MR. WILSON OF PENNSYLVANIA TOLD US WHAT WOULD BE
by Michael Gaddy, ©2015
(Oct. 15, 2015) — (Author’s note: It is critical in order to understand the importance of Federalist James Wilson of Pennsylvania’s words as quoted, one must realize the size of the country at the time of those words was the original 13 states. A thorough study of the men who called themselves Federalists will reveal to the unbiased historian a group of men not all that different from the tyrants who control our government today.)
James Wilson of Pennsylvania was one of the leading Nationalists/Monarchists masquerading as a Federalist during our founding era. Wilson was a close friend of Robert Morris and John Dickinson. Both Dickinson and Morris were also strong Nationalists who supported a monarchical form of government. What the three desired, along with many of their fellow Federalists, was a British Mercantile form of government without the interference of Great Britain.
Dickinson refused to sign the Declaration of Independence and Morris was the prototypical Neocon. As a war contractor and a member of Congress during the Revolutionary War, Morris was able to siphon off millions of dollars from the public treasury to his shipping companies and the companies and businesses of his friends and associates. Morris, acting as the Superintendent of Finance for the Continental Congress introduced a bill which formed the Bank of North America, patterned after the Bank of England. The Bank was chartered on May 26, 1781 and opened for business on January 7, 1782 with Morris at its head.
Using his influence in Congress, Morris was able to secure a monopoly on the banking industry; no other banks were permitted to operate during this time period. Morris’s scheme was to use his “central bank” to provide cheap credit and expanded money for himself and his cronies both in and outside of government. Pardon me please, but does this not for all the world sound exactly like what we know as the “Federal Reserve?”
(A very good description of the early move to a Nationalist form of government with central banking as its centerpiece can be found here in an article by Professor of Economics, Thomas DiLorenzo.)
Very quickly the Bank of North America was able to loan to Congress 1.2 million dollars, which was headed by none other than Robert Morris!
So, here I have connected James Wilson to his “Federalist” friends. I should also point out that Wilson was also involved in the operations of the Bank of North America. Please don’t forget that these were the same Federalists who proposed and supported the Constitution of 1787. I should also remind readers that John Dickinson who refused to sign the Declaration of Independence was unanimously elected Chairman of the Annapolis Convention, which led to the appeal to Congress to amend the Articles of Confederation, which led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
At the Pennsylvania Ratification Convention, James Wilson would utter the words that would become so prophetic as to the form of government required to exist in a country as large as the 13 states were in 1787. Today there are 50 of those states, which makes Wilson’s words that much more relevant.
“The extent of country for which the new constitution was required, produced another difficulty in the business of the federal convention. It is the opinion of some celebrated writers, that to a small territory, the democratical; to a middling territory (as Montesquieu has termed it) the monarchial; and to an extensive territory, the despotic form of government is best adapted. Regarding then the wide and almost unbounded jurisdiction of the United States, at first view, the hand of despotism seemed necessary to control, connect, and protect it; and hence the chief embarrassment rose. For, we know that, although our constituents would cheerfully submit to the legislative restraints of a free government, they would spurn at every attempt to shackle them with despotic power.” (Emphasis added)
Here Wilson admits that “some celebrated writers” such as the much quoted Montesquieu had concluded an “extensive territory” such as the present 13 states would require a “despotic form of government.” Wilson also stated,
“Is it probable that the dissolution of the state governments, and the establishment of one consolidated empire would be eligible in its nature, and satisfactory to the people in its administration? I think not, as I have given reasons to show that so extensive a territory could not be governed, connected, and preserved, but by the supremacy of despotic power. All the exertions of the most potent emperors of Rome were not capable of keeping that empire together, which in extent was far inferior to the dominion of America.” (Emphasis added)
Here Wilson freely admits the constitution he and his fellow Federalists were supporting made all of the acts of the central government supreme over the states. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, it dissolved the powers of those States. (Article VI Section II) The Federalists knew this constitution would form one consolidated empire, which could not be “governed, connected, and preserved, except by the supremacy of a despotic power”— a perfect description of the government under which we now suffer.
The Pennsylvania Ratification Convention where Wilson spoke was quite the show. When one examines some of the available records, it would appear only James Wilson and Thomas McKean spoke during the convention. This was because any stated objections to the proposed constitution were purposely omitted from the published record. It should also be of note that no copies of the constitution were printed and/or delivered to the people of the western counties of Pennsylvania. This would insure those people would be ignorant as to what was in the proposed constitution. Since the Convention of 1787’s proceedings was secret, it appears those who supported the constitution were just being consistent in denying the people knowledge of what was in that document until it was ratified.
Obviously, the ghosts of despotism present in Pennsylvania in 1787 influenced Nancy Pelosi when she uttered those now famous words, “We have to pass the bill [Obamacare] so you can find out what’s in it— away from the fog of controversy.” The Federalists worked very hard to insure the proposed constitution was not subjected to the “fog of controversy,” but thanks to the minority of delegates in Pennsylvania, referred to in history as Anti-federalists, the purposeful obfuscation of the Federalists has not been completely lost to the pages of history.
I believe it proper here to include some of the words of those whose arguments against ratification of the constitution were not recognized by the Pennsylvania Ratification Convention. Like many of the other Anti-federalists, those in Pennsylvania had the vision to see the defects in that document.
“The Continental convention met in the city of Philadelphia at the time appointed. It was composed of some men of excellent characters; of others who were more remarkable for their ambition and cunning, than their patriotism; and of some who had been opponents to the independence of the United States. The delegates from Pennsylvania were, six of them, uniform and decided opponents to the constitution of this commonwealth. The convention sat upwards of four months. The doors were kept shut, and the members brought under the most solemn engagements of secrecy. Some of those who opposed their going so far beyond their powers, retired, hopeless, from the convention others had the firmness to refuse signing the plan altogether, and many who did sign it, did it not as a system they wholly approved, but as the best that could be then obtained, and notwithstanding the time spent on this subject, it is agreed on all hands to be a work of haste and accommodation.”
The Anti-federalist’s well-presented fears in 1787-88 have come to full bloom in our government today. We have a King-General we call president. We have a totally neutered congress which is only concerned about filling their pockets and those of their supporters in the military/industrial complex and the attendant lobbyists. We have a Supreme Court that ventures far outside of its stated purpose and guidelines. Oh, yes; what the Supreme Court is today was also predicted by those pesky Anti-Federalists; specifically and eloquently through the Anti-federalist who wrote as “Brutus.” This we will cover in “Lessons from the Beginning (X).”
In Rightful Liberty