Observations
on the
PLAN OF GOVERNMENT
Submitted to the
FEDERAL CONVENTION
in Philadelphia on the 28th of May, 1787
By Mr. Charles Pinckney
Delegate from the State of South Carolina
DELIVERED AT DIFFERENT TIMES
IN THE COURSE OF THEIR DISCUSSIONS.
New York. Printed
by Francis Childs
Two copies of this are in the library of the New York Historical Society, and it is reprinted in Moore's American Eloquence. It bears no date, but we learn from Madison's letter to Washington (before quoted) that it must have been published before the 14th of October, 1787; that is to say immediately after the dissolution of the Convention on the 17th of September.
Madison unquestionably relied upon this pamphlet as containing the highest evidence against the verity of the draught in the State Department. The anxiety which he showed to obtain it, and the care with which he brought it to the attention of those who were or who in the future might be interested in the matter make it plain that he regarded the Observations as a conservatory of admissions which Pinckney would not deny if he were living, and which his friends could not controvert now that Pinckney was dead.
The first record we have of Madison's reliance on this pamphlet is a memorandum found among his papers which bears no date but which must have been written prior to April 6th, 1831.
"FOR MR. PAULDING"
"Much curiosity and some comment have been exerted by the marvellous identities in a plan of Government proposed by Charles Pinckney in the Convention of 1787 as published in the Journals with the text of the Constitution, as finally agreed to. I find among my pamphlets a copy of a small one entitled Observations on the Plan of Government submitted to the Federal Convention, in Philadelphia, on the 28th of May, by Mr. C. Pinckney, a Delegate from S. Carolina, delivered at different times in the Convention.
"The copy is so defaced and mutilated that it is impossible to make out enough of the plan, as referred to in the Observations, for a due comparison of it with that printed in the Journal. The pamphlet was printed in N. York by Francis Childs. The year is defaced. It must have been not very long after the close of the Convention, and with the sanction, at least, of Mr. Pinckney himself. It has occurred to me that a copy may be attainable at the printing office, if still kept up, or in some of the libraries or historical collections in the city. When you can snatch a moment, in your walks with other views, for a call at such places, you will promote an object of some little interest as well as delicacy, by ascertaining whether the article in question can be met with. I have among my manuscript papers lights on the subject. The pamphlet of Mr. P. could not fail to add to them.
"April, 1831."