In
pursuance
of
his plan, the late Mr.
his plan, the late Mr.
Hamilton - 1834 - Life on Hamilton - v2
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? 3G4 THE LIFE OF
delay the collection of debts; and a general disposition was
discovered, notwithstanding its evils had so recently been
felt, to seek relief in state emissions of paper money.
A majority was found in New-York, in despite of the
most earnest remonstrances through the press, in favour of
the issue of bills of credit, which were declared a legal
tender, and a discrimination was contemplated among the
different classes of creditors. Two-fifths of the debt due
by congress to the state were to be provided for, and the
claims of the army, of the holders of the loan-office certifi-
cates, and of the board of treasury, were to be turned over
to the exhausted exchequer of the union,--thus by divi-
ding the interests of the creditors, to weaken one of the
principal supports of the continental system. A bill for
the emission of state paper also passed the assembly of
New-Jersey, but was rejected by the council through the
firmness of Governor Livingston. So great was the pop-
ular excitement against him, that this virtuous patriot was
loudly decried and burned in effigy.
South Carolina adopted a similar policy. Every effort
was made by its citizens to sustain the credit of the paper;
but such were their impoverishment and discord, that it
was thought necessary to pass laws tantamount to closing
the courts of justice. North Carolina and Georgia* fol-
lowed this vicious example. Thus, of the southern states,
Maryland and Virginia only escaped the contagion.
Rhode Island, whose conduct had become a reproach
to its inhabitants, did not merely issue a state paper, but
finding it rapidly sinking, passed laws, rendering a refusal
of it at specie value highly penal in the first instance--
declared that a second offence should be followed by
disfranchisement, and created special tribunals to try the
? The paper of North Carolina is stated to have depreciated 25 per cent;
that of Georgia and Rhode Island, 80 per cent.
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? HAMILTON.
365
offenders, depriving, by a formal enactment, the accused
party of trial by jury. Clauses were added imposing
a test oath to support the paper at par, suspending all
officers who should not subscribe it within twenty days
after its date, rendering a subscription of this oath a quali-
fication of the next legislature, and compelling every male
who had arrived at manhood to take it, or be disfranchised.
It was called the bloody bill. An information was filed
for refusing the paper. The judges of the supreme court
decided against it. They were summoned to appear before
the assembly to explain their decision: four of them were
displaced by the omnipotence of the democracy.
Indignant at these reckless proceedings, Connecticut
enacted a retaliatory law suspending existing suits, and
forbidding the commencement of others.
Indications of a similar temper were evinced in Massa-
chusetts. A proposition was widely circulated, that the
New-England states should virtually abdicate the union by
the withdrawal of their delegates from congress; and in the
disorganizing rage for dismemberment, her western coun-
ties began to look to a severance from her dominion. But
, as a state, Massachusetts firmly adhered to the obligations
of good faith, resisted every effort to emit paper, rejected
with indignation a proposal to purchase her securities at
a depreciated value, granted the impost to congress, and
subsequently passed a law to carry into effect its proposi-
tions for supplementary funds.
The vigour of character which distinguished her in her
support of the public faith, was not less shown by that
part of her population who, from a variety of causes, were
opposed to the requirements of justice.
While in other states much noisy discontent and angry
clamour were heard, among this energetic people dissatis-
faction soon ripened into rebellion.
Peculiar causes had combined to increase the pressure
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THE LIFE OF
on the states of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire.
Their seaboard population, from being engaged in the
fisheries, and thus following pursuits far removed from
the influence of the laws, were little accustomed to re-
straint. Thrown out of their ordinary occupations at a
time when the price of labour was low, they were com-
pelled to seek subsistence on any terms, and thus diminished
its general value. The demand for supplies created by
their remote expeditions had ceased. The commercial
restrictions prevented the outlet of the surplus produce
of the state; and thus each class, the grower and the con-
sumer, were mutually impoverished; and^ the taxes, which
prior to the revolution had little exceeded one hundred
thousand pounds, had augmented to an enormous amount.
The depreciation of the currency increased the distress.
While it enhanced the nominal amount of the taxes and
public charges, by interrupting private credit, it deterred
from pursuits which alone could provide resources for their
discharge, and led on to speculative measures, all of which
aggravated the evil.
A large number also of the inhabitants had been called out
by military requisitions during the war on temporary expe-'
ditions, and leaving the sober routine of ordinary life, had
acquired all the licentiousness without the discipline of the
camp. The firmness of the legislature put in motion every
active and turbulent spirit. Combinations were formed en-
tertaining desperate designs, and conventions of delegates
from extensive districts of the state were held, which adopt-
ed the most violent resolutions, censuring every measure that
had been taken to fulfil the public engagements; declaring
open hostility to the ministers of justice; calling for an
abolition of all existing contracts; claiming an equal dis-
tribution of property; and at the same time professing
that their proceedings were constitutional!
This ebullition was soon followed by acts of open resist-
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? HAMILTON.
3G7
ance to the laws. The courts were surrounded by insur-
gents; mobs accompanied the judges in their circuits; and
in the three western and largest counties of the state, all
legal process was defied. On intelligence of these pro-
ceedings, the state government attempted to exert its civil
power; but instead of repressing, this confirmed and irri-
tated the insurgents. The contagion spread from town to
town, and it at last became manifest that a military force
could alone overawe their violence.
The legislature having been convened, measures were
adopted, not without opposition from those claiming
the appellation of the friends of the people, conferring
powers on the executive equal to the emergency. These
became the subjects of louder clamours and greater irri-
tation. Offers of pardon were disregarded. Renewed
and more extensive opposition was excited against the
courts of justice, which were in one instance compelled
to stipulate to hold no future sessions, and in another to
give hostages for the protection of. the insurgents. In
Taunton, it was deemed necessary to station a body
of militia to secure the judges and the jury from per-
sonal violence. The discontented, who had previously
shown themselves in detached parties, moved to a com-
mon point; and at last a body of a thousand insurgents
was collected under the command of a late captain in the
continental army, who billeted themselves upon the inhabit-
ants, and apprehended every person obnoxious to their
views. The necessity of abandoning the lenity which had
thus far governed the councils of the state, now became ob-
vious. Orders were given to the militia to march upon cer-
tain positions, and the assembled corps were put in motion
--one under General Lincoln, the other under General
Shephard--to check the progress of the insurrection. These
decisive steps were attended with complete success. The
insurgents in most instances fled before the military.
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THE LIFE OF
Where they made a stand, their resistance was feeble and
heartless, and after a few occasional skirmishes, they dis-
persed and took refuge in the adjacent states. With little
hope of success, and without the means of keeping in a
body, they soon dwindled into insignificance, and except a
few predatory incursions by which the frontiers of the
state were harassed, quiet was restored.
In New-Hampshire,* a similar spirit had been also
aroused. In the beginning of eighty-five, the legislature,
yielding to the distresses of the people, had enacted a law
making every species of property a tender at an appraised
value. The creditors consequently withheld their demands,
and the debtors neglected payment. Goods and real pro-
perty being thereby substituted as a medium of exchange,
specie was hoarded, credit suspended, and the distress in-
creased. A convention was held which urged upon the
government the emission of bills of credit, that should be a
legal tender. A plan was formed by the legislature for an
issue, to be loaned on landed security, redeemable at a future
period, which was submitted to the people; but before any
expression of opinion could be obtained, an armed body
assembled at Exeter, the seat of government, where the
legislature was in session, and demanded an immediate
compliance with their terms. The alarmed assembly pro-
posed to consider their complaints; but the senate main-
tained its dignity. General Sullivan, who was the presi-
dent, addressed the people, exposing the absurdity of their
demands, and avowing his determination, even if the whole
state was in favour of the measure, not to yield while they
were surrounded by an armed force; and that no consider-
ation of personal danger should compel him to so flagrant
a violation of the constitutional rights of the people.
The contumacious mob then beat to arms, loaded their
* Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society.
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? HAMILTON. 3G9
muskets with ball, and placing sentinels at the doors, held
the legislature prisoners throughout the day. At night-
fall, Sullivan again addressed them. In reply to his firm
harangue, nothing was heard but loud clamours for "pa-
per money"--"an equal distribution of property"--"the an-
nihilation of debts"--and " a release oftaxes. " At this moment
a drum was heard, and a party came in sight, huzzaing for
government. The mob was alarmed, and Sullivan, followed
by the legislature, passed unimpeded through its dense col-
umns. He immediately reassembled the legislature in another
place, issued orders at midnight for the militia, and a body of
two thousand being collected at an early hour, he ad-
vanced and addressed the insurgents, drawn up in order of
battle. A part yielded, the rest fled, and, except to an attempt
to seize the persons of their leaders, no resistance was offered.
