The Mount Vernon Conference was a meeting of delegates from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

held March 21–28, 1785, to discuss navigational

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory ...

in the states' common waterways. On March 28, 1785, the group drew up a thirteen-point proposal to govern the rights of both states on the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

, Pocomoke River, and

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

. Known as the Mount Vernon Compact and formally titled as the Compact of 1785, this agreement not only covered tidewater navigation but also extended to issues such as toll duties, commerce regulations, fishing rights, and debt collection. Ratified by the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

of both

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

s, the compact helped set a precedent for later meetings between states for discussions into areas of mutual concern.

Background

The circumstances that led to the conference began as the country emerged victorious from the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Lacking an effective central government under the Articles of Confederation, the states quarreled among themselves, and some even established proprietary regulations, tariffs, and currency. To ensure mutually-profitable commerce on their shared waterways, the Virginia and Maryland legislatures recognized the need for an agreement between both states regarding the jurisdiction of the waters. The awareness led to the chartering in Maryland (1784) and in Virginia (1785) of the

Potomac Company The Potomac Company (spelled variously as Patowmack, Potowmack, Potowmac, and Compony) was created in 1785 to make improvements to the Potomac River and improve its navigability for commerce. The project is perhaps the first conceptual seed plan ...

to make

improvements Improvement is the process of a thing moving from one state to a state considered to be better, usually through some action intended to bring about that better state. The concept of improvement is important to governments and businesses, as well a ...

to the Potomac River and to improve its navigability beyond its

fall line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

for commerce. The company's goal was the linking of the East Coast with the trans-Appalachian Northwest Territory. The conference was initially scheduled to begin March 21, 1785, in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

. Maryland delegates included

Samuel Chase Samuel Chase (April 17, 1741 – June 19, 1811) was a Founding Father of the United States, a signatory to the Continental Association and United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland, and an Associate Justice of t ...

, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, and

Thomas Stone Thomas Stone (1743 – October 5, 1787) was an American Founding Father, planter, politician, and lawyer who signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a delegate for Maryland. He later worked on the committee that formed the Artic ...

. From Virginia, Alexander Henderson and

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including ...

attended;

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...

and

Edmund Randolph Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the 7th Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to create ...

had been appointed but were not sufficiently notified of their appointments. None of Virginia's delegates were present when Maryland's arrived for the meeting.

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, who had been corresponding with Stone about the conference, offered them the hospitality of his

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

estate in Fairfax County, Virginia, while they waited and then offered to host the gathering itself. Although not an official participant, Washington, with his authoritative knowledge of the issues and active interest in Potomac navigation, inspired the delegates and lent considerable prestige to the proceedings.

Conference

The conference reconvened at Mount Vernon on March 25, 1785, with Washington presiding. Maryland's representatives were empowered to discuss with Virginia their shared concerns involving the Potomac and Pocomoke Rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. However, the Virginia legislature's instructions to its appointees focused solely on the Potomac. Nonetheless, common ground was found, and on March 28, a final report was prepared for both state legislatures. The report contained 13 clauses and was ratified by Maryland and Virginia. It declared the Potomac, which was under Maryland's sole jurisdiction, to be a common waterway for use by Virginia as well. It provided for reciprocal fishing rights, dividing the costs of constructing navigation aids, co-operation on defense and cases of piracy. It also called for commissioners to deal with any future problems that might arise. Political leaders in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

were invited to join the agreement as well.

Legacy

The Mount Vernon Conference became a model of interstate co-operation outside the framework of the Articles of Confederation. Its success encouraged James Madison to advocate for further discussions on constitutional issues facing the states. He had little to show for efforts to get Virginia's delegates in the Continental Congress to seek expanded powers to deal with trade issues. Instead, he introduced a proposal in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

to act on the suggestion of the compact commissioners for further debate of interstate issues. With Maryland's agreement on January 21, 1786, Virginia invited all of the states to attend another meeting on commercial issues, the groundbreaking Annapolis Convention. The second interstate political convention, formally titled "A Meeting of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government," convened at George Mann's Tavern held in Annapolis, Maryland, on September 11, 1786. Delegates from five states (appointed delegates from four others either arrived too late to participate or otherwise did not attend) gathered to discuss ways to facilitate commerce between the states and establish standard rules and regulations. As a result of the gathering, commissioners called for there to be another constitutional convention for possible improvements to the Articles of Confederation to be discussed. The desired convention took place in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

in the summer of 1787. The meetings at Mount Vernon and Annapolis paved the way for the

Philadelphia Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention f ...

, which further strengthened the concept of interstate co-operation and resulted in a new federal

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. There,

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to th ...

of Pennsylvania made oblique reference to the success of the Mount Vernon Conference. In 1908, a government commission associated the related events more closely.''Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission'', 1908.
Introductory note to Section 17, The Gallatin Report
/ref>

The earliest movement toward developing the inland waterways of the country began when, under the influence of George Washington, Virginia and Maryland appointed commissioners primarily to consider the navigation and improvement of the Potomac; they met in 1785 in Alexandria and adjourned to Mount Vernon, where they planned for extension, pursuant to which they reassembled with representatives of other States in Annapolis in 1786; again finding the task a growing one, a further conference was arranged in Philadelphia in 1787, with delegates from all the States. There the deliberations resulted in the framing of the Constitution, whereby the thirteen original States were united primarily on a commercial basis — the commerce of the times being chiefly by water.

References

{{Authority control History of Maryland History of Virginia 1785 in American law 1785 in Maryland 1785 in Virginia 1785 conferences Mount Vernon

Background

Conference

Legacy

See also

References