Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1887 — ONE TO BE REMEMBERED. [ARTICLE]

ONE TO BE REMEMBERED.

James Madison, the Father ot the Constitution And the LimonWritten for the Indianapolis Sennel by J udge Lewis Jordan. The readers of the Sunday Sentinel may remember that in May I gave them a short history of the struggl to foiin a Federal Union. Thw historicrl dates in that article will bear repetition, now that the attention of the w .ole country is called to the centennial celebration of the adoption of the constitution at Philadelphia. The first formal Congress of the colonics met at Philadelphia, September sth, 1774, and prior to that time there was no concert of action among the colonies. The object of this Congress was to oppose British innovations, without losing sight of reconciliation with Great Britain, but the dissuasive measures adopted by it had no effect upon the conduct of the mother country. The next Congress met in 1775, and was the Congress that adopted the declaration inj 1775. It also on the 12th of July, 1776, received a report of a committee providing for articles of confederation and perpetual union of the colonies.— ft is interesting to note that, alth. ugh the report was made eight days after the declaration, the word “colonies” instead of “states,” is used These articles of confederation were not agreed to by Congress until November 17, 1777, thus showing how reluctant some of the “colonies” or “states” were to part with any of their rights as independent sovereignties. After their adoption by Congress they were referred to the States, and these were slow in ratifying, Maryland being the last to ratify, in March, 1781

The first Congress under the articles of confederation met Mnrch 1781. After the close of the war it became apparent that some other form of government must be adopted. January 21, 1786, Virginia passed a resolution invitiDg a meeting of deputies from all the states to take into consideration the trade of the United States. — This led to the meeting at Annapolis, Md., in September, 1786. Only four states responded to this call of Virginia, viz: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and N -wYoik. The Annapolis meeting recommended Congress to call a convention to revise the articles of confederation. Congress referred the matter to a committee of one from each state, and this committee by only one majority recommended the calling of a convention and this was not done until February, 1787. Before any action was taken by Congress, Virginia, on the 23d of November, 1786, passed a aw authorizing the appointment of delegates to a convention, and George Washington, James Madison and Edmund Randolph were three of tne seven delegates appointed. The day appointed for the meeting of the convention was May 14, 1787, but deputies from seven states did not apnear until Friday, the 25th of May, when the convention organized by electing George Washington aS its presiding officer. The convention sat with closed doors until September 17,1787, when the constitution was signed by thirty-nine of the fifty-five members of the convention. Three members present refused to sign. Immediately after the publication of the constitution there commenced a violent, bitter and long continued polities! war of words over its adoption by the several staces. The contest in some states was so fierce that its friends and enemies came to blows. It is difficult to realize how furious the opponents of the constitution were in their language and conduct. I know it has been the general impression that as the people were a unit, almost, in the war, there was the same unanimity in adopting the constitution and union. History does not sustain the impression,

which could only have been form ed by ignorance or the facts. Nine states were to ratify before the constitution became operative. Before the close of 1788 eleven states had adopted it, several of them by very small majorities of their conventions. North Carolina and Rhode Island held out longer. Washington was elected President in January, 1789, and inaugurated April 30th, following. The history of the struggle to form a constitution and union is intensely interesting. It continued longer than the revolutionary war. This being the centennial year of the adoption of the constitution, the lives of the great and good men who were prominent in securingfconstitutional government and a permanent union of the states, are being reviewed. Some of them are scarcely remembered, and their services have not been fully appreciated. In the debates of the convention the name of Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, occurs frequently. He was one of the ablest members of the convention, and did more to mould and shape the constitution than Alexander Hamilton. He was the colleague of Benjamin Franklin, who often defeired to his judgment. The ratification of the constitution by Pennsylvania is largely due to hie efforts. The services of Edmund Randolph have recently been discussed by articles in the magazines. He was one of the three who were , present and refused to sign the constitution. His refusal to sign in the then critical stage of the effort being made to form a union was unfortunate, and might have proved disastrous, had he not afterwards given the constitution a qualified support. There are other members or the convention who deserve to be remembered by a grateful people. If th e battle they fought was bloodless the results obtained were as glorious as those achieved by war. Without their worn the war had been fought in vain. But the man who stands out prominently as the father of the Constitution and the Union is James Madison. A kind Providence permitted him to live until the 28th of June, 1836, and he was the last survivor of the members who signed the Constitution on the 17th day of September, 1787. He was permitted to see the glory of his works, and there are not a few who ascribe th.s directly to Providence. Mr. Madison became a member of Congress in March, 1780. This was before the articles of confederation had been adopted by the States. He had long favored a closer union of the States and hopthe articles would bring the desired result. But he soon saw theyj were inadequate and that some other form of government with more power must be adopted. He left Congress and accepted a seat as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. This action is a key to his character and is the best evidence of the patriotism of the man. Here he labored to have Virginia consent to enlarge the powers of Congress and through his efforts mainly the Legislature appointed delegates to the Annapolis meeting, which meeting I have already noted, led the way to calling the Constitutional convention. He was one of five delegates from Virginia to the Annapolis meeting. To Virginia must be accorded the honor of having taken the lead in the movement which resulted in the Constitution and Union, and this was done at a time when other States, some of them in the North, were bitterly opposing it. Virginia even appointed delegates to the cob stitutional convention before Congress authorized it, and this act’on Was secured largely by the zeal and efforts of Mr Madison.— He was recognized in Virginia as the leader and able advocate of the movement for a more perfect union of the States under a form of government with more enlarged powers than were conferred by the articles of Confederation, and he was

lected by a ballot of the two Houses of the Virginia Legislature, a deputy to the convention at Philadelphia. Before the meeting of the convention he prepared himsef for the discharge of his novel and important duties by examining the history of Governments, both ahcient and modern, and noting all that was good or defective in them. With a mind stored with this valuable information, he enteri d upon the work of making e constitution which has challenged the admiration of the world for one hundred years. Knowing that he thus prepared himself, we almost cease to wonder that such a perfect system of government was devised. As Virginia had taken the initiative in calling the convention, it was expected tsat her delegates would propose some plan of government. This they did through Edmund Randolph, and his resolutions became the basis of the action of the convention. The resolutions were the result of a consultation of the Virginia deputies, and while thuy are in the handwriting of Mr. Randolph and he introduced them,Hhe history is that they vie the result: of a consultation with his colleagues. Madison has not informed us how much of the plan was proposed by him, but the debates show that he was very familiar with the resolutions. Mr. Madison never missed a day or even an hour from the meetings of the convention. His mind and soul were ia the great work, and every question discussed had his undivided attention. He made full notes of the discussions and in this way kept fully informed of the views and arguments of the members. He was peculiarly adapted by nature for a peace maker, and part of his great work was in harmonizing the discordant factions in the convention. For years he had labored as a member of Congress and as a member of the Virginia legislature to bring the States into a more perfect union, and if tne convention failed the last hope was gone. He fully realized the critical condition of his country and devoted every moment to secure a happy result from the labors of the convention. A parent never gave a child more unceasing care than he bestowea upon the infant constitution. No sooner had the constitution beenj published than a large, influential and powerful party organized to strangle the infant. His work did not close with the convention. His published letters, written while the question of ratification was pending in the several States, are evidences of his uniiring efforts to secure its ratification.

After his death, a member of the United States Senate from Virginia well said in his eulogy “that Mr. Madison was, in an especial manner, the founder and author of that glorious constitution which is the bond of our union and ths . harter of our|liberties.” The more the history of the struggle is studied the more apparent does the fact appear that James Madison was the Father of the Constitution and the Union formed by it.