September 13, 1787: A Committee on Luxury, and Export Duties

James Madison, by an unidentified artist after John Vanderlyn, about 1801–1810. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

"From whence it originated I know not, but it is whispered here, there is great disagreement among the gentlemen of our delegation, that the general [Washington] and yourself on a very important question were together, Mr. M — n [Mason] alone and singular in his opinion and the other two gentlemen [likely Randolph and Blair] holding different sentiments."
— Virginia politician Joseph Jones, writing to his friend James Madison

Thursday, September 13, 1787

Laws against luxury

Mason (VA) revived his idea of sumptuary laws — laws that discourage buying luxury goods. He worried about "the extravagance of our manners, the excessive consumption of foreign superfluities, and the necessity of restricting it, as well with economical as republican views." To promote "economy, frugality, and American manufactures," he moved for a committee to consider adding such laws to the Constitution.

• Johnson (CT) seconded; it passed unanimously, without debate.
• Members: Mason, Franklin (PA), Dickinson (DE), Johnson and Livingston (NJ).
• Result: there's no record the committee ever met, and it never reported.

Export duties for inspection

Mason also renewed his proposal to let states tax exports to cover the cost of inspecting and storing goods such as tobacco, and offered a clause to do it. No debate; it carried.

The final draft

The rest of the day went to the Committee of Style's second draft, with several minor wording changes.

The delegates today

• Washington (VA) dined with Pennsylvania's Vice President, Charles Biddle, and took tea at the Powels'.
• Sherman (CT) wrote to Zebulon Butler in Wilkes-Barre, trying to calm the conflict between Pennsylvania and Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley: Pennsylvania had named commissioners to examine the claims of those who'd bought land there under Connecticut's title, and they seemed inclined to be fair. The idea may have come from Franklin, Pennsylvania's President and Sherman's fellow elder statesman.

Philadelphia: rainy and cool.

The series: The Constitutional Convention: A Day-by-Day Account for September 1787 · previous: September 12, 1787: No Bill of Rights · next: September 14, 1787: All the Possibilities

Sources

Based on "September 13, 1787: Sumptuary Laws," The Constitutional Convention: A Day-by-Day Account, Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The engraving (National Portrait Gallery) is in the public domain.