Chapter XVI: Part 16

13. Resol: "The jurisdiction of the Nat^l Judiciary." Several criticisms having been made on the definition; it was proposed by M^r Madison so to alter it as to read thus--"that the jurisdiction shall extend to all cases arising under the Nat^l laws; And to such other questions as may involve the Nat^l peace & harmony," which was agreed to, nem. con.

Resol. 14. providing for the admission of new States agreed to, nem. con.

Resol. 15. that provision ought to be made for the continuance of Cong^s &c. & for the completion of their engagements."

M^r Gov^r Morris thought the assumption of their engagements might as well be omitted; and that Cong^s ought not to be continued till all the States should adopt the reform; since it may become expedient to give effect to it whenever a certain number of States shall adopt it.

M^r Madison the clause can mean nothing more than that provision ought to be made for preventing an interregnum; which must exist in the interval between the adoption of the New Gov^t and the commencement of its operation, if the old Gov^t should cease on the first of these events.

M^r Wilson did not entirely approve of the manner in which the clause relating to the engagements of Cong^s was expressed; but he thought some provision on the subject would be proper in order to prevent any suspicion that the obligations of the Confederacy might be dissolved along with the Govern^t under which they were contracted.

On the question on the 1^{st} part--relating to the continuance of Cong^s.

Mas. no. Con^t no. P^a no. Del. no. M^d no. V^a ay. N. C. ay.
S. C.[138] ay. Geo. no.

[138] In the printed Journal, S. Carolina--no. Note in Madison's
hand.

The 2^d part as to completion of their engagements, disag^d to, nem. con.

Resol. 16. "That a Republican Constitution & its existing laws ought to be guaranteed to each State by the U. States."

M^r Gov^r Morris, thought the Resol: very objectionable. He should be very unwilling that such laws as exist in R. Island should be guaranteed.

M^r Wilson. The object is merely to secure the States ag^{st} dangerous commotions, insurrections and rebellions.

Col. Mason. If the Gen^l Gov^t should have no right to suppress rebellions ag^{st} particular States, it will be in a bad situation indeed. As Rebellions ag^{st} itself originate in & ag^{st} individual States, it must remain a passive Spectator of its own subversion.

M^r Randolph. The Resol^n has 2. objects. 1. to secure a Republican Government. 2. to suppress domestic commotions. He urged the necessity of both these provisions.

M^r Madison moved to substitute "that the Constitutional authority of the States shall be guaranteed to them respectively ag^{st} domestic as well as foreign violence."

Doc^r McClurg seconded the motion.

M^r Houston was afraid of perpetuating the existing Constitutions of the States. That of Georgia was a very bad one, and he hoped would be revised & amended. It may also be difficult for the Gen^l Gov^t to decide between contending parties each of which claim the sanction of the Constitution.

M^r L. Martin was for leaving the States to suppress Rebellions themselves.

M^r Ghorum thought it strange that a Rebellion should be known to exist in the Empire, and the Gen^l Gov^t sh^d be restrained from interposing to subdue it. At this rate an enterprising Citizen might erect the standard of Monarchy in a particular State, might gather together partizans from all quarters, might extend his views from State to State, and threaten to establish a tyranny over the whole & the Gen^l Gov^t be compelled to remain an inactive witness of its own destruction. With regard to different parties in a State; as long as they confine their disputes to words, they will be harmless to the Gen^l Gov^t & to each other. If they appeal to the sword, it will then be necessary for the Gen^l Gov^t, however difficult it may be to decide on the merits of their contest, to interpose & put an end to it.

M^r Carrol. Some such provision is essential. Every State ought to wish for it. It has been doubted whether it is a casus federis at the present. And no room ought to be left for such a doubt hereafter.

M^r Randolph moved to add as an amend^t to the motion; "and that no State be at liberty to form any other than a Republican Gov^t." M^r Madison seconded the motion.

M^r Rutlidge thought it unnecessary to insert any guarantee. No doubt could be entertained but that Cong^s had the authority if they had the means to co-operate with any State in subduing a rebellion. It was & would be involved in the nature of the thing.

M^r Wilson moved as a better expression of the idea, "that a Republican form of Governm^t shall be guaranteed to each State & that each State shall be protected ag^{st} foreign & domestic violence.

This seeming to be well received, M^r Madison & M^r Randolph withdrew their propositions & on the Question for agreeing to M^r Wilson's motion, it passed nem. con.

Adj^d.

END OF VOL. 1.

Transcriber Notes:

Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.

Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.

Throughout the document, the oe ligature was replaced with "oe".

Throughout the document, a tilded m is represented by [~m], and a tilded nn is represented by [~nn].

Throughout the document, a single superscripted letter is represented by that single letter preceded by a caret, and more than one superscripted letters are represented by the letters enclosed by curly brackets. Thus, the word "y^e" represents a word where the "y" is normal and the "e" is superscripted; and the word "2^{dnd}" represents a word where the "2" is normal and the "dnd" is superscripted. In both conventions, it is assumed that a dot appeared below the superscripted letters, since in the original text a dot was often (but not always) present under the superscripted letters. Thus, "2^{dnd}" in the present text would represent a normal digit "2" followed directly by the superscripted letters "dnd" with a single dot below the set of three letters.

