The question was presented for judicial decision in 1792 in an action brought by Chisholm, a citizen of the state of South Carolina, against the state of Georgia in the Supreme Court of the United States under its original jurisdiction.[24] The action was in assumpsit to recover a debt. The court then consisted of Chief Justice Jay and Justices Cushing, Wilson, Blair, Johnson and Iredell. On February 18, 1793, the court held, Mr. Justice Iredell alone dissenting, that under the Constitution as originally adopted a state could be sued in that court by a citizen of another state in an action of assumpsit to enforce the payment of a contract debt. This decision, which was followed by the commencement of the suit of Vassal _vs._ Massachusetts, created irritation and alarm among the states, and particularly among those which were heavily burdened with debt. The anti-Federalist prints were loud in invectives against the decision, which was termed a violation of the sovereignty of the states, and it was declared that the people were "called upon to draw their swords against this invasion of their rights." It has been said, though with some exaggeration, that "the states fairly rose in rebellion against the decision." Four states formally protested. Although Georgia had been the first state to invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, it nevertheless refused to appear in the Chisholm suit, and filed a remonstrance and protestation against the exercise of jurisdiction. After the decision, it openly defied the authority of the national judiciary. Indeed, it is stated by McMaster, Cooley and other writers that the legislature of Georgia at once passed a law subjecting to death without benefit of clergy any officer who should attempt to serve a process in any suit against the state, but no record of any such statute can be found. Probably, as some one has suggested, the supposed law was a bill which passed only the lower branch of the legislature. At all events, the legislatures of Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut instructed their senators and representatives to secure the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution which should prevent suits against a state by an individual. On February 20, 1793, two days after the opinions in Chisholm _vs._ Georgia were delivered, a resolution was offered in the United States Senate proposing an amendment of the Constitution in the following terms: "The judicial power of the United States shall not extend to any suits in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state."