Page:The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 Volume 3.djvu/403

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City of Washington Oct. 18. 1803

I duly received your letter of Septr. 16th. relative to the propositions you made in the General Convention. It was obvious, that those, with the propositions of others, were presented for consideration and discussion, to be adopted or rejected, as a sense of the public safety should require; and by no means as the definitive opinions of the movers.

Dining in company with General Pinckney, as he passed thro’ Salem, in September, I was asked, by one of the guests, some question concerning the nature of the propositions you made in the General Convention. I referred the enquirer to the General, who was a member.—He answered, That you proposed, that the Governors of the several states should be appointed by the President of the U States: But that Mr. Madison moved, and was seconded by his cousin Charles Pinckney, That all the laws of the individual states should be subject to the negative of the Chief Executive of the U. States. The General added, That he did not know which would be deemed the strongest measure.

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October 24, 1803.

Mr. Dayton … said the great inducements of the framers of the Constitution to admit the office of Vice President was, that, by the mode of choice, the best and most respectable man should be designated; and that the Electors of each State should vote for one person at least, living in a different State from themselves.

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New York, Nov. 4, 1803.

Congress may admit new States, but can the Executive by treaty admit them, or, what is equivalent, enter into engagements binding Congress to do so? As by the Louisiana Treaty, the ceded territory must be formed into States, & admitted into the Union, is it understood that Congress can annex any condition to their admission? if not, as Slavery is authorized & exists in Louisiana, and the treaty engages to protect the property of the inhabitants, will not the present inequality, arising from the Representation of Slaves, be increased?