The contest was soon after transferred from the field to
the elections, and, without any diminished cause of dis-
content, the people settled down in a general submission to
the laws. The leaders, Parsons, Shays, and French, threw
themselves on the mercy of government, which, with a
prudent mildness, was satisfied with their disfranchisement.
It would be an error to pronounce the issue of these
events merely fortunate, for where can an instance be ad-
duced of so great and long-continued an excitement, pro-
ceeding from such ample causes, among a people just
emerging from a civil war, subdued so soon by a reluctant
exercise of power, and that power the very people, most
of whom were participators in the sufferings which sharp-
ened the edge of discontent?
The ease with which this insurrection was suppressed,
may be in part attributed to the influence of a few of the
leaders in the revolution, who continued to possess the
confidence of the public; but more is to be ascribed to the
character of an enlightened and not dense community,
where an equal condition and equal forms of government
47
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THE LIFE OF
had produced habits of obedience to, and reverence for,
the laws. But it would be not less an error to overlook
the fact, that the issue of this controversy is a rare excep-
tion to the usual course of such events, and to infer from
it, that a civilized society may safely repose upon the un-
controlled virtue and intelligence of its members. The
tendency of civilization is to produce inequalities of condi-
tion, and in the short period which has elapsed since this
rebellion, and notwithstanding the propitious circumstances
in which she has been placed, it would be vain at this time
to expect, even in Massachusetts, a similar result.
A more extraordinary deduction has been drawn from the
tranquil termination of this contest with the laws--that re-
bellions are salutary; "that the tree of liberty must be wa-
tered with blood,"* and that societies which rely for the
preservation of order upon the vigour of government, are
unwisely constituted.
Every violent aggression upon constitutional authority
is an invasion of the first principle of social institutions;
and little permanence or happiness can those institutions
hope to enjoy, or to preserve, which for a moment admit
the dangerous doctrine, except in the extreme cases which
justify a revolution, of a resort to force.
Another inference must be adverted to, because it is known
to be the basis upon which a large superstructure of invidious
censure upon the people of New-England has been raised--
that these scenes prompted in that part of the confederacy
a desire for a monarchical form of government. This is
an error natural to the region of country in which it was
propagated; for where slavery debases all at least below
the rank of master, how short is the interval between re-
volt and ruin; how great the excuse for rigour in the
harsh; how little room for lenity in the gentle; how fear-
* Jefferson's writings.
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? HAMILTON.
371
fill the consequence of awakening the sufferer to a sense
of his injuries; how prone the mind to power! But there
is no analogy in the respective circumstances of the south-
ern and the eastern states. Under less equal forms, rebel-
lion has usually produced some great modification of the
political system, either by larger grants of privilege to the
subject, or greater concentration of strength in the rulers;
but in New-England, weakness made no sacrifices, power
acquired no augmentation, and the insurgents were seen to
lay down their arms, not as trembling vassals, reduced to
the sway of an imperious master, but as an erring part of
the people rejoining the mass, happy to return under the
protection of laws which they had shared in framing, and
knew they could participate in modifying. There is not
an authenticated fact to show, that these events excited a
wish for any other than a more efficient but equally free
government.
Whether by giving a different direction to the public
mind, and offering a new hope of relief, the proposed con-
vention of the states would have prevented these alarming
occurrences, it is impossible to determine. The despair
of aid from state legislation may have stimulated the peo-
ple to violence; but it is rather to be believed that the
popular feelings were too much excited, the suffering too
great and extensive, to have waited the issue of so slow a
process. The rebellious temper of the populace rendered
a vigorous exertion of the powers of government neces-
sary; and it cannot be doubted, that this necessity had
much influence in inducing the states to consent to the es-
tablishment of the federal constitution.
The prostration of commerce, the poverty and anarchy
of the country, the hopeless prospect before them, com-
pelled the people to feel the want of that which Hamilton
was the first to indicate as the only resource--" a more
perfect union. " New-York had been the earliest to pro-
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? 372
THE LIFE OF
pose a convention of the states. After longer experience,
Massachusetts had declared her conviction of its necessity;
to which Virginia, eminently jealous of her state sove-
reignty, was impelled by peculiar circumstances at last to
assent.
Her geographical position rendered it extremely difficult
to establish an efficient, and at the same time an indepen-
dent revenue system. This difficulty had early suggested
the importance of forming a compact with Maryland, as
to the jurisdiction of their confluent waters; and in De-
cember, seventeen hundred and seventy-seven, commis-
sioners were appointed by Virginia for this object. The
subject was resumed in seventeen hundred and eighty-four,
and a similar commission created. Nothing having been
effected by them, new commissioners were chosen in the
succeeding year, who met the deputies of Maryland at
Mount Vernon. There they agreed upon an act regula-
ting the commercial intercourse through the Potomac and
Chesapeake, and defining the jurisdiction of each state.
But at the moment of framing this compact, they deemed
it necessary to extend its provisions so as to authorize the
establishment of a naval force to protect these estuaries,
and the formation of a mutual tariff. This compact, by
the articles of the confederation, required the previous
consent of congress. To obviate that difficulty, these de-
puties recommended to their respective states the appoint-
ment of other commissioners with enlarged powers, to
whose proceedings the permission of congress was to be
solicited.
On the thirteenth of January, seventeen hundred and
eighty-six, resolutions passed the legislature of Virginia for
a uniformity of duties between the two states, and that
commissioners should be chosen to meet annually, if re-
quired, to regulate their mutual commercial interests.
They were instructed particularly to provide, that foreign
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? HAMILTON.
373
gold should pass at the same rate in both states, and that
the same amount of damages should be charged on pro-
tested bills of exchange. A few days after, the house of
delegates passed a resolution, directing the projected ar-
rangement to be communicated to all the other states, who
were invited to send deputies to a general meeting for the
precise purpose " of considering how far a uniform system
of taxation in their commercial intercourse and regula-
tions might be necessary to their common interest and
permanent harmony; and to report an act relative to this
great object, which, when ratified, would enable the United
States, in congress assembled, effectually to provide for the
same. " Thus it will be seen that Virginia merely con-
templated a commercial arrangement, falling far short of
the policy which New-York and Massachusetts had pre-
viously embraced.
Her reluctance in granting, and her repeals of the im-
post ;* her hostility to a federal judiciary; her jealousy as
to the Mississippi;--all leave little room for doubt, that the
project of a continental convention to frame a constitution,
would at an earlier period have been feebly sustained by
her. Washington's circular letter had produced no action
on her part, and her councils were swayed by penmen who
looked upon an invigoration of the union with jealousy,
because the suggestion had emanated from the army, and
who, speculating in their closets on the dangers of con-
ferring power, had not considered how much greater were
the evils of usurpation, even from "necessity," than those
* In a letter from R. H. Lee, he states his apprehensions of alterations m
the articles of the confederation, that he had " ever been opposed to the five
per cent. impost," that he never could agree that congress " shall dictate the
mode of taxation, or that the collection shall in any manner be subject to
congressional control. " He was opposed to the power of regulating trade. --
Life, v. 2, pp. 62, 71.
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? 374
THE LIFE OF
of a large constitutional authority. * Yet the precedence
of that state in this important measure- has been claimed
without hesitation, and generally received as a part of
American history. It is time that this error, with many
others, should be corrected.
Soon after this project was first agitated, Hamilton,
whose mind had long laboured with the great design of a
national constitution, determined to bring about the co-
operation of New-York. It was a part of his plan, that
the state legislature should definitively adopt or reject the
revenue system of seventeen hundred and eighty-three, and
in case of its rejection, should appoint commissioners to
attend the commercial convention. "Hamilton," Troup
relates, "had no idea that the legislature could be prevail-
ed on to adopt the system as recommended by congress,
neither had he any partiality for a commercial convention,
otherwise than as a stepping stone to a general conven-
tion, to form a general constitution.
In pursuance of
his plan, the late Mr. Duer, the late Colonel Malcom, and
myself, were sent to the state legislature as part of the
* In a letter of Madison to R. II. Lee, he observes, "/ have not yet found
leisure to scan the project of a continental convention with so close an eye
as to have made up any observations worthy of being mentioned to you. In
general, I hold it for a maxim, that the union of the states is essential for their
safety against foreign danger and internal contention, and that the perpetui-
ty and efficacy of the present system cannot be confided in. The question
therefore is, in what mode and at what moment the experiment for supplying
the defects ought to be made. The answer to this question cannot be made
without a knowledge, greater than I possess, of the temper and views of the
different states. Virginia seems, I think, to have excellent dispositions to-
wards the confederacy, but her assent or dissent to such a proposition, would
probably depend much upon the chance of having no opponent capable of
rousing the jealousies and prejudices of the assembly against innovations,
particularly such as will derogate from their own power and importance.
