Sunday, August 17, 2025

ARP362 Debating the Bill of Rights

Last week we covered the conversion of James Madison from his opposition to a bill of rights to its main author.  We left off with Madison preparing a proposed bill of rights to introduce into Congress.  I also published a bonus episode mid-week where I read Madison’s complete list of proposed changes, in full, word for word.

House Reception

Although Madison worked on the exact wording of his proposed amendments on his own.  He expected that there would be changes, but did not expect much controversy over passing something.  After all, these were fundamental principles of a free government that were pretty much accepted as consensus.

Even so, Madison had tried to lay the groundwork for the amendments by putting language into George Washington’s inaugural address, which he wrote for the President. Washington, of course, wanted to defer the issue to Congress.  His address only said that congress should consider the amendments that they consider expedient.  He did not suggest any particular amendments, but said he would leave that up to Congress.  

Madison continued to keep the topic in mind when he wrote the House of Representative’s reply to the President’s inaugural address, when he wrote "The question [of constitutional amendments] will receive all the attention demanded by its importance; and will, we trust be decided, under the influence of all the considerations to which you allude."

On May 4, 1789, less than a week after President Washington’s inaugural speech, Madison made a motion in the House of Representatives to debate amendments to the Constitution.  He did not give any specifics.  In fact, this motion was rushed because Madison became aware of another motion being prepared by the anti-federalists.

The following day, Congressman Theodorick Bland, presented a petition from the Virginia legislature calling for a second constitutional convention.  Specifically, the petition called for a convention that would have "full power to take into their consideration the defects of this Constitution that have been suggested by the state Conventions, and report such amendments thereto."  The day after that, Congressman John Laurence of New York presented a similar proposal from the New York legislature, also requesting a second convention.

This is what Madison was trying to avoid.  It would reopen the Constitution to any number of changes before they even had an opportunity to see how the existing Constitution really worked.  He supported efforts to table the proposals, but then doubled down on his work to complete a proposed set of Amendments. 

While Madison was battling with the anti-federalists to prevent a second constitutional convention, he also found himself in conflict with most federalists who did not want to consider any changes at all, not a convention, no amendments.  They argued that there were too many other things to deal with in this session.  They were still busy creating all the new executive departments, creating a judicial system, developing rules, implementing a revenue system to begin getting some money for the government, creating trade regulations, establishing naturalization laws, patent laws, copyright laws, organizing the first census, and a range of other issues.  

Besides, federalists believed that simply writing down rights did not really matter.  The people had to fight for such things.  As one federalist put it “It seems to be agreed on all hands that paper declarations of rights are triffling things and no real security to liberty. In general they are a subject of ridicule.” The federalist majority in Congress wanted to focus on more important issues before getting around to making any changes to the Constitution.  The federalist majority in the House table the petitions calling for a second constitutional convention and took no immediate action on them.  But neither were they in any hurry to consider amendments that might put off such a convention.

The position taken by the federalists had been the same as that Madison himself had taken before his election forced him to make amendments a priority.  Other federalist representatives were not feeling this same pressure.  Aside from his own immediate constituent pressure, Madison was concerned that if the federalists in congress put off any action for too long, that states would begin calling for a convention on their own.  Under the Constitution, the states had the authority to call their own state conventions without Congress. If two-thirds of the states called for a second convention, it would happen whether Congress wanted it or not.

Proposed Amendments

It took Madison just over a month from when he introduced the idea of presenting amendments until he actually presented them on June 8.  These are the amendments that we discussed at the end of last week and which I read in full in the bonus episode a few days ago, so I won’t repeat them again. 

After introducing his amendments, Madison then moved to bring the house into a committee of the whole to discuss them.  Several federalist representatives objected. They argued that the House was busy with too many other things. Until the House got the government organized and into full operation, it was irresponsible to dedicate so much time to changing the Constitution.  

Many members also wanted to wait on the idea of making changes until they saw how the current version worked.  One member compared the Constitution to a ship in drydock about to put to sea for the first time.  It would be irresponsible to break down and rebuild the ship before the builders even put it to sea, where they could make a determination as to how it fared. Another member moved that consideration be postponed until the next session in March 1790.

Madison argued that they should not wait.  The House should at least start consideration.  So many people had called for these changes and the House needed to prove that it would address these concerns.  He also noted that these amendments might finally convince North Carolina and Rhode Island to join the union.  He noted that they were not making any fundamental changes to the Constitution.  Rather, they were simply adding in protections for certain rights that people wanted and which had been entirely ignored in the original Constitution. He also raised the concern that the states might form a second convention if the House delayed too long.

While the House spent the day debating over whether it should debate the amendments, it did nothing regarding the consideration of Madison’s specific proposals.  Madison’s draft proposal was entered into the record.  Congress then went on with other business and did not bring up the matter again.

Six weeks later, on July 21, Madison called for reconsideration and moved that the Committee of the Whole debate his amendments.  Once again, the majority argued they were busy with other things.  Once again, they spent the entire day arguing over procedure.  Madison wanted the Committee of the Whole to consider the amendments.  Instead, the majority overruled him and voted to form a select committee of eleven members, one from each state.  Another reason for sending it to a smaller committee was so members could discuss them without the public watching the full debate.

The committee would spend a week debating and discussing Madison’s amendments before making a report back to the House.

Committee Changes

The Select Committee did not keep any notes of its meetings, but we can tell from the final report what changes they made.  The Committee did not make any real substantive changes to Madison’s proposal but they did change the wording a great deal.  For starters, they removed Madison’s changes to the Preamble which said that the people had the “right to reform or change their Government, whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purposes of its institution.”  Committee members accepted that was self-evident, but saw no need to stress to the public that they would invite more changes.  

The committee also made a bunch of other wording changes to the various amendments, but kept did not really add, abolish or change any of the fundamental principles that Madison had put forward.  They limited the growth of the House to 175 members.  They added a limit of at least $1000 before cases could be appealed to federal court.  But basically they didn’t change much of substance.

Shortly after the committee completed its work, Madison sent a copy of the committee report to a friend who was still serving in the Virginia assembly.  In his cover letter, he simply noted vaguely an equivocally “[Some] of the changes are perhaps for the better, others for the worse.”

House Debate

Although the committee completed its work quickly, the full house waited several more weeks before giving any time to discuss the report.  Finally, on August 13, the House entered into a Committee of the Whole to consider the amendments.  For the next eleven days, this was the main issue under consideration.

Many of the federalists continued to argue that consideration of amendments was premature and should be delayed.  A few anti-federalists argued that these changes did not go nearly far enough.

One important stylistic change that came out of the House debate came from Connecticut Representative Roger Sherman.  He argued that the original Constitution should not be changed.  Rather, any amendments should simply be added to the end of the document.  The original Constitution should remain unchanged, and that additions or changes should always just show up as additions or changes at the end of the document.  Several other members agreed.  They believed that over time, amendments would just make the document longer and longer, and that the original wording would just get lost among so many other changes.

Madison strongly opposed this idea.  He believed that the Constitution should read as a single coherent document.  Adding changes to the end would mean that parts of the original would remain in place, even though they had become irrelevant and void due to later amendments.  He also argued that the amendments were just as valid as the original and that they should not keep the original in some unchangeable form as if it had become some untouchable masterpiece with the changes made separately. The argument over whether amendments should be incorporated or added to the end of the Constitution went on for days.  

There were also lots of procedural debates.  For example, one member objected on the grounds that the committee report should be approved by a two-thirds majority since the House had to approve the final amendments by two-thirds.  The house voted down this idea and allowed committee reports to be reported by a majority.

The House also debated changes to the preamble. Madison and the committee wanted to change the beginning “We the People...” to “Government being intended for the benefit of the people...”.  This was one of many changes to the preamble.  After lengthy debate, the House eventually approved many of these changes.

After eleven days of debate the House came up with seventeen proposed amendments:

The first amendment guaranteed one representative for every 30,000 people, until the total number reached 100.  After that, there would have to be one representative for at least every 40,000.  When the Congress reached two hundred representatives, there could be one for each 50,000 people.

The second amendment carried on the idea that memes of congress could not alter their compensation until an election took place.

The third amendment barred establishment or religion, prohibiting its free exercise.  It also barred infringement on the rights of conscience.

The fourth amendment guaranteed freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and petition for a redress of grievances.

The fifth amendment noted the importance of a well regulated militia and barred any infringement on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.  It also protected those who had a religious objection to bearing arms from being compelled to provide military service.

The sixth amendment barred the housing of soldiers in private homes.

The seventh amendment protected against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The eight amendment protected people from more than one trial or punishment for the same offense, other than impeachment.  It also protected against self-incrimination or deprivation of life, liberty or property without due process, or that property could be taken without just compensation.

The ninth amendment guaranteed accused criminals the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the charges, to be confronted with witnesses, to have the power to obtain witnesses on their behalf, and to have the assistance of counsel.

The tenth amendment guaranteed trial by jury for all but impeachment or military prosecutions.

The eleventh amendment allowed no appeal to the Supreme court if the value was less than $1000.  It also protected that any finding of fact by a jury could not be reconsidered by appellate courts.

The twelfth amendment protected jury trials for most civil suits.

The thirteenth amendment barred excessive bail or fine, as well as cruel and unusual punishment.

The fourteenth amendment prevented states from denying jury trials, the rights of conscience, as well as freedom of speech or the press.

The fifteenth amendment assured that the enumerated rights should not be construed to deny other unenumerated rights.

The sixteenth amendment required that each of the three branches of government could never try to exercise the power of the other two branches.

The seventeenth amendment noted that any powers not delegated by the constitution or prohibited to the states, remained with the states.

By this time, even Madison was getting sick of discussing these amendments.  In sending a progress report to a friend in late August, Madison referred to the “nauseous project of amendments.”  He noted the importance of getting done, but you could tell he was sick of debating all the details.

At least with the agreement of the 17 amendments, the work in the House was done.  There is no detailed final vote, but presumably a two-thirds majority favored the amendments, which then headed over to the Senate for approval.

Senate Debate

If the federalists in the House were reluctant to consider amendments, the Senators were even worse.  We have less details in the Senate since debate was closed to the public, and the official record does not record debate. When the amendments arrived in the Senate. The first thing they did was move to postpone consideration until the next session.  The majority, however, rejected postponement.

The anti-federalist Senator William Maclay noted that his fellow Pennsylvania Senator Robert Morris considered all of this a waste  of time.  Morris said the house was “playing with Amendments.”  In a letter to a friend, Morris commented that they were only going through all these because Madison was afraid of losing his next election.  He wrote “Poor Madison got so Cursedly frightened in Virginia, that I believe he has dreamed of amendments ever since." Morris referred to the "Nonsense they call Amendments," and that this whole effort was doomed to failure.  

The anti-federalists also considered postponing or killing the amendments.  Patrick Henry wrote to several members of Congress noting that if the amendment process died in Congress, it would spur on his hope to hold that second continental convention.

Virginia Senator Richard Henry Lee did not share Henry’s gambling attitude.  Lee was an anti- federalist. He believed these amendments did not go far enough, but that something was better than nothing.  As he put it “if we cannot gain the whole loaf, we shall at least have some bread.” 

Unfortunately, Senator Maclay, who was our best note taker for senate debate, was out sick for most of the debates on the amendments. We do know that the Senate did take up the debate and considered twenty amendments of their own.  These included a ban on direct taxation by the federal government, larger super majorities for treaties or standing armies, and other changes.  Most, if not all of these had been proposed and rejected at the Constitutional Convention.

In the end, the Senate did not add any new amendments.  In fact, they dumped all the changes to the preamble and reduced the House’s seventeen amendments to just twelve.  Some of this was by combining several amendments. For example the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition got rolled into a single amendment.

But it did remove a few amendments completely.  One of the biggest changes was the amendment which prohibited states from infringing on free speech, free press and jury trials.  This would have given the federal government more power over state governments.  Senators, who were appointed by state legislatures, wanted no part of that.

They also took out the amendment about the branches of government getting involved in the powers of other branches. The senators considered that redundant.  They also removed the limit on appeals to federal courts on small dollar amounts.  The Judiciary Act already covered that point.  

Joint Committee

With the Senate’s change complete, both houses appointed members to a joint committee on September 21, to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions.  Remember, Congress wanted to adjourn by the end of the month, only a week and a half away.  They had to act quickly. 

