On the whole question for electing by the first branch out of nominations by the State Legislatures, Mass. ay. Cont no. N. Y. no. N. Jersey, no. Pena no. Del. no. Virga ay. N. C. no. S. C. ay. Ga no.
So the clause was disagreed to & a chasm left in this part of the plan.
The sixth Resolution stating the cases in which the national Legislature ought to legislate was next taken into discussion: On the question whether each branch shd originate laws, there was an unanimous affirmative without debate. On the question for transferring all the Legislative power of the existing Congs to this Assembly, there was also a silent affirmative nem. con.
On the proposition for giving "Legislative power in all cases to which the State Legislatures were individually incompetent,"
Mr Pinkney & Mr Rutledge[48] objected to the vagueness of the term incompetent, and said they could not well decide how to vote until they should see an exact enumeration of the powers comprehended by this definition.[49]
[ [48] "Mr. Rutledge is one of those characters who was highly mounted at the commencement of the late revolution;—his reputation in the first Congress gave him a distinguished rank among the American Worthies. He was bred to the Law, and now acts as one of the Chancellors of South Carolina. This Gentleman is much famed in his own State as an Orator, but in my opinion he is too rapid in his public speaking to be denominated an agreeable Orator. He is undobotedly a man of abilities, and a Gentleman of distinction and fortune. Mr. Rutledge was once Governor of South Carolina. He is about 48 years of age."—Pierce's Notes, Amer. Hist. Rev., iii., 333.
[ [49] According to Pierce:
"Mr Sherman was of opinion that it would be too indefinitely expressed,—and yet it would be hard to define all the powers by detail. It appeared to him that it would be improper for the national Legislature to negative all the Laws that were connected with the States themselves.
"Mr Madison said it was necessary to adopt some general principles on which we should act,—that we were wandering from one thing to another without seeming to be settled in any one principle.
"Mr Wythe observed that it would be right to establish general principles before we go into detail, or very shortly Gentlemen would find themselves in confusion, and would be obliged to have recurrence to the point from whence they sat out.