Should a view of the other states present no objections against the experi-
ment, individually, I would wish none to be presupposed here. "--2 Life of
R. H. Lee, p. 220. Dec. 25, 1784.
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? HAMILTON.
375
city delegation, and we were to make every possible effort
to accomplish Hamilton's objects.
"Duer was a man of commanding eloquence. We
went to the legislature, and pressed totis viribus the grant
of the impost agreeably to the requisition of congress. We
failed in obtaining it . The resolutions of Virginia were
communicated by Governor Clinton, on the fourteenth of
March, seventeen hundred and eighty-six. We went all
our strength in the appointment of commissioners to attend
the commercial convention, in which we were successful.
The commissioners were instructed to report their pro-
ceedings to the next legislature: Hamilton was appointed
one of them. Thus it was, that he was the principal
instrument to turn this state to a course of policy that
saved our country from incalculable mischiefs, if not from
total ruin. "
While this subject was in agitation in other states, Gov-
ernor Bowdoin was using all his influence to incite the
people of Massachusetts to the promotion of their true in-
terests. In a special message, he urged upon the legisla-
ture the protection of manufactures, stating that the looms
were idle, in consequence of excessive importations. On
a subsequent occasion, after descanting upon the impor-
tance of conferring the necessary powers upon congress,
he placed before them the serious inquiry, " Shall the union
cease to exist V and as soon as he received the circular
of Virginia, he recommended the appointment of commis-
sioners to the commercial convention, which the legislature
approved. New-Je/sey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania co-
operated in the measure. "The delegates appointed by
New-York were Hamilton, Duane, Robert R. Livingston,
Robert C. Livingston, Benson, and Gansevoort. Ganse-
voort declined the appointment. Duane was prevented
attending by indisposition, Robert R. Livingston by bu-
siness. Hamilton and Benson (then attorney-general of
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? 37G
THE LIFE OF
the state) proceeded to Annapolis, where they met the
other commissioners. " After a short interview, "a com-
mittee was appointed to prepare an address to the states,
which was reported and agreed to,--the whole in the
course of three or four days, and we separated. The draft
was by Hamilton, although not formally one of the com-
mittee. "*
In the draft as originally framed, Hamilton had exhibit-
ed frankly and at large the condition of the states, and
the necessity of an efficient government. But it was
thought,f from the sentiments of some of the delegates, and
the lukewarmness exhibited by the non-attendance of so
many states, that his statements were too explicit, and he re-
duced the address to the form in which it now appears, sign-
ed by Governor Dickinson, as chairman of the meeting.
"To the honourable the legislatures of Virginia, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, and New-York.
"The commissioners from the said states respectively
assembled at Annapolis, humbly beg leave to report, That
pursuant to their several appointments, they met at Anna-
polis, in the state of Maryland, on the eleventh day of
September, instant, and having proceeded to a communi-
cation of their powers, they found that the states of New-
York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, had in substance, and
nearly in the same terms, authorized their respective com-
missioners to meet such commissioners as were or might
be appointed by the other states in the union, at such time
and place as should be agreed upon by the said commis-
sioners, to take into consideration the trade and commerce
? Memoir published by Judge Benson.
t The governor, Edmund Randolph, objected to the report as first framed.
Madison then observed to Hamilton, "You had better yield to this man, for
otherwise all Virginia will be against you. "
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? HAMILTON.
377
of the United States, to consider how far an uniform system
in their commercial intercourse and regulations might be
necessary to their common interest and permanent harmo-
ny, and to report to the several states such an act relative
to this great object, as, when unanimously ratified by them,
would enable the United States in congress assembled
effectually to provide for the same.
"That the state of Delaware had given similar powers
to their commissioners; with this difference only, that the
act to be framed in virtue of these powers, is required to
be reported 'to the United States in congress assembled,
to be agreed to by them, and confirmed by the legislature
of every state. '
"That the state of New-Jersey had enlarged the object
of their appointment, empowering their commissioners 'to
consider how far an uniform system in their commercial
regulations, and other important matters, might be neces-
sary to the common interest and permanent harmony of
the several states; and to report such an act on the subject,
as, when ratified by them, would enable the United States
in congress assembled effectually to provide for the exi-
gencies of the union. '
"That appointments of commissioners have also been
made by the states of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and North Carolina, none of whom, how-
ever, have attended. But that no information has been
received by your commissioners of any appointment hav-
ing been made by the states of Connecticut, Maryland,
South Carolina, or Georgia. That the express terms of
the powers to your commissioners supposing a deputation
from all the states, and having for their object the trade and
commerce of the United States, your commissioners did
not conceive it advisable to proceed to the business of their
mission under the circumstance of so partial and defective
a representation.
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? 378 TI1E LIFE OF
"Deeply impressed, however, with the magnitude and
importance of the object confided to them on this occasion,
your commissioners cannot forbear to indulge an expres-
sion of their earnest and unanimous wish that speedy meas-
ures may be taken to effect a general meeting of the states
in a future convention for the same, and such other pur-
poses, as the situation of public affairs may be found to
require.
"If in expressing this wish, or intimating any other senti-
ment, your commissioners should seem to exceed the strict
bounds of their appointment, they entertain a full confi-
dence that a conduct dictated by an anxiety for the wel-
fare of the United States will not fail to receive a favour-
able construction. In this persuasion, your commissioners
submit an opinion that the idea of extending the powers
of their deputies to other objects than those of commerce,
which had been adopted by the state of New-Jersey, was
an improvement on the original plan, and will deserve to
be incorporated into that of a future convention. They
are the more naturally led to this conclusion, as, in the
course of their reflections on the subject, they have been
induced to think that the power of regulating trade is of
such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into the
general system of the federal government, that to give it
efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning
its precise nature and limits, may require a correspondent
adjustment of other parts of the federal system. That
there are important defects in the system of the federal
government, is acknowledged by the acts of all those states
which have concurred in the present meeting; that the
defects, upon a closer examination, may be found greater
and more numerous than even these acts imply, is at
least so far probable, from the embarrassments which
characterize the present state of our national affairs
foreign and domestic, as may reasonably be supposed
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? HAMILTON. 379
to merit a deliberate and candid discussion in some
mode which will unite the sentiments and councils of all
the states.
"In the choice of the mode, your commissioners are of
the opinion that a convention of deputies from the differ-
ent states for the special and sole purpose of entering into
this investigation, and digesting a plan of supplying such
defects as may be discovered to exist, will be entitled to a
preference, from considerations which will occur without
being particularized. Your commissioners decline an enu-
meration of those national circumstances on which their
opinion respecting the propriety of a future convention
with those enlarged powers is founded, as it would be an
intrusion of facts and observations, most of which have
been frequently the subject of public discussion, and none
of which can have escaped the penetration of those to
whom they would in this instance be addressed.
"They are, however, of a nature so serious, as, in the view
of your commissioners, to render the situation of the Uni-
ted States delicate and critical, calling for an exertion of
the united virtue and wisdom of all the members of the
confederacy. Under this impression, your commissioners
with the most respectful deference beg leave to suggest
their unanimous conviction, that it may effectually tend to
advance the interests of the union, if the states by which
they have been respectively delegated would concur them-
selves, and use their endeavours to procure the concur-
rence of the other states, in the appointment of commis-
sioners to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in
May next, to take into consideration the situation of the
United States, to devise such further provisions as shall
appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the
federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union,
and to report such an act for that purpose to the United
States in congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them
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? 380
THE LIFE OF
and afterwards confirmed by the legislature of every state,
will effectually provide for the same.
"Though your commissioners could not with propriety
address these observations and sentiments to any but the
states they have the honour to represent, they have nev-
ertheless concluded, from motives of respect, to transmit
copies of this report to the United States in congress as-
sembled, and to the executives of the other states.
"Annapolis, September 14th, 1786. "'
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? HAMILTON.
381
CHAPTER XXII.
