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Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 3: (search)
Some of the most eminent and most gifted men of that period took part in them, and they have ever since been referred to for the exposition which they afford of the interpretation of the Constitution by its authors and their contemporaries. Among the members were Madison, Mason, and Randolph, who had also been members of the convention at Philadelphia. Madison was one of the most earnest advocates of the new Constitution, while Mason was as warmly opposed to its adoption; so also was Patrick Henry, the celebrated orator. It was assailed with great vehemence at every vulnerable or doubtful point, and was finally ratified June 26, 1788, by a vote of 89 to 79—a majority of only ten. This ratification was expressed in the same terms employed by other states, by the delegates of the people of Virginia, . . . in the name and in behalf of the people of Virginia. In so doing, however, like Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Virginia demanded certain amendments as a mor
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 5: (search)
eginning, the most serious difficulty in the way of ratification of the Constitution. It was probably this to which that sturdy patriot, Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, alluded, when he wrote to Richard Henry Lee, I stumble at the threshold. Patrick Henry, in the Virginia convention, on the third day of the session, and in the very opening of the debate, attacked it vehemently. He said, speaking of the system of government set forth in the proposed Constitution: That this is a consolidateas deposited by him, nine years afterward, among the archives of the State Department. It has since been published, and we can trace for ourselves the origin, and ascertain the exact significance, of that expression, We, the people, on which Patrick Henry thought the fate of America might depend, and which has been so grossly perverted in later years from its true intent. The original language of the preamble, reported to the convention by a committee of five appointed to prepare the Consti
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 6: (search)
only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies. Article III, section 3. The federal character of the Union is expressed by this very phaseology, which recognizes the distinct integrity of its members, not as fractional parts of one great unit, but as component units of an association. So clear was this to contemporaries that it needed only to be pointed out to satisfy their scruples. We have seen how effectual was the answer of Madison to the objections raised by Patrick Henry. Tench Coxe of Pennsylvania, one of the ablest political writers of his generation, in answering a similar objection, said: If the Federal Convention had meant to exclude the idea of union — that is, of several and separate sovereignties joining in a confederacy— they would have said, We, the people of America ; for union necessarily involves the idea of competent States, which complete consolidation excludes. American Museum, February, 1788. More than forty years afterward, when t
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Appendix H (search)
said the Articles of Confederation were to be a perpetual bond of union, and that the Constitution was made to form a more perfect union; that is to say, a Government beyond perpetuity, or one day, or two or three days, after doomsday. But that has no foundation in the Constitution itself; it has no basis in the nature of our Government. The Constitution was a compact between independent States; it was not a national Government; and hence Mr. Madison answered with such effectiveness to Patrick Henry, in the Convention of Virginia, which ratified the Constitution, denying his proposition that it was to form a nation, and stating to him the conclusive fact that we sit here as a convention of the State to ratify or reject that Constitution; and how, then, can you say that it forms a nation, and is adopted by the mass of the people? It was not adopted by the mass of the people, as we all know historically; it was adopted by each State; each State, voluntarily ratifying it, entered the