Insurrection in Massachusetts.
Those causes of discontent which existed, after the restoration of peace, in every part of the union, were particularly operative in New England. The great exertions which had been made by those states in the course of the war, had accumulated a mass of debt, the taxes for the payment of which were the more burdensome, because their fisheries had become unproductive. The restlessness produced by the uneasy situation of individuals, connected with lax notions concerning public and private faith, and erroneous opinions which confound liberty with an exemption from legal control, produced a state of things which alarmed all reflecting men, and demonstrated to many the indispensable necessity of clothing government with powers sufficiently ample for the protection of the rights of the peaceable and quiet, from the invasions of the licentious and turbulent part of the community.
This disorderly spirit was cherished by unlicensed conventions, which, after voting their own constitutionality, and assuming the name of the people, arrayed themselves against the legislature, and detailed at great length the grievances by which they alleged themselves to be oppressed. Its hostility was principally directed against the compensation promised to the officers of the army, against taxes, and against the administration of justice: and the circulation of a depreciated currency was required, as a relief from the pressure of public and private burdens which had become, it was alleged, too heavy to be borne. Against lawyers and courts, the strongest resentments were manifested; and to such a dangerous extent were these dispositions indulged, that, in many instances, tumultuous assemblages of people arrested the course of law, and restrained the judges from proceeding in the execution of their duty. The ordinary recourse to the power of the country was found an insufficient protection, and the appeals made to reason were attended with no beneficial effect. The forbearance of the government was attributed to timidity rather than to moderation, and the spirit of insurrection appeared to be organized into a regular system for the suppression of courts.
In the bosom of Washington, these tumults excited attention and alarm. "For God's sake tell me," said he in a letter to Colonel Humphries, "what is the cause of all these commotions? Do they proceed from licentiousness, British influence disseminated by the tories, or real grievances which admit of redress? if the latter, why was redress delayed until the public mind had become so much agitated? if the former, why are not the powers of government tried at once? It is as well to be without, as not to exercise them. Commotions of this sort, like snow-balls, gather strength as they roll, if there is no opposition in the way to divide and crumble them."
"As to your question, my dear general," said Colonel Humphries in reply, "respecting the cause and origin of these commotions, I hardly find myself in condition to give a certain answer. If from all the information I have been able to obtain, I might be authorized to hazard an opinion, I should attribute them to all the three causes which you have suggested. In Massachusetts particularly, I believe there are a few real grievances; and also some wicked agents or emissaries who have been busy in magnifying the positive evils, and fomenting causeless jealousies and disturbances. But it rather appears to me, that there is a licentious spirit prevailing among many of the people; a levelling principle; a desire of change; and a wish to annihilate all debts, public and private." "It is indeed a fact," said General Knox, after returning from a visit to the eastern country, "that high taxes are the ostensible cause of the commotion, but that they are the real cause, is as far remote from truth, as light is from darkness. The people who are the insurgents have never paid any, or but very little taxes. But they see the weakness of government. They feel at once their own poverty compared with the opulent, and their own force; and they are determined to make use of the latter, in order to remedy the former. Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been protected from confiscation by the joint exertions of all, and therefore ought to be common to all. And he that attempts opposition to this creed is an enemy to equity and justice, and ought to be swept from the face of the earth."
The force of this party throughout New England was computed by General Knox at twelve or fifteen thousand men. "They were chiefly," he said, "of the young and active part of the community, who were more easily collected than kept together. Desperate and unprincipled, they would probably commit overt acts of treason which would compel them, for their own safety, to embody and submit to discipline. Thus would there be a formidable rebellion against reason, the principle of all government, and the very name of liberty. This dreadful situation," he added, "has alarmed every man of principle and property in New England. They start as from a dream, and ask—what has been the cause of our delusion? What is to afford us security against the violence of lawless men? Our government must be braced, changed, or altered, to secure our lives and our property. We imagined that the mildness of the government, and the virtue of the people were so correspondent, that we were not as other nations, requiring brutal force to support the laws. But we find that we are men, actual men, possessing all the turbulent passions belonging to that animal; and that we must have a government proper and adequate for him. Men of reflection and principle are determined to endeavour to establish a government which shall have the power to protect them in their lawful pursuits, and which will be efficient in cases of internal commotions, or foreign invasions. They mean that liberty shall be the basis, a liberty resulting from the equal and firm administration of the laws."
