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 space of ----
after its expiration; to be incapable of re-election for the space 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 space 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 passed 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 instituted; 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 passed,
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
assent 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 assembly or assemblies
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 pass 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, constituting
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 constitution; 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 Constitution 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 Constitution 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 assure 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
Documents 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 Constitution 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 Document laid before the
Convention, and other circumstances 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 Constitution 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
Document 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 passed
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 identity in others, with details,
expressions, and definitions, the results of
critical discussions and modifications that can not
be ascribed to accident or anticipation.
"Examples may be noticed in Article VIII of the
paper; which is remarkable also for the
circumstance, 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 Constitution, 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 Constitution; 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
Constitution 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 Documentary History of the Constitution_, i., 309 _et
seq._
[Illustration: CHARLES PINCKNEY'S LETTER.
(Reduced.)]
[Illustration: THE PINCKNEY DRAFT.
(Reduced.)]
We the People of the States of New Hampshire Massachusetts Rhode Island
& Providence Plantations Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania
Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina & Georgia do
ordain, declare & establish the following Constitution for the
government of ourselves & Posterity.