Page images
PDF
EPUB

been appointed by the several States, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.

Be it enacted by the Governor, council, and representatives, in general court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the honorable William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth, esqrs., be, and they hereby are, appointed delegates to attend the said convention, and are requested to proceed to the city of Philadelphia for that purpose, without delay; and the said delegates, and, in case of sickness or accident, such one or more of them as shall actually attend the said convention, is, and are hereby, authorized and empowered to represent this State therein, and to confer with such delegates appointed by the several States, for the purposes mentioned in the said act of Congress, that may be present and duly empowered to act in said convention, and to discuss upon such alterations and provisions, agreeable to the general principles of republican government, as they shall think proper to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union; and they are further directed, pursuant to the said act of Congress, to report such alterations and provisions as may be agreed to by a majority of the United States represented in convention, to the Congress of the United States, and to the General Assembly of this State.

A true copy of record, examined by

GEORGE WYLLYS, Sec'ry.

STATE OF MARYLAND.

An act for the appointment of, and conferring powers in, deputies from this State to the Federal Convention.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the honorable James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin, esqrs., be appointed and authorized, on behalf of this State, to meet such deputies as may be appointed and authorized by any other of the United States, to assemble in convention at Philadelphia, for the purpose of revising the Federal system, and to join with them in considering such alte

rations and further provisions as may be necessary to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and in reporting such an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them, and duly confirmed by the several States, will effectually provide for the same; and the said deputies, or such of them as shall attend the said convention, shall have full power to represent this State for the purposes aforesaid; and the said deputies are hereby directed to report the proceedings of the said convention, and any act agreed to therein, to the next session of the General Assembly of this State. By the House of Delegates, May 26, 1787, read and assented to. By order: WM. HARWOOD, Clerk.

True copy from the original.

WM. HARWOOD, Clerk H. D.

By the Senate, May 26, 1787, read and assented to.

[blocks in formation]

An act for appointing deputies from this State to the convention, proposed to be holden in the city of Philadelphia, in May, 1787, for the purpose of revising the Federal Constitution.

Whereas, in the formation of the Federal compact, which frames the bond of union of the American States, it was not possible in the infant state of our republic to devise a system which, in the course of time and experience, would not manifest imperfections that it would be necessary to reform.

And whereas the limited powers, which by the Articles of Confederation are vested in the Congress of the United States, have been found far inadequate to the enlarged purposes which they were intended to produce. And whereas Congress hath, by repeated and most urgent representations, endeavored to awaken this and other

States of the Union to a sense of the truly critical and alarming situation in which they may inevitably be involved, unless timely measures be taken to enlarge the powers of Congress, that they may be thereby enabled to avert the danger which threaten our existence as a free and independent people. And whereas this State hath been ever desirous to act upon the liberal system of the general good of the United States, without circumscribing its views to the narrow and selfish objects of partial convenience, and has been at all times ready to make every concession to the safety and happiness of the whole, which justice and sound policy could vindicate.

Be it therefore enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives in general court convened, that John Langdon, John Pickering, Nicholas Gilman, and Benjamin West, esqrs., be, and hereby are appointed commissioners; they, or any two of them, are hereby authorized and empowered, as deputies from this State, to meet at Philadelphia said convention, or any other place to which the convention may be adjourned, for the purposes aforesaid, there to confer with such deputies as are, or may be, appointed by the other States for similar purposes, and with them to discuss and decide upon the most effectual means to remedy the defects of our Federal Union, and to procure and secure the enlarged purposes which it was intended to effect, and to report such an act to the United States in Congress, as, when agreed to by them, and duly confirmed by the several States, will effectually provide for the same.

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

In the House of Representatives, June 27, 1787.

The foregoing bill having been read a third time-voted, that it pass to be enacted. Sent up for concurrence.

JOHN SPARHAWK, Speaker. In Senate, the same day: The bill having been read a third time, voted, that the same be enacted.

Copy examined, per

JOHN SULLIVAN, President.

JOSEPH PEARSON, Secretary. [L. 9.]

In pursuance of the foregoing powers, the Delegates met in Convention at Philadelphia on the 14th. day, being the second Monday in May, A. D. 1787, and on the 17th of September, 1787, agreed to the Constitution as contained in the preceding part of this compilation, [from page 1 to 23,] which they transImitted to the United States in Congress assembled, together with the following resolutions and letter:

IN CONVENTION, Monday, September 17, 1787.

Present: The States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Resolved, That the preceding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the opinion of this convention that it should afterwards be submitted to a convention of delegates, chosen in each State by the people thereof, under the recommendation of its legislature, for their assent and ratification; and that each convention, assenting to and ratifying the same, should give notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled.

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this convention, that as soon as the conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a day on which electors should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a day on which the electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the time and place for commencing proceedings under this Constitution. That after such publication the electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected; that the electors should meet on the day fixed for the election of the President, and should transmit their votes certified,

signed, sealed, and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled; that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the time and place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a president of the Senate, for the sole purpose of receiving, opening, and counting the votes for President; and that, after he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the President, should, without delay, proceed to execute this Constitution.

By the unanimous order of the convention.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, President.

WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.

IN CONVENTION, September 17, 1787.

SIR: We have now the honor to submit to the consideration of the United States in Congress assembled, that Constitution which has appeared to us the most advisable.

The friends of our country have long seen and desired that the power of making war, peace, and treaties, that of levying money and regulating commerce, and the correspondent executive and judicial authorities, should be fully and effectually vested in the General Government of the Union: But the impropriety of delegating such extensive trust to one body of men is evident; hence results the necessity of a different organization.

It is obviously impracticable in the Federal Government of these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be reserved; and on the present occasion this difficulty was increased by a difference among the several States, as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests.

In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »