handed to General Washington. After the debates of the day were over, just before putting the question of adjournment, Washington arose from his seat and reprimanded the member for his carelessness. "I must entreat Gentlemen to be more careful, least our transactions get into the News Papers, and disturb the public repose by premature speculations. I know not whose Paper it is, but there it is (throwing it down on the table), let him who owns it take it.' At the same time he bowed, picked up his Hat, and quitted the room with a dignity so severe that every Person seemed alarmed. . . . It is something remarkable that no Person ever owned the Paper." Another anecdote is told, but not on so good authority, which indicates that Washington did not act with the impartiality which we ascribe to the ordinary presiding officer: that he allowed his sympathies to be shown; and that he actually beamed his approval and frowned his disapproval of sentiments that were offered. Whether or not this were the case, Washington's was evidently a name to conjure with and if Washington's opinions were known they must have carried weight.

And Washington's opinions were known. In the interval that elapsed while the delegates were gathering and the convention was organizing, there had been much informal discussion of the

work to be done, of which this incident was related by Gouverneur Morris. It happened one morning in the convention hall, before a quorum had arrived, that some of those present advocated half measures as more likely to meet the approval of the people than any thoroughgoing reform. Washington interrupted the discussion with an expression of opinion that established his position beyond all question: "It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God." Furthermore, in the convention itself, where tradition ascribes to Washington the rôle of the non-participating presiding officer, we know many of Washington's opinions. Luther Martin mentions the fact that Washington evidently approved of what was being done on certain occasions, and there are several references to him in the debates. But what is more important is that, in spite of his being in the chair, he voted with the delegates from Virginia, and Madison several times records Washington's individual vote to show that he was on Madison's side of the question. All of which indicate that it was apparently well known how Washington

stood on almost every important matter before the convention.

Intangible as it may be, impossible as it is to estimate either its extent or its strength, the mere existence of the personal element should be recognized and kept in mind. Complications arose and solutions were found that are explicable only on the assumption of the influence of this indefinite factor.

CHAPTER V

THE VIRGINIA PLAN

Virginia had taken the lead in bringing about the convention and it was generally felt to be incumbent upon the deputation from that state to suggest a plan of action. Her delegates accordingly took advantage of the delay in forming a quorum to meet together for two or three hours every day, and they agreed upon a series of resolutions to be presented for the consideration of their fellow delegates. It was on May 29, as soon as the work of organization was completed, that Governor Randolph, on behalf of the Virginia delegation, presented this outline to the convention. Internal evidence shows much of Madison's handiwork in forming these resolutions, but from the fact that they were presented by Randolph they were commonly referred to as the Randolph Resolutions; they are more properly designated as the Virginia Plan. These resolutions are important, because amended and expanded they were developed step by step until they finally became the constitution of the United States.

In thus opening the main business, Randolph made an elaborate speech in which he enumerated

several of the most glaring deficiencies in the existing government. He declared the confederation unequal to meeting the crisis and proposed as the basis of a remedy the fifteen resolutions which made up the Virginia plan. While the very first resolution stated that the articles of confederation ought to be "corrected and enlarged," the changes proposed were so radical that it was really a new instrument of government which was thus recommended. It was even said that Randolph "candidly confessed that they were not intended for a federal1 government-he meant a strong consolidated union."

In the first place, provision was made for the separation of the three branches of government— legislative, executive, and judicial. In the second place the legislature was to consist of two houses, of which the first branch was to be elected by the people of the several states, the second branch was to be chosen by the first out of persons nominated by the state legislatures, and the voting in both branches was to be proportional either to the quotas of contribution or to the number of free inhabitants, or to both. This legislature was to have the legislative powers of the congress of the

1 During the early part of the convention the term "federal" was used to refer to a confederation as distinguished from a national government. It was not until later that it received its present significance.