causes a smile at the present day. The tariff laws were later a cause of complaint by the South. The "necessary and proper " clause, ever The lack of a was a fre- cism, and led to the first ten amend power of granting pardons for treason, which may be sometimes exercised to screen from punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the crime, and thereby prevent a discovery of his own guilt. By declaring all treaties supreme laws of the land, the Executive and the Senate have, in many cases, an exclusive power of legislation; which might have been avoided by proper distinctions with respect to treaties, and requiring the assent of the House of Representatives, where it could be done with safety. By requiring only a majority to make all commercial and navigation laws, the five Southern States, whose produce and circumstances are totally different from that of the eight Northern and Eastern States, may be ruined, for such rigid and premature regulations may be made as will enable the merchants of the Northern and Eastern States not only to demand an exhorbitant freight, but to monopolize the purchase of the commodities at their own price, for many years, to the great injury of the landed interest, and impoverishment of the people; and the danger is the greater as the gain on one side will be in proportion to the loss on the other. Whereas requiring two-thirds of the members present in both Houses would have produced mutual moderation, promoted the general interest, and removed an insuperable objection to the adoption of this government. Under their own construction of the general clause, at the end of the enumerated powers, the Congress may grant monopolies in trade and commerce, constitute new crimes, inflict unusual and severe punishments, and extend their powers as far as they shall think proper; so that the State legislatures have no security for the powers now presumed to remain to them, or the people for their rights. There is no declaration of any kind, for preserving the liberty of the press, or the trial by jury in civil causes; nor Constitution. against the danger of standing armies in time of peace. ments to the The State legislatures are restrained from laying export duties on their own produce. Both the general legislature and the State legislature are expressly prohibited making ex post facto laws; though there never was nor can be a legislature but must and will make such laws, when necessity and the public safety require them; which will hereafter be a breach of all the constitutions in the Union, and afford precedents for other innovations. This government will set out a moderate aristocracy: it is at present impossible to foresee whether it will, in its operation, produce a monarchy, or a corrupt, tyrannical aristocracy; it will most probably vibrate some years between the two, and then terminate in the one or the other. The general legislature is restrained from prohibiting the further importation of slaves for twenty odd years; though such importations render the United States weaker, more vulnerable, and less capable of defence. Draft of the original manuscript, in Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of George Mason (New York, etc., 1892), II, 387-390. 69. The Political Harvest Time (1788) HON ON. Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I am a plain man and get my living by the plough. I am not used to speak in publick, but I beg your leave to say a few words to my brother plough-joggers in this house. I have lived in a part of the country where I have known the worth of good government by the want of it. There was a black cloud that rose in the east last winter, and spread over the west. (Here Mr. Widgery interrupted. Mr. President, I wish to know what the gentleman means by the east.) I mean, sir, ment of the plain practical man in favor of a national con remarkable - ventions, see Contempora ries, III. The Shays's Rebellion of 1786-87. the county of Bristol; the cloud rose there and burst upon us, and produced a dreadful effect. It brought on a state of anarchy, and that leads to tyranny. I say it brought stitution, be- anarchy. People that used to live peaceably, and were sides being a before good neighbours, got distracted and took up arms piece of good against government. (Here Mr. Kingsley called to order, English. For the State and asked what had the history of last winter to do with the ratifying con- Constitution? Several gentlemen, and among the rest the Hon. Mr. Adams, said the gentleman was in order— let him go on in his own way.) I am a going, Mr. President, to shew you, my brother farmers, what were the effects of anarchy, that you may see the reasons why I wish for good government. People, I say took up arms, and then if you went to speak to them, you had the musket of death presented to your breast. They would rob you of your property, threaten to burn your houses; oblige you to be on your guard night and day; alarms spread from town to town; families were broke up; the tender mother would cry, O my son is among them! What shall I do for my child! Some were taken captive, children taken out of their schools and carried away. Then we should hear of an action, and the poor prisoners were set in the front, to be killed by their own friends. How dreadful, how distressing was this! Our distress was so great that we should have been glad to catch at any thing that looked like a government for protection. Had any person, that was able to protect us, come and set up his standard we should all have flocked to it, even if it had been a monarch, and that monarch might have proved a tyrant, so that you see that anarchy leads to tyranny, and better have one tyrant than so many at once. Adopted in 1780. Now, Mr. President, when I saw this Constitution, I found that it was a cure for these disorders. It was just such a thing as we wanted. I got a copy of it and read it over and over. I had been a member of the Convention to form our own state Constitution, and had learnt something of the D checks and balances of power, and I found them all here. I did not go to any lawyer, to ask his opinion, we have no lawyer in our town, and we do well enough without. I formed my own opinion, and was pleased with this Constitution. My honourable old daddy there (pointing to Mr. Singletary) won't think that I expect to be a Congress-man, and swallow up the liberties of the people. I never had any post, nor do I want one, and before I am done you will think that I don't deserve one. But I don't think the worse of the Constitution because lawyers, and men of learning and monied men, are fond of it. I don't suspect that they want to get into Congress and abuse their power. I am not of such a jealous make; they that are honest men themselves are not apt to suspect other people. I don't know why our constituents have not as good a right to be as jealous of us, as we seem to be of the Congress, and I think those gentlemen who are so very suspicious, that as soon as a man gets into power he turns rogue, had better look at home. We are by this Constitution allowed to send ten members to Congress. Have we not more than that number fit to go? I dare say if we pick out ten, we shall have another ten left, and I hope ten times ten, and will not these be a check upon those that go; Will they go to Congress and abuse their power and do mischief, when they know that they must return and look the other ten in the face, and be called to account for their conduct? Some gentlemen think that our liberty and property is not safe in the hands of monied men, and men of learning, I am not of that mind. Brother farmers, let us suppose a case now - suppose you had a farm of 50 acres, and your title was disputed, and there was a farm of 5000 acres joined to you that belonged to a man of learning, and his title was involved in the same difficulty; would not you be glad to have him for your friend, rather than to stand alone in the dispute? Well, the case is the same, these lawyers, these monied men, these men of N Jale By FRANCIS HOPKINSON (1737-1791), signer of the Declaration of Independence, one of the committee to draft the Articles of Confederation, member of the Continental Congress, and later judge in Pennsylva nia. He was learning, are all embarked in the same cause with us, and we must all swim or sink together; and shall we throw the Constitution over-board, because it does not please us alike? Suppose two or three of you had been at the pains to break up a piece of rough land, and sow it with wheat — would you let it lay waste, because you could not agree what sort of a fence to make? would it not be better to put ap[up] a fence. that did not please every one's fancy rather than not fence it at all, or keep disputing about it, until the wild beast came in and devoured it. Some gentlemen say, don't be in a hurry — take time to consider, and don't take a leap in the dark. I say take things in time- gather fruit when it is ripe. There is a time to sow and a time to reap; we sowed our seed when we sent men to the federal convention, now is the harvest, now is the time to reap the fruit of our labour, and if we don't do it now I am afraid we never shall have another opportunity. Debates, Resolutions and other Proceedings, of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1788 (reported by Benjamin Russell, Boston, 1788), 132–134. C OME muster, my lads, your mechanical tools, Your saws and your axes, your hammers and rules; For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be, |