ZanyPlebeian
Chieftain
- Joined
- May 21, 2005
- Messages
- 99
The chamber was abuzz with activity. Men of all shapes, sizes, and mutton-chop lengths were milling about the green-carpeted room in Philadelphia. They were all representatives from every state in the Union, convening in an all-states convention for the first time in years.
At the head of the meeting, the head of a massively long oak conference table, was the Governor of Virginia. He lifted up his spoon and tapped it gently on the glass of bourbon in front of him and waited until slowly every glass in the room was being tapped, as every representative anticipated the speech of the recently elected Chairman of the Convention.
Good morning, my colleagues, and may God bless this monumental meeting! Shouts of Here! Here! were heard throughout the room, and every representative looked around gaily, truly enjoying (albeit under the influence of a bit of brandy) the moment.
I come to you today not as politician, not as a Governor, but as an American. The room slowly grew quiet as the Governor waited for his words to take effect. As you all know, I am sure, this America is a great experiment. An uncertain experiment. And yet, so far, we have succeeded in the realm of democracy and republicanism like no nation ever has before. But, my colleagues, the Governor continued, watching the faces of the other delegates turn solemn, the world jumps ahead of us. Ever since we chose to be a confederationa truly great form of government, mind youthe other, more totalitarian nations of the world have grown much faster than we have. Our ability to tax is limited and so is our ability to raise armies. These are known factsthese are things that make us Americans and protect us from tyranny. But we come to this convention today to discuss something truly revolutionary: the new American economy.
After he said that, you could see the Northerners divide from the Southerners by their faces. Those from the North smiled and adjusted themselves in their finely upholstered seats comfortably, while those from the South pursed their lips and muttered amongst themselves.
You see, being from Virginia, I am given the unique opportunity of being in the South, and yet close enough to the North to know what does not work for this Union of ours. Richmondmy hometowngrows apart from the rest of Virginia. Every day, new shops, new factories are open. And Richmond is nothing compared to the North. New York City, Boston, even Philadelphia where we find ourselves today, are growing larger as every day passes. And if one looks at Europeone can clearly see that we as a nation are falling behind. Now there were some grumbles of discontentment from the Southerners.
But, my colleagues, we have a most unique situationwe have two halves of one nation, each with very different world views, but each complementing the other. The reason we called this convention is not to end agriculture, not to end slaveryGod, no! The reason we have assembled here today is to discuss functioning together as a Uniona Union as our Founders intended us to be.
Now, the delegate from Georgia stood up. What exactly do you propose, Mr. Governor? It seems that anyone who propose so-called change can only support the end of the South!
The Governor began to respond, when the delegate from New York stood up. Ah, but that is not true at all, my colleague from Georgia. I think what the Governor is getting at is that weas a nationhave been given a particularly fine situation. You grow cotton, you grow tobacco, no? And the North is now making large amounts of textiles and has begun to process and package your tobacco, have they not? The mines of Appalachia give us vast amounts of coal, and add that to the Iron from the West and we make steel, do we not? Well, I sayas an American, not a New Yorker, mind youthat America has been given the greatest opportunities of all! We are much larger than any of our European counterparts, and have more natural resources than any of them as well. But we have no industry! This we must change if ever we can compete with Europe. He turned to the governor and said, is this not what you were getting at?
Why, yes, actually, it was. And I wanted to propose making this delegation last indefinitely from here we can coordinate the growth of our nation as a whole, rather than have each state viciously compete with each other.
But would that not be a matter of Federation!? a voice called out, indignantly.
Of course not! Each state shall remain here voluntarilythere shall be no coercion. The debate raged on for hours, but at the end of it, the governor of Virginia sat down, took a deep breath, and smiled. America shall be born again, he thought.
At the head of the meeting, the head of a massively long oak conference table, was the Governor of Virginia. He lifted up his spoon and tapped it gently on the glass of bourbon in front of him and waited until slowly every glass in the room was being tapped, as every representative anticipated the speech of the recently elected Chairman of the Convention.
Good morning, my colleagues, and may God bless this monumental meeting! Shouts of Here! Here! were heard throughout the room, and every representative looked around gaily, truly enjoying (albeit under the influence of a bit of brandy) the moment.
I come to you today not as politician, not as a Governor, but as an American. The room slowly grew quiet as the Governor waited for his words to take effect. As you all know, I am sure, this America is a great experiment. An uncertain experiment. And yet, so far, we have succeeded in the realm of democracy and republicanism like no nation ever has before. But, my colleagues, the Governor continued, watching the faces of the other delegates turn solemn, the world jumps ahead of us. Ever since we chose to be a confederationa truly great form of government, mind youthe other, more totalitarian nations of the world have grown much faster than we have. Our ability to tax is limited and so is our ability to raise armies. These are known factsthese are things that make us Americans and protect us from tyranny. But we come to this convention today to discuss something truly revolutionary: the new American economy.
After he said that, you could see the Northerners divide from the Southerners by their faces. Those from the North smiled and adjusted themselves in their finely upholstered seats comfortably, while those from the South pursed their lips and muttered amongst themselves.
You see, being from Virginia, I am given the unique opportunity of being in the South, and yet close enough to the North to know what does not work for this Union of ours. Richmondmy hometowngrows apart from the rest of Virginia. Every day, new shops, new factories are open. And Richmond is nothing compared to the North. New York City, Boston, even Philadelphia where we find ourselves today, are growing larger as every day passes. And if one looks at Europeone can clearly see that we as a nation are falling behind. Now there were some grumbles of discontentment from the Southerners.
But, my colleagues, we have a most unique situationwe have two halves of one nation, each with very different world views, but each complementing the other. The reason we called this convention is not to end agriculture, not to end slaveryGod, no! The reason we have assembled here today is to discuss functioning together as a Uniona Union as our Founders intended us to be.
Now, the delegate from Georgia stood up. What exactly do you propose, Mr. Governor? It seems that anyone who propose so-called change can only support the end of the South!
The Governor began to respond, when the delegate from New York stood up. Ah, but that is not true at all, my colleague from Georgia. I think what the Governor is getting at is that weas a nationhave been given a particularly fine situation. You grow cotton, you grow tobacco, no? And the North is now making large amounts of textiles and has begun to process and package your tobacco, have they not? The mines of Appalachia give us vast amounts of coal, and add that to the Iron from the West and we make steel, do we not? Well, I sayas an American, not a New Yorker, mind youthat America has been given the greatest opportunities of all! We are much larger than any of our European counterparts, and have more natural resources than any of them as well. But we have no industry! This we must change if ever we can compete with Europe. He turned to the governor and said, is this not what you were getting at?
Why, yes, actually, it was. And I wanted to propose making this delegation last indefinitely from here we can coordinate the growth of our nation as a whole, rather than have each state viciously compete with each other.
But would that not be a matter of Federation!? a voice called out, indignantly.
Of course not! Each state shall remain here voluntarilythere shall be no coercion. The debate raged on for hours, but at the end of it, the governor of Virginia sat down, took a deep breath, and smiled. America shall be born again, he thought.
