Patrick Henry Part 14

P. HENRY, JR.

P. S. Will you and S. A. now and then write?[247]

To this hearty and even brotherly letter John Adams wrote from Philadelphia, on the 3d of June, a fitting reply, in the course of which he said, with respect to Henry's labors in making a const.i.tution for Virginia: "The subject is of infinite moment, and perhaps more than adequate to the abilities of any man in America. I know of none so competent to the task as the author of the first Virginia resolutions against the Stamp Act, who will have the glory with posterity of beginning and concluding this great revolution. Happy Virginia, whose const.i.tution is to be framed by so masterly a builder!" Then, with respect to the aristocratic features in the Const.i.tution, as proposed by "A Native of the Colony," John Adams exclaims:--

"The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what name you please, sigh, and groan, and fret, and sometimes stamp, and foam, and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth, must be established in America. That exuberance of pride which has produced an insolent domination in a few, a very few, opulent, monopolizing families, will be brought down nearer to the confines of reason and moderation than they have been used to.... I shall ever be happy in receiving your advice by letter, until I can be more completely so in seeing you here in person, which I hope will be soon."[248]

On the 12th of June, the convention adopted without a dissenting voice its celebrated "declaration of rights," a compact, luminous, and powerful statement, in sixteen articles, of those great fundamental rights that were henceforth to be "the basis and foundation of government" in Virginia, and were to stamp their character upon that const.i.tution on which the committee were even then engaged. Perhaps no political doc.u.ment of that time is more worthy of study in connection with the genesis, not only of our state const.i.tutions, but of that of the nation likewise. That the first fourteen articles of the declaration were written by George Mason has never been disputed: that he also wrote the fifteenth and the sixteenth articles is now claimed by his latest and ablest biographer,[249] but in opposition to the testimony of Edmund Randolph, who was a member both of the convention itself and of the particular committee in charge of the declaration, and who has left on record the statement that those articles were the work of Patrick Henry.[250] The fifteenth article was in these words: "That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." The sixteenth article is an a.s.sertion of the doctrine of religious liberty,--the first time that it was ever a.s.serted by authority in Virginia. The original draft, in which the writer followed very closely the language used on that subject by the Independents in the a.s.sembly of Westminster, stood as follows:--

"That religion, or the duty we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, and not by force or violence; and, therefore, that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate, unless, under color of religion, any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or the safety of society; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other."[251]

The historic significance of this stately a.s.sertion of religious liberty in Virginia can be felt only by those who remember that, at that time, the Church of England was the established church of Virginia, and that the laws of Virginia then restrained the exercise there of every form of religious dissent, unless compliance had been made with the conditions of the toleration act of the first year of William and Mary. At the very moment, probably, when the committee were engaged in considering the tremendous innovation contained in this article, "sundry persons of the Baptist church in the county of Prince William" were putting their names to a pet.i.tion earnestly imploring the convention, "That they be allowed to worship G.o.d in their own way, without interruption; that they be permitted to maintain their own ministers and none others; that they may be married, buried, and the like, without paying the clergy of other denominations;" and that, by the concession to them of such religious freedom, they be enabled to "unite with their brethren, and to the utmost of their ability promote the common cause" of political freedom.[252] Of course the adoption of the sixteenth article virtually carried with it every privilege which these people asked for. The author of that article, whether it was George Mason or Patrick Henry, was a devout communicant of the established church of Virginia; and thus, the first great legislative act for the reform of the civil const.i.tution of that church, and for its deliverance from the traditional duty and curse of persecution, was an act which came from within the church itself.

On Monday, the 24th of June, the committee, through Archibald Cary, submitted to the convention their plan of a const.i.tution for the new State of Virginia; and on Sat.u.r.day, the 29th of June, this plan pa.s.sed its third reading, and was unanimously adopted. A glance at the doc.u.ment will show that in the sharp struggle between the aristocratic and the democratic forces in the convention, the latter had signally triumphed. It provided for a lower House of a.s.sembly, whose members were to be elected annually by the people, in the proportion of two members from each county; for an upper House of a.s.sembly to consist of twenty-four members, who were to be elected annually by the people, in the proportion of one member from each of the senatorial districts into which the several counties should be grouped; for a governor, to be elected annually by joint ballot of both houses, and not to "continue in that office longer than three years successively," nor then to be eligible again for the office until after the lapse of four years from the close of his previous term; for a privy council of eight members, for delegates in Congress, and for judges in the several courts, all to be elected by joint ballot of the two Houses; for justices of the peace to be appointed by the governor and the privy council; and, finally, for an immediate election, by the convention itself, of a governor, and a privy council, and such other officers as might be necessary for the introduction of the new government.[253]

In accordance with the last provision of this Const.i.tution, the convention at once proceeded to cast their ballots for governor, with the following result:--

For Patrick Henry 60 For Thomas Nelson 45 For John Page 1

By resolution, Patrick Henry was then formally declared to be the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia, to continue in office until the close of that session of the a.s.sembly which should be held after the end of the following March.

