power, as well as prescribing how far each of the simple forms of government is to be pursued in acts of legislation." (MS.) The Virginia House of Delegates (January 21, 1786) appointed him at the head of a commission of eight to meet those from other States at Annapolis, for the purpose of securing uniformity of commercial regulations in the country. There he united with Hamilton in preparing the memorial which summoned the States to the Convention which framed the Constitution. In the same year he was elected Governor of Virginia by a large majority, over Richard Henry Lee.
At every stage in the development of our nationality the influence of Randolph was paramount. The student of our constitutional history, looking back through the vista of a century, sees in the chain of can that led to our Union two links especially salient: one was the Annapolis Convention, which convinced men representing divergent views and interests that they could unite for mutual aid; the other was the consent of Washington to attend the Philadelphia Convention, securing for its work the sanction of his powerful name. Both of these were primarily due to Randolph. Two months before the Convention met, Washington was firm in his refusal to attend,—because of a previous refusal to meet with the "Cincinnati" at Philadelphia in the same month,—but yielded to the Governor's entreaties. Next to the name of Washington, in the Virginia delegation, stands that of Randolph. His republicanism, however, was of a type for which the world was hardly ripe. Randolph desired a government much like that which the present English House of Commons would be without a monarch or an hereditary house. The legislature elected by the people of the several States was to be—under the Constitution, as interpreted by the Judiciary—creator of all other powers. It was to elect, from men nominated by the State legislatures, their number proportioned to population, a body more permanent than itself, and composed of older men. The same popular House was to elect judges for life or good behavior; also an Executive Commission of several persons, who, in conjunction with the Judiciary, should form a council of revision on laws, with power to veto them unless passed by an increased majority. Randolph's Republic was thus a democracy subjected to successive filtrations. From the ignorant or passionate populace to their executive hand, the need of the nation was to pass through refining criticisms; that executive was not to be a Head, but a Hand, with its own official fingers, obedient to the legislative brain controlled by the judicial independence. Despite the pleadings of Randolph and prayers of Franklin, the Convention accepted the frame which the Virginians had submitted through their Governor and leader, only to establish within it a system which the small philosophical wing regarded as anti-republican. Randolph's brilliant career in the Convention, could it have been observed by the outside world, would have filled the country with enthusiasm. Some of his sentences became proverbs in the Convention. "Presidency is the fœtus of Monarchy." "An Executive should be independent, therefore it should consist of more than one man." "We have made a bold stroke for monarchy: now we are doing the same for aristocracy." The latter was said on the proposal