Deeply affected by these commotions, General Washington continued his anxious inquiries respecting the course they threatened to take. "I feel, my dear General Knox," said he, in answer to the letter from which the foregoing extracts are taken, "infinitely more than I can express to you, for the disorders which have arisen in these states. Good God! who besides a tory could have foreseen, or a Briton have predicted them? I do assure you that even at this moment, when I reflect upon the present aspect of our affairs, it seems to me like the visions of a dream. My mind can scarcely realize it as a thing in actual existence:—so strange, so wonderful does it appear to me. In this, as in most other matters, we are too slow. When this spirit first dawned, it might probably have been easily checked; but it is scarcely within the reach of human ken, at this moment, to say when, where, or how it will terminate. There are combustibles in every state, to which a spark might set fire.
"In bewailing, which I have often done with the keenest sorrow, the death of our much lamented friend General Greene,[38]I have accompanied my regrets of late with a query, whether he would not have preferred such an exit to the scenes which it is more than probable, many of his compatriots may live to bemoan."
Ostensibly, on account of the danger which threatened the frontiers, but, really, with a view to the situation of Massachusetts, congress had agreed to augment the military establishment to a legionary corps of two thousand and forty men, and had detached the secretary of war, General Knox, to that state, with directions to concert measures with its government for the safety of the arsenal at Springfield. So inauspicious was the aspect of affairs, as to inspire serious fears that the torch of civil discord, about to be lighted up in Massachusetts, would communicate its flame to all New England, and perhaps to the union. Colonel Lee, a member of congress, drew the following picture of the condition of the eastern country at that time. "General Knox has just returned, and his report, grounded on his own knowledge, is replete with melancholy information. A majority of the people of Massachusetts are in opposition to the government. Some of the leaders avow the subversion of it to be their object, together with the abolition of debts, the division of property, and a reunion with Great Britain. In all the eastern states, same temper prevails more or less, and will certainly break forth whenever the opportune moment may arrive. The malcontents are in close connexion with Vermont, and that district, it is believed, is in negotiation with the government of Canada. In one word, my dear general, we are all in dire apprehension that a beginning of anarchy with all its calamities is made, and we have no means to stop the dreadful work. Knowing your unbounded influence, and believing that your appearance among the seditious might bring them back to peace and reconciliation, individuals suggest the propriety of an invitation to you from congress to pay us a visit. This is only a surmise, and I take the liberty to mention it to you, that, should the conjuncture of affairs induce congress to make this request, you may have some previous time for reflection on it."
"The picture which you have exhibited," replied the general, "and the accounts which are published of the commotions and temper of numerous bodies in the eastern country, present a state of things equally to be lamented and deprecated. They exhibit a melancholy verification of what our transatlantic foes have 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 which 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 jealousy 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 short sighted 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; nor if attainable, that it would be a proper remedy for these disorders.Influenceis notgovernment. Let us have agovernment, 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 haverealgrievances, 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 the government against them at once. If this is inadequate,allwill 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 expedients, is to exasperate on the one hand, or to give confidence on the other, and will add to their numbers; for like snow-balls, such bodies increase by every movement, unless there is something in the way to obstruct and crumble them before their weight is too great and irresistible.
"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 finalvetoto 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."
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.
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.
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.
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 worldbelieves, and which your friendsknowyou 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 æra 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.
