FOOTNOTES:
[144] These quoted phrases are the modern terms, of course. The Franklanders called both meetings merely conventions.
[145] This was a matter of supreme moment. The first legislature of the new State found it necessary to fix a "currency in kind," as legal-tender, in which all business transactions should be carried on, and all government salaries paid. A pound of sugar was to pass for one shilling; a fox or raccoon skin for two shillings; a gallon of peach brandy for three shillings; and an otter or a deer skin for six shillings. Easterners, even Benjamin Franklin, indulged in much laughter at this "money which could not be counterfeited," forgetting how their own fathers had used similar currency.
[146] This paragraph was added by amendment (proposed by Mr. Gerry) at the last moment. A more stringent proposition was lost,—viz.: "That until such time as the settlers shall have adopted the constitution and laws of some one of the original states ... the settlers shall be ruled by magistrates to be appointed by the United States in Congress assembled, and under such laws and regulations as the United States, in Congress assembled, shall direct."
[147] For this earlier ordinance, cf. No. 149a.
[XXVI. DRIFTING TOWARD ANARCHY]
150. Danger (or Hope) of a Military Dictator (1783)
Gouverneur Morris to John Jay
Life and Works of Morris (Sparks' edition), I, 249. If this letter is taken in conjunction with the army plots, it would seem that Morris was not averse to a military revolution as a step toward aristocratic rule.
Philadelphia, January 1, 1783.
... The army have swords in their hands. You know enough of the history of mankind to know much more than I have said,—and possibly much more than they themselves yet think of. I will add, however, that I am glad to see things in this present train. Depend on it; good will arise from the situation to which we are hastening. ... Although I think it probable that much of convulsion will ensue, yet it must terminate in giving to government that power without which government is but a name.
151. Shays' Rebellion
a. A temperate statement of real grievances leading to the "Rebellion"
Minot's History of the Insurrection in Massachusetts, pages 34-37.
The following "schedule of grievances" was adopted by a mass convention of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, in 1786. For the general narrative, cf. American History and Government, § 188-192.
At a meeting of the delegates from fifty towns in the county of Hampshire, in convention held at Hatfield, in said county, on Tuesday, the 22d day of August instant [1786], and continued by adjournments until the twenty fifth, etc. Voted, that this meeting is constitutional.
The convention from a thorough conviction of great uneasiness, subsisting among the people of this county and Commonwealth, then went into an inquiry for the cause; and, upon mature consideration, deliberation, and debate, were of opinion, that many grievances and unnecessary burdens now lying upon the people, are the source of that discontent so evidently discoverable throughout this Commonwealth. Among which the following articles were voted as such, viz.
1st. The existence of the Senate.[148]
2d. The present mode of representation.
3d. The officers of government not being annually dependent on the representatives of the people, in General Court assembled, for their salaries.
4th. All the civil officers of government, not being annually elected by the Representatives of the people, in General Court assembled.
5th. The existence of the Courts of Common Pleas, and General Sessions of the Peace.
6th. The Fee Table as it now stands.
7th. The present mode of appropriating the impost and excise.
8th. The unreasonable grants made to some of the officers of government.
9th. The supplementary aid.
10th. The present mode of paying the governmental securities.
11th. The present mode adopted for the payment and speedy collection of the last tax.
12th. The present mode of taxation, as it operates unequally between the polls and estates, and between landed and mercantile interests.
13th. The present method of practice of the attorneys at law.
14th. The want of a sufficient medium of trade, to remedy the mischiefs arising from the scarcity of money.
15th. The General Court sitting in the town of Boston.
16th. The present embarrassments on the press.
17th. The neglect of the settlement of important matters depending between the Commonwealth and Congress, relating to monies and averages.
18th. Voted, This convention recommend to the several towns in this county that they instruct their Representatives, to use their influence in the next General Court, to have emitted a bank of paper money, subject to a depreciation; making it a tender in all payments, equal to silver and gold, to be issued in order to call in the Commonwealth's securities.
19th. Voted, That whereas several of the above articles of grievances arise from defects in the constitution; therefore a revision of the same ought to take place.
20th. Voted, That it be recommended by this convention to the several towns in this county, that they petition the Governour to call the General Court immediately together, in order that the other grievances complained of, may, by the legislature, be redressed.
