Free Republic

In 1787, the future of free government was dim. The spectacle of insurrection in Massachusetts, the state with the unquestionably best constitution, did not bode well for the Federal Convention. Where other state senates of the day featured senators chosen by either the lower house or popular election from large districts, the Massachusetts senate purposely represented the wealth of the state. If set side-by-side, the 1780 Massachusetts constitution and our federal Constitution of 1787 are strikingly similar. Both have three branches and a bicameral legislature. The senates of each sought to quell rash measures expected from the people’s representatives. In...

Subtitle: September 5th. George Mason prefers the government of Prussia. As we know, the Convention adjourned on September 17th and forwarded the draft Constitution to Congress. At this late stage, delegates were rapidly filling-in the Constitution’s various powers and limits. It’s all the more amazing they still squirmed over how to elect a President. Tempers flared. In their quest to craft a suitable presidential election mode, the delegates failed once again; they ended the day where they began: The executive power of the U. S. shall be vested in a single person. His stile shall be "The President of the...

Subtitle: July 26th – Back to Square One. “We are,” James Wilson reminded delegates, “providing a constitution for future generations, and not merely for the peculiar circumstances of the moment.” Colonel George Mason (VA) reviewed the modes of Executive election. None of them were entirely satisfactory. Several retained elements of popular election. 1. By the people, which he ridiculed in saying “that an act which ought to be performed by those who know the most of eminent characters, and qualifications, should be performed by those who know the least. “ 2. By the State Legislatures or State Governors. Both invited...

Subtitle: July 25th. Despite trodding familiar ground once again, we can see today the Framers’ determination to craft a corruption-free mode of election such that new Presidents could faithfully execute their duties. The Framers’ President wasn’t the leader or product of a political party. Nor was he in the pocket of foreign interests. From the Framers’ widespread experience in State government, no one raised an eyebrow when Madison criticized Executive election by the House of Representatives or Congress. Expect in every election a conspiratorial mess. Any President appointed in this fashion was pre-bought, if not fatally weakened by the side-deals...

Subtitle: July 24th. More blind alleys. A couple days ago, delegates passed the framework of what we’d recognize as the Electoral College. State legislatures appointed electors. The only remaining substantial question was “how many votes per state?” Well, that progress vanished today. To get an idea, here are my Cliff Notes to the day’s proceedings: • Divide the nation into three electoral districts to select three executives. • Fear an elected Monarch. • Electors equal in number to the State’s Congressional delegation was resoundingly defeated. • Return to Congressional appointment by 7-4 vote. • Executive must be independent of Congress...

Subtitle: July 20th. Since the delegates in Convention determined yesterday that State legislatures would appoint electors to the Executive office, the next logical question was, “how many?” Elbridge Gerry (MA) motioned a starting point, an initial number of electors per state for the first election and suggested, NH 1, MA 3, RI 1, CN 2, NY 2, NJ 2, PA 3, DE 1, MD 2, VA 3, NC 2, SC 2, GA 1. Notice the semi-federal nature of Gerry’s electoral vote allotment. Yes, more populous States had more electors, but their allotment nowhere near approximated the existing population ratio amongst...

No other topic at the Federal Convention, our Article II chief Executive, demanded more time and debate. Our Framers needed some sixty votes to arrive at their brilliant Electoral College. Unlike the politics of redesigning Congress, the chief Executive emerged not from the clash of wills between large and small States, but from a series of ingenious efforts to design a new institution suitably energetic but safely republican. From the beginning to the end of the convention, delegates wrestled with Executive powers, the balance of those powers with Congress, and how a free people could design an office that prevented...

Subtitle: June 9th. Our Framers were not about to substitute one national tyrant with another. All had lived under the abuses of George III and his royal governors. Less well-known today is the 1776 reaction by the newly independent States. In an 18th century version of “power to the people,” the States set up overly democratic governments featuring weak governors. Although the rules varied from State to State, most legislatures appointed governors, made judicial appointments, and even served a judicial roles in some cases. Property wasn’t secure as the legislatures ran from one extreme to another according to the passions...

Subtitle: June 4th. Benjamin Franklin - “The first man at the helm will be a good one. The road to the Framers’ Electoral College was . . . arduous. At the open of today’s business, again in the committee-of-the-whole, one man would hold the executive office, be elected by the House of Representatives, and would remain in office for one seven-year term. His duty was to execute the law and the executive powers granted to Congress in the Articles of Confederation. One and all knew perfectly well who was to be the first good man in the executive office. We...

“There is a natural inclination in mankind,” wrote Benjamin Franklin, “to Kingly government.” He wasn’t alone. Convention delegate Hugh Williamson (NC), thought “it was pretty certain . . . that we should at some time or other have a King,” but he wished to postpone the event as long as possible. James Madison and George Washington made similar observations. Even John Adams in his Defense of the Constitutions of the United States of America predicted a future government “nearer (in) resemblance (to) the British constitution,” including a hereditary king and senate.1 Among the delaying features of our pre-17th Amendment Constitution...