In a letter detailing those arrangements which were making for the introduction of the new government, Colonel Lee proceeded thus to speak of the presidency of the United States. "The solemnity of the moment, and its application to yourself, have fixed my mind in contemplations of a public and a personal nature, and I feel an involuntary impulse which I can not resist, to communicate without reserve to you some of the reflections which the hour has produced. Solicitous for our common happiness as a people, and convinced as I continue to be that our peace and prosperity depend on the proper improvement of the present period, my anxiety is extreme that the new government may have an auspicious beginning. To effect this, and to perpetuate a nation formed under your auspices, it is certain that again you will be called forth.
"The same principles of devotion to the good of mankind, which have invariably governed your conduct, will no doubt continue to rule your mind, however opposite their consequences may be to your repose and happiness. It may be wrong, but I can not suppress, in my wishes for national felicity, a due regard for your personal fame and content.
"If the same success should attend your efforts on this important occasion which has distinguished you hitherto, then, to be sure, you will have spent a life which Providence rarely if ever before gave to the lot of one man. It is my anxious hope, it is my belief, that this will be the case; but all things are uncertain, and perhaps nothing more so than political events." He then proceeded to state his apprehensions, that the government might sink under the active hostility of its foes, and in particular, the fears which he entertained from the circular letter of New York, around which the minorities in the several states might be expected to rally.
To counteract its baneful influence with the legislature of Virginia, he expressed his earnest wish, that Mr. Madison might be prevailed on to take a seat in that assembly, and then added,
"It would certainly be unpleasant to you, and obnoxious to all who feel for your just fame, to see you at the head of a trembling system. It is a sacrifice on your part unjustifiable in any point of view. But on the other hand no alternative seems to be presented.
"Without you, the government can have but little chance of success; and the people, of that happiness which its prosperity must yield."
1789
Letters from Gen. Washington respecting the chief magistracy of the new government.
In reply to this letter General Washington said, "Your observations on the solemnity of the crisis, and its application to myself, bring before me subjects of the most momentous and interesting nature. In our endeavours to establish a new general government, the contest, nationally considered, seems not to have been so much for glory, as existence. It was for a long time doubtful whether we were to survive as an independent republic, or decline from our federal dignity into insignificant and wretched fragments of empire. The adoption of the constitution so extensively, and with so liberal an acquiescence on the part of the minorities in general, promised the former; but lately, the circular letter of New York has manifested, in my apprehension, an unfavourable, if not an insidious tendency to a contrary policy. I still hope for the best; but before you mentioned it, I could not help fearing it would serve as a standard to which the disaffected might resort. It is now evidently the part of all honest men, who are friends to the new constitution, to endeavour to give it a chance to disclose its merits and defects, by carrying it fairly into effect, in the first instance.
"The principal topic of your letter, is to me a point of great delicacy indeed;—insomuch that I can scarcely, without some impropriety, touch upon it. In the first place, the event to which you allude may never happen, among other reasons, because, if the partiality of my fellow citizens conceive it to be a mean by which the sinews of the new government would be strengthened, it will of consequence be obnoxious to those who are in opposition to it, many of whom, unquestionably, will be placed among the electors.
"This consideration alone would supersede the expediency of announcing any definitive and irrevocable resolution. You are among the small number of those who know my invincible attachment to domestic life, and that my sincerest wish is to continue in the enjoyment of it solely, until my final hour. But the world would be neither so well instructed, nor so candidly disposed, as to believe me to be uninfluenced by sinister motives, in case any circumstance should render a deviation from the line of conduct I had prescribed for myself indispensable. Should the contingency you suggest take place, and (for argument sake alone, let me say) should my unfeigned reluctance to accept the office be overcome by a deference for the reasons and opinions of my friends; might I not, after the declarations I have made, (and heaven knows they were made in the sincerity of my heart,) in the judgment of the impartial world, and of posterity, be chargeable with levity and inconsistency, if not with rashness and ambition? Nay, farther, would there not even be some apparent foundation for the two former charges? Now, justice to myself, and tranquillity of conscience require that I should act a part, if not above imputation, at least capable of vindication. Nor will you conceive me to be too solicitous for reputation. Though I prize as I ought the good opinion of my fellow citizens, yet, if I know myself, I would not seek or retain popularity at the expense of one social duty, or moral virtue. While doing what my conscience informed me was right, as it respected my God, my country, and myself, I could despise all the party clamour and unjust censure which must be expected from some, whose personal enmity might be occasioned by their hostility to the government. I am conscious, that I fear alone to give any real occasion for obloquy, and that I do not dread to meet with unmerited reproach. And certain I am, whensoever I shall be convinced the good of my country requires my reputation to be put in risque, regard for my own fame will not come in competition with an object of so much magnitude.
