Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/211

 JAMES MADISON 171 with Washington, Randolph, Mason, and others. The avowed purpose of the new convention was to &quot;devise such provisions as shall appear necessary to render the constitution of the Federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union, and to re port to congress such an act as, when agreed to by them and confirmed by the legislatures of every state, would effectually provide for the same.&quot; The report of the Annapolis commissioners was brought before congress in October, in the hope that congress would earnestly recommend to the several states the course of action therein suggested. At first the objections to the plan prevailed in congress, but the events of the winter went far toward persuading men in all parts of the country that the only hope of escaping anarchy lay in a thorough revision of the imperfect scheme of gov ernment under which we were then living. The paper-money craze in so many of the states, the violent proceedings in the Rhode Island 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 be tween north and south, had all come together; and now the last ounce was laid upon the camel s back in the failure of the impost amendment. In Feb ruary, 1787, just as Mr. Madison, who had been chosen a delegate to congress, arrived in New York,