II. national government on the Virginia plan can be CHAP. effectual.' Gentlemen say we need to be rescued from the democracy. But what are the means pro- 1787 posed? A democratic assembly is to be checked by 18. a democratic senate, and both these by a democratic chief magistrate.' The Virginia plan is but pork still with a little change of the sauce. It will prove inefficient, because the means will not be equal to the object.* "The general government must not only have a strong soul, but strong organs by which that soul is to operate. I despair that a republican form of gov ernment can remove the difficulties; I would hold it, however, unwise to change it. The best form of government, not attainable by us, but the model to which we should approach as near as possible,' is the British constitution, praised by Necker as 'the only government which unites public strength with indi vidual security.' Its house of lords is a most noble institution. It forms a permanent barrier against every pernicious innovation, whether attempted on the part of the crown or of the commons." 8 "It seems to be admitted that no good executive can be established upon republican principles." The English model is the only good one. The British executive is placed above temptation, and can have no interests distinct from the public welfare." The June CHAP. inference from these observations is, that, to obtain II. stability and permanency, we ought to go to the full 1787. length that republican principles will admit.' And the government will be republican so long as all officers are appointed by the people, or by a process of election originating with the people." 18. It was to be checked chosen by the people,' Hamilton then read and commented on his sketch of a constitution for the United States. It planted no one branch of the general government on the states; but, by methods even more national than that of the Virginia plan, derived them all from the people. The assembly, which was to be the corner-stone of the edifice, was to consist of persons elected directly by the people for three years. by a senate elected by electors and holding office during good behavior. The su preme executive, whose term of office was to be good behavior, was to be elected by electors, chosen by electors, chosen by the people. "It may be said," these were his words, "this constitutes an elective monarchy; but by making the executive subject to impeachment the term monarchy cannot apply." The courts of the United States were so instituted as to place the general government above the state governments in all matters of general concern. prevent the states from passing laws contrary to the constitution or laws of the United States, the executive of each state was to be appointed by the gen 1 To Gilpin, 888; Elliot, 203; Yates plan, given to Madison near the in Elliot, i. 422. I think Hamilton meant the choice of electors to be made by the landholders; see his fuller close of the convention. eral government with a negative on all state legis- CHAP. lation. II. June Hamilton spoke, not to refer a proposition to the 1787. committee, but only to present his own ideas, and to 18. indicate the amendments which he might offer to the Virginia plan. He saw evils operating in the states which must soon cure the people of their fondness for democracies, and unshackle them from their prejudices; so that they would be ready to go as far at least as he had suggested.' But for the moment he held it the duty of the convention to balance inconveniences and dangers, and choose that which seemed to have the fewest objections." 3 4 Hamilton "was praised by everybody, but supported by none." It was not the good words for the monarchy of Great Britain that estranged his hearers. Hamilton did not go far beyond the language of Randolph, or Dickinson, or Gerry, or Charles Pinckney.' The attachment to monarchy in the United States had not been consumed by volcanic fires; it had disappeared because there was nothing left in them to keep it alive, and the nation imperceptibly and without bitterness outgrew its old habits of thought. Gratitude for the revolution of 1688 still threw a halo round the house of lords. But Hamilton, finding a home in the United States only after his mind was near maturity, did not cherish toward the states the feeling of those, who were born and bred on the soil and received into their affections CHAP. the thought and experience of the preceding generaII. tion. His speech called forth from many sides the 1787. liveliest defence of the rights of the states. June 19. On the nineteenth the convention in committee rejected the milder motion of Dickinson; and after an exhaustive analysis by Madison' of the defects in the New Jersey plan, they reported the amended plan of Virginia by the vote of the six national states, aided by the vote of Connecticut." 1 1 Gilpin, 893; Elliot, 206. 2 Gilpin, 904; Elliot, 212; Yates in Elliot, i. 425. CHAPTER III. THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE. III. June THE Convention, which had shown itself so reso- CHAP. lute for consolidating the union, next bethought itself of home rule. In reply to what had fallen from 1787. Hamilton, Wilson said: "I am for a national government, but not one that will swallow up the state governments; these are absolutely necessary for pur poses which the national government cannot reach."1 "I did not intend yesterday," exclaimed Hamilton, "a total extinguishment of state governments; but that a national government must have indefinite sovereignty; for if it were limited at all, the rivalship of the states would gradually subvert it.' The states must retain subordinate jurisdictions." "If the states," said King, "retain some portion of their sovereignty, they have certainly divested themselves of essential portions of it. If, in some respects, they form a confederacy, in others they form a nation." Martin held that the separation from Great Britain placed the thirteen states in a state of nature toward 'Yates in Elliot, i. 426. 1 Gilpin, 904; Elliot, 212. 19. |
