Moderate Nationalists: Edmund Randolph of Virginia

Virginia produced two other moderate nationalists, Edmund Randolph and George Mason.  Both contributed substantially to the Convention, but in the end neither would agree to sign the Constitution.  It should be noted that, although George Washington presided over the Convention, he had to act as a neutral arbiter and therefore did not take part in the debates.

Edmund Randolph.  Edmund Randolph at the time of the Constitutional Convention was Governor of Virginia.  He would later serve as George Washington's Attorney General.  Although the Virginia Plan is generally believed to have been developed by Madison, it was Randolph who introduced it at the Convention, and most of the delegates assumed the plan to be Randolph's. Randolp opened the main business of the Convention, arguing that the government under the ARticles of Confederation was fatally weak.  It could not maintain peace because states could break its treaties with impunity, nor could it effectively wage war because it was depending on the states to raise an army.  Its inability to tax or regulate foreign trade deprived it of any independent source of revenue and left American trade at the mercy of foreign protectionism.  It was not even clear whether federal law was paramount to state law, at it could be considered a mere creature of state governments.  Randolph then introduced the Virginia Plan to correct these defects.  The next day he went even farther, saying that no mere federal union or treaty would be sufficient, but that a supreme national government should be formed, although he disclaimed any intent to abolish state governments.

Randolph opposed the New Jersey Plan, and even said that the "federal" New Jersey Plan was insufficient compared to the "national" Virginia Plan.  In particular, the central government needed enforcement powers over individuals, while the New Jersey Plan only offered coercion of states.  Randolph called such coercion, "impractical, expensive, cruel to individuals."  Instead, he favored giving Congress power to maintain harmony among the states, set uniform rules and regulations for trade and naturalization, crush rebellion, and the like.  For any body to be entrusted with such powers, it must be elected by the people directly and be proportional to population.  He even called the Continental Congress a body of ambassadors rather than a true legislature.  He would have given the federal government authority to form federal courts and charter corporations, but not to legislate for all "general interests."  He favored federal authority over the militia, with states appointing officers, and federal power to intervene in rebellions against state government, but only if the states requested the intervention.

Like other large state delegates, Randolph opposed giving states equal representation in the Senate.  He was the one who proposed that the Convention "adjourn" when the large and small states deadlocked on the issue, although he was quick to qualify the statement with the assurance that he meant only to adjourn for the day, not permanently.  The purpose of the adjournment, he said, was for small states to propose some form of conciliation, or, if they would not, for large states to take unspecified "necessary measures."  Like the others, Randolph eventually agreed to equal representation in the Senate, but threatened to reconsider if the Senate were allowed to originate money bills.  Unlike Madison, Randolph never spoke up for a federal veto of state laws.

Despite his general nationalism, Randolph ultimately did not sign the Constitution, although he did not commit himself to opposing its ratification.  Among his objections he listed the lack of a more definite boundary between federal and state powers and the federal government's authority to intervene in a state insurrection on the request of the state executive, instead of requiring the legislature to make the request.  During the ratification debates, Randolph planted himself firmly on the fence, refusing to come down on one side or the other until the Virginia ratifying convention, when he came out in favor of ratification.