vindicate the dissent by reasons which either were not previously thought of, or must have been wilfully concealed—But I am running into a comment as prolix, as it is out of place.
ⅭⅩⅩⅩⅤ. George Washington to James Madison.[1]
Mount Vernon, 22 October, 1787.
Mr. C. Pinckney is unwilling, (I perceive by the enclosures contained in your favor of the 13th,) to lose any fame that can be acquired by the publication of his sentiments.
ⅭⅩⅩⅩⅥ. Benjamin Franklin to Mr Grand.[2]
Philada. Oct. 22 — 87.
I send you enclos’d the propos’d new Federal Constitution for these States. I was engag’d 4 Months of the last Summer in the Convention that form’d it. It is now sent by Congress to the several States for their Confirmation. If it succeeds, I do not see why you might not in Europe carry the Project of good Henry the 4th into Execution, by forming a Federal Union and One Grand Republick of all its different States & Kingdoms; by means of a like Convention; for we had many Interests to reconcile.
ⅭⅩⅩⅩⅦ. James Madison to Thomas Jefferson.[3]
New York, Octr 24, 1787.
You will herewith receive the result of the Convention, which continued its session till the 17th of September. I take the liberty of making some observations on the subject, which will help to make up a letter, if they should answer no other purpose.
It appeared to be the sincere and unanimous wish of the Convention to cherish and preserve the Union of the States. No proposition was made, no suggestion was thrown out, in favor of a partition of the Empire into two or more Confederacies.
It was generally agreed that the objects of the Union could not be secured by any system founded on the principle of a confederation of Sovereign States. A voluntary observance of the federal law by all the members could never be hoped for. A compulsive one could evidently never be reduced to practice, and if it could, involved equal calamities to the innocent & the guilty, the necessity of a military force both obnoxious & dangerous, and in general a scene
