by Ron Carter
© 2004 Ron Carter.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, P.O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City Utah 30178. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book. Deseret Book is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company.
All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carter, Ron, 1932-
A more perfect union / Ron Carter.
p. cm. — (Prelude to glory ; v. 8)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-59038-308-7 (alk. paper)
1. United States—History—Confederation, 1783-1789—Fiction. 2. United
States. Constitutional Convention (1787)—Fiction. 3. Philadelphia (Pa.)—Fiction. I. Title. II. Series
PS3553.A7833M67 2004
813'.54—dc22
2004002864
Printed in the United States of America 72076
Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This series is dedicated to the common people of long ago who paid the price
This volume is most humbly dedicated to the fifty-five men who met in the old Philadelphia Statehouse between May 14, 1787, and September 17, 1787, in the last attempt to save the United States from oblivion. The north and the south, big states and small, each with their own agenda, fought it out with threats and compromise, give and take, and the core conviction that they must succeed. The document they created, the Constitution of the United States of America, changed the world forever.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Preface
Chronology of Important Events Related to This Volume
Part One
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
Chapter IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XVI
Part Two
Chapter XVII
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXIII
Chapter XXIV
CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXX
Epilogue
Bibliography
Special Acknowledgments
Introduction
It was their last great hope.
They had won the war with Britain, and lost the peace among the thirteen states. Thirteen separate countries, each with its own history, constitution, court system, money, commerce, laws, identity, biases, and prejudices. The Articles of Confederation that had bound them together through the war years had proven worthless in their heartbreaking attempts to hold the states together, while petty differences over borders, river rights, tariffs, money, and bankruptcies erupted into armed conflicts. In quiet desperation the leaders in the country sent word to all thirteen states. Send delegates. Philadelphia. Monday, May 14, 1787.
In the insufferable summer heat, they fought and threatened and quarreled, and they learned to compromise and give and take, and in the end they drafted a document the like of which had never been conceived of before.
They changed the world forever. This is their story.
Preface
* * *
Following the Prelude to Glory series will be substantially easier if the reader understands the author’s approach.
The Revolutionary War was not fought in one location. It was fought on many fronts, with critical events occurring simultaneously in each of them. It quickly became obvious that moving back and forth from one event which was occurring at the same moment as another, would be too confusing. Thus, the decision was made to follow each major event through to its conclusion, as seen through the eyes of selected characters, and then go back and pick up the thread of other great events that were happening at the same time in other places, as seen through the eyes of characters caught up in those events.
Volume 1, Our Sacred Honor, follows the fictional family of John Phelps Dunson from the beginning of hostilities in April 1775, through to the sea battle off the coast of England in which the American ship Bon Homme Richard defeats the British ship Serapis, with Matthew Dunson navigating for John Paul Jones. In volume 2, The Times That Try Men’s Souls, Billy Weems, Matthew’s dearest friend, survives the terrible defeats suffered by the Americans around New York and the disastrous American retreat to the wintry banks of the Delaware River. Volume 3, To Decide Our Destiny, leads us across the frozen Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776, with Billy Weems and his friend Eli Stroud, to take the town of Trenton, then Princeton. Volume 4, The Hand of Providence, addresses the tremendous, inspiring events of the campaign for possession of the Lake Champlain–Hudson River corridor, wherein British General John Burgoyne, with an army of eight thousand, is defeated by the Americans in one of the most profoundly moving stories in the history of America, at a place on the Hudson River called Saratoga. Volume 5, A Cold, Bleak Hill, leads us through two heartbreaking defeats in the summer of 1777, one at Brandywine Creek, the other at Germantown, and then into the legendary story of the terrible winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Volume 6, The World Turned Upside Down, brings us through the realization by the British King and Parliament that they have underestimated the strength of the Americans in the northern colonies. Upon the resignation of the commander in America, General William Howe, they order General Sir Henry Clinton to take command and move the war effort to the South. The French and Spanish join forces with the United States, and the entire course of the war changes.
Away from the battles, we find General Benedict Arnold and his wife, Peggy, entering into their treason with British Major John André, resulting in the arrest and death of John André, while Benedict Arnold escapes to become a British officer.
