Three months later the militia had put down the uprising, but the damage was done; the state government had failed the farmers. They believed that the state should protect their property, and by failing to do that, the legislature had failed the "most basic aim of republican government."" Something had to be done.
The answer would be found in a special council made up of the most intellectually sound persons the colonies could muster. Only Rhode Island failed to be represented. As Thomas Jefferson declared from Europe where he served as a diplomat, it was "an assembly of demi-gods."" Their task: to revise the Articles of Confederation. The squire of Gunston Hall, George Mason, wrote to his son of the importance of the chance to reverse the country's downward spiral, "The eyes of the United States are turned upon this assembly and their expectations raised to a very anxious degree. May God grant we may be able to gratify them by establishing a wise and just government."" .
It was only five days after a quorum of seven states had arrived "eleven days after opening day of the convention "that Edmund Randolph, the tall, 34-year-old governor of Virginia, opened the debate with a long speech condemning the evils that had ensued the country under the Articles of Confederation and highlighting the need for the creation of a strong national government consisting of a supreme legislative, executive and judicial branches with each branch structured to check and balance each other. .
This new style of government found its roots in the philosophies of Baron de Montesquieu. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu unambiguously declares that the legislative, executive and judicial powers must be separate if there is to be liberty for the people. If there is no separation, monarchs or senates become apprehensive and enact tyrannical laws. If there is no separation, the life and liberty of the people would be uncovered to the subjective control of the government who might behave with the violence of an oppressor.
