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George Washington's Wait

First of a Series by Bob Toerpe

All that he fought and worked for would either come to an ignomini9ous end or a glorious beginning.

The sun had set, the afterglow was fading and darkness was about to descend upon Mount Vernon.  The general rose to light some candles.  At 56, he still moved with athletic grace.  How had it come to this?  Everything, absolutely everything depended upon the outcome of one gargantuan debate.  It would begin the following morning at the Virginia ratifying convention 60 miles away in Richmond.

George Washington had always been a man of action but for now there was nothing to do but wait.  Rules of the debate had been set, the sides chosen.  Federalists and anti-federalists were finalizing their strategies.  Washington wouldn't participate in, nor attend the great debate but his presence would be felt by all.  

The general sat back, mesmerized by the flickering candles; the past 14 years had been filled to overflowing.  He commanded the Continental army in the field for 6 years until in 1781, the British were defeated decisively at Yorktown.  In 1783 after the peace treaty was signed, he resigned, relinquishing all power to the civilian government.  He returned to private life fully expecting that a meaningful governmental structure would be formed which would allow the American people to govern themselves,

Unfortunately that didn't happen.  The Articles of Confederation weren't worth the parchment they were written on.  The loose federation with no central authority was failing.  Instead of a country we had 13 sovereignties pulling against each other and all tugging at a powerless federal head...

It was clear we needed a country with a constitution.  The previous summer General Washington had presided over the constitutional convention in Philadelphia.  The document was written and the only thing left was for it to be ratified by at least nine of the thirteen states.  As of this moment, June 1, 1788, eight state ratifying conventions had approved the Constitution.  The voting, in some of the key states had been close.  For example, in Massachusetts 52% of the delegates were for and 48% against.

The next largest state was next.  The "new country" needed Virginia.  Without it, disorder would become the law of the land.  

As 168 delegates from throughout Virginia arrived in Richmond the outcome was by no means certain.  The leader for the constitution was James Madison, one of its primary authors; opposed was Patrick Henry, the great orator.  The public knew that history was being made - the entire country focused its attention on the drama unfolding in Richmond. 
 

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