Tempest at Dawn (24 page)

“
Mr. Madison, I cannot fathom your
faith in the people. You must have a different breed in Virginia.
The people in my part of the world have the wildest ideas. They
constantly cry for more and expect others to satisfy their
desires.” Gerry bobbed his head, stuttered something Madison
couldn’t catch, and then spit out an intemperate insult. “I’d no
more trust the common man than I would an infant.”

After Gerry’s outburst, the convention
recessed to catch its breath and, hopefully, restart on a more
positive note. Madison took advantage of the break to catch up with
his notes. After he finished, he wandered over to Washington.

“
Nice speech, James. Well put,”
Washington said.

“
Thank you, sir, but I fear Gerry’s
views might be shared by other delegates.”

“
Not to worry. Every time he talks, we
gain converts. Reasonable men don’t wish to be associated with his
extremism.”

Madison glanced at Hamilton, standing
alongside the general. Madison guessed he harbored some sympathies
with Gerry. “Then let’s hope the chamber is filled with reasonable
men,” Madison said.

“
It is. We should put him on stage at
every opportunity.” Washington waved his hand toward Hamilton.
“Alex told me he wants a reconsideration of the absolute veto. I
believe the two-thirds rule should prove sufficient. Does it
satisfy you, James?”

“
It serves the purpose. With the split
interests between the North and South, I can’t imagine Congress
assembling that many votes in both branches.”

“
See, Alex, it’s not a worthy target.
No need to expend scarce munitions."

“
Very well,” Hamilton said, “but I
still worry about the legislature running roughshod over the
executive.”

“
Do you now?”

Hamilton gave the slightest bow. “If I may
quote our eminent doctor, ‘nobody knows what sort of fellow may
follow.’”

Washington looked cross. “Nor should anyone
make unwarranted assumptions about that first fellow.”

After the recess, Wilson lectured the
delegates on the flaws of the existing Congress. He pointed out
that each state had a veto, so one selfish state could thwart the
majority. Then he took the discussion to dangerous ground by saying
that he hoped the ratification process allowed a partial union.

Pinckney took the bait. “I thoroughly agree
with Mr. Wilson. A majority of states should be free to unite under
this new Constitution. As far as I am concerned, the remainder can
wither away in their revered sovereignty.”

Madison believed the argument for
ratification by the people had been won until this impolitic
exchange. With tempers inflamed, the only course was yet another
postponement. Thanks to Pinckney’s tart tongue, today’s proceedings
had made no progress.

Madison saw Pinckney standing outside the
State House, so he started to move in the opposite direction. No.
He must confront the man.

“
Mr. Pinckney, shall we walk back to
the Indian Queen?”

“
Together?”

“
No, I thought you should walk up
Chestnut and I’ll use Market Street.”

Pinckney looked perplexed. “Should I take
you seriously?”

“
A smart man wouldn’t.”

“
Does the ever-serious Mr. Madison
pretend to make fun of me?”

“
The ever-serious Mr. Madison can’t
pretend.”

“
You
are
mocking me!”

“
No need, Charles. You take care of
that yourself. Shall we go?”

“
My, what’s got into you,
James?”

Madison grabbed Pinckney’s elbow and guided
him down the street. “Your last remarks today were foolish.”

“
Don’t tell me you sympathize with
this sovereignty rot.”

“
Mr. Pinckney, if you were detached to
a firing squad, you’d roll up with cannon.”

“
I prefer the
rapière,
” Pinckney said smugly.

“
Thrust and retreat?”

“
Leaving bewilderment and but a small
spot of blood.”

“
I’ve noticed blood on my waistcoat
from time to time,” Madison said, giving Pinckney a sharp
look.

“
Mere pricks, I’m sure,” Pinckney
retorted, lengthening his stride. “So you thought I was
foolish.”

Madison scurried to keep up. “Ratification
by the people would’ve passed if you hadn’t insulted the small
states.”

“
Do you suggest that a tiny piece of
rudeness can alter the course of debate?”

“
Yes, at times.”

“
How convenient for me.”

Madison shook his head. At the State House,
he had held the upper hand, but somehow Pinckney had recaptured the
advantage. True irreverence couldn’t be trammeled. Madison stopped
short of the steps leading to the Indian Queen. “If you’ll excuse
me, I have to pick up something at the apothecary.”

“
I hope you’re not ill.”

“
No. Something for Montpelier.”
Madison threw a “good afternoon” over his shoulder as he hastened
down the street.

Before he had taken six paces, he heard
Pinckney holler, “Mr. Madison, a smart man would take me
seriously!”

Pinckney opened
Wednesday’s session with a call to reconsider the election of the
first house. He proposed that they be elected by the state
legislatures, instead of by the people.

Madison sighed as Gerry endorsed Pinckney’s
motion. “The worst men get into the legislature. Base men use any
tactic, however dirty, to win against men who refuse to stoop to
such artifices.”

Sherman tried a more rational argument.
“Gentlemen, if we intend to abolish the states, then the people
ought to elect the legislature. If the states are to continue, then
the state legislatures ought to elect the national legislature.
This will preserve harmony between the national and state
governments.”

After a small cough, Sherman continued in
his dilatory manner. “The aims of a national government are few and
must be strictly defined. I believe they include defense, internal
harmony, treaties, and the regulation of commerce. All other
matters must be handled by the states.”

Madison challenged Sherman’s simplistic
view. “I’d respectfully like to add to Mr. Sherman’s list. A
national government must also protect individual rights and
dispense steady justice.”

