Bruce Chadwick - Triumvirate: The Story of the Unlikely Alliance That Saved the Constitution and United the Nation

BRUCE CHADWICK

Copyright 2009 by Bruce Chadwick

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chadwick, Bruce.

Triumvirate : the story of the unlikely alliance that saved the Constitution and united the nation / Bruce Chadwick.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. United StatesPolitics and government1783-1789. 2. Constitutional historyUnited States. 3. Madison, James, 1751-1836. 4. Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804. 5. Jay, John, 1745-1829. 6. AlliancesCase studies. 7. New York (State)Politics and government1775-1865. 8. PennsylvaniaPolitics and government1775-1865. 9. MassachusettsPolitics and government1775-1865. 10. VirginiaPolitics and government1775-1865. I. Title.

E303.C47 2009

973.318dc22

2008043081

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

BG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For
Margie and Rory

I have seen no other [writings] so well calculated to produce conviction on an unbiased mind asyour Triumvirate.

George Washington to Alexander Hamilton
on The Federalist

I have written a number of books and Triumvirate was probably the most difficult. Exhaustive research was necessary in documents concerning the thirteen states and in the constitutional battles in each of them. Putting together the arguments for and against the Constitution, and profiling the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, was not easy. Fortunately, I had help.

I would like to thank Dr. Paul Clemens, at Rutgers University, and Dr. Fran Moran, at New Jersey City University, for reading the manuscript and making very helpful suggestions to improve it.

My journey took me to many libraries, archives, and museums. Many thanks to the librarians at the David Library of the American Revolution, New York Historical Society, New Jersey Historical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, Virginia Historical Society, the Rockefeller Library at Williamsburg, Virginia, the Virginia State Library, the New Jersey City University Library (and librarian Fred Smith), the Rutgers Library, the Princeton Library, Morris County Library, Randolph Library, and the staff at the Library of Congress.

I want to thank the photo editors at the Independence Hall Historical Park, in Philadelphia, the Rockefeller Library, and the New York Historical Society for their help.

At Sourcebooks, my publisher, I owe much to the extremely talented executive editor, Hillel Black, who has edited this book and others I wrote. Thanks, too, to Steve ORear (production editor), Brenda Horrigan (copy editor), and Heather Moore (Sourcebooks publicist).

My agents at McIntosh and Otis, especially Elizabeth Winick and Rebecca Stauss, were instrumental in the development of this book.

Thanks to Jo Bruno, vice president at New Jersey City University, for her help in obtaining grants at the university that helped me conduct my research.

Finally, thanks, as always, to my loving wife Marjorie, for all of her support and help during the time it took me to write this book.

Federalist

Daniel CarrollMember of the Continental Congress, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, member of the state legislature. Thomas JohnsonMember of the state legislature, member of the Continental Congress, Revolutionary War governor of Maryland.

Anti-Federalist

Luther MartinOfficer in the Continental Army, member of the Continental Congress, attorney general of Maryland.

Federalist

Rufus KingDelegate to the Constitutional Convention, member of the Continental Congress.

Benjamin LincolnContinental Army general, member of the Continental Congress, secretary of war, and Maine farmer.

Anti-Federalist

Samuel AdamsSigner of the Declaration of Independence, chief propagandist for the American Revolution, member of the Continental Congress, owner of a Boston beer brewery.

Elbridge Gerrymerchant, member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Neutral

John HancockShipping mogul, president of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Massachusetts in 1788.

Federalist

John JayPresident of the Continental Congress, Revolutionary War peace treaty negotiator, secretary of foreign affairs, newspaper columnist Publius.

Alexander HamiltonWashingtons chief of staff in the American Revolution, member of the Continental Congress, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, newspaper columnist Publius.

Anti-Federalist

Melancton SmithOfficer in the Continental Army, member of the Continental Congress, president of the New York Manumission (anti-slavery) Society, author of the newspaper series Letters from a Federal Farmer.

George ClintonGeneral in the Continental Army, governor of New York, member of the New York State Assembly, member of the Continental Congress, reportedly the newspaper columnist Cato.

John Lansing Jr.Secretary to General Philip Schuyler in the American Revolution, speaker of the New York State Assembly, delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

Federalist

Gouverneur MorrisFormer New Yorker who was a member of the Continental Congress, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, reportedly the author of the opening line of the Constitution, We the people

James O. WilsonMember of the Continental Congress.

Federalist

John RutledgeMember of the state legislature, member of the Continental Congress, governor of South Carolina.

Anti-Federalist

Aedanus BurkeOfficer in the Continental Army, member of the state legislature, state circuit court judge.

Federalist

James MadisonMember of the Continental Congress, member of the state legislature, primary author of the Constitution.

George WytheMember of the state legislature, member of the Virginia Supreme Court, mayor of Williamsburg, first law professor in the United States.

Edmund PendletonSpeaker of the state legislature, member of the Virginia Supreme Court, member of the Continental Congress.