John Dickenson, “The Penman of the Revolution,” from Delaware, and Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts took their seats this morning and were welcomed to the Convention. Mr. Wythe reported that the Rules Committee had examined the motions put forth yesterday by Mr. Spaight and Mr. Butler and proposed they be added to the “standing orders of the House.”
The confidentiality resolution reads, “that no copy be taken of any entry on the journal during the sitting of the House without leave of the House; that members only be permitted to inspect the journal; and that nothing spoken in the House be printed, or otherwise published or communicated without leave.” The rule is necessary to ensure unbiased discussion and prevent “misconstructions and misinformation” from leaking to the public. Remarkably, the Convention readily agreed to the resolution without opposition and Washington can be counted on to severely enforce it.
Until today, this series has been written in the “first person,” from the perspective of someone living in Philadelphia in 1787. Because of the Convention’s new rule of secrecy, , the series will continue from the perspective of historians who have access to the notes taken by James Madison and others.. Madison’s notes were not made public until 1840.
George Washington is exceptionally disciplined and will ensure the rule of confidentiality is strictly observed. William Pierce recorded in his journal an instance in which a delegate dropped a piece of paper containing proposed propositions and notes about the Convention’s proceedings. Fortunately, it was picked up by General Mifflin who presented it to Washington. Saying nothing, Washington slipped the paper in his pocket. At the end of the day, when adjournment had been called for, he rose from his seat. Before putting the question, he said to the Convention, “Gentlemen, I am sorry that some one Member of this Body, has been so neglectful of the secrets of the Convention as to drop in the State House a copy of their proceeding, which by accident was picked up and delivered to me this morning. I must entreat Gentlemen to be more careful, lest our transactions get into the News Papers, and disturb our public repose by premature speculations. I know not whose paper it is, but there it is (throwing it down on the table). Let him who owns it, take it.”
He bowed, picked up his hat, and left the room “with a dignity so severe that every Person seemed alarmed.” Pierce was extremely so. Feeling in his pocket, he realized he did not have his copy of the same paper, but he checked the paper Washington had thrown on the table and his “fears were soon dissipated.” He found the handwriting was not his. Returning to his lodging at the Indian Queen, he found his copy in the pocket of a coat he had worn that morning. Pierce’s recollection concludes with the observation that it was “something remarkable that no Person ever owned the paper.”
James McHenry represented the sentiments of all the Members of the Convention when he wrote to his wife after today’s session, “We are beginning to enter seriously upon the business of the convention.” Seriously indeed. The rules of the Convention having been approved, Washington recognized Edmund Randolph who embarked on a “long and elaborate speech” on behalf of the Virginia delegation, opening the deliberations.
Only thirty-three years old, Randolph is tall, noticeably handsome, and an accomplished speaker. The speech he is about to deliver reflects the discussions the Virginians have had while waiting for the Convention to begin. In truth, it is primarily the work of James Madison.
Randolph began by summarizing the defects of the present system, the dangers of inaction, and “the necessity of preventing the fulfillment of the prophecies of the American downfall.” His litany of failures of the present system cited the “havoc of paper money,” the “lack of security against foreign invasion,” “treaty violations,” “inferior state constitutions,” and more. He then “proceeded to the remedy; the basis of which must be the republican principle.” The “remedy” was laid out in fifteen resolutions, becoming known as the Virginia Plan.
The plan proposed a bicameral national legislature. One house would be elected by the people of each State, based on either its financial contribution or the number of its free inhabitants. The second house would be elected by the first. Without enumerating specific powers of the national legislature, the plan proposed it could act in cases where the States are not competent and use force against States not complying with national laws.
An executive, chosen by the national legislature, in concert with a council of revision, could veto legislation, even State legislation. The legislature, by a proportion of votes not yet determined, could override the executive’s veto. The plan envisions a national judiciary chosen by the legislature with jurisdiction over specified types of cases. While the plan does not describe a process for admitting new States to the union, it resolves that such a process should be designed by the new government.
Finally, the Virginia Plan recommends that any amendments proposed by the Convention should be ratified by “an assembly or assemblies of Representatives, recommended by the several Legislatures to be expressly chosen by the people,” and that the executives, legislators, and judges in the States be bound by oath to the support the union. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina also laid before the Convention the draft of a plan he had prepared, based on principles similar to those of the Virginia Plan.
The motion was approved that tomorrow the Convention resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole “to consider the State of the American Union,” to which both plans were referred.
Rebert Yates (New York) sees the plan as an ominous warning. “Randolph,” he wrote, ”candidly confessed” that his resolutions “were not intended for a federal government - he meant