On the Road to Philadelphia ...
Leading up to the Federal Convention
As a delegate to the Federal Convention in Philadelphia, you obviously must have an idea of the events led to the calling of a federal convention in Philadelphia to fix the government of the United States. Print, read, highlight, and add margin notes to the following overview of the causes of the convention and completeThe Road to Philadelphia Reading Quiz that corresponds to the reading.
A DIVERSE NATION – As you certainly know, the new United States is a country like no other in 1787. It is far larger than most of the other countries of the world, stretching twelve hundred miles along the Atlantic coast. It is much too vast to be effectively governed as a single unit. Communication and transportation are very problematic, as most of the country is raw forest. Travel across land for long distances is nearly impossible as the few interstate roads were rough and muddy in the rain. Just wait until you try to get to Philadelphia during the spring rain! Most travelers are lucky to make it 20 miles a day, making a trip from Boston to Charleston last several weeks. Mail travels faster since it is carried by express riders, but it still takes the rough frontier town of Pittsburgh about a month to receive the Philadelphia newspaper.
In reality, the country is a collection of regions, all of which differ in religion, economics, ethnic diversity, attitudes, and customs. The different regions seem like foreign countries to one another, as the whaler from Nantucket, Connecticut lives a completely different life than the Charleston plantation owner, the Pennsylvania artisan, the Georgia hill farmer or the Boston merchant. New England depends on shipping and whaling, the Middle States grow grain and have small industries, while the slave-based agriculture of the south needs export markets for its tobacco.
At first look, the country does not seem very diverse, as over 75% of the white population is of British or Irish background. Even though there is continued immigration from Europe, a large majority of Americans speak English as a first language. However, the US is much more diverse than any European nation. The Protestant religion dominates but is spread across a number of different groups or sects. There are dozens of ethnic groups from Europe, and 20% of the population are African-Americans.
The culture of the United States is quite formal, and the stratification or layering of society is much greater than it will be in the future. The US is a deferential society, in which certain people gain greater social status and often political office. The belief is widely held that the lower people in society were different sorts than the upper class or gentry. Most Americans feel that the government of the United States should be run by this upper class. Are you one of the people that believe in the problems with the “excess of democracy”? Maybe this topic will come up in our meetings.
STATE CONSTITUTIONS – Once the colonies declared independence, the problem of governing ourselves came to the forefront. You obviously understand the challenges of the Articles of Confederation, but each state also had challenges developing their own constitutions. The framers of the state government didn’t want to destroy the system they already had in their respective colonies, but they also wanted to make the systems more democratic. However, some state leaders were worried about too much democracy and putting the power in the hands of the uneducated people. Therefore, each state (including yours) developed a republican form of government in which people elected representatives to make decisions for them. Some states also added a bill of rights to their constitutions, listing the rights guaranteed to the citizens. All of the states had variations in their constitutions.
UNITED? –As we know, the Articles of Confederation pose great problems for our new united states in both the political and economic arena. It is very difficult to change or amend the Articles in order to solve problems. The Articles recognize 13 independent and sovereign states in a “firm league of friendship”, and all have to agree upon an amendment to change the Articles.
The states are hardly united, as they had been during the revolution. States are in conflict over a variety of issues - several states maintain their own customs services, taxing the goods of their neighbors. Nine states have their own navies. New York and Massachusetts claim ownership of Vermont, which had declared independence and even negotiated separately with the British to win recognition as a separate entity. Connecticut and Pennsylvania are feuding over the Wyoming Valley. Some New England states are considering leaving the new nation. Some Americans even propose to dissolve the Confederation. A few Southern newspapers proposed that the country be divided into four different nations – Eastern, Middle, Southern, and Trans–Allegheny!
The economy of the new nation is also in shambles. Hard cash (gold and silver) was almost nonexistent, and attempted solutions to debt problems have been disastrous. Congress cannot raise taxes for revenue. The Congress could only ask states for money, and not all states chipped in. Rhode Island printed paper money and demanded that creditors accept it in payment, which led to wild inflation within the state and ferocious protests from outsiders who traded with Rhode Islanders. When the Confederation Congress tried to make an amendment to the Articles allowing taxes for the national government, one state defeated it – Rhode Island, of course. It seems the little state is worried about losing any sort of power in any way.
MORE PROBLEMS -The nation seems to be following a path of increasing disorder. As you know, in 1786 debt policies in Massachusetts led to armed rebellion. Farmers were in debt to merchants in Boston and other coastal cities, and they asked the state legislature to stop their land from being foreclosed. When the legislatures ignored their please, the farmers responded. The group followed a former Army officer named Daniel Shays in an uprising to take over Hampshire County in western Massachusetts. The farmers closed down the courts of western Massachusetts and stopped the sheriffs from carrying out court orders to confiscate farmers’ lands. The rebellion was eventually quieted by the state militia, but not until the farmers tried to overtake an arsenal of weapons in Springfield and four farmers died in the conflict. The events of Shays' Rebellion horrified the elites of America, who worried that poor farmers would rise up against authority across the new nation and the federal government had no way to stop it. The Confederation Congress tried to authorize continental troops to put down the rebellion, but the thirteen states all refused to pay for the troops, so only a few were recruited and then sent home. The national government is simply too weak to take care of such problems. What should be done?
Foreign affairs are also problematic. European governments view the young American republic as weak. Although the Articles of Confederation gave Congress the exclusive right to negotiate treaties with foreign governments, in practice the national government lacks the power to enforce them. Congress, for example, was unable to force the states to respect a treaty it approved on the treatment of loyalist claims in America.
Likewise, foreign governments quickly recognized that America could not force them to live up to their obligations, as the British showed in delaying their withdrawal from forts in the Great Lakes region. Spain was threatening to seize territory along the Mississippi River. Foreign ambassadors secretly play one state against another and even turned to bribery to influence members of Congress.
Obviously, the US is in turmoil, and we have another crisis on our hands. The government under the Articles of Confederation is proving to be a failure, as the economy of the nation is horrible and the national government has very little authority. This Federal Convention has been proposed to make some simple revisions to the existing government. Is that all that will happen – simple revisions?
MEETINGS AND MEETINGS - So what specifically led to our meeting in Philadelphia in 1787? One of the root causes was a disagreement between Maryland and Virginia over the use of the Potomac and Pocomoke Rivers for trade, navigation, and fishing. To solve the disagreement, men from Virginia and Maryland met at George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon in 1785. They were quite successful in coming to agreement, leading James Madison to believe that another larger meeting could come take place in order to solve other problems between states in the Confederation. Five states sent representatives to this meeting in Annapolis in 1786 to discuss ideas for improving relations between the states. Before departing from the Annapolis Convention, another meeting of all states in Philadelphia was called to take into consideration the trade and commerce of the new nation. The Continental Congress agreed that the meeting should take place to look at the situation in the new nation and for the “sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation”. You are a delegate to this convention, so you (and some people of your state) must agree that something must be done.
However, many influential people in the nation do not want a stronger government, so sending delegates to the convention has been a very touchy matter. Rhode Island refused to send any representatives, as they worried about losing their equal status under the Articles of Confederation. Some small states worry about their loss of power as well, and others are worried that any change in the government will lead to less individual control of business.
THE DELEGATES -Seventy-four delegates have been appointed to the convention, and fifty-five will attended sessions. Rhode Island was not alone in being suspicious of the meeting. The famous orator Patrick Henry refused to attend, declaring he "smelt a rat." He suspects that some delegates had in mind the creation of a powerful central government and the weakening of the authority of the state legislatures. Henry along with many other political leaders believed that the state governments offered the best protection for personal freedoms. Will he be proven correct? Sam Adams, the famous revolutionary from the previous decade, is very suspicious of a "general revision of the Confederation” and will not attend. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams are both overseas on foreign missions for the new nation, and John Jay is in the Foreign Office in New York, so the convention proceeded without some of the nation’s major political leaders.
Nevertheless, the Philadelphia convention will be attended by a very impressive group of delegates. Jefferson referred to the group as “an assembly of demi-gods”, and the most important person to attend almost didn’t make the trip to Philadelphia. Even though he preferred to stay private in the remaining years of his life, the great George Washington agreed to attend after being persuaded by James Madison and the events of Shays’ Rebellion. In reaction to the rebellion, Washington remarked “I am mortified beyond expression … without some alteration in our political creed, the superstructure we have been raising at the expense of so much blood and treasure most fall. We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion."
The rest of the delegation reads like a Revolutionary “Who’s Who” – the famous Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania; the distinguished lawyer James Wilson of Pennsylvania; the brilliant and ambitious Alexander Hamilton of New York, who aided Washington in the war; George Mason of Virginia, the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights; John Dickinson of Delaware, who wrote the Articles of Confederation; and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, who had helped draft the New York State Constitution and had worked with Robert Morris in the Finance Office. Madison himself was a fine young lawyer who had read multiple books in preparation for the meeting.
There were others who will play major roles - Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut; Edmund Randolph of Virginia; William Paterson of New Jersey; John Rutledge of South Carolina; Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts; Roger Sherman of Connecticut; Luther Martin of Maryland; and the Pinckneys, Charles and Charles Cotesworth, of South Carolina. Franklin was the oldest member at 81, and Jonathan Dayton, the 27-year-old delegate from New Jersey was the youngest. The average age is 42. All of the delegates are white males, almost half have a college education (something very rare for the time period), and most of them have experience in either law or government. Most of the delegates have studied law, served in colonial or state legislatures, or have been in the Congress. The delegates are well versed in philosophical theories of government advanced by such philosophers as John Locke, and Montesquieu. Eight signed the Declaration of Independence 11 years ago. All of the delegates are in the upper class of their states, most are well known at home, and many have a national reputation. They are temperamentally diverse, as some men are bold, some cautious; some are shy, others outspoken; some w are skilled politically, others are very abrasive.
The delegates came to the convention with different ideas on how the government should be structured, especially in the area of the representation of the states. Slavery will certainly be an issue of prominence, since many northern states have outlawed the institution, unlike the South. In addition, the delegates represent states of additionally diverse viewpoints, so a perfect government will be quite a challenge!
GETTING STARTED -The convention was scheduled to begin on May 14, but weather problems forced a delay for over a week. When the meeting was finally called to order on May 25 with seven delegations present. In your first few meetings, the delegates made some important decisions that will contribute to the success of the Convention. First, you all agreed to keep the deliberations of the convention secret, going so far as closing the windows of the State House (which will get quite toasty during the very warm summer months). The delegates also agree that they will have a "gentlemanly decorum", as members will not gossip amongst themselves or interrupt others when they are talking. Another key decision allows issues to be discussed and voted on again, making it so no vote was final except the final vote. Each state's delegation has one vote, and votes could be changed until the close of the convention. A simple majority would pass any proposal. Possibly the most import decision was the unanimous choice of George Washington as the presiding officer of the convention. With the highly respected Washington running the show, delegates will not only toe the line, but the convention was given a public air of authority.
The preliminary discussions are complete and the meeting is ready to commence. It is now time to "consider the situation of the United States" ...
Resources -
Burns, Roger A. A More Perfect
Collier,
Christopher and James Lincoln Collier. Decision in
McLoughlin, Merrill .
"The Miracle at
Stewart,
David O. The Summer of 1787.