In that volume, the British conquer Savannah, Georgia, then Charleston, South Carolina, and General Cornwallis, given command of the British forces in the South by General Clinton, begins his march north. Crucial battles are fought at Camden, then King’s Mountain, and at Guilford Courthouse, with General Nathanael Greene commanding the American forces in a delay-hit-run-delay tactic that slowly exhausts the British forces. General Cornwallis moves his beleaguered army to Yorktown, Virginia, protected by the guns of the British navy while he refits his men. But when the French navy engages them and drives the British ships away, General Cornwallis is landlocked, and General Washington makes his historic march from New York to Yorktown. With French soldiers assisting, the Americans place the British under siege, and ultimately General Cornwallis must surrender his entire command.
The war is over. It remains only to quell a few British who will not accept defeat, before moving on to the signing of the peace treaty.
In volume 7, The Impending Storm, we discover that the defeat of the British at Yorktown results in a horrendous split in the British government, with King George III determined to hold the American colonies, while his cabinet is divided on the question, and Parliament is
against him. The result is the most dramatic housecleaning in the history of English politics, when the entire cabinet is dismissed and a new one appointed. Instantly the cabinet and parliament vote to abandon America, and peace negotiations commence, with a resulting treaty in 1783. America has become a free and independent nation.
It is then the new nation is shocked by the harsh reality of their victory. The United States are bankrupt, with a congress that is powerless to raise revenue or compel unity among the states. Immediately the several states begin bickering over border tariffs, river rights, and money. Most states print their own currency, as does Congress, and within months the paper money is valueless. Veterans are discharged from the Continental Army without the pay they had been so ardently promised and must return home penniless. Without money they cannot pay the debts they have accumulated over the years they were serving their country, and bank foreclosures and bankruptcies reach horrifying levels. Robert Morris and Haym Salomon, the two financial geniuses to whom George Washington turns for help, quickly understand that without taxing powers being vested in Congress, the United States is doomed.
Slowly but steadily the United States is descending into a chaos that will destroy everything the Americans fought for. The best and brightest among them realize something must be done, but as yet, no one has dreamed what it will be. Then, in August of 1786, an event occurs that puts the issue squarely before the entire country. A discharged army captain named Daniel Shays leads 1,200 veterans against the courthouse in Northampton to stop the court from entering more bankruptcies and putting the debtors in prison. Concurrently, others storm the courthouses in Worcester, Concord, Taunton, and Great Barrington. Men are shot dead and wounded.
In this volume, a fundamental change has to occur, or all is lost. James Madison of Virginia begins writing letters. There will be a gathering of representatives from all states at Philadelphia on the second Monday of May 1787. This assembly will address the ills that must now be resolved.
Seventy-four of America’s best and brightest were commissioned to attend for the purpose of amending the failed Articles of Confederation. Fifty-five came. Nineteen did not bother. Rhode Island ignored it altogether. With the doors and windows of the East Room of the old Statehouse locked against the news reporters and the public, and the drapes drawn against inquisitive eyes, they elected George Washington of Virginia to serve as president of the Grand Convention and Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts as chairman of the Committee of the Whole. They swore an oath that what occurred in that closed room would remain secret, and in the unbearable heat of a Philadelphia summer they bowed their backs and took stock of the Articles of Confederation, and commenced.
Forty-eight hours later the Articles were dead, abandoned forever, and the convention plunged into the unauthorized creation of a new government the like of which no man had ever dreamed, and for which the history of mankind provided no pattern, no polar star, no guidelines. A bicameral congress, a president, and a system of courts, vested with the power to override every state law, every state constitution, every state court system, and the power to tax. The big states demanded voting power based on population, and the small states hotly demanded one vote for each state, regardless of population, or they would walk out, despite the fact it would wreck the convention and dissolve the Union. The hard-headed Yankees of the north looked down long Puritan noses at the decadent southern delegates and their fine linens and bows and slaves, and the southern gentlemen peered suspiciously at the devious Yankees in their brown homespun.
Their differences exploded. Debate became hot, then angry, then accusatory. A vote was taken, and for one day the existence of the United States hung by the tiniest thread, and was saved only by the absence of two delegates, and the vote of one big state delegate in favor of the small states. The war in the insufferably hot room continued, and the delegates learned to compromise, to give and take, or fail. July 16, 1787, the great compromise came to a final vote, and the Union was saved by the vote of five states to four, two divided and not voting. And what was the compromise? The House of Representatives would be elected by popular vote, which favored the large states. The Senate would provide one vote per state, which favored the small states. The slaves? They were never referred to as slaves, but as “other persons,” and they were included in the voting power of the states, on the basis of sixty votes per one hundred slaves.
