The Journal of the Debates in the Convention which framed the Constitution of USA Volume I Part 3

The Journal of the Debates in the Convention which framed the Constitution of USA Volume I Part 3

4. He then proceeded to the remedy; the basis of which he said must be the republican principle.

He proposed as conformable to his ideas the following resolutions, which he explained one by one.

1. Resolved that the articles of Confederation ought to be so corrected & enlarged as to accomplish the objects proposed by their inst.i.tution; namely, "common defence, security of liberty, and general welfare."

2. Res^d therefore that the rights of suffrage in the National Legislature ought to be proportioned to the Quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants, as the one or the other rule may seem best in different cases.

3. Res^d that the National Legislature ought to consist of two branches.

4. Res^d that the members of the first branch of the National Legislature ought to be elected by the people of the several States every ---- for the term of ----; to be of the age of ---- years at least, to receive liberal stipends by which they may be compensated for the devotion of their time to the public service; to be ineligible to any office established by a particular State, or under the authority of the United States, except those peculiarly belong to the functions of the first branch, during the term of service, and for the s.p.a.ce of ---- after its expiration; to be incapable of re-election for the s.p.a.ce of ---- after the expiration of their term of service, and to be subject to recall.

5. Resol^d that the members of the second branch of the National Legislature ought to be elected by those of the first, out of a proper number of persons nominated by the individual Legislatures, to be of the age of ---- years at least; to hold their offices for a term sufficient to ensure their independency; to receive liberal stipends, by which they may be compensated for the devotion of their time to the public service; and to be ineligible to any office established by a particular State, or under the authority of the United States, except those peculiarly belonging to the functions of the second branch, during the term of service; and for the s.p.a.ce of ---- after the expiration thereof.

6. Resolved that each branch ought to possess the right of originating Acts; that the National Legislature ought to be empowered to enjoy the Legislative Rights vested in Congress by the Confederation & moreover to legislate in all cases to which the separate States are incompetent, or in which the harmony of the United States may be interrupted by the exercise of individual Legislation; to negative all laws pa.s.sed by the several States contravening in the opinion of the National Legislature the articles of Union; and to call forth the force of the Union ag^{st} any member of the Union failing to fulfil its duty under the articles thereof.

7. Res^d that a National Executive be inst.i.tuted; to be chosen by the National Legislature for the term of ---- years, to receive punctually at stated times, a fixed compensation for the services rendered, in which no increase or diminution shall be made so as to affect the Magistracy, existing at the time of increase or diminution, and to be ineligible a second time; and that besides a general authority to execute the national laws, it ought to enjoy the Executive rights vested in Congress by the Confederation.

8. Res^d that the Executive and a convenient number of the National Judiciary, ought to compose a Council of revision with authority to examine every act of the National Legislature before it shall operate, & every act of a particular Legislature before a Negative thereon shall be final; and that the dissent of the said Council shall amount to a rejection, unless the Act of the National Legislature be again pa.s.sed, or that of a particular Legislature be again negatived by ---- of the members of each branch.

9. Res^d that a National Judiciary be established to consist of one or more supreme tribunals, and of inferior tribunals to be chosen by the National Legislature, to hold their offices during good behaviour; and to receive punctually at stated times fixed compensation for their services, in which no increase or diminution shall be made so as to affect the persons actually in office at the time of such increase or diminution. That the jurisdiction of the inferior tribunals shall be to hear & determine in the first instance, and of the supreme tribunal to hear and determine in the dernier resort, all Piracies & felonies on the high seas, captures from an enemy: cases in which foreigners or Citizens of other States applying to such jurisdictions may be interested, or which respect the collection of the National revenues; impeachments of any national officers, and questions which may involve the national peace and harmony.

10. Resolv^d that provision ought to be made for the admission of States lawfully arising within the limits of the United States, whether from a voluntary junction of Government & Territory or otherwise, with the consent of a number of voices in the National Legislature less than the whole.

11. Res^d that a Republican Government & the territory of each State, except in the instance of a voluntary junction of Government & territory, ought to be guarantied by the United States to each State.

12. Res^d that provision ought to be made for the continuance of Congress and their authorities and privileges, until a given day after the reform of the articles of Union shall be adopted, and for the completion of all their engagements.

13. Res^d that provision ought to be made for the amendment of the Articles of Union whensoever it shall seem necessary, and that the a.s.sent of the National Legislature ought not to be required thereto.

14. Res^d that the Legislative Executive & Judiciary powers within the several States ought to be bound by oath to support the articles of Union.