"If I declined the task, it would be upon quite another principle. Notwithstanding my advanced season of life, my increasing fondness for agricultural amusements, and my growing love of retirement, augment and confirm my decided predilection for the character of a private citizen, yet it will be no one of these motives, nor the hazard to which my former reputation might be exposed, or the terror of encountering new fatigues and troubles, that would deter me from an acceptance;—but a belief that some other person, who had less pretence and less inclination to be excused, could execute all the duties full as satisfactorily as myself. To say more would be indiscreet; as a disclosure of a refusal before hand might incur the application of the fable, in which the fox is represented as undervaluing the grapes he could not reach. You will perceive, my dear sir, by what is here observed (and which you will be pleased to consider in the light of a confidential communication), that my inclinations will dispose and decide me to remain as I am, unless a clear and insurmountable conviction should be impressed on my mind, that some very disagreeable consequences must in all human probability result from the indulgence of my wishes."
About the same time, Colonel Hamilton concluded a letter on miscellaneous subjects with the following observations. "I take it for granted, sir, you have concluded to comply with what will, no doubt, be the general call of your country in relation to the new government. You will permit me to say that it is indispensable you should lend yourself to its first operations. It is to little purpose to have introduced a system, if the weightiest influence is not given to its firm establishment in the outset."
"On the delicate subject," said General Washington in reply, "with which you conclude your letter, I can say nothing; because the event alluded to may never happen; and because in case it should occur, it would be a point of prudence to defer forming one's ultimate and irrevocable decision, so long as new data might be afforded for one to act with the greater wisdom and propriety. I would not wish to conceal my prevailing sentiment from you. For you know me well enough, my good sir, to be persuaded that I am not guilty of affectation, when I tell you it is my great and sole desire to live and die in peace and retirement on my own farm. Were it even indispensable a different line of conduct should be adopted, while you and some others who are acquainted with my heart wouldacquit, the world and posterity might probablyaccuseme ofinconsistencyandambition. Still I hope, I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character ofan honest man."
This answer drew from Colonel Hamilton the following reply: "I should be deeply pained, my dear sir, if your scruples in regard to a certain station should be matured into a resolution to decline it; though I am neither surprised at their existence, nor can I but agree in opinion that the caution you observe in deferring the ultimate determination is prudent. I have, however, reflected maturely on the subject, and have come to a conclusion (in which I feel no hesitation) that every public and personal consideration will demand from you an acquiescence in what willcertainlybe the unanimous wish of your country.
"The absolute retreat which you meditated at the close of the late war was natural and proper. Had the government produced by the revolution gone on in atolerabletrain, it would have been most adviseable to have persisted in that retreat. But I am clearly of opinion that the crisis which brought you again into public view left you no alternative but to comply; and I am equally clear in the opinion that you are by that actpledgedto take a part in the execution of the government. I am not less convinced that the impression of the necessity of your filling the station in question is so universal, that you run no risk of any uncandid imputation by submitting to it. But even if this were not the case, a regard to your own reputation, as well as to the public good, calls upon you in the strongest manner to run that risk.
"It can not be considered as a compliment to say, that on your acceptance of the office of president, the success of the new government in its commencement may materially depend. Your agency and influence will be not less important in preserving it from the future attacks of its enemies, than they have been in recommending it in the first instance to the adoption of the people. Independent of all considerations drawn from this source, the point of light in which you stand at home and abroad, will make an infinite difference in the respectability with which the government will begin its operations, in the alternative of your being or not being at the head of it. I forbear to mention considerations which might have a more personal application. What I have said will suffice for the inferences I mean to draw.
