Life and Times of Washington, Volume 2 / Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched

by John Frederick Schroeder; Benson John Lossing

Colonel Humphreys having intimated by letter his apprehension that civil discord was near, in which event he would be obliged to act a public part, or to leave the continent—"It is," said Washington 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 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 a 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."

Having learned that the States had generally elected their representatives to the convention, and Congress having given its sanction to it, he on the 28th of March communicated to the governor of Virginia his consent to act as one of the delegates of his State on this important occasion.

When this determination was formed Washington at once commenced his preparations to leave Mount Vernon at an early day, so that he might be able to be present at the meeting of the Cincinnati; but on the 26th of April (1787) he received intelligence by an express that his mother and sister were dangerously ill at Fredericksburg. He immediately set off for that place, and the detention thus occasioned prevented his meeting the Cincinnati. After remaining three days at Fredericksburg, his mother and sister being partially recovered, he returned to Mount Vernon, and was enabled to complete his preparations for leaving home in season to arrive in Philadelphia on the 13th of May, the day before the opening of the convention. {6}

Public honors had awaited him everywhere on his route. At Chester he was met by General Mifflin, then speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and several officers of the army and other public characters who accompanied him to Gray's Ferry, where his former escort, the "First Troop" of Philadelphia, were waiting to conduct him to the city. On his arrival he paid his first visit to Dr. Franklin, president of the State of Pennsylvania, who had also been elected a member of the convention.

On the next day (May 14, 1787), the convention assembled which was to accomplish one of the most splendid works that ever was achieved by human wisdom. Several days, however, elapsed before a quorum of members could be formed. When the moment for commencing the organization of the convention arrived, Robert Morris, on behalf of the Pennsylvania delegation, nominated Washington as its president. John Rutledge of South Carolina, future chief justice of the United States, seconded the nomination, remarking at the same time that the presence of General Washington forbade any observations on the occasion which might not be proper. He was elected by a unanimous vote. By this act the convention did but fulfill the wishes of the whole nation. A crisis had arrived in which all eyes were turned to the Great Founder for deliverance. To use his own language in a letter written to Mr. Jefferson a few days later (May 30, 1787), "That something is necessary none will deny, for the general government, if it can be called a government, is shaken to its foundation and liable to be overturned by every blast. In a word, it is at an end, and unless a remedy is soon applied anarchy and confusion will inevitably ensue."

Among the members of the convention were many men of exalted character and signal abilities. New York sent Alexander Hamilton, himself a host. No member was better fitted for the work or exerted a more important influence in perfecting it. Madison was one of the delegates from Virginia, whose pen was subsequently exerted, in connection with those of Hamilton and Jay in defending and expounding the constitution to the people in the memorable papers of the "Federalist." Massachusetts sent Nathaniel Gorham and Rufus King; New Hampshire, John Langdon and Nicholas Gilman; Pennsylvania counted in her numerous delegates Franklin, Mifflin, James Wilson, Robert Morris, and Gouverneur Morris, with others whose historical names are less distinguished for ability and eloquence, though not less for integrity and patriotism. South Carolina sent John Rutledge, her former governor, one of the ablest and purest men then living, and destined to preside over the supreme judiciary of the Union. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, one of the bravest of the revolutionary generals, and the future ambassador to France, was also among the delegates of South Carolina. Among the other names on the roll of the convention, we recognize those of another Pinckney, famed for eloquence; Roger Sherman, a veteran statesman and signer of the Declaration of Independence; William Livingston, afterwards Governor of New Jersey, friend and correspondent of Washington, and Doctor Hugh Williamson of North Carolina, an early patriot, who had assisted Franklin in detecting the intrigues of Hutchinson and Oliver.

It would fill far too much space to enumerate all the members of the convention, or even to glance at their respective titles, already earned by public service, to the confidence of their countrymen.

"It was a most fortunate thing for America," says a recent writer, {7} "that the Revolutionary age, with its hardships, its trials, and its mistakes, had formed a body of Statesmen capable of framing for it a durable constitution. The leading persons in the convention which formed the constitution had been actors either in civil or military life in the scenes of the Revolution. In those scenes their characters as American statesmen had been formed. When the condition of the country had fully revealed the incapacity of the government to provide for its wants, these men were naturally looked to to construct a system which would save it from anarchy. And their great capacities, their high disinterested purposes, their freedom from all fanaticism and illiberality, and their earnest, unconquerable faith in the destiny of the country, enabled them to found that government which now upholds and protects the whole fabric of liberty in the States of this Union."

The convention remained in session four months, and their industry and devotion to their important work is amply testified by the fact that they sat from five to seven hours a day. It was a most imposing assemblage. "The severe, unchanging presence of Washington," says the writer last quoted, "presided over all. The chivalrous sincerity and disinterestedness of Hamilton pervaded the assembly with all the power of his fascinating manners. The flashing eloquence of Gouverneur Morris recalled the dangers of anarchy, which must be accepted as the alternative of an abortive experiment. The calm, clear, statesmanlike views of Madison, the searching and profound expositions of King, the prudent influence of Franklin, at length ruled the hour."