_Ordered_, That the letter from the Governor of Rhode Island of the 18th
of January instant, to the President of the United States, requesting a
further suspension of the acts of Congress subjecting the citizens of
the State of Rhode Island to the payment of foreign tonnage and foreign
duties, during the pleasure of Congress, and communicated with the
President's message this day, be referred to the same committee.
FRIDAY, January 29.
SAMUEL JOHNSTON, from North Carolina, appeared, produced his
credentials, and took his seat in the Senate.
The Vice President administered the oath to Mr. JOHNSTON.
TUESDAY, May 11.
The Senate proceeded to consider the report of the committee appointed
the 28th of April, to consider what provisions will be proper for
Congress to make, in the present session, respecting the State of Rhode
Island; whereupon,
_Resolved_, That all commercial intercourse between the United States
and the State of Rhode Island, from and after the first day of July
next, be prohibited, under suitable penalties; and that the President of
the United States be authorized to demand of the State of Rhode Island
---- dollars, to be paid into the Treasury of the United States by the
---- day of ---- next; which shall be credited to the said State, in
account with the United States; and that a bill or bills be brought in
for those purposes.
_Ordered_, That the committee who brought in the above report prepare
and report a bill accordingly.
THURSDAY, May 13.
Mr. ELLSWORTH, reported, from the committee appointed May 3d, to
consider and report their opinion on the question, when according to the
constitution, the terms for which the President, Vice President,
Senators, and Representatives, have been respectively chosen, shall be
deemed to have commenced; and, also, to consider of, and report their
opinion on such other matters as they shall conceive have relation to
this question.
_Ordered_, That this report lie for consideration.
FRIDAY, May 14.
The Senate proceeded to consider the report of the joint committee,
appointed the 28th of April, which is as follows:
The committee of the Senate, to join with a committee
appointed by the House of Representatives, to consider and
report their opinion on the question, when, according to
the Constitution, the terms for which the President, Vice
President, Senators, and Representatives, have been
respectively chosen, shall be deemed to have commenced;
and, also, to consider of, and report their opinion on,
such other matters as they should conceive to have relation
to this question, report, as the opinion of the said joint
committee:
That the terms for which the President, Vice President,
Senators, and Representatives, of the United States, were
respectively chosen, did, according to the constitution,
commence on the 4th day of March, 1789; and so the Senators
of the first class, and the Representatives, will not,
according to the constitution, be entitled, by virtue of
the same election by which they hold seats in the present
Congress, to seats in the next Congress, which will be
assembled after the 3d day of March, 1791; and further,
that, whenever a vacancy shall happen in the Senate or
House of Representatives, and an election to fill such
vacancy, the person elected will not, according to the
constitution, be entitled, by virtue of such election, to
hold a seat beyond the time for which the Senator or
Representative in whose stead such person shall have been
so elected, would, if the vacancy had not happened, have
been entitled to hold a seat.
That it will be advisable for the Congress to pass a law or
laws for determining, agreeable to the provision in the
first section of the second article of the constitution,
the time when the electors shall, in the year which will
terminate on the 3d day of March, 1793, and so in every
fourth year thereafter, be chosen, and the day on which
they shall give their votes; for declaring what officer
shall, in case of vacancy, both in the office of President
and Vice President, act as President; for assigning a
public office where the lists, mentioned in the second
paragraph of the first section in the second article of the
constitution, shall in case of vacancy in the office of
President of the Senate, or his absence from the seat of
Government, be, in the mean time, deposited; and for
directing the mode in which such lists shall be
transmitted: whereupon,
_Resolved_, That the Senate do agree to this report.
MONDAY, May 17.
The Senate proceeded to the third reading of the bill to prevent
bringing goods, wares, and merchandises from the State of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations into the United States, and to authorize a
demand of money from the said State, and,
On motion,
_Ordered_, That this bill be recommitted.
TUESDAY, May 18.
Mr. CARROLL, from the committee appointed April the 28th, to consider
what provisions will be proper for Congress to make, in the present
session, respecting the State of Rhode Island, and to whom it was
referred, to bring in a bill on that subject, reported several
additional clauses to the bill to prevent bringing goods, wares, and
merchandises, from the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
into the United States, and to authorize a demand of money from the said
State; which report was agreed to as amendments to the bill.
The Senate proceeded to the third reading of the bill to prevent
bringing goods, wares, and merchandises, from the State of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations into the United States, and to authorize a
demand of money from the said State;
And, on the question, "Shall this bill pass?" the yeas and nays being
required by one-fifth of the Senators present, were:
YEAS.--Messrs. Bassett, Carroll, Dalton, Ellsworth,
Johnson, Johnston, Izard, King, Langdon, Morris, Reed,
Schuyler, and Strong--13.
NAYS.--Messrs. Butler, Elmer, Hawkins, Henry, Lee, Maclay,
Walker, and Wingate--8.
So it was _Resolved_, That this bill do pass, and that it be carried to
the House of Representatives for concurrence therein.
TUESDAY, June 1.
The following message was received from the President of the United
States, and was read:
_Gentlemen of the Senate, and House of Representatives:_
Having received official information of the accession of
the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to the
constitution of the United States, I take the earliest
opportunity of communicating the same to you, with my
congratulations on this happy event, which unites, under
the General Government, all the States which were
originally confederated; and have directed my Secretary to
lay before you a copy of the letter from the President of
the Convention of the State of Rhode Island to the
President of the United States.
G. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, June 1, 1790.
The Senate then entered on Executive business.
The following message from the President of the United States, by his
Secretary, was read:
UNITED STATES, May 31, 1790.
_Gentlemen of the Senate:_
Mr. De Poiery served in the American army for several of
the last years of the late war, as Secretary to Major
General the Marquis de Lafayette, and might probably at the
same time have obtained the commission of Captain from
Congress, upon application to that body. At present, he is
an officer in the French National Guards, and solicits a
Brevet Commission from the United States of America. I am
authorized to add, that while the compliance will involve
no expense on our part, it will be particularly grateful to
that friend of America, the Marquis de Lafayette.
I therefore nominate M. De Poiery to be a Captain by
Brevet.