“If we are to be considered as a nation, all State distinctions must be abolished; the whole must be thrown into a hotchpot and when an equal division is made, then there may be fairly an equality of representation.” – New Jersey delegate William Paterson. Today’s squib reviews the last few days of the Federal Convention leading up to Alexander Hamilton’s June 18th speech. In Part V we’ll find that, considering the previous exchanges among delegates, Hamilton was far from alone in his disdain of the States. What he shared with them was the search for a governing design adequate...

Subtitle: The Federal Convention June 1st – June 6th. “I do not see the danger of the states being devoured by the national government. On the contrary, I wish to keep them from devouring the national government” – James Wilson (PA) In this and the next squib I’ll examine the Convention debates with an eye out for proposals and ideas that strike us today as less than supportive of republican, limited government. We’ll find, probably in Part V, that Alexander Hamilton’s June 18th sketch of another framework of government was not as radical in comparison as his modern detractors believe....

In 1787 the future of free government was dim. The spectacle of insurrection in Massachusetts, the state with the unquestionably best constitution, did not bode well for the Federal Convention. Where other state senates of the day featured senators chosen by either the lower house or popular election from large districts, the Massachusetts senate purposely represented the wealth of the state. If set side-by-side, the 1780 Massachusetts constitution and our federal Constitution of 1787 are strikingly similar. Both have three branches and a bicameral legislature. The senates of each sought to quell rash measures expected from the people’s representatives. In...

Presidential Elections. Little over a week before the close of the federal convention, the senate was still responsible for appointing a president should no one obtain a majority, or if two with a majority had an equal number, of electoral votes. While their electoral college system minimized the possibility of “pre-bought” presidents, our Framers nonetheless cast a suspicious eye at the senate. The convention intended a ‘high-toned’ second branch to check the house, but had they gone too far? Their senate had the power to appoint the president, name his officers, appoint judges, make treaties and try impeachments. This constituted...

This last stretch, from August 7th onward, was an endurance test. The summer dragged on and so did most of the delegates. Long hours in convention plus committee work for many delegates six days a week, combined in a punishing routine. Through it all, James Madison managed to keep daily notes, although less detailed than before the two-week recess. Most delegates had heavy personal and state business responsibilities that went neglected. The nation’s business suffered as well since fourteen of the convention members were also delegates to the confederation congress. When a contentious issue threatened progress, members assigned it to...

The convention adjourned July 26th to offer time for a Committee of Detail to smooth the resolutions passed to date. In addition to its assigned duty, it occasionally added what it regarded as necessary clauses in the Constitution, such as the duty of the senate to resolve disputes between states. Delegates will reconvene on August 6th. The lack of public news from the convention was infuriating. During this recess, a member of the North Carolina delegation apologized to his governor; his oath of secrecy forbade discussion of the proceedings. James Madison’s father tried his utmost, with no success, to pry...

Up to now, the convention’s great divide was between the large and small states. Today, focus drifted toward the rift between north and south, non-slave vs. slave-holding states. The 3/5 rule and expected rapid population growth in the southwest disturbed some northern delegates. If slaves and whites filled new states as anticipated, southern states would soon dominate the House of Representatives. Abruptly, yet understandably, the aristocratic Gouverneur Morris (PA), who recently recommended doing away with the states, turned about in support of equal state suffrage in the senate as a counterbalance to a fast-growing south. Only a northern state senate...

As John Locke related in his Two Treatises of Government, the legislative power is the essence of republicanism. Despite the lessons of the great Enlightenment philosophers and the Framers’ long experience in colonial and free republican affairs, they experienced much difficulty in designing a suitable, stable, effective legislature for a young and growing society. 1 Yesterday’s grand committee met to address the basis of representation in the legislature. What compromise could overcome large state objections to parity among the states in the senate? Recall that large states feared small state dominance over taxation, and that the small would disproportionately burden...

While we take for granted today that the Framers breezily agreed to a compound republic of the people and the states, the issue still was unresolved five weeks into the convention! Tempers flew as arguments ranged on the one hand, from forming a national, democratic republic which did away with the states, and on the other, to keeping the existing Articles of Confederation. In late June, delegates far more resembled steely political negotiators than a band of brothers. What kept them going through the long summer was fear of the future if they did not come up with an adequate...

In fits and starts, often one step forward and two steps back, the convention slowly shaped the pieces to its constitutional jigsaw puzzle. Incredibly, as a few delegates seemingly wished to flip the table over and scatter the pieces, enough of the remaining delegates stood fast to grind out our beloved Constitution. On June 27th, rather than address the question of congressional powers in Resolution 6, the convention mired once again in the nature of representation, Resolutions 7 & 8. On the question of an equitable ratio in the House of Representatives: From Madison’s notes, Luther Martin (MD), the State...