Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1888-09-07
"0UR FATHERS"
False Ideas About the Framers
of the Constitution.
They were a Youthful set and
not Venerable Sages.

not Venerable Sages.
The Fathers Of the Republic" were
not the seXagcnariaus anl septuagen-
arlans Of their era. On the contrary,
s Us b. p Clark in America, they were
as rule remarkably youthful set Of
mca. 1t Is the wigs queues aad knee
brccches" which have caused the misap-
prehensioa. The pictures in the school
history show white haired men who
bear every appearance of being swell
up IN years, and the child instinctivelv
thinks Of them as oil. Almost super
human wisdom was required to dis
charge their almost impossible task, and
1t consequently seemed as though they
must have possessed tho requisite wis
dom aal experience of the world. If
the question were asked which of the
two bodies, the convention of 1897 or
the Unitel States Senate of 1888
shovel the highest average of age
dou6tiess nine persons out of every ten
would answer that the trainers of the
Constitution wcro much th9 older.
Forty -ono deputies from the various
states subscribed their names to the
CO.. s'itution on the nth of September,
1851 Tho birth days of all but four
are known. OF these 81 there were
but five who were as old as CO. and in
truth one of these five did not complete
his sixtieth year until the mouth after
the convention dissolved. The Nestor
oil tho body was Benjamin franklin.
who was more than 81 when it met.
Roger Sherman came next in seniority
at 66. Phen followed two members.
each IL their sixtyfourth year, and the
deputy who was just turning 60. But
only one-sixth of the whole number
were entitled to be called old men.
Turn now TO the other extreme. JON
ath1n Dayton of NV Jcr ey, lacked
several months of being 81 when tho
convention met; William Jackson of
Pelnsylvania, was but %; Charles
Pinckncy OF South Carolina. only 20;
Alexander Hamilton Of New York. was
ut few months past 80; Rufus King
of Massachusetts,, 80; Gouverneur Nor
ris OF New York, 30; aud james Madi-
son Of Virginia, So Twelve of the 81 I
were under 40. and 20 less than As years J
5sss f.,ii slafssi vvsrs svgei1n rH---1
class, which, in speaking fago nova
days, we call young men. The average
age OF the whole number fell just inside
45 years.
1t would be waste of space to argue
that the young men Of the convention
did their full share Of the work. 1t is
enough to have cited the great names
just mentioned and to add that the
committee to which the instrument was
referred for final revision consisted of
johnson, aged sixty; Hamilton, thirty;
Gouverneur Morris, thirty five; Madison,
thirty-six, and King, thirty-two. Bln-
croft calls Madison 1.-THE chief author OF
the Constitution. Hamilton's work in
the Fedcraist is conceded to have been
the most potent agency in commending
the instrument to the country and Sc
curing its adoption. Marshall, then
only thirty-thrce, furnished tho power
full assistance without which Madison
could not have secured the narrow ma
jority by which their State was per-
suaded to accept it.
The Constitutional Convention was
not unique as field for youthful
achievement. jefferson was only thirty
three years old when he wrote the
I'D clation of Independence II mil
ton was made Secretary of the Treasury
by Washington, and began his career as
a finan cier at the age of thirty two AT |
tho same time King, since he repre-
sented Massa chusett3 in the Constitu
tional Convention, was elected United |
States Senator at thirty -four. Thirty
had been fixed as the minimum age for
Senators, aud kalf of those first elected |
were between thirty and thirty-fiv
A few years lator Henry Clay camo to
the Senate and was admitted without
thought that he was not cligible-the
fact beiAy that lie i id not reach the age
of thirty until moro than three months
later.
No limit of age for tho judiciary was
fixed in the Constitution, but if there
be any place in the government where
maturity is demanded, it is on the
bench Of the Supreme Court. Wash
iugton appointed as one of the early
justices james Ircdell, who was but
80 years old; John A lams gave place
to Bushrod Washington at 36, and jeff.
erson named William johnson at only
32. This was simply the adoption by
the Federal government of the same
principle which the States had applied
to the choice of judges. John Jay, who
was made first Chief Justice of the
United States at AZ. had been appointed
Chief Justico of New York when but
81 Irodoll had been judge of the su-
perior Court of North Carolina when
only q.
The truth is that what we have come
to consider the especial era of old men
was really the most remarkable period
in our history for young men. They
enjoyed chance a century ago such as
young men havo never had since the
civil war broke dowa, temporarily, some
OF the barriers against youth in public
life, but the controlling forces were
wiclded by men whose average ace wa