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THE FATHERS OF THE CONSTITUTION
THE FATHERS OF THE CONSTITUTION MAX FARRAND NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
TORONTO: GLASGOW BROOK & CO.
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1921
CONTENTS
I. THE TREATY OF PEACE
II. TRADE AND INDUSTRY
III. THE CONFEDERATION
IV. THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE
V. DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN
VI. THE FEDERAL CONVENTION
VII. FINISHING THE WORK
VIII. THE UNION ESTABLISHED
APPENDIX
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
NOTES ON THE PORTRAITS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION
FATHERS OF THE CONSTITUTION
CHAPTER I. THE TREATY OF PEACE
"The United States of America"! It was in the Declaration of
Independence that this name was first and formally proclaimed to
the world and to maintain its verity the war of the Revolution
was fought. Americans like to think that they were then assuming
"among the Powers of the Earth the equal and independent Station
to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them";
and in view of their subsequent marvelous development they are
inclined to add that it must have been before an expectant world.
In these days of prosperity and national greatness it is hard to
realize that the achievement of independence did not place the
United States on a footing of equality with other countries and
that in fact the new state was more or less an unwelcome member
of the world family. It is nevertheless true that the latest
comer into the family of nations did not for a long time command
the respect of the world. This lack of respect was partly due to
the character of the American population. Along with the many
estimable and excellent people who had come to British North
America inspired by the best of motives there had come others
who were not regarded favorably by the governing classes of
Europe. Discontent is frequently a healthful sign and a
forerunner of progress but it makes one an uncomfortable
neighbor in a satisfied and conservative community; and
discontent was the underlying factor in the migration from the
Old World to the New. In any composite immigrant population such
as that of the United States there was bound to be a large
element of undesirables. Among those who came "for conscience's
sake" were the best type of religious protestants but there were
also religious cranks from many countries of almost every
conceivable sect and of no sect at all. Many of the newcomers
were poor. It was common too to regard colonies as inferior
places of residence to which objectionable persons might be
encouraged to go and where the average of the population was
lowered by the influx of convicts and thousands of slaves.
"The great number of emigrants from Europe"--wrote Thieriot
Saxon Commissioner of Commerce to America from Philadelphia in
1784--"has filled this place with worthless persons to such a
degree that scarcely a day passes without theft robbery or even
assassination."* It would perhaps be too much to say that the
people of the United States were looked upon by the rest of the
world as only half civilized but certainly they were regarded as
of lower social standing and of inferior quality and many of
them were known to be rough uncultured and ignorant. Great
Britain and Germany maintained American missionary societies
not as might perhaps be expected for the benefit of the Indian
or negro but for the poor benighted colonists themselves; and
Great Britain refused to commission a minister to her former
colonies for nearly ten years after their independence had been
recognized.
* Quoted by W. E. Lingelbach "History Teacher's Magazine"
March 1913.
It is usually thought that the dregs of humiliation have been
reached when the rights of foreigners are not considered safe in
a particular country so that another state insists upon
establishing therein its own tribunal for the trial of its
citizens or subjects. Yet that is what the French insisted upon
in the United States and they were supposed to be especially
friendly. They had had their own experience in America. First the
native Indian had appealed to their imagination. Then at an
appropriate moment they seemed to see in the Americans a living
embodiment of the philosophical theories of the time: they
thought that they had at last found "the natural man" of Rousseau
and Voltaire; they believed that they saw the social contract
theory being worked out before their very eyes. Nevertheless in
spite of this interest in Americans the French looked upon them
as an inferior people over whom they would have liked to exercise
a sort of protectorate. To them the Americans seemed to lack a
proper knowledge of the amenities of life. Commissioner Thieriot
describing the administration of justice in the new republic
noticed that: "A Frenchman with the prejudices of his country
and accustomed to court sessions in which the officers have
imposing robes and a uniform that makes it impossible to
recognize them smiles at seeing in the court room men dressed in
street clothes simple often quite common. He is astonished to
see the public enter and leave the court room freely those who
prefer even keeping their hats on." Later he adds: "It appears
that the court of France wished to set up a jurisdiction of its
own on this continent for all matters involving French subjects."
France failed in this; but at the very time that peace was under
discussion Congress authorized Franklin to negotiate a consular
convention ratified a few years later according to which the
citizens of the United States and the subjects of the French King
in the country of the other should be tried by their respective
consuls or vice-consuls. Though this agreement was made
reciprocal in its terms and so saved appearances for the honor of
the new nation nevertheless in submitting it to Congress John
Jay clearly pointed out that it was reciprocal in name rather
than in substance as there were few or no Americans in France
but an increasing number of Frenchmen in the United States.
Such was the status of the new republic in the family of nations
when the time approached for the negotiation of a treaty of peace
with the mother country. The war really ended with the surrender
of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. Yet even then the British were
unwilling to concede the independence of the revolted colonies.
This refusal of recognition was not merely a matter of pride; a
division and a consequent weakening of the empire was involved;
to avoid this Great Britain seems to have been willing to make
any other concessions that were necessary. The mother country
sought to avoid disruption at all costs. But the time had passed
when any such adjustment might have been possible. The Americans
now flatly refused to treat of peace upon any footing except that
of independent equality. The British being in no position to
continue the struggle were obliged to yield and to declare in
the first article of the treaty of peace that "His Britannic
Majesty acknowledges the said United States . . . to be free
sovereign and independent states."
With France the relationship of the United States was clear and
friendly enough at the time. The American War of Independence had
been brought to a successful issue with the aid of France. In the
treaty of alliance which had been signed in 1781 had been agreed
that neither France nor the United States should without the
consent of the other make peace with Great Britain. More than
that in 1781 partly out of gratitude but largely as a result of
clever manipulation of factions in Congress by the French
Minister in Philadelphia the Chevalier de la Luzerne the
American peace commissioners had been instructed "to make the
most candid and confidential communications upon all subjects to
the ministers of our generous ally the King of France; to
undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce without
their knowledge and concurrence; and ultimately to govern
yourselves by their advice and opinion."* If France had been
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