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
2. If upon the face of the instrument it appears to be an engrossed
copy, though in Pinckney's handwriting, that is a copy of the rough
draught with its alterations and corrections engrossed therein, then the
historical critic must proceed to try the issue of Pinckney's
truthfulness. He tells the Secretary of State at the time when he
produces the paper that "it is impossible for me now to say which of the
4 or 5 draughts I have is the one. But enclosed I send you the one I
believe was it. I repeat, however, that they are substantially the same,
differing only in form and unessentials." If this language be taken
literally it means that he is about to place in the archives of the
Department of State one of those "original" "4 or 5 draughts" and as he
believes the very one of which he prepared an engrossed copy for the
use of the Convention. If the language be not taken literally, it at
least means that he sends a true copy of one of the original rough
draughts. Is there anything in the draught to refute either
representation? Does it contain words, phrases, clauses, provisions
which certainly did originate in the Convention; which were ground out
there, and which could not possibly have been anticipated by Pinckney as
he sat in his study early in 1787 making draught after draught for the
consideration of the coming Convention?
3. Finally, it will be apparent on reflection that even if all of the
foregoing issues should be decided against Pinckney; that is to say, if
it should be found that the paper in the State Department is not an
original draught--is not one of the four or five draughts to which
Pinckney alludes, or that it contains interlineations of which Pinckney
could not have been the author, even then after deciding all doubtful
points against him a great deal will remain which must have been his;
and historical criticism and careful analysis will be able to measure
this residuum and give us a fair estimate of its value, so that we can
know with tolerable certainty how much of the Constitution was the work
of Pinckney.
As I have not been able to persuade any competent scholar to take up
this inquiry which seems to me to be an inquiry due to the truthfulness
of our Constitutional history and to the memory of a framer of the
Constitution whose work was not questioned until after his death, I have
felt that the work has become a duty and that the duty has been imposed
on me.
CHAPTER II
THE DRAUGHT IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT
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