The Mystery of the Pinckney Draught

by Charles C. Nott

The following paragraphs from the Observations contain all that bears upon the contents of the draught, and all upon which Madison relied.

"There is no one, I believe, who doubts there is something particularly alarming in the present conjuncture. There is hardly a man in or out of office, who holds any other language. Our Government is despised—our laws are robbed of their respected terrors—their inaction is a subject of ridicule—and their exertion, of abhorrence and opposition—rank and office have lost their reverence and effect—our foreign politics are as much deranged, as our domestic economy—our friends are slackened in their affection, and our citizens loosened from their obedience. We know neither how to yield nor how to enforce—hardly any thing abroad or at home is sound and entire—disconnection and confusion in offices, in States and in parties, prevail throughout every part of the Union. These are facts universally admitted and lamented."

"Be assured that however unfashionable for the moment your sentiments may be, yet, if your system is accommodated to the situation of the Union, and founded in wise and liberal principles, it will in time be consented to. An energetic government is our true policy, and it will at last be discovered and prevail."

"Presuming that the question will be taken up de novo, I do not conceive it necessary to go into minute detail of the defects of the present confederation, but request permission to submit, with deference to the House, the draught of a government which I have formed for the Union. The defects of the present will appear in the course of the examination. I shall give each article that either materially varies or is new. I well know the science of government is at once a delicate and difficult one, and none more so than that of republics. I confess my situation or experience have not been such as to enable me to form the clearest and justest opinions. The sentiments I shall offer are the result of not so much reflection as I could have wished. The plan will admit of important amendments. I do not mean at once to offer it for the consideration of the House, but have taken the liberty of mentioning it, because it was my duty to do so.

"The first important alteration is that of the principle of representation and the distribution of the different powers of government. In the federal councils, each State ought to have a weight in proportion to its importance; and no State is justly entitled to greater. A representation is a sign of the reality. Upon this principle, however abused, the Parliament of Great Britain is formed, and it had been universally adopted by the States in the formation of their legislatures."

"In the Parliament of Great Britain as well as in most and the best instituted legislatures of the States, we find not only two branches, but in some a council of revision, consisting of their executive and principal officers of government. This I consider as an improvement in legislation, and have therefore incorporated it as a part of the system.

"The Senate, I propose to have elected by the House of Delegates, upon proportionable principles, in the manner I have stated, which though rotative, will give a sufficient degree of stability and independence. The districts, into which the Union is to be divided; will be so apportioned as to give to each its due weight, and the Senate, calculated in this, as it ought to be in every government, to represent the wealth of the nation.

"The executive should be appointed septennially, but his eligibility ought not to be limited: He is not a branch of the legislature farther, than as a part of the council of revision; and the suffering him to continue eligible will not only be the means of ensuring his good behavior, but serve to render the office more respectable.

"The 4th article, respecting the extending the rights of the citizens of each State throughout the United States; the delivery of fugitives from justice upon demand, and the giving full faith and credit to the records and proceedings of each, is formed exactly upon the principles of the 4th article of the present confederation, except with this difference, that the demand of the Executive of a State for any fugitive criminal offender shall be complied with. It is now confined to treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor; but as there is no good reason for confining it to those crimes, no distinction ought to exist, and a State should always be at liberty to demand a fugitive from its justice, let his crime be what it may.