[1786. ]
It has been seen that the conferring on congress the
power of levying a national impost, was the great dividing
question on which the two parties that existed in America
were arrayed. By the friends of a general and enlarged
policy, or, as they were then styled, of "continental poli-
tics," this measure was regarded as one involving the fate
of the country, for without such a power it was obvious
that the confederation, feeble and inadequate as it had
proved, could not be longer preserved. Its opponents
were those who had coalesced, either from disappointment
in not having acquired an influence in the general councils,
from a desire to retain powers in the states that might be
wielded for the gratification of their ambition, from an un-
defined or pretended apprehension of the dangers to their lib-
erties which might result from so large a confidence as the
control of the national funds, and in certain states from a
calculation of the partial benefits to be derived from peculiar
circumstances of more extensive territory, favourable posi-
tion, and natural advantages. These lent themselves to the
most absurd suspicions, deprecated any advance towards
this great object as an approach to a gulf in which every
vestige of liberty would be merged, and appealing to each
narrow passion, the offspring of inconsiderateness, igno-
rance, or pride, gratified their vanity, and increased their
influence, by being esteemed the zealous watchmen of lib-
erty, and especial guardians of state rights. This party
was the proper growth of the articles of confederation.
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THE LIFE OF
It had acquired a complete ascendency throughout the
country, thus affording another proof that false principles,
while they hasten decay in the system into which they en-
ter,. give a noxious vitality to the parasitic plants which
nourish in the progress of its corruption.
That ascendency was inconsistent with the preservation
of the union; nor should we know from its effects at this
time that the union existed, but that the pageantry of a
congress was still kept up. The members chosen to meet
in November, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, did not
assemble until February, seventeen hundred and eighty-six.
Their first deliberations related to the finances. The re-
port of a committee showed that the requisitions for the
four preceding years a little exceeded seven millions of
dollars; that the total receipts were rather more than one-
third of this sum, of which less than one-tenth had been
collected within the last fourteen months; that the means
for discharging the interest on the foreign debt would have
been inadequate, but for the unappropriated residue of the
Dutch loan; that further loans could not be obtained;
that the emission of bills of credit was hopeless; that the
only remaining resource was the public lands--but public
securities being receivable for them, they could only aid
in reducing the public debt; and that, after the maturest
consideration, they were unable to devise any other than
the revenue system of seventeen hundred and eighty-three.
It then proceeded to state, that seven states had complied
with it in part; that Pennsylvania and Delaware had only
granted it provisionally, and that Rhode Island, New-York,
Maryland, and Georgia, had not decided in favour of any
part of a system " so long since and so repeatedly presented
for their adoption. " It closed with the following impres-
sive appeal:--" The committee observe with great concern
that the security of the navigation and commerce of the
citizens of these states from the Barbary powers; the pro-
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? HAMILTON.
383
tection of the frontier inhabitants from the savages; the
immediate establishment of military magazines in different
parts of the union, rendered indispensable by the principles
of public safety; the maintenance of the federal govern-
ment at home, and the support of the public servants
abroad;--each and all depend upon the contributions of the
states under the annual requisitions of congress. The
moneys essentially necessary for these important objects will
so far exceed the sums formerly collected from the states
by taxes, that no hope can be indulged of being able from
that source to make any remittances for the discharge of
foreign engagements.
"Thus circumstanced, after the most solemn deliberation,
and under the fullest conviction that the public embarrass-
ments are such as above represented, and that they are
daily increasing, the committee are of opinion that it has
become the duty of congress to declare most explicitly,
that the crisis has arrived when the people of these United
States, by whose will and for whose benefit the federal
government was instituted, must decide whether they will
support their rank as a nation by maintaining the public
faith at home and abroad, or whether, for want of timely
exertion in establishing a general revenue, and thereby
giving strength to the confederacy, they will hazard, not
only the existence of the union, but of those great and in-
valuable privileges for which they have so arduously and
so honourably contended. "
This strong language was followed by resolutions, in
which, to efface the erroneous impressions produced by
Jefferson's scheme of counterbalancing deficiencies, and
"in order that congress may remain wholly acquitted from
every imputation of a want of attention to the interests
and welfare of those whom they represent," they declare--
First, that the requisitions of seventeen hundred and
eighty-four and eighty-five, cannot be considered as the
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? 384 THE LIFE OF
establishment of a system of general revenue in opposition
to that recommended in seventeen hundred and eighty-
three; second, they recommend to the delinquent states
an accession to that system in all its parts; and last, pro-
claim, that whilst congress are denied the means of satis-
fying those engagements which they have constitutionally
entered into for the common benefit of the union, they
hold it their duty to warn their constituents that the most
fatal evils will inevitably flow from a breach of public
faith pledged by solemn contract, and a violation of those
principles of justice which are the only solid basis of the
honour and prosperity of nations. "*
Although Pennsylvania and Delaware had not complied
strictly with the system of seventeen hundred and eighty-
three, it became apparent that the non-concurrence of
New-York was the only serious obstacle to its establishment.
Under these circumstances, the public attention in that
state was wholly devoted to this subject
A strong memorial to the legislature from the pen of
Hamilton was widely circulated. It stated, "that the
community had seen with peculiar regret the delay which
had hitherto attended the adoption of the revenue system;
that the anxiety which they had all along felt from mo-
tives of a more general nature, is at the present juncture
increased by this particular consideration, that the state of
New-York now stands almost alone, in a non-compliance with
a measure in which the sentiments and wishes of the union
at large appear to unite, and by a further delay may ren-
der itself responsible for consequences too serious not to
affect every considerate man; that all the considerations
important to a state, all the motives of public honour, faith,
reputation, interest, and safety, conspire to urge a compli-
* R. King was chairman of this committee, and it is to be presumed was
the author of this important document.
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? HAMILTON.
383
ance with that measure--that government without reve-
nue cannot subsist--that the mode provided in the con-
federation for supplying the treasury of the United States
has in experiment been found inadequate--that any objec-
tion to it as a measure not warranted by the confederation
is refuted by the thirteenth article, which provides that
alterations may be made, if agreed to by congress and
confirmed by the legislatures of each state; and the con-
duct of this state itself in adopting the proposed change
of the eighth article is a precedent in which we find the
principle reduced to practice, and affords a complete an-
swer to every pretence of the revenue system being un-
constitutional. That as to danger in vesting the United
States with these funds, your memorialists consider their
interests and liberties as not less safe in the hands of their
fellow-citizens delegated to represent them for one year in
congress, than in the hands of their fellow-citizens dele-
gated to represent them for one, or four years, in the sen-
ate and assembly of this state"--" That government implies
trust, and every government must be trusted so far as it is
necessary to enable it to attain the ends for which it is in-
stituted, without which must result insult and oppression
from abroad, confusion and convulsion at home. "
The public men throughout the state took an open stand
on this question; the newspapers were filled with discus-
sions of its merits,* and the elections turned solely on this
point.
The head of the opposition was the governor, whose in-
fluence, after an administration of nine years, had become
almost irresistible. In the southern district, though opposed
by the commercial members of the community, whose
* The most noticed of the writings against the grant of the impost, were
a series of numbers Rigncd " Rough Hewer," of which the author was Abra-
ham Yates, a member of the legislature and a zealous partisan of Clinton.
49'
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? 386
THE LIFE OF
hopes had centred upon Hamilton; Clinton was supported
by a combination of interests--by the most violent of the
whigs, and the most violent of the tories, who had become
zealous whigs. In the interior of the state his ascendency
was limited only by the opposition of a few intelligent men
on the eastern borders of the Hudson, guided by Chancel-
lor Livingston, and by the active and unceasing exertions
of General Schuyler in the northern and western districts,
where he was yet recollected as their most energetic pro-
tector and enlightened friend.
To judge merely from the official communications of
Clinton, the inference would be drawn, that though not a
zealous champion, he was a decided friend to the federal
system; but the measures which marked the policy of the
state, and which were directed by him, indicated very dif-
ferent purposes.
In pursuance of the recommendation of congress, New-
York, on the nineteenth of March, seventeen hundred and
eighty-one, passed an act which, after granting the duties
to that body, provided, "that they should be levied and
collected in such manner and form, and under such pains,
penalties, and regulations, and by such officers, as con-
gress should from time to time make, order, direct, and
appoint. "
Soon, however, after the indications of peace, the policy
of the state changed. The act of seventeen hundred and
eighty-one was repealed,- and on the fifteenth March,
seventeen hundred and eighty-three, a law was enacted
granting the duties; but departing from the principles
which had prompted this measure at its inception, and
which prevailed during a period of danger, directed them
to be collected by the officers and under the authority of the
state. This law, combined with other circumstances, in-
duced congress to recommend the system that was adopted
on the eighteenth of March, seventeen hundred and eighty-
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? 3G4 THE LIFE OF
delay the collection of debts; and a general disposition was
discovered, notwithstanding its evils had so recently been
felt, to seek relief in state emissions of paper money.