On the same day on which this action was taken, he wrote, in reply to the official notice of his election, the following letter of acceptance,--a graceful, manly, and touching composition:--

TO THE HONORABLE THE PRESIDENT AND HOUSE OF CONVENTION.

GENTLEMEN,--The vote of this day, appointing me governor of this commonwealth, has been notified to me, in the most polite and obliging manner, by George Mason, Henry Lee, Dudley Digges, John Blair, and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquires.

A sense of the high and unmerited honor conferred upon me by the convention fills my heart with grat.i.tude, which I trust my whole life will manifest. I take this earliest opportunity to express my thanks, which I wish to convey to you, gentlemen, in the strongest terms of acknowledgment.

When I reflect that the tyranny of the British king and parliament hath kindled a formidable war, now raging throughout the wide-extended continent, and in the operations of which this commonwealth must bear so great a part, and that from the events of this war the lasting happiness or misery of a great proportion of the human species will finally result; that, in order to preserve this commonwealth from anarchy, and its attendant ruin, and to give vigor to our councils and effect to all our measures, government hath been necessarily a.s.sumed and new modelled; that it is exposed to numberless hazards and perils in its infantine state; that it can never attain to maturity or ripen into firmness, unless it is guarded by affectionate a.s.siduity, and managed by great abilities,--I lament my want of talents; I feel my mind filled with anxiety and uneasiness to find myself so unequal to the duties of that important station to which I am called by favor of my fellow citizens at this truly critical conjuncture. The errors of my conduct shall be atoned for, so far as I am able, by unwearied endeavors to secure the freedom and happiness of our common country.

I shall enter upon the duties of my office whenever you, gentlemen, shall be pleased to direct, relying upon the known wisdom and virtue of your honorable house to supply my defects, and to give permanency and success to that system of government which you have formed, and which is so wisely calculated to secure equal liberty, and advance human happiness.

I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your most obedient and very humble servant,

P. HENRY, JR.

WILLIAMSBURG, June 29, 1776.[254]

FOOTNOTES:

[231] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 390.

[232] The journal of this convention is in 4 _Am. Arch._ vi.

1509-1616.

[233] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 406.

[234] 5 _Am. Arch._ i. 95-97. Campbell, in his _History of Virginia_, 645, 646, commits a rather absurd error in attributing this letter to Thomas Nelson, Jr.

[235] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1524.

[236] Randolph's address at the funeral of Pendleton, in _Va. Gazette_ for 2 Nov. 1803, and cited by Grigsby, _Va. Conv. of 1776_, 203, 204.

[237] _S. Lit. Messenger_ for 1842; thence given in Campbell, _Hist.

Va._ 647, 648.

[238] _Works of John Adams_, iv. 201.

[239] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 462.

[240] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1524.

[241] _Works of John Adams_, ix. 387.

[242] John Adams's pamphlet is given in his _Works_, iv. 189-200.

[243] The pamphlet is given in 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 748-754.

[244] See the unfavorable comment of Rives, _Life and Times of Madison_, i. 147, 148.

[245] Probably Thomas Ludwell Lee.

[246] _S. Lit. Messenger_ for 1842. Reprinted in Campbell, _Hist. Va._ 647.

[247] _Works of John Adams_, iv. 201, 202.

[248] _Works of John Adams_, ix. 386-388.

[249] Kate Mason Rowland, _Life of Mason_, i. 228-241.

[250] Edmund Randolph, MS. _Hist. Va._ See, also, W. W. Henry, _Life of P. Henry_, i. 422-436.

[251] Edmund Randolph, MS. _Hist. Va._ See, also, W. W. Henry, _Life of P. Henry_, i. 422-436.

[252] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1582.

[253] _Am. Arch._ vi. 1598-1601, note.

[254] 4 _Am. Arch._ vi. 1129, 1130.

CHAPTER XIII

FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA