Rivals and explains why the bill of rights was a source of controversy between James Madison and james monroe. A Central Campaign issue when the two future president s faced off in a race for a congressional seat in 1789. This event was recorded in november, 2011 at the changing hands bookstore. Its about an hour. Thanks to our gracious hosts changing hands. Independent bookstores are a treasure. No one is getting out of here tonight until every copy over there is sold. So our book is founding rivals James Madison versus james monroe, the bill of rights in saving the nation. For thoseoff who showed up to see the lead guitarist of kiss, i regret to inform you, that was last night. As important as this project has become to my life, i can scarcely remember the first time i learned about the historic congressional race between two future president s in 1789. But what i do remember is reading about it in a book and it was treated with the one or two sentences you will see about this congressional race. And i thought way to bury the lead. All of a sudden, in a race between two future president s, James Madison, james monroe. Theyre delivering the most important issues that we talked about as a country. What kind of union we should have. All of a sudden, theyre in the next page. Way to bury the lead. So i decided i would Read Everything i could about the 1789 election. When i found no one had written about it before, i decided to tell this story. The book signing rivals cold opens at the inauguration of George Washington. What many people dont know is that when he took the oath of office, two of the 13 states were outside of the Union North Carolina and rhode island did not lead a institution because of their concern because of the bill of rights, a guarantee of fundamental liberties. This is common about the antifederal lists in the entire continent. Many of them came at it from different angles. Many of them believed you could not have a union that covered all of the different and diverse states. The independent states, regional confederacies but didnt think any government could be suitable. James monroe with the authority of antifederalist opinions in that it would center around the missing bill of rights. While washington took the oath of office, two states, new york and virginia, were advocating for a new Constitutional Convention. In the words of James Madison and George Washington, they were terrified of this prospect. They believed it where do you lived be infiltrated by enemies of the new government and the constitution will be scrapped and done way with and our union would be fractured, never to come together again. The book goes to the french and indian war which is a conflict thought between the new world and in europe. The first true world war we ever had, between the french and the english and their allies. As a result of this war, the english expelled their opponent from the continent. But as a consequence they removed a check that kept their columnists in terror. Free from the americans and french, the american colonists were not so reliant on Great Britain. Great britain tried to shoulder some of the cost of this under the colonies. What followed is a rising cycle of taxation, resistance, followed by oppression past the point of no return where we would end up in a revolution against Great Britain. Both madison and monroe played important roles. James monroe is in the college of william mary when hostilities began. As a student, he wasnt excited by latin or grammar, he was out drilling with william mary with his come patriots. The governor of virginia, lord dunmore, the royal appointees seized the gun powder in town, no one bought his excuse. That ratcheted up hostilities to a point where james monroe and the come patriots raided the Governors Mansion which is still there today if youve been to colonial williamsburg. Monroe was sent north to new york. And he would serve with washington in many theaters of the war faces like valley forge, german town, the philadelphia campaign, and the battle of trenton. We know the famous portrait of George Washington crossing the delaware and going over to face the hashings and were not expecting it. Monroe led a vanguard of men across the river in that important battle. The job in the morning before the war was to secure the street heading to town so that no one would be able to alert the british and their allies as to what was about to happen. It was christmas. There was some revelry. They were unprepared for the attack. James monroe and his men were alerted to a process by the name of reiker. They started cursing at him. When he realized they were patriots he told them, i, too, am a patriot and it seems that something is going to happen tomorrow. Im going go with you because i might be able to save some poor soul. That poor soul turned out the be james monroe, the future president of the United States. In a critical moment of the battle, james monroe charged the cannons, struck down by a bullet, and would have bled out in the streets in trenton had it not been for dr. Reiker. One of two incidents where james monroe narrowly escapes death. One of the things i focused on in founding rivals is how precarious everything that happened was and how small and minor and unrelated events conspire to make events happen. During the revolutionary war, James Madison served in the congress. When he arrived in congress, he found a ruin nows state of affairs. Nothing like what you could imagine today but they the congress had taken an enormous crippling national debt. When congress had exhausted its revenue and exhausted the sources of credit, they simply started printing money and giving it out to people. Thank goodness our leaders today are too wise to do that. [ laughter ] i think its really telling that madison served on the board of admiral si. Its a committee that ran the Naval Affairs in the United States during war. One of the first things they would do is deny a 3monthold request for bread and flour. It was not that this request was unreasonable per se, it was that they had no bread or flour or means to procure it to give them. They did send a note telling them to keep up the good work. An 18 gun boat in the saratoga was sitting in the dock instead of fighting the british for a wont of simple riggings. A few more cannons, a little more food before it could be deployed. The board of admiral si had to deal with the issue of several common criminals breaking into a warehouse and stealing all but a few bolts of the entire National Supply of kansas. They were inspired by George Washingtons christmas raid. One christmas night, they broke in, they stole the canvass. Congress had directed them to distribute the canvass to where it was needed. The letters are needed. The letters were humorous if it wasnt so serious. The man in charge of the warehouse said we killed three of the men responsible. We know where to find the first. The fourth. Congress wrote and said, thats right, but we want our canvass back. Madison and monroe find each other and begin a correspondence that stretches over five decades. At this point, madison was back in the legislature and monroe had gone to college and dealt with many of the frustrations madison had. Talking about the articles of 1777, the congress put together a plan to try to unify the United States. The Continental Congress had to conduct a war in the most powerful country in the world. In 177 they sent the articles of confederation to the states. The letter accompanying it sounds like an apology. They said this could be the best that could be adapted to the circumstances of all. The articles of confederation was unable to raise troops on its own, unable to conduct any rational trade poll sichlt after the war, the european powers would punish our her chats, producers, hit our producers with heavy taxes and terrorists. Because the National Government had no capacity to create a revenue, a trade policy, they would be able to play the 13 states against b each other, if 12 states were to respond in kind to Great Britain one state would look around and say, you know what . Were going to lower our tariffs and have the British Goods come through our state. It was impossible for the congress to do anything. Totally unequal to the task. The idea of some sort of north American Union starting in 1764 was the ultimate congress. That was Benjamin Franklins idea. It was not created with the idea of independence in mind, it was created in response to the feuds generated by the french and indian war and that was to be a body to coordinate the response of the impending war. This was attended by 17 delegates in 17 colonies and one lobbyist. The meeting broke up inconclusively. But that framework was conducted to the articles of confederation. They bring in the supplies to feed and clothe the prisoners of war. War. He said, you know what, under the pretense of saying they bought too much, they seized all of the merchandise. At one point, congress has to deal with the mutiny, no revenue to pay soldiers. The soldiers have to lose their patience and as the war comes to a conclusion theyre not feeling better about their chances of getting paid. Once the hostilities are done, they werent very optimistic about what might happen. So they went to philadelphia, a group of sold yefrs went to philadelphia. Theyre pointing guns to the windows of the members of congress. Theyre menacing members of congress. Congress is trying to figure out what to do. He has to appeal to the governor of pennsylvania who tells them its not my problem, one of the reasons philadelphia lost the capitol and would only get it back for the temporary period. John dickinson wasnt able to help them out. They wore flee like a group of common debtors to prince ton, new jersey and reconvene to the old dorm in prince ton. One of the most important issues madison and monroe had to deal with in their time in the Virginia Legislature and in congress was the question of the mississippi. The spanish were of the belief because they controlled new orleans that free and peaceful people could move across International Boundaries without impunity. Why should the American People not at war with spain be more restricted than any other place. The growth of the american west. Unimaginable had we given it to spain, we probably wouldnt have gotten it back. A northern confederacy led to john jay, the minister of spain and in this time in the debate, the foreign minister in the articles of confederation. And john jay thought as follows. He thought he was a foreigner. The Mississippi River was off place. Who heard of it. Were going risk a war we cant win for a river we cant use. He was of the mind to try to give the river away to the spanish. This gets to the heart of the problem that the Continental Congress, congress in the articles of confederation had the capacity to bring together the military might of the nation. If it had, the spanish would have never dared to provoke us to a war. Its the quick thinking of madison and monroe and the rivals that prevents the mississippi from being lost to the United States forever. We all know about the problem of the congress under the articles of confederation. Madison and monroe worked hard to try to altar them. They try to do two measured. They tried to pass an end post. So the trade that comes to the United States could be taxed and the they would have revenue and stand on its feet and pay its debt, particularly its war debts for the brave soldiers who won a revolution. It never passed. Never passed the requisite 13 statuses. The second thing is being able to regulate trade policy across the continent. Talked a little bit about that because the european powers were belligerent and they wanted congress to be able to respond in kind. Another serious issue. 