A majority was found in New-York, in despite of the
most earnest remonstrances through the press, in favour of
the issue of bills of credit, which were declared a legal
tender, and a discrimination was contemplated among the
different classes of creditors. Two-fifths of the debt due
by congress to the state were to be provided for, and the
claims of the army, of the holders of the loan-office certifi-
cates, and of the board of treasury, were to be turned over
to the exhausted exchequer of the union,--thus by divi-
ding the interests of the creditors, to weaken one of the
principal supports of the continental system. A bill for
the emission of state paper also passed the assembly of
New-Jersey, but was rejected by the council through the
firmness of Governor Livingston. So great was the pop-
ular excitement against him, that this virtuous patriot was
loudly decried and burned in effigy.
South Carolina adopted a similar policy. Every effort
was made by its citizens to sustain the credit of the paper;
but such were their impoverishment and discord, that it
was thought necessary to pass laws tantamount to closing
the courts of justice. North Carolina and Georgia* fol-
lowed this vicious example. Thus, of the southern states,
Maryland and Virginia only escaped the contagion.
Rhode Island, whose conduct had become a reproach
to its inhabitants, did not merely issue a state paper, but
finding it rapidly sinking, passed laws, rendering a refusal
of it at specie value highly penal in the first instance--
declared that a second offence should be followed by
disfranchisement, and created special tribunals to try the
? The paper of North Carolina is stated to have depreciated 25 per cent;
that of Georgia and Rhode Island, 80 per cent.
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? HAMILTON.
365
offenders, depriving, by a formal enactment, the accused
party of trial by jury. Clauses were added imposing
a test oath to support the paper at par, suspending all
officers who should not subscribe it within twenty days
after its date, rendering a subscription of this oath a quali-
fication of the next legislature, and compelling every male
who had arrived at manhood to take it, or be disfranchised.
It was called the bloody bill. An information was filed
for refusing the paper. The judges of the supreme court
decided against it. They were summoned to appear before
the assembly to explain their decision: four of them were
displaced by the omnipotence of the democracy.
Indignant at these reckless proceedings, Connecticut
enacted a retaliatory law suspending existing suits, and
forbidding the commencement of others.
Indications of a similar temper were evinced in Massa-
chusetts. A proposition was widely circulated, that the
New-England states should virtually abdicate the union by
the withdrawal of their delegates from congress; and in the
disorganizing rage for dismemberment, her western coun-
ties began to look to a severance from her dominion. But
, as a state, Massachusetts firmly adhered to the obligations
of good faith, resisted every effort to emit paper, rejected
with indignation a proposal to purchase her securities at
a depreciated value, granted the impost to congress, and
subsequently passed a law to carry into effect its proposi-
tions for supplementary funds.
The vigour of character which distinguished her in her
support of the public faith, was not less shown by that
part of her population who, from a variety of causes, were
opposed to the requirements of justice.
While in other states much noisy discontent and angry
clamour were heard, among this energetic people dissatis-
faction soon ripened into rebellion.
Peculiar causes had combined to increase the pressure
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THE LIFE OF
on the states of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire.
Their seaboard population, from being engaged in the
fisheries, and thus following pursuits far removed from
the influence of the laws, were little accustomed to re-
straint. Thrown out of their ordinary occupations at a
time when the price of labour was low, they were com-
pelled to seek subsistence on any terms, and thus diminished
its general value. The demand for supplies created by
their remote expeditions had ceased. The commercial
restrictions prevented the outlet of the surplus produce
of the state; and thus each class, the grower and the con-
sumer, were mutually impoverished; and^ the taxes, which
prior to the revolution had little exceeded one hundred
thousand pounds, had augmented to an enormous amount.
The depreciation of the currency increased the distress.
While it enhanced the nominal amount of the taxes and
public charges, by interrupting private credit, it deterred
from pursuits which alone could provide resources for their
discharge, and led on to speculative measures, all of which
aggravated the evil.
A large number also of the inhabitants had been called out
by military requisitions during the war on temporary expe-'
ditions, and leaving the sober routine of ordinary life, had
acquired all the licentiousness without the discipline of the
camp. The firmness of the legislature put in motion every
active and turbulent spirit. Combinations were formed en-
tertaining desperate designs, and conventions of delegates
from extensive districts of the state were held, which adopt-
ed the most violent resolutions, censuring every measure that
had been taken to fulfil the public engagements; declaring
open hostility to the ministers of justice; calling for an
abolition of all existing contracts; claiming an equal dis-
tribution of property; and at the same time professing
that their proceedings were constitutional!
This ebullition was soon followed by acts of open resist-
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? HAMILTON.
3G7
ance to the laws. The courts were surrounded by insur-
gents; mobs accompanied the judges in their circuits; and
in the three western and largest counties of the state, all
legal process was defied. On intelligence of these pro-
ceedings, the state government attempted to exert its civil
power; but instead of repressing, this confirmed and irri-
tated the insurgents. The contagion spread from town to
town, and it at last became manifest that a military force
could alone overawe their violence.
The legislature having been convened, measures were
adopted, not without opposition from those claiming
the appellation of the friends of the people, conferring
powers on the executive equal to the emergency. These
became the subjects of louder clamours and greater irri-
tation. Offers of pardon were disregarded. Renewed
and more extensive opposition was excited against the
courts of justice, which were in one instance compelled
to stipulate to hold no future sessions, and in another to
give hostages for the protection of. the insurgents. In
Taunton, it was deemed necessary to station a body
of militia to secure the judges and the jury from per-
sonal violence. The discontented, who had previously
shown themselves in detached parties, moved to a com-
mon point; and at last a body of a thousand insurgents
was collected under the command of a late captain in the
continental army, who billeted themselves upon the inhabit-
ants, and apprehended every person obnoxious to their
views. The necessity of abandoning the lenity which had
thus far governed the councils of the state, now became ob-
vious. Orders were given to the militia to march upon cer-
tain positions, and the assembled corps were put in motion
--one under General Lincoln, the other under General
Shephard--to check the progress of the insurrection. These
decisive steps were attended with complete success. The
insurgents in most instances fled before the military.
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THE LIFE OF
Where they made a stand, their resistance was feeble and
heartless, and after a few occasional skirmishes, they dis-
persed and took refuge in the adjacent states. With little
hope of success, and without the means of keeping in a
body, they soon dwindled into insignificance, and except a
few predatory incursions by which the frontiers of the
state were harassed, quiet was restored.
In New-Hampshire,* a similar spirit had been also
aroused. In the beginning of eighty-five, the legislature,
yielding to the distresses of the people, had enacted a law
making every species of property a tender at an appraised
value. The creditors consequently withheld their demands,
and the debtors neglected payment. Goods and real pro-
perty being thereby substituted as a medium of exchange,
specie was hoarded, credit suspended, and the distress in-
creased. A convention was held which urged upon the
government the emission of bills of credit, that should be a
legal tender. A plan was formed by the legislature for an
issue, to be loaned on landed security, redeemable at a future
period, which was submitted to the people; but before any
expression of opinion could be obtained, an armed body
assembled at Exeter, the seat of government, where the
legislature was in session, and demanded an immediate
compliance with their terms. The alarmed assembly pro-
posed to consider their complaints; but the senate main-
tained its dignity. General Sullivan, who was the presi-
dent, addressed the people, exposing the absurdity of their
demands, and avowing his determination, even if the whole
state was in favour of the measure, not to yield while they
were surrounded by an armed force; and that no consider-
ation of personal danger should compel him to so flagrant
a violation of the constitutional rights of the people.
The contumacious mob then beat to arms, loaded their
* Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society.
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? HAMILTON. 3G9
muskets with ball, and placing sentinels at the doors, held
the legislature prisoners throughout the day. At night-
fall, Sullivan again addressed them. In reply to his firm
harangue, nothing was heard but loud clamours for "pa-
per money"--"an equal distribution of property"--"the an-
nihilation of debts"--and " a release oftaxes. " At this moment
a drum was heard, and a party came in sight, huzzaing for
government. The mob was alarmed, and Sullivan, followed
by the legislature, passed unimpeded through its dense col-
umns. He immediately reassembled the legislature in another
place, issued orders at midnight for the militia, and a body of
two thousand being collected at an early hour, he ad-
vanced and addressed the insurgents, drawn up in order of
battle. A part yielded, the rest fled, and, except to an attempt
to seize the persons of their leaders, no resistance was offered.
