America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation Paperback (28 page)

The witty sage of Philadelphia replied, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

a Atermath z

Leaving no doubt as to the connection between the “little rebellion”

in Massachusetts and the convention in Philadelphia, the pro-Consti-

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Lafayette’s Sword
tution
Pennsylvania Gazette
voiced what many were thinking: “Every state has its SHAYS who, either with their pens—or tongues—or offices—are endeavoring to effect what
Shays
attempted in vain with his sword.” As the debate over ratification continued, the paper had gone beyond simply viewing men such as Shays as a danger to the nation, but also linked Shays to anyone who opposed the Constitution. To its supporters—called Federalists—the people who opposed the Constitution would be made to appear as dangerous anarchists.

In the end, the federal Constitution squeaked through the ratification process after an agonizing few months. Late in 1787 and early 1788, the Constitution’s supporters won relatively comfortable victories in Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, though James Wilson might have disputed that Pennsylvania’s decision came easily.

After the state ratified, he was again assaulted by a mob during a post-vote celebration. This time his attackers were “Antifeds” who opposed the Constitution. According to Catherine Drinker Bowen in
Miracle at
Philadelphia,
her landmark history of the convention, “When Wilson fought back they knocked him down and began to beat him as he lay.

He would have been killed, it was said, had not an old soldier thrown himself on Wilson’s body and taken the blows.”19

Massachusetts came along after an initially reluctant Samuel Adams was convinced to endorse the Constitution with a guarantee that a Bill of Rights would be added. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire ratified, becoming the ninth and final state needed to put the Constitution in effect. Tiny Rhode Island voted no. But more worrisome were Virginia and New York, two of the largest, most powerful, and most influential states. Without them, the Constitution was in effect but not very meaningful. By the end of July, both states had fallen into the “yes” category. North Carolina, | 231 \

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along with Rhode Island, both voted in favor after Washington’s inauguration.

In his “biography” of the Constitution, Yale scholar Akhil Reed Amar summarized:

All this was breathtakingly novel. In 1787, democratic self-government existed almost nowhere on earth. Kings, emperors, czars, princes, sultans, moguls, feudal lords, and tribal chiefs held sway across the globe. Even England featured a limited monarchy and an entrenched aristocracy alongside a House of Commons that rested on a restricted and uneven electoral base. The vaunted English Constitution that American colonists had grown up admiring prior to the struggle for independence was an imprecise hodge-podge of institutions, enactments, cases, usages, maxims, proce-dures, and principles that had accreted and evolved over many centuries. This Constitution had never been reduced to a single composite writing and voted on by the British people or even by Parliament. . . . Before the American Revolution, no people had ever explicitly voted on their own written Constitution.20

On April 30. 1789, George Washington stood on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, the temporary national capital. He took the oath of office on a Masonic Bible, ad-libbing the words “So help me God,” which the oath of office as specified in the Constitution does not require.

It was not long before Washington was besieged by office seekers.

Among them was James Wilson, who saw himself as an ideal candidate for chief justice of the Supreme Court. Calling Wilson perhaps | 232 \

Lafayette’s Sword
the “best lawyer on the first Supreme Court,” historian and member of the Supreme Court bar Peter Irons goes on to write: “Wilson sought the office of Chief Justice through shameless flattery and self-promotion. He wrote to President Washington that ‘I commit myself to your Excellency without reserve and inform you that my aim rises to the important office of Chief Justice of the United States. But how shall I proceed? Shall I enumerate reasons in justification of my high preten-sions? I have not yet employed my pen in my own praise.’ Washington answered with an implied rebuke. . . . Nonetheless, Washington admired Wilson’s legal skills and prevailed on him to accept the post of associate justice under John Jay.”21

One reason that Wilson’s name is less frequently cited among the “demigods,” as Jefferson called the men in Philadelphia, might be his less-than-godlike demise. Long a speculator in land and finance, Wilson had borrowed heavily to invest in bank stock and land grants well before he joined the Supreme Court. Part of his plan was a utopian scheme to populate the empty western lands with European settlers.

