September 14, 1787: All the Possibilities

John Rutledge by John Trumbull, 1791. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

"That persons impeached be suspended from their offices, until they be tried and acquitted."
— motion by John Rutledge and Gouverneur Morris, one of many that failed this day

Friday, September 14, 1787

The Convention kept working line by line through the Committee of Style's draft — which produced a dizzying mix of motions on every sort of subject.

What failed, and what passed

• A bigger House: Williamson (NC) tried again to enlarge the House of Representatives. Failed 5–6.
• Suspending the impeached: Rutledge (SC) and G. Morris (PA) moved that impeached officers be suspended until "tried and acquitted." Madison (VA) and King (MA) said it gave Congress too much power over the President. Failed 3–8.
• Who appoints the Treasurer? The draft let Congress choose the Treasurer. Rutledge moved to have the President appoint it, like other department heads.
• • Gorham (MA), King and Sherman (CT) objected: people were used to legislatures choosing treasurers, who spend as the legislature directs. G. Morris feared Congress would distrust — and quickly impeach — a treasurer it hadn't picked.
  • C. C. Pinckney (SC) backed Rutledge: in South Carolina the legislature chose the treasurer, and "bad appointments are made, and the Legislature will not listen to the faults of their own officer."
  • Passed 8–3.
• Canals and corporations: Franklin (PA), seconded by Wilson (PA), moved to let Congress build canals.
• • Sherman objected: everyone would pay, but only people nearby would benefit. Wilson: canals could earn revenue.
  • Madison, seconded by Randolph (VA), wanted more: power to "grant charters of incorporation" where the national interest required and the states couldn't act.
  • King warned New York and Philadelphia would use it for a national bank, and others for "mercantile monopolies." Wilson thought that overblown. Mason (VA) liked canals but feared "monopolies of every sort."
  • Franklin's motion failed 3–8; Madison's never came to a vote.
• A national university: Madison and Charles Pinckney (SC) proposed one, "in which no preferences or distinctions should be allowed on account of religion." Wilson agreed; G. Morris said Congress already had the power. Failed 4–6–1.
• Militias versus the army: Mason, seconded by Randolph and backed by Madison, wanted the Constitution to say the state militias existed partly to guard against a standing national army. G. Morris, C. Pinckney and Bedford (DE) called it "a dishonorable mark" on American soldiers. Failed 2–9.
• A free press: C. Pinckney and Gerry (MA) moved "that the liberty of the press should be inviolably observed." Sherman: unnecessary, since Congress had no power over the press. Failed.

In short

• With the end near, delegates rushed motions on unrelated subjects.
• The most notable success moved appointment of the Treasurer from Congress to the President.
• The failures: no larger House; no suspension of the impeached; no militia clause against the army; no explicit guarantee of a free press; and no explicit power for Congress to fund canals, grant charters of incorporation or create a national university.

Around the Convention

Washington (VA) dined at City Tavern at a party thrown for him by the First Troop, City Cavalry. Henry Knox wrote from New York to congratulate him on finishing his "arduous business" and wish him a happy reunion with Mrs. Washington and family.

The bill was remarkable. For 55 gentlemen: dinners and relishes, 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 of claret, 8 of "old stock," 22 of porter, 8 of cider, 12 of beer, 7 large bowls of punch, cigars and spermaceti candles — plus a charge for broken decanters, wine glasses and tumblers. For 16 musicians and servants: dinners, 16 bottles of claret, 5 of Madeira and 7 bowls of punch.

In all, as the source tallies it: 135 bottles of wine, 42 of beer and cider, 8 of whiskey and 14 bowls of punch (alcoholic too) — and enough broken glass that City Tavern billed for it.

Philadelphia today

• Noah Webster recorded "a violent Thunder Gust which cooled the extreme heat."
• At the request of the Wardens of the Port, Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council set aside lots on the south side of Lombard Street, between Tenth and Twelfth, as a burial ground for strangers and others not members of a religious congregation when they died.

The series: The Constitutional Convention: A Day-by-Day Account for September 1787 · previous: September 13, 1787: Sumptuary Laws · next: September 15, 1787: Unanimity and Dissent

Sources

Based on "September 14, 1787: All the Possibilities," 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. Trumbull's 1791 portrait is in the public domain.