Madison made a few more comments on the role
of the national government but then could not contain himself. He
had to rebut Wilson’s and Pinckney’s advocacy for a partial union.
Without preamble, Madison charged into new terrain. “Gentleman, all
societies divide into different sects, factions, and interests.
Conflicts grow between the rich and poor, debtors and creditors,
landed and commercial interests, this district against that
district, followers of this political leader or that political
leader, disciples of this religion or that religion.

“
When a majority unites by passion or
common interest, the minority is in grave danger. What can restrain
a majority? Not respect for others, nor conscience. In Greece and
Rome, the patricians and plebeians alternately oppressed each
other—with equal ferocity. We’ve seen the mere distinction of
color, in our supposed enlightened time, furnish the grounds for
the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over
man.”

With this last, startled gasps escaped from
various corners of the room. Madison tried to ignore the reaction.
His indictment of slavery had been unpremeditated, but now that it
had escaped his lips, he couldn’t recall it.

“
Who imposed these unjust laws? The
majority. Debtors defraud creditors. The holders of one type of
property throw a heavier tax on other types of property. When a
majority has the opportunity, they will always threaten the rights
of the minority.” Madison shifted his gaze across the sea of
delegates. “Make no mistake, in a republic, the majority always has
opportunity!”

Madison scurried across the front of the
chamber. “The only remedy is to enlarge a nation to include so many
interests, so many ideas, so many biases, that none can gain
preeminence. We must frame a republic so huge that this
ever-present evil is controlled.” Madison felt breathless. He
marched to his table and paused. Stretching to his full height, he
tried to inject command into his soft voice. “For this reason, I
resist a partial union of the states.”

Madison sat to sparse applause and realized
he had veered far afield and delivered an unwelcome sermon. He had
previously tried to explain the concept to people. Few grasped it,
but years of thought had convinced him of its truth. Republics must
be large, the larger the better.

Madison leaned over and whispered to Mason,
“You didn’t pull my coattails.”

“
I would’ve sooner laid a finger on
lightning.” Then Mason smiled, which told Madison that their
quarrel had been forgotten.

Read now burst forth with obviously
suppressed emotion. “I’ve been silent up to now, but I must speak.
This chamber displays far too much attachment to the states. The
new national government must consolidate them.”

Read looked nervous, and Madison thought,
with good cause, but the Delaware delegate continued. “The
Confederation cannot last! It cannot be amended! If we don’t
establish a national government on new principles, we must go to
ruin.

“
Gentlemen, you wrongly suspect that
the people object to a strong national government. In truth, their
hopes ride on this convention to deliver them from the incompetent
state governments. They expect us to save their farms, to protect
them from invasion, and to secure their liberty.” With an anxious
look around, Read blurted his last words before quickly retaking
his seat. “I strongly recommend that we proceed posthaste with our
duty.”

Read had apparently decided to defy the
other Delaware delegates and defect from the small state camp.
Madison scribbled his notes with growing excitement. Wilson spoke
for a moment before Madison grasped the irony of his remarks.

Wilson, head tilted down, glared at the
delegates in defiance over the spectacles perched low on his nose.
“This nonsense must be challenged. I see no incompatibility between
the national and state governments, provided that each stays within
its sphere. I vehemently disagree with Mr. Read!” Wilson sat with a
firm finality.

The debate showed the weariness of the late
afternoon, and a motion to adjourn found quick approval.

Madison stuffed his papers into his valise a
little more aggressively than necessary. Franklin caught his eye as
he waved his rented prisoners away.

“
An aggravating day, eh,
Jemmy?”

“
I apologize for showing my
disappointment.”

“
Don’t be despondent. We’re in
committee, a less formal setting. People feel free to speak their
minds.”

“
I noticed.”

“
But you don’t welcome it.”

“
What bothers me is that everyone is
jumping sides. Mason, Butler, and Randolph fight our proposals on
the executive. Even you spoke in their support. Pinckney forces a
reconsideration of our vote on electing the lower branch. Morris
herds me into the library to scold me. Mason is livid because of a
supposed affront. Wilson and Pinckney deliver a poorly disguised
threat to unite without the small states.”

Madison paused and laughed. “All of this
would cast me into a pit of despair, except that then Read makes an
impassioned speech for our side. Then, astonishingly, Wilson
objects to Read’s comments. Sherman seems the only predictable man
in the chamber. I wonder sometimes if we haven’t locked ourselves
in a sanitarium.”

“
Politicians are seldom admired for
their healthy mental attitudes.”

“
Three-quarters of us are lawyers.
We’re supposed to be logical.”

Franklin’s laugh joggled his entire body.
“Lawyers aren’t rational; they rationalize. They tweak and stretch
and fondle words until they have transformed sentences into
something quite unrecognizable to the simple student of the English
language.”

“
Do I detect the printer’s bias for
strict composition?”

“
And the author’s bias for clarity.
Perhaps Shakespeare was right in saying we should kill all the
lawyers.”

“
We couldn’t assemble a jury of their
peers to agree on the sentence.”

Franklin gave a hearty laugh, “Quick, my
young friend.”

Madison beamed with the praise. “I must
learn to use witticisms more often. People find me dull.”

“
Dear Jemmy, we each have our role to
play in this little drama. I believe one man can work great change
and accomplish great things, if he first forms a good plan, cuts
off all amusements that would divert his attention, and makes the
execution of the plan his sole business. Our success depends on
you.”

Madison took a moment to think. Looking
about the almost empty chamber, he noticed Franklin’s debtors
talking animatedly in one corner. They obviously were willing to
wait as long as necessary to carry their charge back to his home.
He turned to Franklin. “Thank you, sir.”

“
Something more is bothering
you.”

“
I’m tired.”

Franklin raised an eyebrow.

“
Well … I received letters from my
parents. They may’ve set my mood.”