Tempest at Dawn (45 page)

“
Groundless!” Butler grew red in the
face. “We sit in the North. Go sit in the South and judge if it’s
groundless.”

“
Whether groundless or genuine, you persist in
it. You’ll not relent until you gain a majority in the public
councils. You want

”

“
We
demand
protection for our property.”

“
Now you demand protection for your
peculiar objects; soon you’ll demand war with Spain, which would
threaten our commercial interests.”

“
Spain must be thrown from our
frontier!”

“
Damn you, sir, I’ll vote for that vicious
principle of equality in the Senate just to defend myself against
your tyranny.”

“
Our tyranny? Good God, man, you’ve
taken leave of your senses.”

“
I’ve come to my senses. Either this
distinction between North and South is fictitious or real.” Morris
rose from his chair. “If real, we should take leave of each
other.”

“
Gentlemen, please,” Madison said.
“First, we fight small against large, now South against North. The
tactics remain the same: angry ultimatums, pleas to the emotions,
threats to secede. We must return to reason. Both houses must be
based on inhabitants.”

“
Then where’s my security?” demanded
Butler.

“
And where’s mine?” demanded Morris,
thumping his wooden leg against the wood floor.

Everyone fell silent. Madison looked at
Sherman, who wore the innocent expression of a fresh-scrubbed boy
at his first day of school. Madison felt infuriated. “Gentlemen,
please,” he pleaded. “Let’s assume for the moment that the
protection you seek can be delivered by the Senate. Additional
infractions shouldn’t be imposed on the lower house.”

“
We voted to proportion the lower
house based on the number of freemen, with slaves counted as
three-fifths,” Sherman said. “I suggest we proceed on that
basis.”

Butler looked as if a thought had just
struck him. “Do you mean to count your blacks as full
inhabitants?”

“
All freemen should receive a full
count,” Sherman said in a surprisingly strong voice.

“
Let’s not pursue that issue,” King
interjected. “It’s far too inconsequential.”

“
I agree,” Madison said. “If we must
argue, let’s argue about something that matters.”

Everyone looked warily at each other, but no
one pushed to argue about the status of free blacks. Madison
finally suggested a break, and everyone filed out of the room
without comment.

“
There’s safety in numbers,” Madison
said with exasperation.

“
There’s confusion in numbers,” Sherman said
offhandedly, as he struggled with some long division.

The committee had cajoled, bartered, and negotiated
until they had something they were willing to submit to the full
assembly. Madison felt relief that the men in the room had put away
their grievances for a few hours to concentrate on their task,
using mechanics instead of emotion. Surprisingly, his strongest
ally until now had been Sherman. They had settled on a ratio
between North and South that was identical with that of the
committee of five, except that they had shifted the weight from the
Deep South to the perimeter states of Virginia and Maryland. So
many representatives allocated to the South could not be justified,
even if slaves were counted with the three-fifths rule, but North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia insisted on a
disproportionate share of representatives. Shifting numbers around
within the South was the most they would tolerate without
threatening to leave the convention.

The Northern members acquiesced because Virginia had
outlawed the slave trade, and Maryland usually voted with the North
on commercial matters. The Southern states had acquiesced because
of a further promise that would not be disclosed to the rest of the
assembly until after the report had been approved.

Madison should have known that Sherman’s newfound
cooperative nature was too good to last. “Numbers cannot confuse;
they’re absolute.”

Sherman looked up from his reckoning to display a
streak of ink across his nose, “What are we talking about?”

“
A larger legislature. One hundred and thirty.
You must admit that it’s more difficult to corrupt a majority in a
large house. It’s base arithmetic.”

“
Sixty-five is sufficient,” Sherman said
matter-of-factly as he went back to his calculations. “Doubling the
number is too expensive. It’s base arithmetic.”

Madison found Sherman exasperating. He looked around
for support, but he could see that the other committee members were
exhausted and ready to return to their quarters. Pushing the issue
further would be an error.

“
All right,” Madison said.

“
Excellent,” King said, showing more energy
that he had in hours. “I move to adjourn.”

Tuesday saw the delegates quibble over the
committee report. All day they argued over the number of
representatives assigned to each state. Several votes were taken to
change the count for this state or that, but every one failed.
Finally, unable to alter the allocation, the convention voted nine
to two to accept the committee report as submitted.

Madison traded a nod with Sherman as they
left the State House.

Randolph opened Wednesday’s session with a
proposal to require a periodic census to reassign representatives
by state. This was the promised proposition that got the Deep South
to agree to shifting representatives away from them to their
brethren in Virginia and Maryland.

Mason provided the rationale. “A revision
from time to time according to some standard is essential. Today,
the North has a right to a majority, but possibly not in the
future. Those with power do not release it. If the Southern states
increase their population faster than the North, they may complain
for generations without redress.”

Pierce Butler then arrogantly violated
their agreement. “I insist that blacks count equal with whites and
therefore move that the word
three-fifths
be struck.”

Mason leaped back up, speaking angrily. “I
cannot agree to the motion, despite its being favorable to
Virginia. It’s wrong and …” Mason paused and then nearly yelled. “I
don’t regard Negroes as equal to freemen!”

When Butler declined to argue that blacks
were equal to whites, his motion faded as quickly as a snuffed
candle.

Sherman supported a census. “At first, I
thought we should leave the matter to the legislature, but I’ve
been convinced that the method of revising representation must be
clearly stated within the Constitution.”

