1787.] VIEWS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 375 his views in a paper carefully prepared, the principles of which he explained and defended in a long and able speech. In this plan he proposed that the members of the second branch of the Legislature (the Senate), should hold their seats during good behavior, and that the Chief Magistrate, whom he proposed to call Governor, should hold his office by the like tenure, he not deeming any shorter or more precarious term of office sufficient to secure to these two important branches the requisite independence against the excesses and encroachments of democracy. It has seemed strange to some that a mind like that of Alexander Hamilton, exhibiting proofs of such ability as he has done in his masterly report on the finances of the United States; on the mint, the bank, and above all, in that on manufactures, to which its anxious friends have, for thirty or forty years, not been able to add an argument—that a mind so powerful and well endowed should have more than doubted the success of a plan of government which has given to the American people peace, safety, glory, and prosperity beyond the most sanguine hopes of its authors, is regarded by some as a curious intellectual phenomenon. The solution of it, however, is to be found in the circumstances of the times. The pressure of the war and the issue of paper-money had not only produced, as we have seen, general pecuniary distress, but had also occasioned a laxity of morals on the subject of debts and property; and these consequences of a particular course of events were regarded by many as mere manifestations of human nature in general, against which a wise government should especially guard. The insurrection in Massachusetts, the clamor for further issues of paper-money in many of the States, and for 376 ANTI-REPUBLICAN SENTIMENTS. [CHAP. IV. unjust tender laws-the natural result of the impoverishment and demoralization caused by the Revolutionary struggle were ascribed to the spirit of democracy, which then had a more unrestrained action, as is apparent from many passages in the debates; and that spirit was deemed, therefore, to require strong and efficient checks. Nor did they who thus reasoned seem fully to appreciate the self-healing virtues which, in the body politic as well as the body natural, cures more diseases than the physician or statesman. Hence the unfavorable auguries which Mr. Hamilton and a few others conceived of the new government, and which differed in so many essential points from that form of government which eminent foreign, as well as British, writers had made the theme of elaborate panegyric. It is no just reproach to these men that they were mistaken on a subject in which experience is the only safe guide, and in which the most astute minds, trusting solely to their own speculative reasonings, have ,proved, on trial, so utterly incompetent. While Mr. Hamilton did not think favorably of republican government, and with manly frankness stated his views, he with the same lofty integrity and patriotism aided in carrying the government into execution, and contributed, when it went into operation, more than any other individual, to make it stable, practical, and efficient. He.avowed, that though he did not approve of the plan of government adopted, he was determined, so far as he could, to give it a fair chance; and no one could, according to his notions of good government, have more faithfully carried out his purpose. We have now followed the deliberations of the convention in forming the principal features of the new Constitution, which were the result partly of the settled opinions 1787.] CONVENTION CLOSES ITS SESSION. 377 of a majority of the members, and partly of mutual concessions. The more essential part of their arduous labors having thus been brought to a close, a committee of five was appointed to revise the style, and arrange the articles of the Constitution; and on the twelfth of September, the committee made their report. After undergoing some minor amendments and alterations, it was adopted and signed on the seventeenth of September, by all the members present except three, Messrs. Randolph and Mason, of Virginia, and Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts.' Mr. Randolph having expressed his dissatisfaction with the large grant of powers to Congress, proposed that the State conventions might suggest amendments, to be decided on by another general convention. Unless this were done, he could not put his name to the instrument. 1 The plan of this work allowed the author to give but a summary view, and he fears a very imperfect one, of the memorable convention which settled the fundamental polity of the tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions who are to constitute this confederate republic. Those who desire to see its proceedings more in detail will have their wishes amply gratified by referring to Mr. Madison's very copious history of its acts and debates. Though that able statesman took a leading part in the deliberations and discussions of the convention, he found time to report, with minuteness and accuracy, not only all which was enacted by that body, but also (what is often equally interesting) all that it refused to enact; and by giving the propositions and the reasons of the individual members, he has traced the process of every provision from its first suggestion until it was finally matured. He thus exhibited a degree of patient labor, of which, under similar circumstances, there is, perhaps, no example. In the discharge of the arduous duty he had undertaken, which continued for four months, he says that "he was not absent a single day, nor more than the casual fraction of an hour in any day.” II. Madison's Debates, page 719. 378 REASONS FOR REFUSING TO SIGN. [CHAP. IV. Mr. Mason took similar ground. The Constitution had been formed without the knowledge or idea of the people. He could not support it in Virginia, or sign it here. After another convention, he could sign. Charles Pinckney spoke of the danger and confusion that would arise from a second convention. He had several objections to the Constitution, but should support it, from the danger of a general confusion. Mr. Gerry stated, in detail, his reasons for withholding his name. First, the duration and re-eligibility of the Senate; second, the power of the House of Representatives to conceal their journals; third, the power of Congress over the places of election; fourth, their unlimited power over their compensation; fifth, that Massachusetts had not her full share of Representatives; sixth, that three-fifths of the blacks are to be represented; seventh, that under the power of regulating commerce, monopolies may be created; eighth, the Vice-President is made the head of the Senate. These he could have been reconciled to, if the rights of the citizens were not rendered insecure first, by the power of the Legislature to make what laws they deem "necessary and proper;" secondly, to raise armies without limit; thirdly, to establish a tribunal without juries- he therefore thought it best to provide for another general convention. To Mr. Randolph's proposition, all the States answered no. To the question of agreeing to the new Constitution, all answered ay. On the seventeenth of September, Mr. Wilson read a written speech, which Dr. Franklin had prepared, in favor of adopting the Constitution; though there were several parts which he did not approve, but he was not sure he should never approve them. Mr. Gorham proposed there should be a change in the 1787.] PROCEEDINGS OF FORMER CONGRESS. 379 limitation of the number of Representatives, from one to forty thousand to from one to thirty thousand. General Washington spoke in favor of it. It was unanimously adopted. Mr. Randolph apologised for still refusing to sign, adding he did not know that he should oppose the Constitution without doors. He meant merely to leave himself free. Mr. Gouverneur Morris and Mr. Williamson both expressed their intention of signing, though they had objections. Mr. Hamilton expressed his anxiety that every member should sign. No man's ideas were more remote from the plan than his own; but he could not hesitate between anarchy and convulsion, and the chance of good to be expected from the plan. Mr. Gerry feared a civil war might result from the present crisis. There were two parties in Massachusetts: one devoted to democracy, the worst of all political evils; the other as violent in the opposite extreme. The journals were deposited with the President, subject to the order of Congress, if one should be formed under the Constitution. Let us now return to the proceedings of that Congress, whose functions it was proposed to supersede by the new Constitution. On the seventh of May, by an ordinance unanimously passed,' five Commissioners were appointed to settle the accounts of the different States with the United States, with large discretionary powers in the admission of evidence; for which purpose the thirteen States were arranged into five districts. The ordinance of 1784, for the government of the ter1 XII. Journals of Congress, page 44. 1 |