The Two Anchors

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As the convention reaches the end of the first week of September, it seems, at least on the surface of things, that all their work is about to come undone. Luther Martin is convinced that the only way the American people will agree to this Constitution is to be hurried into it by surprise.  Edmund Randolph of Virginia declares that yet another full convention be held – AFTER the states are given the opportunity to make amendments to the draft.

It seems like there is a movement to undo all that has been done.

What is left to hold the Convention together? Two men. Perhaps the only two men in all of American history to whom every citizen will listen…

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The Second Man

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The small States have won their battle for Equal representation in what will become the Senate. The Slave States have held on to their three fifth’s compromise. For now, the Convention will move another element of the plan, the Presidency.

Ideas of how he should be elected and for how long dominate the discussion. Throughout the discussion, one man casts his shadow over the debates.

Every man in the room knows that the first President under the proposed new government will be the Convention’s leader, General George Washington.

To a man, they are happy to know this. What concerns them, and what the controls the debate is a single question.

Who will be the second man to become President of The United States?

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John Dickinson Saves Delaware

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To say that General Washington was angry would have been the understatement of the century. He was as close to losing his legendary cool as he had been since the war ended, and with his personal reputation on the line, he circulated the parties and dinners of Philadelphia’s social network. He faced a barrage of questions about the rumors swirling through the City. “Do you mean to destroy the government?”

The source of the rumors was the discovery that the Virginia delegation was meeting in secret each day as they waited for the rest of the delegates to arrive, to refine a plan that James Madison had written to do just that. Was this… treason?

Of bigger concern, the small States were horrified that Virginia meant to swallow them up, through “addition, division, or impoverishment.” The call went out as a letter was dispatched to John Dickinson of Delaware. He would arrive in time to fight to save the small States…

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