There’s lots of things he could have been concerned about. The president can direct people to commit crimes and then pardon them for the crimes committed on his behalf, and that’s ignoring more novel legal theories about pardons, like issuing preemptive pardons or self-pardons. Article 5 places little restrictions on what amendments can be made. One could imagine a dictatorship being established under the pretext of a constitutional convention packed with supporters of the dictator and ratified under state conventions similarly packed.
There’s lots of things he could have been concerned about. The president can direct people to commit crimes and then pardon them for the crimes committed on his behalf, and that’s ignoring more novel legal theories about pardons, like issuing preemptive pardons or self-pardons. Article 5 places little restrictions on what amendments can be made. One could imagine a dictatorship being established under the pretext of a constitutional convention packed with supporters of the dictator and ratified under state conventions similarly packed.