13 states. 13 forms of currency used, 13 standards for weights and measures. Currency was subject to dramatic fluctuation. And the courts, there was no national judiciary. So if you were a new yorker trying to buy something in virginia you didnt know what you were buying, paying for, and you could be sure you could get hometowned if the deal went south and you had to file a lawsuit. So they were trying to unleash an economic engine to create a mill 25ir unit but also the economic one to unleash the productivity of the American People and something thats allowed us to be the most prosperous country in the history of the world. The states wouldnt have it. The first to call the National Amendment of the states and look at the articles of confederation. James madison gets john tyler, James Madison is a former member of congress suspected of having gone federal. And john tyler who never served in congress had more credibility to call for the new national convention. So thats what happened. Unfortunately, when the delegates met in annapolis, maryland, the state didnt send the best people they had. Some states didnt send anybody. Nobody sent the full delegation. They met for a few days and decided the best we could do is write up a long letter with all of the problems that you can see with confederation and distribute it to the states and agree to meet in philadelphia may next. We all know that gathering is the Constitutional Convention. James madison goes as a delegate, james monroe does not. James monroe, the fapter of the constitution. It was more likely to succeed coming from somebody else other than him. Imagine having leaders like that today who doesnt care about getting the credit but cares about getting things done for america. Thats James Madison. Edwin randolph, the governor of virginia introduced the virginia plan; its the first substantive debate of the Constitutional Convention and the basic framework for our government today, the executives, the two branches of the legislature, and the judiciary and all of the characteristics and the powers that we associate with the government today. Serious fights in the Constitutional Convention. Both sides walk out at different points. The Biggest Issue that they have to contend with is one of representation. In the congress of the confederation, every state had one vote. The bigger states got to send a bigger delegation. But all of that delegation could do was cast one vote at the end of the day. Virginia has over 700,000 people and delaware has less than 50. And the virginians, not surprisingly, didnt understand why someone in delaware had a right to so much more representation. Those are the big problems, but the Southern States not the Southern States, but the smaller states would not yield on this point. Its a question of yielding to them in the spirit of accommodation or scrapping the whole enterprise and going back. They agreed the house of representatives who you would be based on population tnd senate would be based on equal representation around the state. From philadelphia comes the constitution. In history books, we tend to gloss over this period in history. It goes straight from the Constitutional Convention in philadelphia to George Washington taking the oath on the balcony of federal hall. What transpires in between is nearly a two year knock down dragout fight across the continent over whether to ratify the constitution. Each state elects a constitution a Constitutional Convention to sit in judgment in the constitution of philadelphia. I focus two chapters on this book on the Virginia Ratification Convention as the largest, most culturally important, most commercially important state in the country. It is critical that virginia ratifies the constitution. They decide theyre going to hold a ratification in june. Some states would approve it, some states wouldnt. There would be virginia to take them and broker some sort of compromise. The problem was they created a third party in the convention. They were able to overcome the objection and vote for ratification. Randolph was one of several in philadelphia to refuse to sign the constitution. And theres a lot of suspenseus issuspense around what hes going to say when he stands up in richmond in the Virginia Ratification Convention and what side hes going to come down on. These objections to the constitution havent changed. My principles, my positions on this havent changed. I have my doubts. But at this point, seven states have ratified the constitution. Eight states had ratified the constitution, excuse me. Im not going to be the one to separate us from our sister state. So at the end of the day, theres a lot of debate, fascinating from the leaders in American History. Patrick henry leading the antifederalists along with james monroe who decides that despite the frustrations with the current government, the constitution was too dangerous. It was missing the bill of rights. He couldnt get behind it. He could get behind the powers of congress over the revenue in trade. There had to be a bill of rights. So he reluctantly came