The contest was soon after transferred from the field to
the elections, and, without any diminished cause of dis-
content, the people settled down in a general submission to
the laws. The leaders, Parsons, Shays, and French, threw
themselves on the mercy of government, which, with a
prudent mildness, was satisfied with their disfranchisement.
It would be an error to pronounce the issue of these
events merely fortunate, for where can an instance be ad-
duced of so great and long-continued an excitement, pro-
ceeding from such ample causes, among a people just
emerging from a civil war, subdued so soon by a reluctant
exercise of power, and that power the very people, most
of whom were participators in the sufferings which sharp-
ened the edge of discontent?
The ease with which this insurrection was suppressed,
may be in part attributed to the influence of a few of the
leaders in the revolution, who continued to possess the
confidence of the public; but more is to be ascribed to the
character of an enlightened and not dense community,
where an equal condition and equal forms of government
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? 370
THE LIFE OF
had produced habits of obedience to, and reverence for,
the laws. But it would be not less an error to overlook
the fact, that the issue of this controversy is a rare excep-
tion to the usual course of such events, and to infer from
it, that a civilized society may safely repose upon the un-
controlled virtue and intelligence of its members. The
tendency of civilization is to produce inequalities of condi-
tion, and in the short period which has elapsed since this
rebellion, and notwithstanding the propitious circumstances
in which she has been placed, it would be vain at this time
to expect, even in Massachusetts, a similar result.
A more extraordinary deduction has been drawn from the
tranquil termination of this contest with the laws--that re-
bellions are salutary; "that the tree of liberty must be wa-
tered with blood,"* and that societies which rely for the
preservation of order upon the vigour of government, are
unwisely constituted.
Every violent aggression upon constitutional authority
is an invasion of the first principle of social institutions;
and little permanence or happiness can those institutions
hope to enjoy, or to preserve, which for a moment admit
the dangerous doctrine, except in the extreme cases which
justify a revolution, of a resort to force.
Another inference must be adverted to, because it is known
to be the basis upon which a large superstructure of invidious
censure upon the people of New-England has been raised--
that these scenes prompted in that part of the confederacy
a desire for a monarchical form of government. This is
an error natural to the region of country in which it was
propagated; for where slavery debases all at least below
the rank of master, how short is the interval between re-
volt and ruin; how great the excuse for rigour in the
harsh; how little room for lenity in the gentle; how fear-
* Jefferson's writings.
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? HAMILTON.
371
fill the consequence of awakening the sufferer to a sense
of his injuries; how prone the mind to power! But there
is no analogy in the respective circumstances of the south-
ern and the eastern states. Under less equal forms, rebel-
lion has usually produced some great modification of the
political system, either by larger grants of privilege to the
subject, or greater concentration of strength in the rulers;
but in New-England, weakness made no sacrifices, power
acquired no augmentation, and the insurgents were seen to
lay down their arms, not as trembling vassals, reduced to
the sway of an imperious master, but as an erring part of
the people rejoining the mass, happy to return under the
protection of laws which they had shared in framing, and
knew they could participate in modifying. There is not
an authenticated fact to show, that these events excited a
wish for any other than a more efficient but equally free
government.
Whether by giving a different direction to the public
mind, and offering a new hope of relief, the proposed con-
vention of the states would have prevented these alarming
occurrences, it is impossible to determine. The despair
of aid from state legislation may have stimulated the peo-
ple to violence; but it is rather to be believed that the
popular feelings were too much excited, the suffering too
great and extensive, to have waited the issue of so slow a
process. The rebellious temper of the populace rendered
a vigorous exertion of the powers of government neces-
sary; and it cannot be doubted, that this necessity had
much influence in inducing the states to consent to the es-
tablishment of the federal constitution.
The prostration of commerce, the poverty and anarchy
of the country, the hopeless prospect before them, com-
pelled the people to feel the want of that which Hamilton
was the first to indicate as the only resource--" a more
perfect union. " New-York had been the earliest to pro-
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THE LIFE OF
pose a convention of the states. After longer experience,
Massachusetts had declared her conviction of its necessity;
to which Virginia, eminently jealous of her state sove-
reignty, was impelled by peculiar circumstances at last to
assent.
Her geographical position rendered it extremely difficult
to establish an efficient, and at the same time an indepen-
dent revenue system. This difficulty had early suggested
the importance of forming a compact with Maryland, as
to the jurisdiction of their confluent waters; and in De-
cember, seventeen hundred and seventy-seven, commis-
sioners were appointed by Virginia for this object. The
subject was resumed in seventeen hundred and eighty-four,
and a similar commission created. Nothing having been
effected by them, new commissioners were chosen in the
succeeding year, who met the deputies of Maryland at
Mount Vernon. There they agreed upon an act regula-
ting the commercial intercourse through the Potomac and
Chesapeake, and defining the jurisdiction of each state.
But at the moment of framing this compact, they deemed
it necessary to extend its provisions so as to authorize the
establishment of a naval force to protect these estuaries,
and the formation of a mutual tariff. This compact, by
the articles of the confederation, required the previous
consent of congress. To obviate that difficulty, these de-
puties recommended to their respective states the appoint-
ment of other commissioners with enlarged powers, to
whose proceedings the permission of congress was to be
solicited.
On the thirteenth of January, seventeen hundred and
eighty-six, resolutions passed the legislature of Virginia for
a uniformity of duties between the two states, and that
commissioners should be chosen to meet annually, if re-
quired, to regulate their mutual commercial interests.
They were instructed particularly to provide, that foreign
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? HAMILTON.
373
gold should pass at the same rate in both states, and that
the same amount of damages should be charged on pro-
tested bills of exchange. A few days after, the house of
delegates passed a resolution, directing the projected ar-
rangement to be communicated to all the other states, who
were invited to send deputies to a general meeting for the
precise purpose " of considering how far a uniform system
of taxation in their commercial intercourse and regula-
tions might be necessary to their common interest and
permanent harmony; and to report an act relative to this
great object, which, when ratified, would enable the United
States, in congress assembled, effectually to provide for the
same. " Thus it will be seen that Virginia merely con-
templated a commercial arrangement, falling far short of
the policy which New-York and Massachusetts had pre-
viously embraced.
Her reluctance in granting, and her repeals of the im-
post ;* her hostility to a federal judiciary; her jealousy as
to the Mississippi;--all leave little room for doubt, that the
project of a continental convention to frame a constitution,
would at an earlier period have been feebly sustained by
her. Washington's circular letter had produced no action
on her part, and her councils were swayed by penmen who
looked upon an invigoration of the union with jealousy,
because the suggestion had emanated from the army, and
who, speculating in their closets on the dangers of con-
ferring power, had not considered how much greater were
the evils of usurpation, even from "necessity," than those
* In a letter from R. H. Lee, he states his apprehensions of alterations m
the articles of the confederation, that he had " ever been opposed to the five
per cent. impost," that he never could agree that congress " shall dictate the
mode of taxation, or that the collection shall in any manner be subject to
congressional control. " He was opposed to the power of regulating trade. --
Life, v. 2, pp. 62, 71.
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? 374
THE LIFE OF
of a large constitutional authority. * Yet the precedence
of that state in this important measure- has been claimed
without hesitation, and generally received as a part of
American history. It is time that this error, with many
others, should be corrected.
Soon after this project was first agitated, Hamilton,
whose mind had long laboured with the great design of a
national constitution, determined to bring about the co-
operation of New-York. It was a part of his plan, that
the state legislature should definitively adopt or reject the
revenue system of seventeen hundred and eighty-three, and
in case of its rejection, should appoint commissioners to
attend the commercial convention. "Hamilton," Troup
relates, "had no idea that the legislature could be prevail-
ed on to adopt the system as recommended by congress,
neither had he any partiality for a commercial convention,
otherwise than as a stepping stone to a general conven-
tion, to form a general constitution.
In pursuance of
his plan, the late Mr. Duer, the late Colonel Malcom, and
myself, were sent to the state legislature as part of the
* In a letter of Madison to R. II. Lee, he observes, "/ have not yet found
leisure to scan the project of a continental convention with so close an eye
as to have made up any observations worthy of being mentioned to you. In
general, I hold it for a maxim, that the union of the states is essential for their
safety against foreign danger and internal contention, and that the perpetui-
ty and efficacy of the present system cannot be confided in. The question
therefore is, in what mode and at what moment the experiment for supplying
the defects ought to be made. The answer to this question cannot be made
without a knowledge, greater than I possess, of the temper and views of the
different states. Virginia seems, I think, to have excellent dispositions to-
wards the confederacy, but her assent or dissent to such a proposition, would
probably depend much upon the chance of having no opponent capable of
rousing the jealousies and prejudices of the assembly against innovations,
particularly such as will derogate from their own power and importance.
Should a view of the other states present no objections against the experi-
ment, individually, I would wish none to be presupposed here. "--2 Life of
R. H. Lee, p. 220. Dec. 25, 1784.
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? HAMILTON.
375
city delegation, and we were to make every possible effort
to accomplish Hamilton's objects.
"Duer was a man of commanding eloquence. We
went to the legislature, and pressed totis viribus the grant
of the impost agreeably to the requisition of congress. We
failed in obtaining it . The resolutions of Virginia were
communicated by Governor Clinton, on the fourteenth of
March, seventeen hundred and eighty-six. We went all
our strength in the appointment of commissioners to attend
the commercial convention, in which we were successful.
The commissioners were instructed to report their pro-
ceedings to the next legislature: Hamilton was appointed
one of them. Thus it was, that he was the principal
instrument to turn this state to a course of policy that
saved our country from incalculable mischiefs, if not from
total ruin. "
While this subject was in agitation in other states, Gov-
ernor Bowdoin was using all his influence to incite the
people of Massachusetts to the promotion of their true in-
terests. In a special message, he urged upon the legisla-
ture the protection of manufactures, stating that the looms
were idle, in consequence of excessive importations. On
a subsequent occasion, after descanting upon the impor-
tance of conferring the necessary powers upon congress,
he placed before them the serious inquiry, " Shall the union
cease to exist V and as soon as he received the circular
of Virginia, he recommended the appointment of commis-
sioners to the commercial convention, which the legislature
approved. New-Je/sey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania co-
operated in the measure. "The delegates appointed by
New-York were Hamilton, Duane, Robert R. Livingston,
Robert C. Livingston, Benson, and Gansevoort. Ganse-
voort declined the appointment. Duane was prevented
attending by indisposition, Robert R. Livingston by bu-
siness. Hamilton and Benson (then attorney-general of
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? 37G
THE LIFE OF
the state) proceeded to Annapolis, where they met the
other commissioners. " After a short interview, "a com-
mittee was appointed to prepare an address to the states,
which was reported and agreed to,--the whole in the
course of three or four days, and we separated. The draft
was by Hamilton, although not formally one of the com-
mittee. "*
In the draft as originally framed, Hamilton had exhibit-
ed frankly and at large the condition of the states, and
the necessity of an efficient government. But it was
thought,f from the sentiments of some of the delegates, and
the lukewarmness exhibited by the non-attendance of so
many states, that his statements were too explicit, and he re-
duced the address to the form in which it now appears, sign-
ed by Governor Dickinson, as chairman of the meeting.
"To the honourable the legislatures of Virginia, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, and New-York.
"The commissioners from the said states respectively
assembled at Annapolis, humbly beg leave to report, That
pursuant to their several appointments, they met at Anna-
polis, in the state of Maryland, on the eleventh day of
September, instant, and having proceeded to a communi-
cation of their powers, they found that the states of New-
York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, had in substance, and
nearly in the same terms, authorized their respective com-
missioners to meet such commissioners as were or might
be appointed by the other states in the union, at such time
and place as should be agreed upon by the said commis-
sioners, to take into consideration the trade and commerce
? Memoir published by Judge Benson.
t The governor, Edmund Randolph, objected to the report as first framed.
Madison then observed to Hamilton, "You had better yield to this man, for
otherwise all Virginia will be against you. "
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? HAMILTON.
377
of the United States, to consider how far an uniform system
in their commercial intercourse and regulations might be
necessary to their common interest and permanent harmo-
ny, and to report to the several states such an act relative
to this great object, as, when unanimously ratified by them,
would enable the United States in congress assembled
effectually to provide for the same.
"That the state of Delaware had given similar powers
to their commissioners; with this difference only, that the
act to be framed in virtue of these powers, is required to
be reported 'to the United States in congress assembled,
to be agreed to by them, and confirmed by the legislature
of every state. '
"That the state of New-Jersey had enlarged the object
of their appointment, empowering their commissioners 'to
consider how far an uniform system in their commercial
regulations, and other important matters, might be neces-
sary to the common interest and permanent harmony of
the several states; and to report such an act on the subject,
as, when ratified by them, would enable the United States
in congress assembled effectually to provide for the exi-
gencies of the union. '
"That appointments of commissioners have also been
made by the states of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and North Carolina, none of whom, how-
ever, have attended. But that no information has been
received by your commissioners of any appointment hav-
ing been made by the states of Connecticut, Maryland,
South Carolina, or Georgia. That the express terms of
the powers to your commissioners supposing a deputation
from all the states, and having for their object the trade and
commerce of the United States, your commissioners did
not conceive it advisable to proceed to the business of their
mission under the circumstance of so partial and defective
a representation.
48
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? 378 TI1E LIFE OF
"Deeply impressed, however, with the magnitude and
importance of the object confided to them on this occasion,
your commissioners cannot forbear to indulge an expres-
sion of their earnest and unanimous wish that speedy meas-
ures may be taken to effect a general meeting of the states
in a future convention for the same, and such other pur-
poses, as the situation of public affairs may be found to
require.
"If in expressing this wish, or intimating any other senti-
ment, your commissioners should seem to exceed the strict
bounds of their appointment, they entertain a full confi-
dence that a conduct dictated by an anxiety for the wel-
fare of the United States will not fail to receive a favour-
able construction. In this persuasion, your commissioners
submit an opinion that the idea of extending the powers
of their deputies to other objects than those of commerce,
which had been adopted by the state of New-Jersey, was
an improvement on the original plan, and will deserve to
be incorporated into that of a future convention. They
are the more naturally led to this conclusion, as, in the
course of their reflections on the subject, they have been
induced to think that the power of regulating trade is of
such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into the
general system of the federal government, that to give it
efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning
its precise nature and limits, may require a correspondent
adjustment of other parts of the federal system. That
there are important defects in the system of the federal
government, is acknowledged by the acts of all those states
which have concurred in the present meeting; that the
defects, upon a closer examination, may be found greater
and more numerous than even these acts imply, is at
least so far probable, from the embarrassments which
characterize the present state of our national affairs
foreign and domestic, as may reasonably be supposed
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? HAMILTON. 379
to merit a deliberate and candid discussion in some
mode which will unite the sentiments and councils of all
the states.
"In the choice of the mode, your commissioners are of
the opinion that a convention of deputies from the differ-
ent states for the special and sole purpose of entering into
this investigation, and digesting a plan of supplying such
defects as may be discovered to exist, will be entitled to a
preference, from considerations which will occur without
being particularized. Your commissioners decline an enu-
meration of those national circumstances on which their
opinion respecting the propriety of a future convention
with those enlarged powers is founded, as it would be an
intrusion of facts and observations, most of which have
been frequently the subject of public discussion, and none
of which can have escaped the penetration of those to
whom they would in this instance be addressed.
"They are, however, of a nature so serious, as, in the view
of your commissioners, to render the situation of the Uni-
ted States delicate and critical, calling for an exertion of
the united virtue and wisdom of all the members of the
confederacy. Under this impression, your commissioners
with the most respectful deference beg leave to suggest
their unanimous conviction, that it may effectually tend to
advance the interests of the union, if the states by which
they have been respectively delegated would concur them-
selves, and use their endeavours to procure the concur-
rence of the other states, in the appointment of commis-
sioners to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in
May next, to take into consideration the situation of the
United States, to devise such further provisions as shall
appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the
federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union,
and to report such an act for that purpose to the United
States in congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them
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? 380
THE LIFE OF
and afterwards confirmed by the legislature of every state,
will effectually provide for the same.
"Though your commissioners could not with propriety
address these observations and sentiments to any but the
states they have the honour to represent, they have nev-
ertheless concluded, from motives of respect, to transmit
copies of this report to the United States in congress as-
sembled, and to the executives of the other states.
"Annapolis, September 14th, 1786. "'
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? HAMILTON.
381
CHAPTER XXII.
