Shattered Stars: An American Timeline (Take Two)
Post #1
‘On the death, or life, of a single insect turns the fate of nations. William Tweed. A Yellow Ship: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1787.
It was the greatest gathering of North American men and minds since the fabled Continental Congress. Gathered in Philadelphia, it was the cream of the new nation- the brightest minds of the fledgling Republic called together to save the United States of America. That nation, a patchwork of former colonies and stitched together by war, was fraying apart.
The new Republic was supposedly governed by the states operating within the Articles of Confederation, a constitution formulated and ratified by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. While the document had served the nation well during the Revolution, it had many deep flaws that were increasingly plaguing the nation. It, by nature, only created a weak confederation of states with very little central authority. While this had appealed to the liberty minded former colonists, it made running an actual nation a nightmare.
The Articles made no mention of some of the largest issues of the day, including settling new Western lands, how to deal with the many outstanding war debts, or providing a mechanism to negotiate with foreign powers. Indeed, the Articles even deprived the central government ofthe fundamental right of taxation. These flaws, along with many others, had led to the states bickering over every issue, with the federal government unable to establish a common good. It seemed that while the Americans had won the war, they were going to lose the peace.
Against this already uneasy and divided backdrop rose Shay’s Rebellion. Veterans, led by a former Revolutionary soldier named Daniel Shay, had risen up in Massachusetts against “unfair taxes”, levied by the state during an economic downturn. Taking over courthouses and other state buildings, they had dusted off the old war cries of the Revolution and had marched on several cities, seizing old armory stocks. The nation had panicked at the sight of these grizzled, battle-hardened men turning on the government, but lacked the means to stop them. The Articles provided no means for a united American Army, the means to pay them or an officer class to lead them. The revolt had eventually been stopped by loyalist militia, but the event had shaken the nation's elites and renewed calls for as yet-undefined “reform” of the Articles.
While this movement had taken time to coale, by 1787 it was backed by three powerful voices. Talented New York writer and speaker Alexander Hamilton, Virginian Statesmen James Madison, and the former General of the Continental Army itself, George Washington.
With this powerful support, calls for reform had reached a critical mass and a “Grand Convention” was planned and organized. To take place in Philadelphia, recalling the Continental Congress, this Convention was tasked by the states to reform and improve the Articles. It was an open secret, however, that many of the more ambitious attendees intended to replace it entirely with a new and much stronger Constitution.
So that was why these men had found themselves gathered here: to address the problem of running a bankrupt, war-weary nation filled with power hungry states. No one can say the states were stingy however, and all sent their best. The names still ring in history. Roger Sherman. Edmund Randolph. James Madison. Benjamin Franklin. Even the great George Washington himself, hero of the Revolution, came to preside over the gathering. Despite the great obstacles set before them, they may well have succeeded if there hadn’t been another visitor to the City of Brotherly Love that summer.
Yellow Fever.
The disease was not unknown in the city, with the first recorded cases dating back to the 17th century. A dreaded scourge, no one yet knew how “yellow jack” was spread or where it originated. All the people knew was that when yellow fever entered a city thousands would die. While it was a constant specter in the South, (with New Orleans nearly always under assault), it came and went in Northern cities. It was only by the worst luck that just as the delegates for the Convention began their deliberations, some unknown ship, (probably from the French Caribbean), brought in this pestilence.
The plague ripped through the city, overwhelming the futile efforts of the city’s seemingly helpless medical community. Unable to understand it, there was little to be done except comfort the sick and the dying. There were many of these, as the causality list climbed into the thousands. The speed at which the sickness spread was dizzying, and the city laid prostrate under the blows. Entire streets were filled with the ill, and the poor sections of town groaned with the dead. Due to the fragile nature of the Republic, mistrust between delegates and a sense of duty, few delegates fled the stricken city. This resolve cost the nation dearly as one after another would fall ill.
Even under this cloud, the gathered delegates began the acrimonious debate on what direction the United States would be directed. Most of the debate centered around the strength the central government would have versus the states. The states, widely diverse in population and size, were unsure how to create a government that would represent them fairly. Two broad factions formed in those hectic and sweltering summer days, formed around rival views of what the United States should look like.
One was the “big state men”, formed around Virginian Edmund Randolph who wanted a strong national government dominated by the largest states. His proposal, dubbed the “Virginia Plan”, consisted of a bicameral legislature. Each of the states would be represented in proportion to their “Quotas of contribution”, or to the number of free inhabitants. States with a large population, like Randolph’s Virginia, (which was the most populous state at the time), would thus have more representatives than smaller states.
