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The propositions offered to the convention on the 29th of May, by Mr. C. Pinckney, and on the 15th of June, by Mr. Patterson, were referred to the committee with the above resolutions.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1787.

The house met agreeably to adjournment.

The honourable John Francis Mercer, Esq. one of the deputies from the state of Maryland, attended and took his seat.

The honourable Mr. Rutledge, from the committee to whom were referred the proceedings of the convention for the purpose of reporting a constitution for the establishment of a national government, conformable to the proceedings, informed the house that the committee were prepared to report.

The report was then delivered in at the secretary's table; and being read once throughout, and copies thereof given to the members,

It was moved and seconded to adjourn till Wednesday morning

Which passed in the negative.

YEAS-Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia

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NAYS-New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecti

cut, North Carolina, South Carolina

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The house then adjourned till to-morrow morning, at 11 o'clock, A. M.

DRAFT OF A CONSTITUTION,

REPORTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE, AUG. 6, 1787.*

WE the people of the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following constitution for the government of ourselves and our posterity.

ARTICLE 1.

The style of this government shall be, "The United "States of America."

ARTICLE II.

The government shall consist of supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers.

ARTICLE III.

The legislative power shall be vested in a congress, to consist of two separate and distinct bodies of men, a house of representatives, and a senate; each of which shall, in all cases, have a negative on the other. The legislature shall meet on the first Monday in December in every year.

* One copy of this printed draft is among the papers deposited by President Washington, in the Department of State.-Another copy is among the papers of Mr. Brearly, furnished by general Bloomfield.

ARTICLE IV.

SECT. 1. The members of the house of representatives shall be chosen every second year, by the people of the several states comprehended within this union. The qualifications of the electors shall be the same, from time to time, as those of the electors in the several states of the most numerous branch of their own legislatures.

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SECT. 2. Every member of the house of representatives shall be of the age of twenty-five years at least; shall have been a citizen in the United States for at least three years before his election; and shall be, at the time of his election, a resident of the state in which he shall be chosen.

SECT. 3. The house of representatives shall, at its first formation, and until the number of citizens and inhabitants shall be taken in the manner herein after described, consist of sixty-five members; of whom three shall be chosen in New Hampshire, eight in Massachusetts, one in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, five in Connecticut, six in New York, four in New Jersey, eight in Pennsylvania, one in Delaware, six in Maryland, ten in Virginia, five in North Carolina, five in South Carolina, and three in Georgia.

SECT. 4. As the proportions of numbers in the different states will alter from time to time; as some of the states may hereafter be divided; as others may be enlarged by addition of territory; as two or more states may be united; as new states will be erected within the limits of the United States, the legislature shall, in each of these cases, regulate the number of representa

tives by the number of inhabitants, according to the provisions herein after made, at the rate of one for every forty thousand.

SECT. 5. All bills for raising or appropriating money, and for fixing the salaries of the officers of government, shall originate in the house of representatives, and shall not be altered or amended by the senate. 'No money shall be drawn from the publick treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations that shall originate in the house of representatives.

SECT. 6. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. It shall choose its speaker and other officers.

SECT. 7. Vacancies in the house of representatives shall be supplied by writs of election from the executive authority of the state, in the representation from which they shall happen.

ARTICLE V.

SECT. 1. The senate of the United States shall be chosen by the legislatures of the several states. Each legislature shall choose two members. Vacancies may be supplied by the executive until the next meeting of the legislature. Each member shall have one vote.

SECT. 2. The senators shall be chosen for six years; but, immediately after the first election, they shall be divided, by lot, into three classes, as nearly as may be, numbered one, two, and three. The seats of the members of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year; of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year; so that a third part of the members may be chosen every second year.

5. SECT. 3. Every member of the senate shall be of the age of thirty years at least; shall have been a citizen in the United States for at least four years before his election; and shall be, at the time of his election, a resident of the state for which he shall be chosen.

SECT. 4. The senate shall choose its own president and other officers.

ARTICLE VI.

SECT. 1. The times, and places, and the manner of holding the elections of the members of each house, shall be prescribed by the legislature of each state; but their provisions concerning them may, at any time, be altered by the legislature of the United States.

SECT. 2. The legislature of the United States shall have authority to establish such uniform qualifications of the members of each house, with regard to property, as to the said legislature shall seem expedient.

SECT. 3. In each house a majority of the members shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day.

SECT. 4. Each house shall be the judge of the elec tions, returns, and qualifications of its own members.

SECT. 5. Freedom of speech and debate in the legislature shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of the legislature; and the members of each house shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest dur ing their attendance at Congress, and in going to and returning from it.

SECT: 6. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings; may punish its members for disorderly behaviour; and may expel a member.

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