March 31, 1787 – George Washington Writes to James Madison about Monarchical Predilections of Southerners

On this day in history, George Washington wrote to James Madison about the upcoming Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, in which he notes:

I am fully of opinion that those who lean to a Monarchical governmt have either not consulted the public mind, or that they live in a region where the levelling principles in which they were bred, being entirely irradicated, is much more productive of Monarchical ideas than are to be found in the Southern States, where from the habitual distinctions which have always existed among the people, one would have expected the first generation, and the most rapid growth of them. I also am clear, that even admitting the utility; nay necessity of the form—yet that the period is not arrived for adopting the change without shaking the Peace of this Country to its foundation.”

You can read the entire letter here.

General George Washington