But he rejoiced that the question did not come up in the Virginia
legislature till after the act was passed to send delegates to the
Philadelphia Convention. That he looked upon as a point gained, and the
delegates were presently appointed; but he still despaired of any good
coming of the convention, unless "Mr. Jay's project for shutting the
Mississippi" could be first got rid of.

In a recent work[9] Mr. Madison is represented as having "struck a
bargain" with the Kentucky delegates to the Virginia Assembly, agreeing
to speak on behalf of a petition relating to the Mississippi question,
provided the delegates from Kentucky--then a part of Virginia--would
vote for the representation of Virginia at Philadelphia. A "bargain"
implies an exchange of one thing for another, and Madison had no
convictions in favor of closing the Mississippi to exchange for a
service rendered on behalf of a measure for which he wished to secure
votes. Moreover, no bargain was necessary. It was not easy to find
anybody in Virginia who needed to be persuaded that the right to the
Mississippi must not be surrendered. Madison wrote to Monroe in October,
1786, that it would "be defended by the legislature with as much zeal as
could be wished. Indeed, the only danger is that too much resentment may
be indulged by many against the federal councils." His only apprehension
was lest the Mississippi question should come up in the Assembly before
the report from the Annapolis Convention should be disposed of, for if
that were accepted the appointment of delegates to Philadelphia was
assured. "I hope," he wrote to Washington in November, "the report will
be called for before the business of the Mississippi begins to ferment."
It happened as he wished. "The recommendation from Annapolis," he wrote
again a week later, "in favor of a general revision of the federal
system was _unanimously_ agreed to" (the emphasis is his own). He
afterward reported to Jefferson "that the project for bartering the
Mississippi to Spain was brought before the Assembly after the preceding
measure had been adopted." There was neither delay nor difficulty in
securing the unanimous consent of the Assembly to resolutions
instructing the members of Congress to oppose any concession to Spain.
But Madison's anxiety was not in the least relieved by the speedy
appointment of delegates to the Philadelphia Convention; for, he wrote
presently to Washington, "I am entirely convinced, from wha