Instantly a rival faction, the “small state men” formed in opposition to such plans, which threatened to subdue the smaller states to the will of the large. In contrast Elbridge Gerry, a delegate from Massachusetts, proposed his own plan dubbed the “Massachusetts Plan”. His plan had a unicameral legislative body, with all states having equal representation, as well as an executive made of a panel of people selected by the unicameral body. In general it was a proposal for a weak but even central government, as opposed to the strong but uneven “Virgina Plan”.
Debate deadlocked as neither group could sway the other and the tension mounted, even as the yellow fever epidemic grew outside. Several delegates became ill, which slowed discussion even further, as whole committees stood empty for days.
Alexander Hamilton, tired of inaction and perhaps hoping to shock the Convention into a decision, proposed a radical plan mimicking Britain's. The plan featured a bicameral legislature, the lower house elected by the people for three years. The upper house would be elected by electors chosen by the people and would serve for life. The plan also gave the governor, an executive elected by electors for a life-term of service, an absolute veto over bills. State governors would be appointed by the national legislature, and the national legislature had veto power over any state legislation.
This plan had no serious support among the Convention, many of whom were horrified that it virtually removed all state power, as well as creating an executive office that seemed very reminiscent of the royalty they just fought against. Despite it being a minor plan, by chance, it was this scheme that escaped the closed doors and was widely repeated throughout the Republic as the basic plan being proposed at the Convention.
Before the Convention could move much further however, the growing pressure of yellow fever halted proceedings. No matter the political stakes, the delegates could not withstand the increasing danger of the epidemic raging just outside.
Of the 55 men who attended a full two dozen caught the illness, with several prominent men becoming unable to attend meetings or even succumbing to the sickness during the proceedings. It was the twin death of Benjamin Franklin, (aged and in poor health), and, far more importantly George Washington, that finally heralded the end of the Convention. The other delegates fled in panic from the city, desperate to escape the death that lurked there. The nation mourned the passing of its greatest leader and statesman, seemingly struck down by some divine judgement.
For three months yellow fever gripped the still suffering city. By that time, the men had returned home and the last chance for reform was lost.
Post #1
‘On the death, or life, of a single insect turns the fate of nations. William Tweed. A Yellow Ship: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1787.
It was the greatest gathering of North American men and minds since the fabled Continental Congress. Gathered in Philadelphia, it was the cream of the new nation- the brightest minds of the fledgling Republic called together to save the United States of America. That nation, a patchwork of former colonies and stitched together by war, was fraying apart.
The new Republic was supposedly governed by the states operating within the Articles of Confederation, a constitution formulated and ratified by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. While the document had served the nation well during the Revolution, it had many deep flaws that were increasingly plaguing the nation. It, by nature, only created a weak confederation of states with very little central authority. While this had appealed to the liberty minded former colonists, it made running an actual nation a nightmare.
The Articles made no mention of some of the largest issues of the day, including settling new Western lands, how to deal with the many outstanding war debts, or providing a mechanism to negotiate with foreign powers. Indeed, the Articles even deprived the central government ofthe fundamental right of taxation. These flaws, along with many others, had led to the states bickering over every issue, with the federal government unable to establish a common good. It seemed that while the Americans had won the war, they were going to lose the peace.
Against this already uneasy and divided backdrop rose Shay’s Rebellion. Veterans, led by a former Revolutionary soldier named Daniel Shay, had risen up in Massachusetts against “unfair taxes”, levied by the state during an economic downturn. Taking over courthouses and other state buildings, they had dusted off the old war cries of the Revolution and had marched on several cities, seizing old armory stocks. The nation had panicked at the sight of these grizzled, battle-hardened men turning on the government, but lacked the means to stop them. The Articles provided no means for a united American Army, the means to pay them or an officer class to lead them. The revolt had eventually been stopped by loyalist militia, but the event had shaken the nation's elites and renewed calls for as yet-undefined “reform” of the Articles.
While this movement had taken time to coale, by 1787 it was backed by three powerful voices. Talented New York writer and speaker Alexander Hamilton, Virginian Statesmen James Madison, and the former General of the Continental Army itself, George Washington.
With this powerful support, calls for reform had reached a critical mass and a “Grand Convention” was planned and organized. To take place in Philadelphia, recalling the Continental Congress, this Convention was tasked by the states to reform and improve the Articles. It was an open secret, however, that many of the more ambitious attendees intended to replace it entirely with a new and much stronger Constitution.