Then they attacked the details, one at a time. How many persons would compose the “president”? One? Three? How much power would be vested in the “president”? Should he be empowered like a king? Should he have veto power over state laws? If not the president, then who? How long should a representative or a senator serve? How much should they be paid, if they were to be paid at all? Who or which institution should have the power to tax? And if the taxes are not paid, how are they to be collected? By armed force? Send armed troops into a state that refuses to pay? What court system should this new national government have? One supreme court? Lower courts? Appellate courts? What powers should the courts have? How long should judges be appointed? Or should they be elected? Who has the power to remove them for misconduct? Who has the right to remove the “president” for misconduct? Or a representative, or a senator?
The delegates wiped at the sweat in the steamy, enclosed room, and hammered out the details one at a time. July became August, then September, and then the day come that they stopped and looked at what they had done. To the best and highest wisdom that was in them, they had created a government with checks and balances that would prevent despots, and they had vested the power on which the entire structure was built in the people. Not a king. Not a parliament. Not congress. Not the courts. The people. The last great repository.
September 17, 1787, they signed the final draft. June 21, 1788, in their ratification convention, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and the new U.S. Constitution became the overriding law of the land.
The work was done. The new nation was born. The world was changed forever.
Chronology of Important Events Related to This Volume
* * *
1787
May 14. The first delegates arrive for what became known as the Grand Convention, or the Continental Convention, to be held in the Statehouse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Grand Convention was seen as the last great hope to save the United States from dissolving. On this date, delegates from only two states arrive. Lacking a quorum, the convention cannot begin.
May 25. Delegates from the seventh state arrive. The convention has a quorum, and convenes. George Washington is unanimously elected president of the convention. Nathaniel Gorham is elected chairman of the Committee of the Whole.
July 16. The Grand Convention votes on the question of representation in the new congress. With a bicameral legislature, that is, a house and a senate, the issue is how will representatives and senators be elected? The more populous states demand it be by popular vote, which would give them the advantage of greater numbers in both the house and the senate, and hence control of the smaller states. The smaller states threaten to walk out, which would put an end to the convention and result in the thirteen states aligning themselves into two or more separate nations. In the face of this dilemma, a compromise is proposed. Let the number of representatives to the house be determined on the basis of population, but let each state have two senators. Further, no bill will become law until approved by both the house and the senate, providing equal strength to the states. This became known as The Great Compromise, which saved the Grand Convention, and the United States. The vote on the Great Compromise is five in favor, four against. The United States survives by one vote.
August 24. The second great issue that threatens to end the convention is that of slavery. At least three southern states threaten to walk out if the delegates presume to interfere with the practice of slavery as it currently exists. A committee is appointed to propose a solution. There is none that can be found. The committee t
herefore recommends that the issue of slavery be set aside and not considered until at least the year 1800. The compromise is accepted and again the United States survives. The vote to postpone the question is seven in favor, two against.
September 17. The Constitution is finished and signed by delegates from all thirteen states; however, for differing reasons, three of the leading delegates refuse to sign: Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia. To become the law of the land, the Constitution, by its own terms, requires ratification by nine of the thirteen states. The Grand Convention directs that ratification conventions be convened in each state. It work complete, the Grand Convention is adjourned, sine die, by George Washington.
1788
June 21. New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, and the document becomes the law of the United States of America.
Part One
Boston
May 8, 1787
CHAPTER I
* * *
Sleep came slowly and troubled for Matthew Dunson, twisting and turning while disconnected fragments of sentences and the thunder of cannon and the terrible sounds of men locked in mortal combat and wind whistling in the ship’s rigging mixed to echo in his head. Distorted faces and jumbled scenes from the past danced before his eyes, surging, fading, one on top of the other. The faint rumble of thousands of distant cavalry at full gallop rose and held, and then the horses crested a green rise and swept down like a tidal wave toward him, and the red- coated riders with the black tricorns were hunched low over the necks of their sweated mounts with their drawn sabers flashing in the bright New England sun. They were grinning, and there was no one beside Matthew, and he drew his saber and faced them alone, hopeless, and then from the recesses of his brain he heard himself mumble, it’s only rain, not cavalry, not cavalry, it’s raining. He jerked awake and waited while the British horses and riders faded and were gone and he was in his bed, hearing a soft, warm spring rain that had come quietly in the night to murmur on the rooftops of Boston Town, and leave the trees and grass and flower beds in the white-fenced yards dripping, and the cobblestones in the crooked, narrow streets glistening.