Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/212

 172 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 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 Philadelphia convention, congress was decisively informed that it would not be allowed to take any effectual measures for rais ing a revenue. This accumulation of difficulties made congress more ready to listen to the argu ments of Mr. Madison, and presently congress itself proposed a convention at Philadelphia iden tical with the one recommended by the Annapolis commissioners, and thus in its own way sanctioned their action. The assembling of the convention at Phila delphia was an event to which Mr. Madison, by persistent energy and skill, had contributed more than any other man in the country, with the possible exception of Alexander Hamilton. For the noble political structure reared by the convention it was Madison that furnished the basis. Before the con vention met he laid before his colleagues of the iVirginia delegation the outlines of the scheme that was presented to the convention as the &quot;Virginia plan.&quot; Of the delegates, Edmund Randolph was then governor of Virginia, and it was he that pre sented the plan, and made the opening speech in defence of it, but its chief author was Madison. This &quot;Virginia plan&quot; struck directly at the root of the evils from which our Federal government had