15. Res^d that the amendments which shall be offered to the Confederation, by the Convention ought at a proper time, or times, after the approbation of Congress to be submitted to an a.s.sembly or a.s.semblies of Representatives, recommended by the several Legislatures to be expressly chosen by the people to consider & decide thereon.

He concluded with an exhortation, not to suffer the present opportunity of establishing general peace, harmony, happiness and liberty in the U.

S. to pa.s.s away unimproved.[31]

[31] This abstract of the speech was furnished to J. M. by M^r Randolph and is in his handwriting. As a report of it from him had been relied on, it was omitted by J.

M.--_Madison's Note._ The fifteen resolutions, const.i.tuting the "Virginia Plan," are in Madison's handwriting.

It was then Resolved--That the House will tomorrow resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House to consider of the state of the American Union--and that the propositions moved by M^r Randolph be referred to the said Committee.

M^r Charles Pinkney laid before the House the draft of a federal Government which he had prepared, to be agreed upon between the free and independent States of America.[32]--M^r P. plan ordered that the same be referred to the Committee of the Whole appointed to consider the state of the American Union.[33]

[32] Robert Yates, delegate from New York, kept notes of the proceedings of the Convention, until he left July 5th, with his colleague, John Lansing. They wrote a joint letter to Governor Clinton afterwards, giving their reasons: "We were not present at the completion of the new const.i.tution; but before we left the convention, its principles were so well established as to convince us, that no alteration was to be expected to conform it to our ideas of expediency and safety."--_Secret Proceedings of the Federal Convention_, 10. Yates's notes are quoted here, whenever they are at variance with Madison's. He gives Pinckney's motion as follows: "Mr. C. Pinckney, a member from South Carolina, then added, that he had reduced his ideas of a new government to a system, which he read, and confessed that it was grounded on the same principle as of the above [the Randolph] resolutions."--_Id._, 97.

[33] Charles Pinckney wrote to John Quincy Adams:

"WINGAW NEAR GEORGETOWN December 12 1818

"SIR

"I have just had the honour to receive your favour--Being at present absent from Charleston on a visit to my planting interest in this neighbourhood I shall in consequence of your letter shorten my stay here considerably & return to Town for the purpose of complying with your request as soon as possible--From an inspection of my old papers not long ago I know it was then easily in my power to have complied with your request--I still hope it is & as soon as I return to my residence in Charleston will again, or as quickly as I can write you on it to prevent delay.

"The Draught of the Const.i.tution proposed by me was divided into a number of articles & was in complete detail--the resolutions offered by M^r Randolph were merely general ones & as far as I recollect they were both referred to the same Committee.

"With great respect & esteem" &c.

--_Dept. of State MSS._, Miscellaneous Letters.

Three weeks later he wrote again:

"SIR

"On my return to this City as I promised I examined carefully all the numerous notes & papers which I had retained relating to the federal Convention--among them I found several rough draughts of the Const.i.tution I proposed to the Convention--although they differed in some measure from each other in the wording & arrangement of the articles--yet they were all substantially the same--they all proceeded upon the idea of throwing out of view the attempt to amend the existing Confederation (then a very favorite idea of a number) & proceeding de novo--of a Division of the Powers of Government into legislative executive & judicial & of making the Government to operate directly upon the People & not upon the States. My Plan was substantially adopted in the sequel except as to the Senate & giving more power to the Executive than I intended--the force of vote which the small & middling states had in the Convention prevented our obtaining a proportional representation in more than one branch & the great powers given to the President were never intended to have been given to him while the Convention continued in that patient & coolly deliberative situation in which they had been for nearly the whole of the preceding five months of their session nor was it until within the last week or ten days that almost the whole of the Executive Department was altered--I can a.s.sure you as a fact that for more than Four months & a half out of five the power of exclusively making treaties, appointing for the Ministers & judges of the Supreme Court was given to the Senate after numerous debates & consideration of the subject both in Committee of the whole & in the house--this I not only aver but can prove by printed Doc.u.ments in my possession to have been the case--& should I ever have the pleasure to see you & converse on the subject will state to you some things relative to this business that may be new & perhaps surprising to you--the veil of secrecy from the Proceedings of the Convention being removed by Congress & but very few of the members alive would make disclosures now of the secrets there acted less improper than before--With the aid of the journal & the numerous notes & memorandums I have preserved should now be in my power to give a View of the almost insuperable difficulties the Convention had to encounter & of the conflicting opinions of the members I believe should have attempted it had I not always understood M^r Madison intended it--he alone I believe possessed & retained more numerous & particular notes of their proceedings than myself. I will thank you sir to do me the honour to send me or to get the President to direct a copy of the Journal of the Convention to be sent me as also of the Secret Journals of Congress should it be considered not improper in me to make the request.

