Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-12

II stood on Freestone point.
thirty miles down the Poto-
mae from Washington. and
showed you the site of the house in
which Light Horse Harry Lee was
born and called to your attention that
this spot is but twelve miles from
Mount Vernon. seven miles from that
house which was the home of George
Mason and four miles from the ruin
Of the home of Gen. William Small
wood. The master of Mount Vernon,
Lee, Mason and Smallwood were
among the leaders who brought about
the severance of the colonies and
Great Britain and who fought the war
of the revolution to happy close.
In this neighborhood were other
men whose names are given place in
the history of the preliminary contest
between the colonies and Great Brit
ain and in the history of the revolu
ton, but the Rambler has not time to
go into that phase of the matter. In
previous narratives he emphasized
the part played in bringing on and
fighting the revolution by citizens of
the neighborhood through which he
was walking. He would like now to
emphasize the part taken by men of
that near-Washington neighborhood
in the struggle which resulted in the
construction and adoption of the press
ent Constitution Without that action
the Union which emerged from the
revolution would probably not have
endured. Many famous Americans
81
the articles of confederation was on
the point of dissolution. Some said
that states were about to make war
on states. Some said that the con-
federacy of the thirteen states was
about to break up into three confed-
eracies and it was charged by wise
and presumably informed men (and
this you will find set down by the
great historian. George BancrofD that
1.-THE ministry of England harbored
the thought of constitutional mon
archy with son of George III as
king; and they were not without
alarm lest gratitude to France should
place on an American throne prince
of the house of Bourbon
+ 4 X II
This must seem remarkable to those
Of you who have not recently refreshed
your memory by reading the annals. of
the republic during the eight years be-
tween Yorktown and the ratification Of
the new constitution by the required
number of states in 1889. And at this
point let the Rambler speak to you upon
matter that may trouble you. You
are perhaps asking by what right does
an anonymous writer seek to instruct
you on the momentous period when the
United States was sloughing off the ar
1t faJ4 80,
it's new Constitution? You say: HE
writes year after year about wild flow
ers, rocks, running brooks, family. his
tory and old houses with broken doors
and leaking roofs, but by what author
ity does he write of the question in
hand?" Dear reader, there is no secret
about this work and he wants you to
know where this information comes
from You can verify it If you will take
the trouble. All that the Rambler will
tell you in this narrative, except GER
tain deductions which he feels justified
in making, and some thoughts born OF
previous reading, may be found in the
following authorities: Documentary MS
tory of the Constitution prepared by the
State Department. and issued as public
document by the Fifty-sixth Congress !;
five volumes by Jonathan Elliot, WASH
ington printer of the early nineteenth
century,, entitled Debates in the Sew
eral State Conventions for the Adoption
of the Federal Constitution as Recon-
mended by the General Convention at
Philadelphia, in 1887, Together With the
Journal of the Federal Convention.
Luther Martins Letter, Yates Minutes.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions"
etc. the Federalist. on the new Con-
stitution, written in the year 1888, by
Mr.. Hamilton. Mr.. Madison and MI Jay.
with an appendix containing the letters
of Pacificus and Helvidius. copyrighted
in the forty-third year Of the indepen-
dence of the United States, by Jacob
Gideon Junior of Washington. D. c. ;
Readings in American Constitutions!
History by Allen johnson, professor OF
American history at Yale; George Ban
croft's history Of the United States. and
three or four little pamphlets In the
Library of Congress relating exclusively
to George Mason.
You see, I do not want to make be-
lieye that what I set down here springs
from some mysterious source or that 1t
10 dashed Off without preparation or a
sense of responsibility to those readers
who have intelligence enough to reel an
interest in this phase of American ms
tory. Nor do I want you to think that
I have merely warmed over some essay
that another man has written.
with the articles of confederation ana
the demand for a constitution giving
a central government authority over
the states in essential things began
to take definite form. but long BEFORE
that, the Rambler is convinced that
washington, Hamilton. Madison. Jay
Knox. Mason, Marshall. Randolph,
Pinckney and host of other broad
yisioned Americans, even during the
course of the revolution, saw that the
articles of confederation could not
serve when the stress of war was
mast From the close of the war I'M
I'll 1855, it was a matter of CONVERSE
ton and correspondence. 1t was in
17s5 that three Marylanders and three
Virginians set in motion those activi-
ties which resulted in the framing and
adoption of the Constitution under
which. with various amendments, the
Jfnfted States has prospered and ex-
banded for one hundred and thirty
one years.
Those men to whom the Rambler
gives this credit were Daniel of st.
Thomas Jenifer, Thomas Stone and
samuel Chase of Maryland, and
Georre Washington, George Mason
and Alexander Henderson of Virginia.
The place whore the conference be-
tween these men took place was
Mount Vernon. but It is fair infer
ence that the matter was also dis
cnssed at Gunston Hall. 1t would be
strange if George Mason, living with
In = few miles of Mount Vernon and
in more splendid house than the
mansion of Mount Vernon. did not
entertain 'Jenifer, Stone. Chase and
Henderson during the discussions
which precipitated the fight for the
Constitution. Knowing the interest
Of washington in this matter, and
his long friendship for Mason (for
they had been friends since Washing
ton as youth came to live at Mount