The House delegation generally accepted most of the Senate changes, including the reduction from seventeen amendments to twelve.  The joint committee changed some of the changes that the Senate made to the establishment clause.  The Senate version said “Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith, or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion,”  The committee changed that back to the house version: “Congress shall make no law establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.  The Senate also took out language about the right to a jury in criminal trials, which the committee added back again. 

Other than those and a couple of minor grammatical changes, the Senate version was pretty much accepted.  The committee reported its work back to both the House and Senate in just four days.

On September 24, the House, which was busy trying to finish up about a dozen other laws that day, approved the committee report by a vote of 37-14.  The following day, the Senate also voted in favor by a two-thirds majority, but did not record its vote.

Since amendments did not need to go to the President, the work was complete.  The amendments went off to the states for ratification.

Next week, the new government is forced to focus on foreign policy as the French Revolution begins.

- - -

Next Episode 363 The French Revolution

Previous Episode 361 Bill of Rights - First Draft

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Further Reading

Websites

RUMBLE, WILFRID E. “JAMES MADISON ON THE VALUE OF BILLS OF RIGHTS.” Nomos, vol. 20, 1979, pp. 122–62. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24219130

Leibiger, Stuart. “James Madison and Amendments to the Constitution, 1787-1789: ‘Parchment Barriers.’” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 59, no. 3, 1993, pp. 441–68. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2210003

Gerber, Scott D. “Roger Sherman and the Bill of Rights.” Polity, vol. 28, no. 4, 1996, pp. 521–40. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3235344

“George Washington to James Madison, 31 May 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-02-02-0305
“James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 17 October 1788,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-11-02-0218

Madison submits his Bill of Rights to Congress, June 8, 1789: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-12-02-0126

James Madison’s Proposed Amendments to the Constitution, June 8, 1789: https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/education/bill-of-rights/images/madison.pdf

Committee of Eleven report on Amendments to the Constitution, July 28, 1789: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2021madison38252/?st=pdf

The House Version of the Bill of Rights: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-house-version

“James Madison to Wilson Cary Nicholas, 2 August 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-12-02-0208

“James Madison to Richard Peters, 19 August 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-12-02-0230

Senate Version of the Bill of Rights: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-senate-version

Congress Creates a Bill of Rights https://www.archives.gov/legislative/resources/bill-of-rights

Congress Creates the Bill of Rights, Part IIA: https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/bill-of-rights/CCBR_IIA.pdf

.Congress Creates the Bill of Rights, Part IIB: https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/bill-of-rights/CCBR_IIB.pdf

Finkelman, Paul. “James Madison and the Bill of Rights: A Reluctant Paternity.” The Supreme Court Review, vol. 1990, 1990, pp. 301–47. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3109663

Zink, James R. “James Wilson versus the Bill of Rights: Progress, Popular Sovereignty, and the Idea of the U.S. Constitution.” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 2, 2014, pp. 253–65. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24371781

Gerber, Scott D. “Roger Sherman and the Bill of Rights.” Polity, vol. 28, no. 4, 1996, pp. 521–40. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3235344

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Brant, Irving James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800. Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1950 (borrow only). 

Conley, Patrick T. and John Kaminski (eds) The Bill of Rights and the States, Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1992 (borrow only) 

Dudley, William The Bill of Rights: Opposing Viewpoints, San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1994 (borrow only). 

Schwartz, Bernard The Great Rights of Mankind: A History of the American Bill of Rights, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977 (borrow only) 

Rutland, Robert The Birth of the Bill of Rights, 1776-1791, Northeastern Univ. Press, 1955 (borrow only). 

Schwartz, Bernard Roots of the Bill of Rights, Vol. 5. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1971 (borrow only). 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

The Bill of Rights: With Writings that Formed its Foundation, Applewood Books, 2008. 

Congress Creates the Bill of Rights: The Complete Proceedings, The National Archives, 2023. 

De Pauw, Linda Grant (ed) Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791: Senate Legislative Journal (Volume 1), Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1972.

DeRose, Chris Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation, Regnery History, 2011.

Godwin, Robert A. From Parchment to Power: How James Madison Used the Bill of Rights to Save the Constitution, AEI Press, 1997. 

Labunski, Richard James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights, Oxford Univ. Press, 2006. 

Levy, Leonard W. Origins of the Bill of Rights, Yale Univ. Press, 1999. 