But in a fall that mirrored the fates of Daniel Shays and thousands of other Americans pressed by hard times and high taxes, Wilson and his fellow Philadelphian Robert Morris were unable to pay mounting debts and were both hounded by creditors. Morris—financier of the Revolution—was sent to debtor’s prison and was reduced to poverty at the end of his life, a fate shared by James Wilson. “He became the first—and, so far, the only—justice to be jailed while serving on the Court, not once, but twice,” notes Supreme Court historian Irons.

“Humiliated by his first term in debtors’ prison, Wilson traded circuit-riding duties with Justice Iredell in 1798 and took refuge in North Car-

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olina, where another creditor had him jailed for two months. Wilson died shortly after his release, penniless and stripped of the power he had once wielded on the Supreme Court.”22

In August 1789, following a bout with malaria and suffering a stroke, Wilson died at fifty-six, and was buried on his friend’s estate.

As the Colliers sadly summarize, “James Wilson died an embarrass-ment to his friends, and in particular to his Federalist party, led by President John Adams. He was a stench, misshapen, and he was hus-tled offstage as quickly as possible, and allowed to disappear from history.”23

Daniel Shays also died poor, although he outlived James Wilson by a considerable time. Sentenced to death in Massachusetts, he and other rebels were ultimately pardoned by the state. Shays was even granted a veteran’s pension, and he moved to western New York, where he lived out the rest of his life as a struggling farmer. Daniel Shays died in 1825, at age seventy-eight.

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Acknowledgments

a

Leaving the safety of familiar terrain and venturing into the unknown can be a daunting business. But as many stories in this book demonstrate, setting out for new territory has been an essential ingredient of the American experience for centuries. And as those stories also proved, the results can be disastrous. So it is vastly reassuring to know that you have good guides and companions alongside you on the expedition.

For me, leaving the comfortable landscape of the Don’t Know Much About series to write about American history in a different style and format has been both exhilarating and scary. But I could not have ventured forth without the encouragement, support, and assistance of a great many people who have helped me out at every step of the journey.

That large group of people begins with David Black, my dear friend and literary agent, who always sees the possibilities, and propelled me on this new path. His excellent team at the David Black Agency has also been stalwart in their help over the years and I am very happy and grateful to have Dave Larabell, Leigh Ann Eliseo, Susan Raihofer, Gary Morris, Joy Tutela, and Antonella Iannarino behind me.

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Acknowledgments

Over the years that the Don’t Know Much About series has been published at Harper, I have also been very lucky to have the support of a dedicated publishing group behind me as well. For their continued support, I heartily thank Jane Friedman, Carrie Kania, Diane Bur-rowes, Leslie Cohen, Elizabeth Harper, Jen Hart, Hope Inelli, Carl Lennertz, Nicole Reardon, Michael Signorelli, and Virginia Stanley.

I am also indebted to my tireless publicist, Laura Reynolds. Two early supporters of my pursuit of a new way in which to tell important stories were Don Fehr and Phil Friedman, and I will always value their encouragement.

It has also been my privilege to meet and work with an editor of great skill, intelligence, and enthusiasm. Elisabeth Dyssegaard of Smithsonian Books played a crucial role in shaping and recasting this work. I value her judgment and friendship. I am also grateful to the other members of the Collins and Smithsonian team: Steve Ross, Kate Antony, Larry Hughes, Jean Marie Kelly, Susan Warga, Diane Ar-onson, Nicola Ferguson, Shubhani Sarkar, and Richard Ljoenes.

My children, Colin Davis and Jenny Davis, have always provided me with joy and inspiration. I treasure their wonderful spirits. In this case, my daughter, Jenny, also added immeasurably to this book with her editorial skills and deep insights into colonial American history.

And finally, this new venture really started many years ago, when my wife, Joann, said to me, “You love American history. Why don’t you write about it?” That’s how it all began. And in this and every other journey we have shared, she has been “constant as a northern star.” No explorer or adventurer could ever ask for a better companion.