21st. Voted, That this convention recommend it to the inhabitants of this county, that they abstain from all mobs and unlawful assemblies, until a constitutional method of redress can be obtained.
22d. Voted, That Mr. Caleb West be desired to transmit a copy of the proceedings of this convention to the convention of the County of Worcester.
23d. Voted, That the chairman of the convention be desired to transmit a copy of the proceedings of this convention to the county of Berkshire.
24th. Voted, That the chairman of this convention be directed to notify a county convention, upon any motion made to him for that purpose, if he judge the reasons offered be sufficient, giving such notice together with the reasons therefor, in the publick papers of this county.
25th. Voted, That a copy of the proceedings of this convention be sent to the press in Springfield for publication.
b. Washington's Alarm
(1) George Washington to Henry Lee.
Washington's Writings (Ford edition), XI, 76-78. Lee was a Virginia delegate in the Continental Congress. Washington's letter is in reply to one received from Lee.
Mount Vernon, October 31, 1786.
... The picture which you have exhibited ... of the commotions and temper of numerous bodies in the eastern States, are equally to be lamented and deprecated. They exhibit a melancholy proof of what our transatlantic foe has predicted; and of another thing perhaps, which is still more to be regretted, and is yet more unaccountable, that mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government. I am mortified beyond expression when I view the clouds that have spread over the brightest morn that ever dawned upon any country. In a word, I am lost in amazement when I behold what intrigue, the interested views of desperate characters, ignorance, and jealously of the minor part, are capable of effecting, as a scourge on the major part of our fellow citizens of the Union; for it is hardly to be supposed, that the great body of the people, though they will not act, can be so shortsighted or enveloped in darkness, as not to see rays of a distant sun through all this mist of intoxication and folly.
You talk, my good Sir, of employing influence to appease the present tumults in Massachusetts. I know not where that influence is to be found, or, if attainable, that it would be a proper remedy for the disorders. Influence is no government. Let us have one by which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at once. Under these impressions, my humble opinion is, that there is a call for decision. Know precisely what the insurgents aim at. If they have real grievances, redress them if possible; or acknowledge the justice of them, and your inability to do it in the present moment. If they have not, employ the force of government against them at once. If this is inadequate, all will be convinced, that the superstructure is bad, or wants support. To be more exposed in the eyes of the world, and more contemptible than we already are, is hardly possible. To delay one or the other of these, is to exasperate ... or to give confidence, and will add to their numbers; for, like snow-balls, such bodies increase by every moment unless there is something in the way to obstruct and crumble them before the weight is too great and irresistible....
(2) George Washington, to James Madison.
Writings (Ford edition), XI, 80, 81. Note especially the extracts quoted from General Lincoln, in command against the rebels.
November 5, 1786.
I thank you for the communications in your letter of the 1st instant. ... Fain would I hope that the great and most important of all subjects, the federal government, may be considered with ... calm and deliberate attention. ... No morn ever dawned more favorably than ours did; and no day was ever more clouded than the present. Wisdom and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm. Virginia has now an opportunity to set the latter, and has enough of the former, I hope, to take the lead in promoting this great and arduous work. Without an alteration in our political creed, the superstructure we have been seven years in raising, at the expense of so much treasure and blood, must fall. We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion.
... a letter which I have received from General Knox, who had just returned from Massachusetts, whither he had been sent by Congress consequent of the commotions in that State, is replete with melancholy accounts of the temper and designs of a considerable part of that people. Among other things he says:
"Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been protected from the confiscation of Britain by the joint exertions of all; and therefore ought to be the common property of all; and he that attempts opposition to this creed, is an enemy to equity and justice, and ought to be swept from off the face of the earth." Again: "They are determined to annihilate all debts, public and private, and have agrarian laws, which are easily effected by the means of unfunded paper money, which shall be a tender in all cases whatever." He adds: "The number of these people amount in Massachusetts to about one fifth part of several populous counties, and to them may be collected people of similar sentiments from the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, so as to constitute a body of about twelve or fifteen thousand desperate and unprincipled men. They are chiefly of the young and active part of the community."
