And then he was gone.
Author’s Note
There are many excellent history books about the Federal Convention. This novel is not one of them. A historical novel has its own strengths and limitations. I chose the novel format because the drama and characters begged to be brought to life. A novel also provides a vehicle to fill gaps in official records. For every journey away from the documentation, I took care to ensure that sufficient circumstantial evidence exists to justify my conjecture. Errors have undoubtedly occurred, and Tempest at Dawn should not be viewed as a definitive source.
Certain literary license was required. Sherman did not arrive in Philadelphia until May 29, the third day of the convention. Others delegates at Benjamin Franklin’s preconvention party also had not arrived. Unlike an eighteenth-century convention, a novel must get its players on stage when the story requires, not when they meander into town.
Everything said in the State House chamber is accurate, but the debates have been rearranged for clarity. Madison’s record of the convention is 231,000 words, so obviously the deliberations have been severely abridged. In addition, the language has been modernized, the sequence adjusted in some circumstances, and, at times, two or more days have been blended for brevity. The actual debates meandered in a fashion not conducive to fiction. With Madison’s hard work, we have a near-verbatim record that can be pursued by those interested.
In order not to confuse the reader with too many characters, some actual quotes are attributed to a delegate already active in the story. In most situations, I used a character from the same state as the person who actually made the statement. One serious deviation, however, is Paterson’s angry speech on June 30. This speech was actually delivered by Gunning Bedford of Delaware.
Benjamin Franklin, due to age and ill health, was too feeble to make his own speeches. He wrote them out for James Wilson to read. Oliver Ellsworth left the convention in late August and was not present for the signing. He actively supported ratification. The Reverend Doctor John Witherspoon was present for the Presbyterian Convention prior to the Federal Convention but may not have stayed through the summer. The Montpelier ironworks, as described in the Epilogue, no longer existed in 1835. Due to wood rot, the State House steeple was removed in 1781 and not replaced until 1824.
Seven delegates refused to sign the Constitution. John Lansing, Jr., and Robert Yates, of New York, left the convention in protest in July. Luther Martin and John Francis Mercer, of Maryland, left just prior to the signing ceremony. George Mason and Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, were present at the ceremony but refused to sign. William Blount, of North Carolina, said he signed only to attest that the states were unanimous.
The delegates from other states feared that Virginians wanted to dominate the new nation. Their fears may have been justified. The District of Columbia found a home on the Virginia border, and Virginians controlled the presidency for thirty-two of the nation’s first thirty-six years.
The Connecticut Compromise proved only a temporary truce. Sherman proposed the compromise to protect the small states, but the South immediately recognized that the Senate could protect slavery. The next seventy-three years saw compromise piled on compromise, until the divisions between the North and South escalated into civil war.
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