April 1776
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
John Adams' room in Mrs. Sarah Yard's rooming house,
where he is visited of an evening by Thomas Paine
Adams: Come in, Mr Paine,
and let us enjoy a glass or two
while discussing the events of the day
Paine: Thank you, Mr. Adams;
it should make for a lively evening
(Several glasses of Madeira
will be drunk by both men during the course of the evening
The reader can mentally refill the empties glasses)
Adams: Back home in Massachusetts
there are some who think I wrote Common Sense
But I have made it clear that I did not:
"I could not have written any Thing
in so manly and striking a style"
Paine: Thank you
I propose a toast:
to you and to everyone who is
"a good citizen,
an open and resolute friend,
and a virtuous supporter of the Rights of Mankind
and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA"
Adams: That sentiment does not yet command
the majority of the Congress
Paine: Perhaps not,
though I think from the reception of the pamphlet
it does command the sentiment
of the majority of the people,
and thus
it will soon be time to tell the English
"we will make peace with you as enemies,
but we will never re-unite with you as friends"
Adams: I don't think the Congress can be rushed
into making such a declaration,
but I do believe we will come to that point
Paine: Let us hope that moment comes sooner rather than later
And whenever it does come,
concurrent with the prosecution of the war
must be the creation of
"a continental form of government"
One possible form of that government
I talk about in the pamphlet
Adams: Your "Plans of Continental Government
are not much applauded"
Paine: What is the objection to it?
Adams: It is taking things in the wrong order
First,
"each colony should establish its own Government,
and then a League should be formed,
between them all
Paine: Such a sentiment weakens us:
"our strength is continental,
not provincial"
Adams: I believe you are
"a better Hand at pulling down than building"
"if I had undertaken such a Work"
"I should have made a more respectable Figure
as an Architect"
Paine: Plainly,
you have undertaken such a work,
even if it not be widely disseminated yet
You have already spoken of some of it;
let us hear more of it
Adams: "I think that a people cannot be long-free,
nor ever happy,
whose government is in one Assembly"
Paine: I say
"the more simple any thing is,
the less liable it is to be disordered,
and the easier repaired when disordered"
What say you to that?
Adams: "the divine science of politics
is the science of social happiness,
and the blessings of society depend
entirely on the constitutions of government",
and
a government with all power constituted in
"A SINGLE Assembly
is apt to grow ambitious,
and after a time
will not hesitate to vote itself perpetual"
Paine: Then,
to prevent such a thing,
let that assembly first frame,
subject to ratification by the people,
"a CONTINENTAL CHARTER"
"to form a constitution of our own
in a cool deliberate manner
while we have it in our power"
I believe such would be
the best way to go about
"Securing freedom and prosperity to all men,
and above all things, the free exercise of religion,
according to the dictates of conscience"
You are afraid of the Many
I am not
Adams: It is true
"I sometimes doubt
whether there is public Virtue enough
to support a Republic"
and so
"it is the Part of a great Politician
to make the Character of his People,
to extinguish among them,
the Follies and Vices that he sees,
and to create in them
the Virtues and Abilities
which he sees wanting
I wish I was sure
that America has one such Politician,
but I fear she has not"
Paine: Fear not
"It is the duty of the public"
as the way of gaining
"a thorough knowledge of the persons whom we trust",
"to scrutinize closely into the conduct of
their Committee Members,
Members of Assembly,
and
Delegates in Congress;
to know what they do
and their motives for so doing"
Adams: "Patience,
Fortitude,
and Perseverance,
with the Help of Time,
will get us over these obstructions"
Paine: Time is indeed our ally,
for
despite the beauty and power of Reason,
"Time makes more converts than reason"
March 15, 1783
"this dreadful alternative,
of either
deserting our Country in the extremest hour of her distress,
or turning our Arms against it,
(which is the apparent object,
unless Congress be compelled
into instant compliance)
has something so shocking in it,
that humanity revolts at the idea"
"in the attainment of compleat justice
for all you toils and changes,
and in the gratification of every wish,
so far as may be done consistently
with the great duty I owe my Country,
and those powers we are bound to respect,
you may freely command my Services
to the utmost of my abilities"
And thus
those who were planning a possible coup
"by sowing the seeds of discord and separation
between the Civil and Military powers of the Constitution"
were thwarted by the prestige of George Washington
March 2, 1805
The storm of the impeachment trial had ended,
and just in time,
Burr thought to himself,
for
tomorrow would be the last day of the Eighth Congress
and,
the day being a Sunday,
no business would be transacted
The ornamentation for the trial was gone
and the chamber returned to its usual shabbiness;
perhaps one day the decor would befit
the high station the Senate had been assigned
Twenty-eight of the thirty-four senators
that Burr was preparing to address
would be returning in December
when the Ninth Congress assembled for the first time
Burr would not be returning:
in two days
he would be the first Vice-President
not to move up to the Presidency,
but to return to private life,
and so,
instead of giving an inaugural address,
he would now give a farewell one
The senators,
most of whom were of Burr's party,
sat transfixed by Burr's words
(even though Burr had been repudiated
by the party's leader, the President),
and he came to the end of his speech:
"This house is a sanctuary;
a citadel of law,
of order,
and of liberty;
it is here----
it is here in this exalted refuge----
here,
if anywhere,
will be resistance made
to the storms of political frenzy
and the silent arts of corruption
And if the Constitution
be destined ever to perish
by the sacrilegious hands
of the demagogue or the usurper,
which God avert,
its expiring agonies
will be witnessed on this floor"
will be witnessed on this floor"
With that,
Burr stepped down from the chair
and strode from the chamber,
shutting the door with perhaps
more force than was necessary
on his way out
There was no applause,
as
would become customary in later years:
would become customary in later years:
"There was a solemn and silent weeping
for . . . five minutes"
About Michael Ceraolo
Michael Ceraolo is a 62-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet who has had two full-length books (Euclid Creek, from Deep Cleveland Press; 500 Cleveland Haiku, from Writing Knights Press) published, and has two more (Euclid Creek Book Two and Lawyers, Guns, and Money) in the publication pipeline.