[1786. ]
It has been seen that the conferring on congress the
power of levying a national impost, was the great dividing
question on which the two parties that existed in America
were arrayed. By the friends of a general and enlarged
policy, or, as they were then styled, of "continental poli-
tics," this measure was regarded as one involving the fate
of the country, for without such a power it was obvious
that the confederation, feeble and inadequate as it had
proved, could not be longer preserved. Its opponents
were those who had coalesced, either from disappointment
in not having acquired an influence in the general councils,
from a desire to retain powers in the states that might be
wielded for the gratification of their ambition, from an un-
defined or pretended apprehension of the dangers to their lib-
erties which might result from so large a confidence as the
control of the national funds, and in certain states from a
calculation of the partial benefits to be derived from peculiar
circumstances of more extensive territory, favourable posi-
tion, and natural advantages. These lent themselves to the
most absurd suspicions, deprecated any advance towards
this great object as an approach to a gulf in which every
vestige of liberty would be merged, and appealing to each
narrow passion, the offspring of inconsiderateness, igno-
rance, or pride, gratified their vanity, and increased their
influence, by being esteemed the zealous watchmen of lib-
erty, and especial guardians of state rights. This party
was the proper growth of the articles of confederation.
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? 382
THE LIFE OF
It had acquired a complete ascendency throughout the
country, thus affording another proof that false principles,
while they hasten decay in the system into which they en-
ter,. give a noxious vitality to the parasitic plants which
nourish in the progress of its corruption.
That ascendency was inconsistent with the preservation
of the union; nor should we know from its effects at this
time that the union existed, but that the pageantry of a
congress was still kept up. The members chosen to meet
in November, seventeen hundred and eighty-five, did not
assemble until February, seventeen hundred and eighty-six.
Their first deliberations related to the finances. The re-
port of a committee showed that the requisitions for the
four preceding years a little exceeded seven millions of
dollars; that the total receipts were rather more than one-
third of this sum, of which less than one-tenth had been
collected within the last fourteen months; that the means
for discharging the interest on the foreign debt would have
been inadequate, but for the unappropriated residue of the
Dutch loan; that further loans could not be obtained;
that the emission of bills of credit was hopeless; that the
only remaining resource was the public lands--but public
securities being receivable for them, they could only aid
in reducing the public debt; and that, after the maturest
consideration, they were unable to devise any other than
the revenue system of seventeen hundred and eighty-three.
It then proceeded to state, that seven states had complied
with it in part; that Pennsylvania and Delaware had only
granted it provisionally, and that Rhode Island, New-York,
Maryland, and Georgia, had not decided in favour of any
part of a system " so long since and so repeatedly presented
for their adoption. " It closed with the following impres-
sive appeal:--" The committee observe with great concern
that the security of the navigation and commerce of the
citizens of these states from the Barbary powers; the pro-
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? HAMILTON.
383
tection of the frontier inhabitants from the savages; the
immediate establishment of military magazines in different
parts of the union, rendered indispensable by the principles
of public safety; the maintenance of the federal govern-
ment at home, and the support of the public servants
abroad;--each and all depend upon the contributions of the
states under the annual requisitions of congress. The
moneys essentially necessary for these important objects will
so far exceed the sums formerly collected from the states
by taxes, that no hope can be indulged of being able from
that source to make any remittances for the discharge of
foreign engagements.
"Thus circumstanced, after the most solemn deliberation,
and under the fullest conviction that the public embarrass-
ments are such as above represented, and that they are
daily increasing, the committee are of opinion that it has
become the duty of congress to declare most explicitly,
that the crisis has arrived when the people of these United
States, by whose will and for whose benefit the federal
government was instituted, must decide whether they will
support their rank as a nation by maintaining the public
faith at home and abroad, or whether, for want of timely
exertion in establishing a general revenue, and thereby
giving strength to the confederacy, they will hazard, not
only the existence of the union, but of those great and in-
valuable privileges for which they have so arduously and
so honourably contended. "
This strong language was followed by resolutions, in
which, to efface the erroneous impressions produced by
Jefferson's scheme of counterbalancing deficiencies, and
"in order that congress may remain wholly acquitted from
every imputation of a want of attention to the interests
and welfare of those whom they represent," they declare--
First, that the requisitions of seventeen hundred and
eighty-four and eighty-five, cannot be considered as the
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? 384 THE LIFE OF
establishment of a system of general revenue in opposition
to that recommended in seventeen hundred and eighty-
three; second, they recommend to the delinquent states
an accession to that system in all its parts; and last, pro-
claim, that whilst congress are denied the means of satis-
fying those engagements which they have constitutionally
entered into for the common benefit of the union, they
hold it their duty to warn their constituents that the most
fatal evils will inevitably flow from a breach of public
faith pledged by solemn contract, and a violation of those
principles of justice which are the only solid basis of the
honour and prosperity of nations. "*
Although Pennsylvania and Delaware had not complied
strictly with the system of seventeen hundred and eighty-
three, it became apparent that the non-concurrence of
New-York was the only serious obstacle to its establishment.
Under these circumstances, the public attention in that
state was wholly devoted to this subject
A strong memorial to the legislature from the pen of
Hamilton was widely circulated. It stated, "that the
community had seen with peculiar regret the delay which
had hitherto attended the adoption of the revenue system;
that the anxiety which they had all along felt from mo-
tives of a more general nature, is at the present juncture
increased by this particular consideration, that the state of
New-York now stands almost alone, in a non-compliance with
a measure in which the sentiments and wishes of the union
at large appear to unite, and by a further delay may ren-
der itself responsible for consequences too serious not to
affect every considerate man; that all the considerations
important to a state, all the motives of public honour, faith,
reputation, interest, and safety, conspire to urge a compli-
* R. King was chairman of this committee, and it is to be presumed was
the author of this important document.
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? HAMILTON.
383
ance with that measure--that government without reve-
nue cannot subsist--that the mode provided in the con-
federation for supplying the treasury of the United States
has in experiment been found inadequate--that any objec-
tion to it as a measure not warranted by the confederation
is refuted by the thirteenth article, which provides that
alterations may be made, if agreed to by congress and
confirmed by the legislatures of each state; and the con-
duct of this state itself in adopting the proposed change
of the eighth article is a precedent in which we find the
principle reduced to practice, and affords a complete an-
swer to every pretence of the revenue system being un-
constitutional. That as to danger in vesting the United
States with these funds, your memorialists consider their
interests and liberties as not less safe in the hands of their
fellow-citizens delegated to represent them for one year in
congress, than in the hands of their fellow-citizens dele-
gated to represent them for one, or four years, in the sen-
ate and assembly of this state"--" That government implies
trust, and every government must be trusted so far as it is
necessary to enable it to attain the ends for which it is in-
stituted, without which must result insult and oppression
from abroad, confusion and convulsion at home. "
The public men throughout the state took an open stand
on this question; the newspapers were filled with discus-
sions of its merits,* and the elections turned solely on this
point.
The head of the opposition was the governor, whose in-
fluence, after an administration of nine years, had become
almost irresistible. In the southern district, though opposed
by the commercial members of the community, whose
* The most noticed of the writings against the grant of the impost, were
a series of numbers Rigncd " Rough Hewer," of which the author was Abra-
ham Yates, a member of the legislature and a zealous partisan of Clinton.
49'
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? 386
THE LIFE OF
hopes had centred upon Hamilton; Clinton was supported
by a combination of interests--by the most violent of the
whigs, and the most violent of the tories, who had become
zealous whigs. In the interior of the state his ascendency
was limited only by the opposition of a few intelligent men
on the eastern borders of the Hudson, guided by Chancel-
lor Livingston, and by the active and unceasing exertions
of General Schuyler in the northern and western districts,
where he was yet recollected as their most energetic pro-
tector and enlightened friend.
To judge merely from the official communications of
Clinton, the inference would be drawn, that though not a
zealous champion, he was a decided friend to the federal
system; but the measures which marked the policy of the
state, and which were directed by him, indicated very dif-
ferent purposes.
In pursuance of the recommendation of congress, New-
York, on the nineteenth of March, seventeen hundred and
eighty-one, passed an act which, after granting the duties
to that body, provided, "that they should be levied and
collected in such manner and form, and under such pains,
penalties, and regulations, and by such officers, as con-
gress should from time to time make, order, direct, and
appoint. "
Soon, however, after the indications of peace, the policy
of the state changed. The act of seventeen hundred and
eighty-one was repealed,- and on the fifteenth March,
seventeen hundred and eighty-three, a law was enacted
granting the duties; but departing from the principles
which had prompted this measure at its inception, and
which prevailed during a period of danger, directed them
to be collected by the officers and under the authority of the
state. This law, combined with other circumstances, in-
duced congress to recommend the system that was adopted
on the eighteenth of March, seventeen hundred and eighty-
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