George Washington called the meeting of the Constitutional Convention to order at 10:00 this morning and welcomed two new delegates from Georgia, William Pierce and William Houston. After receiving their credentials and having the minutes of yesterday’s meeting approved, he vacated the chair and again turned over the meeting to Nathaniel Gorham, chairman of the Committee of the Whole.
Gorham was elected President of the Confederation Congress on June 6, but of course, at this Convention he is representing his own State – Massachusetts. Unlike many of the men here today, Gorham came from modest beginnings. His father operated a packet boat, a vessel traveling between two or more ports, usually delivering mail, small packages and perhaps a few passengers. His son Nathaniel apprenticed as a merchant in Connecticut and returned to his hometown, Charleston, married Rebecca Call, and raised nine children.
Gorham became active in politics in 1771 and served in the old provincial legislature, the 1775 Massachusetts convention, the Board of War during the Revolutionary War, and the Confederation Congress. When most of his property was destroyed by British troops, he turned to privateering and land speculation, recouping much of his small fortune. He was a supporter of Governor Bowdoin during Shay’s Rebellion and was shaken by the growing lawlessness in the country, reinforcing his support for a stronger national government.
Gorham’s family can be traced to the founding of Massachusetts. His third great grandfather, John Howland, arrived in North America on the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact, and helped found Plymouth Colony. On his way to the Convention, Gorham celebrated his forty-ninth birthday.
The Committee now in session, Mr. Gorham reported “the Committee had made further progress,” and recognized Gov. Randolph. The resolution that “the national legislature ought to consist of two branches” was agreed to without dissent or debate. A good start for today. Randolph then proposed the next resolution, “that members of the first branch…ought to be elected by the people of the several States.” Mr. Sherman (Conn.) objected. “The people lack information,” he said. Mr. Gerry (Mass.) also opposed election by the people, but for a different reason. The “evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy,” he said, recalling the recent Shay’s Rebellion in his own State. “The people don’t lack virtue,” he continued, “but are the dupes of pretended patriots.”
Mr. Mason, Mr. Madison (both of Virginia) and Mr. Wilson (Penn.) led the argument for popular election of the first branch. Mason agreed “we have been too democratic,” but we must not “incautiously run into the opposite extreme.” Wilson weighed in. “No government,” he said, “could long subsist without the confidence of the people,” followed by Madison’s insistence that the government “must rest on the solid foundation of the people themselves.”
The resolution that the first house of the national legislature be elected by the people passed 6 – 2 – 2. New Jersey and South Carolina voted “nay:” Connecticut and Delaware were divided.
Mr. Randolph proceeded with the next resolution of the Virginia Plan, that “the second branch of the national legislature should be chosen by the first.” A spirited discussion revealed a deep division . Mr. Spaight (N.C.) proposed an amendment that the second branch be chosen by the State legislatures. At first, it appeared he was getting support when Mr. Butler (S.C.) said that Randolph’s proposal would take too much power from the States. Others agreed. But there was too little support for Mr. Spaight’s motion, so he withdrew it. Wilson went so far as to propose that both houses should be elected by the people, perhaps by districts within the States. Mr. Pinckney (S.C.) went even further, suggesting the continent should be divided into four regions! In the end, the motion was defeated 3 – 7, “so the clause was disagreed to and a chasm left in this part of the plan.”
Next, allowing legislation to originate in each branch was agreed to without debate.
The final issue of today’s session, the power of the national legislature, would prove as controversial as how it would be elected . Randolph proposed giving the national government, “legislative power in all cases to which the State legislatures were individually incompetent.” Immediately, objections were raised to the vagueness of the term incompetent. The South Carolina delegates, especially Charles Pinckney and John Rutledge, were adamant they would not vote “until they should see an exact enumeration of the powers comprehended by their definition.” Mr. Butler again cautioned that “we are taking away the powers of the States.” He repeated the request for Gov. Randolph to explain “the extent of his meaning.”
Mr. Randolph insisted his intent was not to give indefinite powers to the national legislature, but agreed with Madison, Wilson, George Wythe, and others that it would be prudent to “establish a general principle before we go into detail.” With this understanding, the resolution passed 9 – 0 – 1, with Connecticut divided.
Washington astutely observes the confidentially rule. He does not even commit his thoughts to his own diary. But this evening, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, he shared his concerns about the Convention. “Much is expected from it,” he wrote. “That something is necessary, none will deny; for the situation of the general government, if it can be called a government, is shaken to its foundation, and liable to be overturned by every blast. In a word, it is at an end; and, unless a remedy is soon applied, anarchy and confusion will inevitably ensue.”