The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)

J >> John Marshall >> The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5)

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"These are my sentiments. Precedents are dangerous things. Let the
reins of government then be braced, and held with a steady hand; and
every violation of the constitution be reprehended. If defective, let
it be amended, but not suffered to be trampled upon while it has an
existence."

In a letter written about the same period, Colonel Humphries, after
stating his apprehensions that the insurgents would seize the
continental magazine at Springfield, proceeded to add: "a general
failure to comply with the requisitions of congress for money, seems
to prognosticate that we are rapidly advancing to a crisis. The wheels
of the great political machine can scarcely continue to move much
longer, under their present embarrassment. Congress, I am told, are
seriously alarmed, and hardly know which way to turn, or what to
expect. Indeed, my dear general, nothing but a good Providence can
extricate us from our present difficulties, and prevent some terrible
conclusion.

"In case of civil discord I have already told you it was seriously my
opinion that you could not remain neuter; and that you would be
obliged in self defence, to take part on one side or the other, or
withdraw from the continent. Your friends are of the same opinion; and
I believe you are convinced that it is impossible to have more
disinterested or zealous friends, than those who have been about your
person."

"It is," said the general in reply, "with the deepest and most
heartfelt concern, I perceive by some late paragraphs extracted from
the Boston papers, that the insurgents of Massachusetts, far from
being satisfied with the redress offered by their general court, are
still acting in open violation of law and government, and have obliged
the chief magistrate, in a decided tone, to call upon the militia of
the state to support the constitution. What, gracious God, is man!
that there should be such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his
conduct. It is but the other day that we were shedding our blood to
obtain the constitutions under which we now live--constitutions of our
own choice and making--and now, we are unsheathing the sword to
overturn them. The thing is so unaccountable, that I hardly know how
to realize it; or to persuade myself that I am not under the illusion
of a dream.

"My mind, previous to the receipt of your letter of the first ultimo,
had often been agitated by a thought similar to the one you expressed
respecting an old friend of yours: but heaven forbid that a crisis
should come when he shall be driven to the necessity of making a
choice of either of the alternatives there mentioned."

Finding that the lenient measures which had been taken by the
legislature to reclaim the insurgents, only enlarged their demands;
and that they were proceeding systematically to organize a military
force for the subversion of the constitution; Governor Bowdoin
determined, with the advice of council, on a vigorous exertion of all
the powers he possessed, for the protection and defence of the
commonwealth. Upwards of four thousand militia were ordered into
service, and were placed under the command of the veteran General
Lincoln. "His military reputation," says Mr. Minot, "and mildness of
temper, rendered him doubly capacitated for so delicate and important
a trust." But the public treasury did not afford the means of keeping
this force in the field a single week; and, the legislature not being
in session, the government was incapable of putting the troops in
motion. This difficulty was removed by individual patriotism. From the
commencement of the commotions, the citizens of Boston had manifested,
unequivocally, their fidelity to the constitution. On this occasion, a
number of gentlemen, preceded by the governor, subscribed, in a few
hours, a sufficient sum to carry on the proposed expedition.

In the depth of winter, the troops from the eastern part of the state
assembled near Boston, and marched towards the scene of action. Those
from the western counties met in arms under General Shepard, and took
possession of the arsenal at Springfield. Before the arrival of
Lincoln, a party of the insurgents attempted to dislodge Shepard, but
were repulsed with some loss. Not being pursued by that officer, who
could not venture to weaken his post by detachments, they continued
embodied, but did not venture again to undertake offensive operations.

Urging his march with the utmost celerity, Lincoln soon came up; and,
pressing the insurgent army, endeavoured, by a succession of rapid
movements, in which the ardour of his troops triumphed over the
severity of the season, to disperse, or to bring it to action. Their
generals retreated from post to post with a rapidity which for some
time eluded his designs; and, rejecting every proposition to lay down
their arms, used all their address to produce a suspension of
hostilities until an accommodation might be negotiated with the
legislature. "Applications were also made," says General Lincoln, "by
committees and select men of the several towns in the counties of
Worcester and Hampshire, praying that the effusion of blood might be
avoided, while the real design of these applications was supposed to
be, to stay our operations until a new court should be elected. They
had no doubt, if they could keep up their influence until another
choice of the legislature and of the executive, that matters might be
moulded in general court to their wishes. To avoid this, was the duty
of government." In answer to these applications, Lincoln exhorted
those towns who sincerely wished to put an end to the rebellion
without the effusion of blood, "to recall their men now in arms, and
to aid in apprehending all abettors of those who should persist in
their treason, and all who should yield them any comfort or supplies."

The army of government continued to brave the rigours of the climate,
and to press the insurgents without intermission. At length, with the
loss of a few killed, and several prisoners, the rebels were
dispersed, their leaders driven out of the state, and this formidable
and wicked rebellion was quelled.

The same love of country which had supported the officers and soldiers
of the late army through a perilous war, still glowed in their bosoms;
and the patriot veterans of the revolution, uninfected by the wide
spreading contagion of the times, arranged themselves almost
universally under the banners of the constitution and of the laws.
This circumstance lessened the prejudices which had been excited
against them as creditors of the public, and diminished the odium
which, in the eastern states, especially, had been directed against
the order of the Cincinnati. But the most important effect of this
unprovoked rebellion was, a deep conviction of the necessity of
enlarging the powers of the general government; and the consequent
direction of the public mind towards the convention which was to
assemble at Philadelphia.

In producing this effect, a resolution of congress had also
considerable influence. New York had given her final _veto_ to the
impost system, and in doing so, had virtually decreed the dissolution
of the existing government. The confederation was apparently expiring
from mere debility. The last hope of its friends having been
destroyed, the vital necessity of some measure which might prevent the
separation of the integral parts of which the American empire was
composed, became apparent even to those who had been unwilling to
perceive it; and congress was restrained from giving its sanction to
the proposed convention, only by an apprehension that their taking an
interest in the measure would impede rather than promote it. From this
embarrassment, the members of that body were relieved by the
legislature of New York. A vote of that state, which passed in the
senate by a majority of only one voice, instructed its delegation to
move in congress, a resolution, recommending to the several states, to
appoint deputies to meet in convention, for the purpose of revising
and proposing amendments to the federal constitution. On the 21st of
February, 1787, the day succeeding the instructions given by New York,
the subject, which had been for some time under consideration, was
finally acted upon: and it was declared, "in the opinion of congress,
to be expedient that, on the second Monday in May next, a convention
of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several states, be
held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the
articles of confederation, and reporting to congress and the several
legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when
agreed to in congress, and confirmed by the states, render the federal
constitution adequate to the exigencies of government, and the
preservation of the union."

This recommendation removed all objections to the regularity of the
convention; and co-operated with the impressions made by the
licentious and turbulent spirit which had lately endangered the peace
and liberty of New England, to incline those states to favour the
measure. By giving the proposed meeting a constitutional sanction, and
by postponing it to a day subsequent to that on which the Cincinnati
were to assemble, it also removed one impediment, and diminished
another, to the attendance of General Washington as a member. He
persuaded himself that by repairing to Philadelphia previous to the
second Monday in May, in order to attend the general meeting of the
Cincinnati, he should efface any impressions unfavourable to the
attachment he felt to his military friends, which might otherwise be
excited in their bosoms by his appearing in a public character, after
declining the presidency of their society. The increasing probability
that the convention would be attended by a full representation of the
states, and would propose a scheme of government which, if accepted,
might conduce to the public happiness, and would not be unworthy of
his character, had also its influence on his mind. An opinion too
began to prevail, that the government must be invigorated by agreement
or by force, and that a part of the opposition to the convention
originated in a desire to establish a system of greater energy than
could spring from consent. The idea that his refusing his aid in the
present crisis might be attributed to a dereliction of republican
principles, furnished additional motives for yielding to the wishes of
his fellow citizens. On the 28th of March, he addressed a letter to
the governor of Virginia, in which, after stating the reasons which
had induced him to decline attending the convention, the influence of
which he still felt, he added--"However, as my friends, with a degree
of solicitude which is unusual, seem to wish for my attendance on this
occasion, I have come to a resolution to go if my health will permit,
provided from the lapse of time between your excellency's letter and
this reply, the executive may not (the reverse of which would be
highly pleasing to me) have turned their thoughts to some other
character."

After communicating this determination to the executive of Virginia,
he received a letter from the secretary of war, one of the small
number of his friends who had endeavoured to dissuade him from the
resolution he had ultimately taken, in which that officer avowed an
entire change of opinion on this subject. "It is," said he, "the
general wish that you should attend. It is conceived to be highly
important to the success of the propositions which may be made by the
convention.

"The mass of the people feel the inconvenience of the present
government, and ardently wish for such alterations as would remedy
them. These must be effected by reason and by agreement, or by force.
The convention appears to be the only mean by which to effect them
peaceably. If it should not be attended by a proper weight of wisdom
and character to carry into execution its propositions, we are to look
to events, and to force, for a remedy. Were you not then to attend the
convention, slander and malice might suggest that force would be the
most agreeable mode of reform to you. When civil commotion rages, no
purity of character, no services, however exalted, can afford a secure
shield from the shafts of calumny.