So that was why these men had found themselves gathered here: to address the problem of running a bankrupt, war-weary nation filled with power hungry states. No one can say the states were stingy however, and all sent their best. The names still ring in history. Roger Sherman. Edmund Randolph. James Madison. Benjamin Franklin. Even the great George Washington himself, hero of the Revolution, came to preside over the gathering. Despite the great obstacles set before them, they may well have succeeded if there hadn’t been another visitor to the City of Brotherly Love that summer.
Yellow Fever.
The disease was not unknown in the city, with the first recorded cases dating back to the 17th century. A dreaded scourge, no one yet knew how “yellow jack” was spread or where it originated. All the people knew was that when yellow fever entered a city thousands would die. While it was a constant specter in the South, (with New Orleans nearly always under assault), it came and went in Northern cities. It was only by the worst luck that just as the delegates for the Convention began their deliberations, some unknown ship, (probably from the French Caribbean), brought in this pestilence.
The plague ripped through the city, overwhelming the futile efforts of the city’s seemingly helpless medical community. Unable to understand it, there was little to be done except comfort the sick and the dying. There were many of these, as the causality list climbed into the thousands. The speed at which the sickness spread was dizzying, and the city laid prostrate under the blows. Entire streets were filled with the ill, and the poor sections of town groaned with the dead. Due to the fragile nature of the Republic, mistrust between delegates and a sense of duty, few delegates fled the stricken city. This resolve cost the nation dearly as one after another would fall ill.
Even under this cloud, the gathered delegates began the acrimonious debate on what direction the United States would be directed. Most of the debate centered around the strength the central government would have versus the states. The states, widely diverse in population and size, were unsure how to create a government that would represent them fairly. Two broad factions formed in those hectic and sweltering summer days, formed around rival views of what the United States should look like.
One was the “big state men”, formed around Virginian Edmund Randolph who wanted a strong national government dominated by the largest states. His proposal, dubbed the “Virginia Plan”, consisted of a bicameral legislature. Each of the states would be represented in proportion to their “Quotas of contribution”, or to the number of free inhabitants. States with a large population, like Randolph’s Virginia, (which was the most populous state at the time), would thus have more representatives than smaller states.
Instantly a rival faction, the “small state men” formed in opposition to such plans, which threatened to subdue the smaller states to the will of the large. In contrast Elbridge Gerry, a delegate from Massachusetts, proposed his own plan dubbed the “Massachusetts Plan”. His plan had a unicameral legislative body, with all states having equal representation, as well as an executive made of a panel of people selected by the unicameral body. In general it was a proposal for a weak but even central government, as opposed to the strong but uneven “Virgina Plan”.
Debate deadlocked as neither group could sway the other and the tension mounted, even as the yellow fever epidemic grew outside. Several delegates became ill, which slowed discussion even further, as whole committees stood empty for days.
Alexander Hamilton, tired of inaction and perhaps hoping to shock the Convention into a decision, proposed a radical plan mimicking Britain's. The plan featured a bicameral legislature, the lower house elected by the people for three years. The upper house would be elected by electors chosen by the people and would serve for life. The plan also gave the governor, an executive elected by electors for a life-term of service, an absolute veto over bills. State governors would be appointed by the national legislature, and the national legislature had veto power over any state legislation.
This plan had no serious support among the Convention, many of whom were horrified that it virtually removed all state power, as well as creating an executive office that seemed very reminiscent of the royalty they just fought against. Despite it being a minor plan, by chance, it was this scheme that escaped the closed doors and was widely repeated throughout the Republic as the basic plan being proposed at the Convention.
Before the Convention could move much further however, the growing pressure of yellow fever halted proceedings. No matter the political stakes, the delegates could not withstand the increasing danger of the epidemic raging just outside.
Of the 55 men who attended a full two dozen caught the illness, with several prominent men becoming unable to attend meetings or even succumbing to the sickness during the proceedings. It was the twin death of Benjamin Franklin, (aged and in poor health), and, far more importantly George Washington, that finally heralded the end of the Convention. The other delegates fled in panic from the city, desperate to escape the death that lurked there. The nation mourned the passing of its greatest leader and statesman, seemingly struck down by some divine judgement.
For three months yellow fever gripped the still suffering city. By that time, the men had returned home and the last chance for reform was lost.
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