Gouverneur Morris spoke, and Madison
discovered that his fear of the West had deep roots. “If the West
gets power, they’ll ruin the Atlantic states. Let the
representatives set their own membership. Surely, those who come
after us can judge the present better than we can judge the
future.”

Gorham countered, “If we’re perplexed, how
can we expect a biased legislature to settle on a standard? This
convention must set the rule.”

Madison put logic back into the disjointed
discourse. “The South fears a Northern majority, while the North
fears a western majority. To reconcile the inconsistency, it would
be necessary to imagine that points of a compass determine human
character.

“
When commerce is free, labor moves
until competition destroys inequalities. For this reason, people
swarm to less populous places—from Europe to America, from the
Atlantic states to the western frontier. People go where land is
cheap and labor dear. Since land has no value without labor, it
seems clear that population is a sufficient measure of wealth and
should be the sole basis for representation.”

The vote to count slaves in the proportion
of three-fifths failed six to four, with Connecticut voting aye.
Rutledge exploded. “Some gentlemen wish to deprive the South of any
representation for their blacks. If the North means to exclude them
altogether, this business is at an end.”

King showed unusual vehemence when he said,
“If the South threatens to separate now, does anyone doubt that in
the future she’ll do the same? During the coming years, there’ll no
time when she’ll not say, do us justice or we’ll separate.”

The session ended on this sour note.

Madison found Gouverneur Morris in the
parlor of his home, reading a newspaper. The room displayed
geometric patterns in bright yellow, sky blue, and watermelon red
in both the carpet and the wallpaper. Madison felt as if he had
stepped into a cheery spring day brought indoors.

“
Gouverneur, I appreciate your
time.”

“
I wish I could manufacture a
twenty-five-hour day.”

“
While you’re at it, please construct
an eight-day week.”

“
Jefferson called us an assembly of
demigods, but evidently God withheld the power to alter time from
his diminutive cousins.”

“
And for good reason. If we held the
power, the convention would change time at every whisper of the
wind.”

“
True words, my boy. What’s on your
mind?”

“
How old are you?”

“
You came to determine my
age?”

“
I apologize, but everyone calls me
‘my boy.’ I’m small, but if I’m not mistaken, I’m older than
you.”

“
No offense, Jemmy. I just meant to be
friendly.” Morris folded the paper and dropped it on the floor
beside his chair. “I’m thirty-five, by the way.”

“
And I thirty-six.”

“
I thought you much
younger.”

Madison made a dismissive wave with his
hand. “I came to talk about your unreasonable stand on the western
territories. New states must be admitted on an equal basis.”

“
The South believes population will
migrate to the sunnier climes, but they’re wrong. Once Congress
passes the Northwest Ordinance, the Ohio territories will explode
with settlers. You said today that people go where land is cheap,
but they want clear title. That’s what this law will
accomplish.”

Madison hesitated. “You think the Ohio
Valley will be ready for statehood soon?”

“
Probably faster than we can finish
this interminable convention.”

Madison laughed. “I’ve made better progress
with mud up to my axle.”

“
Listen, this scheme to resolve the
Ohio territories will change the course of the country.”

“
New states must be admitted on an
equal basis.”

Morris leaned in. “You should spend time on
the frontier. They’re not Americans. In point of fact, they don’t
even speak English.”

“
We’ll make them Americans. Just as
our forefathers became American. Several delegates at this
convention are foreign-born.”

“
You’re an idealist.”

Madison started to grow angry. “You won’t
budge?”

“
I’ll give it some
thought.”

“
If you come around to my way of
thinking, you may call me whatever you want.”

“
Then I won’t remain completely
immovable, or I’ll have to call you Mr. Madison.”

Pinckney opened Thursday’s session with a
new gambit. “South Carolina exported £600,000 sterling last
year—all from slave labor. Will she be represented in proportion to
this amount? No. Then she shouldn’t be taxed on it. The
Constitution must prohibit export taxes.”

Madison’s head jerked up. The South had
evidently caucused and decided to insist that the Constitution
prohibit export taxes. How much more could they demand?

Ellsworth responded by resurrecting the
three-fifths rule with an added caveat that taxation would also be
subject to the three-fifths rule. Butler seconded the motion. This
told Madison that Connecticut and South Carolina worked together.
Was there no end to these side deals?

The convention voted on representation in
the lower house, and the committee recommendation passed. The
clause provided for a census within six years and every ten years
thereafter, and the census would count whites and three-fifths of
blacks for the purpose of taxation and representation. While
Madison had visited Morris to broker a better deal for new states,
others had placed the final seal on the slavery conundrum. Madison
suddenly realized that he had unconsciously avoided the subject.
Now that he thought about it, he was content that others had
wrangled out a solution.

By the time Madison caught up with his
notes, he sat alone in the chamber. He looked around the stately
room and wondered what the nation would think of their work in a
hundred years. Would they understand the contradictions they had
struggled to navigate? Would they understand their moment in
time?

As he gathered up his materials, Madison
knew that the kind of republic he wanted to build would never
fathom the blemishes that had disfigured its birth.

Chapter 27

Sherman stopped short of the tavern steps. When he
looked up the street, he spotted Baldwin walking in his direction.
Baldwin was the only person in this city that Sherman felt
comfortable enough with to completely drop his guard and relax.
After all the tense meetings at this very same establishment, he
looked forward to simply enjoying their excellent food without
politics on the menu.

“
Roger, this is a grand alteration to
our normal meeting place. Are the docks no longer good enough for
you?”