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Notes

a

Part 1: Isabella’s Pigs 1. Charles E. Bennet,
Laudonnière and Fort Caroline,
p. 41.

2. Cited in Jerald T. Milanich,
Florida Indians and the Invasion From
Europe,
p. 148.

3. Cited in David J. Weber,
The Spanish Frontier in North America,
p. 62.

Laudonnière and Fort Caroline,
pp. 42–43.

5. Ibid.

Thomas,
Rivers of Gold,
p. 25 (emphasis added).

Kamen,
The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision.

8. James Reston Jr.,
Dogs of God,
pp. 60–61.

9. Christopher Columbus,
The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus,
p. 120.

Hudson,
Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun,
pp. 77–78.

11. Charles C. Mann,
1491
, p. 107.

12. Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
, Castaways,
p. 110.

Wood,
Conquistadors,
p. 25.

Schneider,
Brutal Journey,
pp. 98–99.

15. Cited in Bennet,
Laudonnière and Fort Caroline,
p. 16.

Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe,
pp. 153–54.

Hanson,
The Confident Hope of a Miracle.

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Notes

Part II: Hannah’s Escape 1. Cited in Mary Beth Norton,
In the Devil’s Snare,
p. 15.

2. Cotton Mather, “A Notable Exploit,” in Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, ed.,
Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives,
p. 58. Hannah Dustin’s name is also variously spelled Dustan or Duston.

3. Cited in Colin G. Calloway,
Dawnland Encounters: Indians and Europeans in Northern New England,
p. 144.

4. Mather, “A Notable Exploit,” p. 60.

5. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, ed.,
Women’s Indian Captivity
Narratives
, p. 344.

6. Henry David Thoreau,
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
(1849).

7. Writing more than 150 years after the fact, Henry David Thoreau recorded his version of what had become local legend in
A Week on the Concord
and Merrimack Rivers
(1849). According to Thoreau’s account, “The family of Hannah Dustan all assembled alive once more, except for the infant whose brains were dashed out against the apple-tree, and there have been many who in later times have lived to say that they had eaten of the fruit of that apple tree.” Other prominent American writers, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Haverhill native John Greenleaf Whittier, also wrote about the incident, with Hawthorne striking a very unsympathetic note, calling the much-lionized Hannah Dustin “an old hag.”

8. David Hackett Fischer,
Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America
, pp. 88–89.

9. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich,
Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of
Women in Northern New England, 1650–1750,
pp. 184–185.

ed.,
Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives
, p. 56.

11. Alden T. Vaughan and Daniel K. Richter. “Crossing the Cultural Divide: Indians and New Englanders, 1605-1763.” Cited in Derounian-Stodola, ed.,
Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives,
p. xv.

Berkin,
First Generations: Women in Colonial America,
p. 44.

13. Hutchinson’s Bible was the Geneva Bible, one of the first complete | 238 \

Notes

English translations of the Bible, completed in 1560. It was the first Bible to include both Testaments and also divided the books into chapters and verses. This was Shakespeare’s Bible as well as the Bible carried on the
Mayflower.
The more famous King James Version was completed in 1611

but was not widely accepted until the 1640s.

First Generations
, p. 24.

Philbrick,
Mayflower,
pp. 173–74.

16. In 1692, after James II had appointed a royal governor to rule over New England, Plymouth became a part of Massachusetts.

The Puritan Dilemma
, p. 186.

18. Ibid.,

p. 197.

19. Reverend Peter J. Gomes,
Harvard Magazine
, November-December 2002. http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/11/anne-hutchinson.html.

20. Eve LaPlante,
American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson
, pp. 238–39. Hutchinson’s many generations of descendants include Thomas Hutchinson, who later became governor of Massachusetts during the pre-Revolutionary days and whose policies incited the Boston Tea Party (see Chapter 4). In the twentieth century, her descendants included Franklin D. Roosevelt, George H. W. Bush, and George W.