THE CONSTRUCTIVE STATESMAN 199 



legislature, the riots in Vermont and New Hampshire, 

 the Shays rebellion in Massachusetts, the dispute with 

 Spain about the navigation of the Mississippi, and the 

 consequent imminent danger of separation between 

 North and South, had all come together; and now the 

 last ounce was laid upon the camel's back in the fail- 

 ure of the impost amendment. In February, 1787, 

 just as Mr. Madison, who had been chosen a delegate 

 to Congress, arrived in New York, the legislature of 

 that state refused its assent to the amendment, which 

 was thus defeated. Thus, only three months before 

 the time designated for the meeting of the Philadel- 

 phia convention, Congress was decisively informed 

 that it would not be allowed to take any effectual 

 measures for raising a revenue. This accumulation 

 of difficulties made Congress much more ready to 

 listen to the- weighty arguments of Mr. Madison, and 

 presently Congress itself proposed a convention at 

 Philadelphia identical with the one recommended by 

 the Annapolis commissioners, and thus in its own way 

 sanctioned their action. 



The assembling of the convention at Philadelphia 

 was an event to which Madison, by persistent energy 

 and skill, had contributed more than any other man in 

 the country, with the possible exception of Hamilton. 

 It was in the convention that Madison did the greatest 

 work of his life. Before the convention met he had 

 laid before his colleagues of the Virginia delegation 

 the outlines of the scheme that was presented to the 

 convention as the " Virginia plan." Of the delegates 

 Edmund Randolph was then governor of Virginia, 

 and it was he that presented the plan and made the 

 opening speech in defence of it ; but its chief author 