The Contents of Volume I. page incorrectly lists the Chronology as starting on page xix, where it starts on page xv.

The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate. Thus the page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the List of Fac-Similes, and the order of illustrations may not be the same in the List of Fac-Similes and in the book.

This document was filled with errors and inconsistencies in punctuations and hyphenation. For example, usually the word re-eligible is hyphenated, but sometimes it is not; sometimes; reinstated is hyphenated but sometimes it is not; and usually the comma is used as a thousand mark, but sometimes a period is used for that purpose. Also, the abbreviations were not uniform (e.g., Mas. v. Mass.), which were only corrected when it was clear which abbreviation was considered correct at the time printed. Another example is the abbreviation for Resolution, which was sometimes Resol:^n, sometimes Resol^n, and sometimes Resol.^n Sometimes "nem: con." was used, and sometimes "nem. con." was used. The only time errors were corrected was when it was very clear that an error was made, and it was clear how the error should be corrected, and those corrections are listed below. Two exceptions are the case where a period is missing at the end of a sentence or missing at the end of an abbreviation, both of which happened so often that those corrections were made but were not listed below.

Similarly, since the English language has changed so much in the past two hundred years, variations in spelling were only corrected was when it was very clear that an error was made, and it was clear how the error should be corrected. Those corrections are listed below.

In Footnote 25, two instances of "thier" was replaced with "their".

On page 23, a comma was added after "Massachusetts".

On page 23, a comma was added after "New York".

On page 39, a comma was added after "Savannah Georgian".

On page 42, the semicolon after "for general propositions" was replaced with a period.

On page 49, a quotation mark was added after "be instituted.".

On page 67, "tranquility" was replaced with "tranquillity".

On page 80, "is to to be" was replaced with "is to be".

On page 85, a period was added after "2".

On page 85, a period was added after "4".

On page 87, a comma was added after "the landed".

On page 104, "that" was replaced with "than".

On page 105, "M^r Bedford In" was replaced with "M^r Bedford, in".

On page 109, "M^r Randolph, urged" was replaced with "M^r Randolph urged".

On page 117, "against the 43." was replaced with "against the 43,".

On page 119, "it was formerly practised" was replaced with "It was formerly practised".

On page 119, "Wilsons" was replaced with "Wilson's".

On page 128, a closing quotation mark was placed after "7 years."

On page 143, a period was added after "2".

On page 159, "unamimous" was replaced with "unanimous".

On page 162, the quotation mark was removed before "The supreme Legislative power".

In Footnote 89, "conpensation" was replaced with "compensation".

In Footnote 89, "misdemesnor" was replaced with "misdemeanor".

In Footnote 89, "Where shall be" was replaced with "There shall be".

In Footnote 89, "§[2]" was replaced with "§ 2.".

On page 164, "Comittee" was replaced with "Committee".

On page 180, "tranquility" was replaced with "tranquillity".

On page 184, "necessaryly" was replaced with "necessarily".

In Footnote 95, "posseses" was replaced with "possesses".

On page 211, "Wiliamson" was replaced with "Williamson".

On page 217, in two instances, "Masst^s" was replaced with "Mass^{ts}".

On page 220, a comma was deleted after "M^r Sherman".

On page 233, a period was placed after "1".

On page 236, a quotation mark was placed after "behaviour".

On page 256, a comma was placed after "Antient Greece".

On page 264, a semicolon was replaced with a period.

On page 271, "Comittee" was replaced with "Committee".

On page 274, "prepondenancy" was replaced with "preponderancy".

On page 285, "Elsewth" was replaced with "Elseworth".

On page 285, "Contstitution" was replaced with "Constitution".

On page 286, "honorabl" was replaced with "honorable".

On page 292, "occcasion" was replaced with "occasion".

On page 293, "N J." was replaced with "N. J.".

On page 322, "Teusday" was replaced with "Tuesday".

On page 322, "Hamshire" was replaced with "Hampshire".

On page 323, "Hamshire" was replaced with "Hampshire".

On page 323, "inhabts" was replaced with "inhab^{ts}".

On page 323, "brethern" was replaced with "brethren".

On page 330, "brethern" was replaced with "brethren".

On page 336, "Mississpi" was replaced with "Mississippi".

On page 340, "Mard" was replaced with "M^d".

On page 340, "S." was replaced with "S. C.".

On page 348, "Hamshire" was replaced with "Hampshire".

On page 356, "weekest" was replaced with "weakest".

On page 365, "orginal" was replaced with "original".

On page 372, the quotation mark was removed before "or in which the harmony".

Throughout the document, there are instances of missing quotation marks, but it is unclear where quotation marks should be added. In those cases, the quotation marks were left as-is.

Throughout the document, "Maddison" was replaced with "Madison", and "Sharman" was replaced with "Sherman".

Although the document refers more often to a Mr. Patterson, instead of Mr. Paterson, some external sources indicate that the delegate's name was Mr. Paterson. Both spellings were retained as-is.