How melancholy is the reflection, that in so short a space we should have made such large strides towards fulfilling the predictions of our transatlantic foes! "Leave them to themselves, and their government will soon dissolve." Will not the wise and good strive hard to avert this evil? Or will their supineness suffer ignorance, and the arts of self interested, designing, disaffected, and desperate characters, to involve this great country in wretchedness and contempt? What stronger evidence can be given of the want of energy in our government, than these disorders? If there is not power in it to check them, what security has a man for life, liberty, or property? To you I am sure I need not add aught on this subject. The consequences of a lax or inefficient government are too obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each other, and all tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole; whereas a liberal and energetic constitution, well guarded and closely watched to prevent encroachments, might restore us to that degree of respectability and consequence to which we had a fair claim....
152. A Shrewd Foreign Observer's View of the Social Conflict over the Adoption of a New Constitution
Louis Guillaume Otto to Vergennes[149]
George Bancroft's History of the Constitution (1882), II, Appendix, 399 ff.
Philadelphia, October 10, 1786.
[The letter first describes the failure of the Annapolis Convention.]
The people are not ignorant that the natural consequences of an increase of power in the government would be a regular collection of taxes, a strict administration of justice, extraordinary duties on imports, rigorous executions against debtors—in short, a marked preponderance of rich men and of large proprietors.
It is, however, for the interest of the people to guard as much as possible the absolute freedom granted them in a time when no other law was known but necessity, and when an English army, as it were, laid the foundations of the political constitution.
In those stormy times it was necessary to agree that all power ought to emanate only from the people; that everything was subject to its supreme will, and that the magistrates were only its servants.
Although there are no nobles in America, there is a class of men denominated "gentlemen," who, by reason of their wealth, their talents, their education, their families, or the offices they hold, aspire to a pre-eminence which the people refuse to grant them; and, although many of these men have betrayed the interests of their order to gain popularity, there reigns among them a connection so much the more intimate as they almost all of them dread the efforts of the people to despoil them of their possessions, and, moreover, they are creditors, and therefore interested in strengthening the government, and watching over the execution of the laws....
The majority of them being merchants, it is for their interest to establish the credit of the United States in Europe on a solid foundation by the exact payment of debts, and to grant to congress powers extensive enough to compel the people to contribute for this purpose. The attempt, my lord, has been vain, by pamphlets and other publications, to spread notions of justice and integrity, and to deprive the people of a freedom which they have so misused. By proposing a new organization of the federal government all minds would have been revolted; circumstances ruinous to the commerce of America have happily arisen to furnish the reformers with a pretext for introducing innovations.
They represented to the people that the American name had become opprobrious among all the nations of Europe; that the flag of the United States was everywhere exposed to insults and annoyance....
[Otto continues at length to represent that the gentry sought to secure a stronger government by inflaming the common people against foreign powers. He then declares that it was never intended that the Annapolis convention should do anything; that it was only one step in a "plot" to secure a more unfettered convention.]
The measures were so well taken that at the end of September no more than five states were represented at Annapolis, and the commissioners from the northern states tarried several days at New York, in order to retard their arrival.
The states which assembled, after having waited nearly three weeks, separated under the pretext that they were not in sufficient numbers to enter on business, and, to justify this dissolution, they addressed to the different legislatures and to congress a report, the translation of which I have the honor to enclose to you [i.e., the paper reproduced in No. 153].
In this paper the commissioners employ an infinity of circumlocutions and ambiguous phrases to show to their constituents the impossibility of taking into consideration a general plan of commerce and the powers pertaining thereto, without at the same time touching upon other objects closely connected with the prosperity and national importance of the United States.
Without enumerating these objects, the commissioners enlarge upon the present crisis of public affairs, upon the dangers to which the confederation is exposed, upon the want of credit of the United States abroad, and upon the necessity of uniting, under a single point of view, the interests of all the states.
They close by proposing, for the month of May next, a new assembly of commissioners, instructed to deliberate not only upon a general plan of commerce, but upon other matters which may concern the harmony and welfare of the states, and upon the means of rendering the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union.
In spite of the obscurity of this document, you will perceive, my lord, that the commissioners were unwilling to take into consideration the grievances of commerce, which are of exceeding interest for the people, without at the same time perfecting the fundamental constitution of congress.