"First. In a matter so essential to the well being of society as the prosperity of a newly instituted government, a citizen of so much consequence as yourself to its success, has no option but to lend his services if called for. Permit me to say, it would be inglorious, in such a situation, not to hazard the glory, however great, which he might have previously acquired.
"Secondly. Your signature to the proposed system, pledges your judgment for its being such an one as upon the whole was worthy of the public approbation. If it should miscarry, (as men commonly decide from success or the want of it) the blame will in all probability be laid on the system itself. And the framers of it will have to encounter the disrepute of having brought about a revolution in government, without substituting any thing that was worthy of the effort; they pulled down one Utopia, it will be said, to build up another. This view of the subject, if I mistake not, my dear sir, will suggest to your mind greater hazard to that fame, which must be, and ought to be dear to you, in refusing your future aid to the system, than in affording it. I will only add, that in my estimate of the matter, that aid is indispensable.
"I have taken the liberty to express these sentiments, and to lay before you my view of the subject. I doubt not the considerations mentioned have fully occurred to you, and I trust, they will finally produce in your mind the same result which exists in mine. I flatter myself the frankness with which I have delivered myself, will not be displeasing to you. It has been prompted by motives which you would not disapprove."
In answer to this letter General Washington opened himself without reserve. "In acknowledging," said he, "the receipt of your candid and kind letter by the last post, little more is incumbent on me than to thank you sincerely for the frankness with which you communicated your sentiments, and to assure you that the same manly tone of intercourse will always be more than barely welcome,—indeed it will be highly acceptable to me.
"I am particularly glad, in the present instance, that you have dealt thus freely and like a friend. Although I could not help observing from several publications and letters that my name had been sometimes spoken of, and that it was possible thecontingencywhich is the subject of your letter might happen, yet I thought it best to maintain a guarded silence, and to lack the counsel of my best friends (which I certainly hold in the highest estimation) rather than to hazard an imputation unfriendly to the delicacy of my feelings. For, situated as I am, I could hardly bring the question into the slightest discussion, or ask an opinion even in the most confidential manner, without betraying, in my judgment, some impropriety of conduct, or without feeling an apprehension that a premature display of anxiety, might be construed into a vain glorious desire of pushing myself into notice as a candidate. Now; if I am not grossly deceived in myself, I should unfeignedly rejoice, in case the electors, by giving their votes in favour of some other person, would save me from the dreadful dilemma of being forced to accept or refuse. If that may not be, I am in the next place, earnestly desirous of searching out the truth, and of knowing whether there does not exist a probability that the government would be just as happily and effectually carried into execution without my aid, as with it. I amtrulysolicitous to obtain all the previous information which the circumstances will afford, and to determine (when the determination can with propriety be no longer postponed) according to the principles of right reason, and the dictates of a clear conscience; without too great a reference to the unforeseen consequences which may affect my person or reputation. Until that period, I may fairly hold myself open to conviction, though I allow your sentiments to have weight in them; and I shall not pass by your arguments without giving them as dispassionate a consideration as I can possibly bestow upon them.
"In taking a survey of the subject, in whatever point of light I have been able to place it, I will not suppress the acknowledgment, my dear sir, that I have always felt a kind of gloom upon my mind, as often as I have been taught to expect I might, and perhaps must ere long be called to make a decision. You will, I am well assured, believe the assertion (though I have little expectation it would gain credit from those who are less acquainted with me) that if I should receive the appointment, and should be prevailed upon to accept it; the acceptance would be attended with more diffidence and reluctance, than ever I experienced before in my life. It would be, however, with a fixed and sole determination of lending whatever assistance might be in my power to promote the public weal, in hopes that at a convenient and an early period, my services might be dispensed with; and that I might be permitted once more to retire—to pass an unclouded evening after the stormy day of life, in the bosom of domestic tranquillity."