"On the other hand, the unbounded confidence the people have in your
tried patriotism and wisdom, would exceedingly facilitate the adoption
of any important alterations that might be proposed by a convention of
which you were a member; and (as I before hinted) the president."

[Sidenote: Convention at Philadelphia.]

At the time and place appointed, the representatives of twelve states
convened. In Rhode Island alone a spirit sufficiently hostile to every
species of reform was found, to prevent the election of deputies on an
occasion so generally deemed momentous. Having unanimously chosen
General Washington for their president, the convention proceeded, with
closed doors, to discuss the interesting and extensive subject
submitted to their consideration.

On the great principles which should constitute the basis of their
system, not much contrariety of opinion is understood to have
prevailed. But on the various and intricate modifications of those
principles, an equal degree of harmony was not to be expected. More
than once, there was reason to fear that the rich harvest of national
felicity, which had been anticipated from the ample stock of worth
collected in convention, would all be blasted by the rising of that
body without effecting the object for which it was formed. At length
the high importance attached to union triumphed over local interests;
and, on the 17th of September, that constitution which has been alike
the theme of panegyric and invective, was presented to the American
public.

The instrument with its accompanying resolutions was by the unanimous
order of the convention, transmitted to congress in a letter
subscribed by the president, in which it was said to be, "the result
of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession,
which the peculiarity of their political situation rendered
indispensable.

[Sidenote: A form of government for the United States is submitted to
the respective states, which is ratified by eleven of them.]

"That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every state,"
continued the letter, "is not, perhaps, to be expected; but each will
doubtless consider, that had her interests been alone consulted, the
consequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to
others. That it is liable to as few exceptions as could reasonably
have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the
lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her
freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish."

Congress resolved unanimously, that the report with the letter
accompanying it be transmitted to the several legislatures, in order
to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each state by
the people thereof.

Neither the intrinsic merits of the constitution nor the imposing
weight of character by which it was supported, gave assurance to its
friends that it would be ultimately adopted. A comparison of the views
and interests by which a powerful party was actuated, with particular
provisions in the constitution which were especially designed to
counteract those views and interests, prepared them to expect a mass
of zealous and active opposition, against which the powers of reason
would be in vain directed, because the real motives in which it
originated would not be avowed. There were also many individuals,
possessing great influence and respectable talents, who, from
judgment, or from particular causes, seemed desirous of retaining the
sovereignty of the states unimpaired, and of reducing the union to an
alliance between independent nations. To these descriptions of
persons, joined by those who supposed that an opposition of interests
existed between different parts of the continent, was added a numerous
class of honest men, many of whom possessed no inconsiderable share of
intelligence, who could identify themselves perfectly with the state
government, but who considered the government of the United States as
in some respects foreign. The representation of their particular state
not composing a majority of the national legislature, they could not
consider that body as safely representing the people, and were
disposed to measure out power to it with the same sparing hand with
which they would confer it on persons not chosen by themselves, not
accountable to them for its exercise, nor having any common interest
with them. That power might be abused, was, to persons of this
opinion, a conclusive argument against its being bestowed; and they
seemed firmly persuaded that the cradle of the constitution would be
the grave of republican liberty. The friends and the enemies of that
instrument were stimulated to exertion by motives equally powerful;
and, during the interval between its publication and adoption, every
faculty of the mind was strained to secure its reception or rejection.
The press teemed with the productions of temperate reason, of genius,
and of passion; and it was apparent that each party believed power,
sovereignty, liberty, peace, and security;--things most dear to the
human heart;--to be staked on the question depending before the
public. From that oblivion which is the common destiny of fugitive
pieces, treating on subjects which agitate only for the moment, was
rescued, by its peculiar merit, a series of essays which first
appeared in the papers of New York. To expose the real circumstances
of America, and the dangers which hung over the republic; to detect
the numerous misrepresentations of the constitution; to refute the
arguments of its opponents; and to confirm, and increase, its friends,
by a full and able development of its principles; three gentlemen,[39]
distinguished for their political experience, their talents, and their
love of union, gave to the public a series of numbers which, collected
in two volumes under the title of the FEDERALIST, will be read and
admired when the controversy in which that valuable treatise on
government originated, shall be no longer remembered.

[Footnote 39: Colonel Hamilton, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Jay.]

