Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/35

Rh feared extension of Federal power, was at first inclined to be sanguine over the sliai>e which the bill was taking. '* In the Senate a plan is forming for establishing the Judiciary system," he wrote to Patrick Henry. " So far as this has gone, I am satisfied to see a spirit pre- vailing that promises to send this system out, free from those vexations and abuses that might have been warranted by the terms of the Constitution. It must never be forgotten, however, that the liberties of the people are not so safe under the gracious manner of government as by the limitation of power.*' ^ Another Anti-Federalist, however, William Maclay, Senator from Pennsylvania, deplored the fact that the bill " was fabricated by a knot of lawyers ", and stated that : " I really fear that it will be the gunpowder-plot of the Constitution. So confused and so obscure, it will not fail to give a general alarm. ... It certainly is a vile law system, calculated for expense and with a design to draw by degrees all law business into the Federal Courts. The Constitution is meant to swallow all the State Constitutions by degrees ; and thus to swallow, by degrees, all the State Judiciaries." ^ On the other hand, the importance of the bill as a measure designed to enforce the supremacy of the Constitution was fully recognized by the supporters of that instrument. Ellsworth wrote: "I consider a proper arrangement of the Judiciary, however difficult to establish, among the best secur-

1 The Utt0r$ of Richard Henry Lee (1914), ed. by James C. Ballagfa, II, letter of Lee to Henry, May 28, 1780. The bill was reported by Lee, June 12, 1789; was given its second and third readings, June 22, July 7 ; was debated on July 8, 9, 10, 11 ; passed the Senate by a vote of 14 to 6 on July 17, Lee voting against it; was sent to the House, July 20, where it was debated from time to time until Sc|>t. 17, when it passed with amendments. The bill was amended and referred in the Senate to a Conmiittee consisting of Ellsworth, Paterson, and Pierce Butler of SoaUi Carolina; it was passed by the House again with the Senate changes, Sept. 21, and was signed by President Washington, Sept. 24, 1789.

s Skelchee cf Debates in the First Senate qf the United States (1890), by William Blaclay. entries of June 29, July 2, 7, 17, `789.