feared extension of Federal power, was at first inclined
to be sanguine over the shape 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 prevailing 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."[1]
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."[2] 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-
- ↑ The Letters of Richard Henry Lee (1914), ed. by James C. Ballagh, 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 Sept. 17, when it passed with amendments. The bill was amended and referred in the Senate to a Committee consisting of Ellsworth, Paterson, and Pierce Butler of South Carolina; it was passed by the House again with the Senate changes, Sept. 21, and was signed by President Washington, Sept. 24, 1789.
- ↑ Sketches of Debates in the First Senate of the United States (1890), by William Blaclay. entries of June 29, July 2, 7, 17, 1789.