To decide the interesting question which agitated a continent, the
best talents of the several states were assembled in their respective
conventions. So balanced were parties in some of them, that, even
after the subject had been discussed for a considerable time, the fate
of the constitution could scarcely be conjectured; and so small, in
many instances, was the majority in its favour, as to afford strong
ground for the opinion that, had the influence of character been
removed, the intrinsic merits of the instrument would not have secured
its adoption. Indeed, it is scarcely to be doubted that, in some of
the adopting states, a majority of the people were in the opposition.
In all of them, the numerous amendments which were proposed,
demonstrate the reluctance with which the new government was accepted;
and that a dread of dismemberment, not an approbation of the
particular system under consideration, had induced an acquiescence in
it. The interesting nature of the question, the equality of the
parties, the animation produced inevitably by ardent debate, had a
necessary tendency to embitter the dispositions of the vanquished, and
to fix more deeply, in many bosoms, their prejudices against a plan of
government, in opposition to which all their passions were enlisted.

{1788}

At length, the conventions of eleven states[40] assented to and
ratified the constitution; and the preparatory measures were taken for
bringing it into operation.

[Footnote 40: North Carolina and Rhode Island did not at
first accept the constitution, and New York was apparently
dragged into it by a repugnance to being excluded from the
confederacy. By the convention of that state a circular
letter was addressed to the several states in the union
inviting them to unite in calling a general convention to
revise the constitution. Its friends seem to have been
persuaded that this measure, if successful, would
effectually destroy the edifice they had erected with so
much labour, before an experience of its advantages could
dissipate the prejudices which had been excited against it.
"You will have seen," said one of its most effective
advocates, "the circular letter from the convention of this
state. It has a most pernicious tendency. If an early
general convention can not be parried, it is seriously to be
feared that the system which has resisted so many direct
attacks, may be at length successfully undermined by its
enemies. It is now perhaps to be wished that Rhode Island
may not accede until this new crisis of danger be over; some
think it would be better if even New York had held out until
the operation of the government could have dissipated the
fears which artifice had created, and the attempts resulting
from those fears and artifices."]

From the moment the public was possessed of this new arrangement of
their political system, the attention of all was directed to General
Washington as the first President of the United States. He alone was
believed to fill so pre-eminent a station in the public opinion, that
he might be placed at the head of the nation without exciting envy;
and he alone possessed the confidence of the people in so unlimited a
degree that under his auspices, the friends of the government might
hope to see it introduced with a degree of firmness which would enable
it to resist the open assaults, and secret plots of its numerous
adversaries. By all who knew him, fears were entertained that his
preference for private life would prevail over the wishes of the
public; and, soon after the adoption of the constitution was
ascertained, his correspondents began to press him on a point which
was believed essential to the completion of the great work on which
the grandeur and happiness of America was supposed to depend. "We can
not," said Mr. Johnson, a gentleman of great political eminence in
Maryland, "do without you, and I, and thousands more can explain to
any body but yourself, why we can not do without you." "I have ever
thought," said Mr. Gouverneur Morris, a gentleman who had been among
the most valuable members of congress through great part of the war,
and who had performed a most splendid part in the general convention,
"and have ever said that you must be president; no other man can fill
that office. No other man can draw forth the abilities of our country
into the various departments of civil life. You alone can awe the
insolence of opposing factions, and the greater insolence of assuming
adherents. I say nothing of foreign powers, nor of their ministers.
With these last you will have some plague. As to your feelings on this
occasion, they are, I know, both deep and affecting; you embark
property most precious on a most tempestuous ocean: for, as you
possess the highest reputation, so you expose it to the perilous
chance of popular opinion. On the other hand, you will, I firmly
expect, enjoy the inexpressible felicity of contributing to the
happiness of all your countrymen. You will become the father of more
than three millions of children; and while your bosom glows with
parental tenderness, in theirs, or at least in a majority of them, you
will excite the duteous sentiments of filial affection. This, I repeat
it, is what I firmly expect; and my views are not directed by that
enthusiasm which your public character has impressed on the public
mind. Enthusiasm is generally short sighted and too often blind. I
form my conclusions from those talents and virtues which the world
_believes_, and which your friends _know_ you possess."

To those who attribute human action in every case to the motives which
most usually guide the human mind, it will appear scarcely possible
that the supreme magistracy could possess no charms for a man long
accustomed to command others; and that ambition had no share in
tempting the hero of the American revolution to tread once more the
paths of public life. Yet, if his communications to friends to whom he
unbosomed the inmost sentiments of his soul be inspected, it will be
difficult to resist the conviction that the struggle produced by the
occasion was unaffected, and that, in accepting the presidency of the
United States, no private passion was gratified; but a decided
preference for private life yielded to a sense of duty, and a deep
conviction of his obligations to his country.

As this is an important aera in the life of Washington, and the motives
by which he was actuated will assist in developing his real character,
the American reader, at least, will be gratified at seeing copious
extracts from his correspondence on this interesting occasion.

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