This correspondence was thus closed by Colonel Hamilton. "I feel a conviction that you will finally see your acceptance to be indispensable. It is no compliment to say that no other man can sufficiently unite the public opinion, or can give the requisite weight to the office, in the commencement of the government. These considerations appear to me of themselves decisive. I am not sure that your refusal would not throw every thing into confusion. I am sure that it would have the worst effect imaginable.
"Indeed, as I hinted in a former letter, I think circumstances leave no option."
Although this correspondence does not appear to have absolutely decided General Washington on the part he should embrace, it could not have been without its influence on his judgment, nor have failed to dispose him to yield to the wish of his country. "I would willingly," said he to his estimable friend General Lincoln, who had also pressed the subject on him, "pass over in silence that part of your letter, in which you mention the persons who are candidates for the two first offices in the executive, if I did not fear the omission might seem to betray a want of confidence. Motives of delicacy have prevented me hitherto from conversing or writing on this subject, whenever I could avoid it with decency. I may, however, with great sincerity, and I believe without offending against modesty or propriety,saytoyou, that I most heartily wish the choice to which you allude might not fall upon me: and that if it should, I must reserve to myself the right of making up my final decision, at the last moment, when it can be brought into one view, and when the expediency or inexpediency of a refusal can be more judiciously determined than at present. But be assured, my dear sir, if from any inducement I shall be persuaded ultimately to accept, it will not be (so far as I know my own heart) from any of a private or personal nature. Every personal consideration conspires, to rivet me (if I may use the expression) to retirement. At my time of life, and under my circumstances, nothing in this world can ever draw me from it, unless it be aconvictionthat the partiality of my countrymen had made my services absolutely necessary, joined to afearthat my refusal might induce a belief that I preferred the conservation of my own reputation and private ease, to the good of my country. After all, if I should conceive myself in a manner constrained to accept, I call heaven to witness, that this very act would be the greatest sacrifice of my personal feelings and wishes, that ever I have been called upon to make. It would be to forego repose and domestic enjoyment for trouble, perhaps for public obloquy: for I should consider myself as entering upon an unexplored field, enveloped on every side with clouds and darkness.
"From this embarrassing situation I had naturally supposed that my declarations at the close of the war would have saved me; and that my sincere intentions, then publicly made known, would have effectually precluded me forever afterwards from being looked upon as a candidate for any office. This hope, as a last anchor of worldly happiness in old age, I had still carefully preserved; until the public papers and private letters from my correspondents in almost every quarter, taught me to apprehend that I might soon be obliged to answer the question, whether I would go again into public life or not?"
"I can say little or nothing new," said he in a letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, "in consequence of the repetition of your opinion on the expediency there will be, for my accepting the office to which you refer. Your sentiments indeed coincide much more nearly with those of my ether friends, than with my own feelings. In truth, my difficulties increase and magnify as I draw towards the period, when, according to the common belief, it will be necessary for me to give a definitive answer in one way or other. Should circumstances render it, in a manner, inevitably necessary to be in the affirmative, be assured, my dear sir, I shall assume the task with the most unfeigned reluctance, and with a real diffidence, for which I shall probably receive no credit from the world. If I know my own heart, nothing short of a conviction of duty will induce me again to take an active part in public affairs. And in that case, if I can form a plan for my own conduct, my endeavours shall be unremittingly exerted (even at the hazard of former fame or present popularity) to extricate my country from the embarrassments in which it is entangled through want of credit; and to establish a general system of policy, which, if pursued, will ensure permanent felicity to the commonwealth. I think I see a path, as clear and as direct as a ray of light, which leads to the attainment of that object. Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality, are necessary to make us a great and happy people. Happily, the present posture of affairs, and the prevailing disposition of my countrymen, promise to co-operate in establishing those four great and essential pillars of public felicity."
Constitutional Convention Room