A Senate of the States Part: July 27th - August 6th, 1787

Article V Blog ^ | December 11th 2017 | Rodney Dodsworth

[Jacquerie]

The convention adjourned July 26th to offer time for a Committee of Detail to smooth the resolutions passed to date. In addition to its assigned duty, it occasionally added what it regarded as necessary clauses in the Constitution, such as the duty of the senate to resolve disputes between states. Delegates will reconvene on August 6th.

The lack of public news from the convention was infuriating. During this recess, a member of the North Carolina delegation apologized to his governor; his oath of secrecy forbade discussion of the proceedings. James Madison’s father tried his utmost, with no success, to pry something from his son. This was the most important rule of the convention. It freed delegates from outside pressure and allowed them to change their minds. Contrast these men of honor to those who occupy the highest reaches of our government today. Imagine the anonymous leaks to the press for the purpose of wrecking the convention.

Experienced constitution writers and legal theorists sat in the Committee of Detail. There were two northerners, Nathaniel Gorham and Judge Oliver Ellsworth, two southerners in Governor Edmund Randolph, former Governor John Rutlidge, and a Middle Statesman in the Scots-born James Wilson. All were of the nationalist bent; no small state advocates like Luther Martin or William Paterson were there.

While little is known of the proceedings of the committee, we know it had help from copies of the Articles of Confederation, state constitutions, the Paterson and Pinckney Plans, and other documents with which they were familiar. Its draft Constitution will pique the interest of every patriot. Of particular interest to this series is the evolution of senatorial duties, which reflect the committee’s perspective of the senate’s place in our compound republic.