"I have already informed you I have several rough draughts of the Const.i.tution I proposed & that they are all substantially the same differing only in words & the arrangement of the Articles--at the distance of nearly thirty two years it is impossible for me now to say which of the 4 or 5 draughts I have was the one but enclosed I send you the one I believe was it--I repeat however that they are substantially the same differing only in form & unessentials--It may be necessary to remark that very soon after the Convention met I changed & avowed candidly the change of my opinion on giving the power to Congress to revise the State Laws in certain cases & in giving the exclusive Power to the Senate to declare War thinking it safer to refuse the first altogether & to vest the latter in Congress--I will thank you to acknowledge by a line the receipt of the Draught & this.

"With very great respect & esteem "I have the honour to be your most "Obedient servant "CHARLES PINCKNEY.

"December 30 1818 "In Charleston."--_Const. MSS._

The plan is written upon paper of the same size as the letter, and with the same ink. It is undoubtedly contemporaneous with the letter.

Madison wrote the following note to accompany his journal:

"The length of the Doc.u.ment laid before the Convention, and other circ.u.mstances having prevented the taking of a copy at the time, that which is here inserted was taken from the paper furnished to the Secretary of State, and contained in the Journal of the Convention published in 1819. On comparing the paper with the Const.i.tution in its final form, or in some of its Stages; and with the propositions, and speeches of M^r Pinckney in the Convention, it would seem that considerable errour must have crept into the paper; occasioned possibly by the loss of the Doc.u.ment laid before the convention (neither that nor the Resolutions offered by M^r Patterson being among the preserved papers) and by a consequent resort for a copy to the rough draught, in which erasures and interlineations following what pa.s.sed in the convention, might be confounded with the original text, and after a lapse of more than thirty years, confounded also in the memory of the author.

"There is in the paper a similarity in some cases, and an ident.i.ty in others, with details, expressions, and definitions, the results of critical discussions and modifications that can not be ascribed to accident or antic.i.p.ation.

"Examples may be noticed in Article VIII of the paper; which is remarkable also for the circ.u.mstance, that whilst it specifies the functions of the President, no provision is contained in the paper for the election of such an officer, nor indeed for the appointment of any executive magistracy; notwithstanding the evident purpose of the author to provide an _entire_ plan of a Federal Government.

"Again, in several instances where the paper corresponds with the Const.i.tution, it is at variance with the ideas of M^r Pinckney, as decidedly expressed in his propositions, and in his arguments, the former in the Journal of the Convention, the latter in the report of its debates: Thus in Art: VIII of the paper, provision is made for removing the President by impeachment; when it appears that in the convention, July 20. he was opposed to any impeachability of the Executive magistrate: In Art: III, it is required that all money-bills shall originate in the first Branch of the Legislature; which he strenuously opposed Aug: 8 and again Aug: 11: In Art: V members of each House are made ineligible to, as well as incapable of holding, any office under the union &c. as was the case at one Stage of the Const.i.tution; a disqualification highly disapproved and opposed by him Aug: 14.

"A still more conclusive evidence of errour in the paper is seen in Art: III, which provides, as the Const.i.tution does, that the first Branch of the Legislature shall be chosen by the people of the several States; whilst it appears that on the 6^{th} of June, a few days only after the Draft was laid before the convention, its author opposed that mode of choice, urging & proposing in place of it, an election by the Legislatures of the several States.

"The remarks here made tho' not material in themselves, were due to the authenticity and accuracy aimed at, in this Record of the proceedings of a Publick Body, so much an object, sometimes, of curious research, as at all times, of profound interest."--_Mad. MSS._

This note, as given in Gilpin's _Madison Papers_ (_1840_), is freely edited. The Pinckney plan is given here as Pinckney sent it to Adams. Chief-Justice Charles C. Nott, of the U. S. Court of Claims, informs the editor that correspondence with Pinckney's descendants reveals the fact that none of the notes to which he alludes in his letters are extant.

The letter of December 30, 1818, and plan, are printed in _The Doc.u.mentary History of the Const.i.tution_, i., 309 _et seq._

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLES PINCKNEY'S LETTER.

(Reduced.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PINCKNEY DRAFT.

(Reduced.)]

We the People of the States of New Hampshire Ma.s.sachusetts Rhode Island & Providence Plantations Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina & Georgia do ordain, declare & establish the following Const.i.tution for the government of ourselves & Posterity.