law, had served in colonial or state legislatures, or had been in the Congress. They were well versed in the philosophical theories of government advanced by such philosophers as James Harrington, John Locke and Montesquieu. When Jefferson read the list of attendee’s he called them “an assembly of demigods.”
James Madison of Virginia and many others were convinced the Articles of Confederation needed to be replaced. Congress, for instance, laboring under the Articles of Confederation, was helpless to defend the states during Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts in 1786.
Virginia called for a convention to meet in Annapolis, MD, in the fall of 1786 to discuss reforming the Articles. When only delegates from five of the 13 states showed up, it was decided to call another convention in Philadelphia for May 25 ,1787.
When the convention opened at the Philadelphia State House, the oppressive heat and humidity of a Philadelphia summer was just beginning. Most of the city’s population was beginning their annual migration to the countryside where it was cooler and less likely for disease to spread. Many of the delegates still had not arrived because of difficult travelling.
After electing Washington as president of the convention, a rules committee was formed and on May 28 the convention adopted a set of operating rules. As with other conventions the president was not allowed to participate in the debates, but Washington managed to communicate “after hours” at meetings at his rooming house of the Virginia delegates and by attending a large number of “dinner parties” where he met casually with delegates from other states.
The two most important rules passed the were the first and second. The first rule allowed that even though a decision had been made by the majority on a previous matter it was possible to “bring the matter up again.” This rule had many long-range repercussions and was invoked quite often by the smaller states who felt their power was being usurped by the larger states. Rule 2 allowed delegates to change their minds without being branded as “inconsistent.”
The second rule called for complete secrecy. When in session the doors and windows of the state house were locked and the windows covered. Even the cobblestone streets around the state house were covered with dirt “to keep down the noise of passing horses and wagons.” James Madison was to say years later “no Constitution would ever have been adopted…if the debates had been made public.”
Madison, who later would be referred to as ”the Father of the Constitution,” spent the year between the two conventions studying what had caused other republics to fail. He kept in contact with Jefferson in France and his former Princeton classmates. He read everything he could find and spent a great deal of time at Mount Vernon listening to Washington’s views on the subject.
On May 29, Virginia Governor Edmund Randolf, a more eloquent orator than Madison, was recognized by Washington as the convention’s first speaker. What he proposed, (and was agreed upon by the Virginia delegation, based on Madison’s research, his conversations with Washington and correspondence with Jefferson) was a radical new form of government dubbed the Virginia Plan.
The plan dispensed with the Articles of Confederation and in its place suggested a new kind of government with a two-branch (bicameral) legislature, a strong executive branch and a national judiciary whose power was superior to the state courts. With that proposal the convention attendees began four months of deliberation, often disagreeing, sometimes deadlocked, accepting compromises and eventually creating a new government with a written constitution.
The first problem to arise was the question of whether they were to create a new government or just “fix” the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Delegates such as Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and Connecticut’s Roger Sherman leaned toward fixing rather replacing the Articles. Washington called for a vote on Virginia Plan. It carried 11 states to one. Connecticut was the only state to vote against the motion.
As May gave way to the stifling heat and “sulfurous humidity” of Philadelphia in June the delegates debated for just 13 days and approved the Virginia Plan with a few minor changes. It was at this late date the small states realized that the larger states, Virginia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania along with the two Carolina’s and Georgia (New Hampshire’s delegation hadn’t arrived yet) had hoodwinked them.
It became even more apparent when Madison introduced the central element of his plan. The Articles of Confederation allowed one vote per state, which often caused deadlock. The new National Legislature would be based on population, guaranteeing the larger states almost total control of the government.
The smaller states delegates revolted. William Patterson of New Jersey said he would “submit to a despot rather than surrender to such arrogant bullying.” James Wilson of Pennsylvania arrogantly announced he didn’t care that all the states didn’t join the new government. This set the smaller states to side with Patterson who, on June 15, announced the New Jersey Plan: one vote per state in the national legislature. This had the power to coerce the state into obeying its laws.
He then added that if they didn’t like that approach, they could put the whole country into a “hotchpot” and divide all the lands—north, south, east and west—into 13 equal parts. The large states laughed and Alexander Hamilton, who disliked both plans, said the New Jersey plan was hopeless and the Virginia plan didn’t go far enough. He wanted a “consolidated” national government that would reduce states to shadows.
The next day Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut proposed that each state should have one vote in the upper house, this brought a convert from Georgia to the small states and deadlocked the convention over the question of representation. As they adjourned for the July 4th holiday, Luther Martin of Maryland reported to the Maryland Legislature that the convention was “on the verge of dissolution, scarce held together by the strength of a hair.”
End of Part 1. Next: “A Convention “… held together by the strength of a hair.”