The Mystery of the Pinckney DraughtNott, Charles C.
History
The Mystery of the Pinckney Draught
Nott, Charles C.
Constitutional history -- United States; Pinckney, Charles, 1757-1824
The third germinal stage was based on the draught of the Committee of
Detail and extended from the 6th of August to the 12th of September. The
draught of the Committee constituted the divide in the march of the
framers. Behind them was the plain of philosophical disquisition on
which there had been many contests, but exclusively as to what might be
and might not be. Before them were many hills of difficulty to be
surmounted in the practical application of abstract propositions by
incorporating them in provisions and conditions to be written into the
Constitution. But the work of the Convention and the debates of the
members were in connection with the draughted Constitution of the
Committee of Detail, or in connection with amendments thereof or
additions thereto. There were indeed new provisions framed sometimes by
grand committees, sometimes by special committees, sometimes by the
Convention itself--provisions concerning which the Convention had not at
first sufficiently instructed the Committee of Detail--provisions which
the Convention had not then considered and determined even in the form
of abstract propositions. The most difficult of the compromises, that
between the large and the small States in the choosing of the President,
was effected; and the method first proposed by Wilson and rejected by
the Convention, June 2nd, that the choice should be made through the
agency of electoral colleges was reconsidered and adopted. The power to
try officers impeached by the House of Representatives was taken from
the Supreme Court and given to the Senate; the power to appoint
ambassadors, and judges of the Supreme Court, was taken from the Senate
and given to the President; the power to appoint the Treasurer of the
United States was taken from the Legislative branch and given to the
Executive; and the important treaty-making power which at first was
lodged exclusively in the Senate was transferred to the Executive
subject to the ratification of the Senate. But all that was considered
and agreed upon was attached to the draught of the Committee of Detail.
The fourth stage began on the 12th of September with the revised
Constitution reported by the Committee appointed "to revise the style of
and arrange the articles" which had been agreed upon, commonly termed
the "Committee of Style," but which more correctly might have been
termed the Committee of Revision. During that and the next three days
the Constitution was modified by a number of amendments chiefly of the
nature of corrections. The Committee of Style made no changes other than
those of arrangement and language. The correction of the language of the
Constitution was masterly and is ascribed by Madison to Gouverneur
Morris. On Saturday the 15th of September the labors of the Convention
ended. On Monday the 17th, the engrossed Constitution was signed.
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