Smith, Craig To Form a More Perfect Union: The Ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, 1787-1791, Univ. Press of America, 1993. 

Veit, Helen E. (et. al) (eds) Creating the Bill of Rights: The Documentary Record from the First Federal Congress, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1991. 

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 

 

Thursday, August 14, 2025

ARP361b Madison's Draft Bill of Rights

James Madison proposed nine changes to the Constitution on June 8, 1789.  Under his proposal, the changes would be inserted into the original Constitution, with some deletions as well.  Below is the full text:

First. That there be prefixed to the constitution a declaration—That all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from the people.

That government is instituted, and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right of acquiring and using property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

That the people have an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform or change their government, whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purposes of its institution.

Secondly. That in article 1st. section 2, clause 3, these words be struck out, to wit, “The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative, and until such enumeration shall be made.” And that in place thereof be inserted these words, to wit, “After the first actual enumeration, there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, until the number amount to   after which the proportion shall be so regulated by congress, that the number shall never be less than   nor more than   but each state shall after the first enumeration, have at least two representatives; and prior thereto.”

Thirdly. That in article 1st, section 6, clause 1, there be added to the end of the first sentence, these words, to wit, “But no law varying the compensation last ascertained shall operate before the next ensuing election of representatives.”

Fourthly. That in article 1st, section 9, between clauses 3 and 4, be inserted these clauses, to wit, The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed, and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.

No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor at any time, but in a manner warranted by law.

No person shall be subject, except in cases of impeachment, to more than one punishment, or one trial for the same offence; nor shall be compelled to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor be obliged to relinquish his property, where it may be necessary for public use, without a just compensation.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The rights of the people to be secured in their persons, their houses, their papers, and their other property from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, or not particularly describing the places to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the cause and nature of the accusation, to be confronted with his accusers, and the witnesses against him; to have a compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.

The exceptions here or elsewhere in the constitution, made in favor of particular rights, shall not be so construed as to diminish the just importance of other rights retained by the people; or as to enlarge the powers delegated by the constitution; but either as actual limitations of such powers, or as inserted merely for greater caution.

Fifthly. That in article 1st, section 10, between clauses 1 and 2, be inserted this clause, to wit:

No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.

Sixthly. That article 3d, section 2, be annexed to the end of clause 2d, these words to wit: but no appeal to such court shall be allowed where the value in controversy shall not amount to   dollars: nor shall any fact triable by jury, according to the course of common law, be otherwise re-examinable than may consist with the principles of common law.

Seventhly. That in article 3d, section 2, the third clause be struck out, and in its place be inserted the clauses following, to wit:

The trial of all crimes (except in cases of impeachments, and cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the militia when on actual service in time of war or public danger) shall be by an impartial jury of freeholders of the vicinage, with the requisite of unanimity for conviction, of the right of challenge, and other accustomed requisites; and in all crimes punishable with loss of life or member, presentment or indictment by a grand jury, shall be an essential preliminary, provided that in cases of crimes committed within any county which may be in possession of an enemy, or in which a general insurrection may prevail, the trial may by law be authorised in some other county of the same state, as near as may be to the seat of the offence.

In cases of crimes committed not within any county, the trial may by law be in such county as the laws shall have prescribed. In suits at common law, between man and man, the trial by jury, as one of the best securities to the rights of the people, ought to remain inviolate.

Eighthly. That immediately after article 6th, be inserted, as article 7th, the clauses following, to wit:

The powers delegated by this constitution, are appropriated to the departments to which they are respectively distributed: so that the legislative department shall never exercise the powers vested in the executive or judicial; nor the executive exercise the powers vested in the legislative or judicial; nor the judicial exercise the powers vested in the legislative or executive departments.

The powers not delegated by this constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively.

Ninthly. That article 7th, be numbered as article 8th.

* * * 

To view the details of his proposal in Context, go to: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-12-02-0126


Sunday, August 10, 2025

ARP361 Bill of Rights: First Draft

Last week we covered the priority bill of the first Senate.  This week, look at the main focus of the House of Representatives during its first session: amending the Constitution to include a bill of rights.

Advocates for a Bill of Rights

By far, the biggest complaint following the Constitution was that the proposed Constitution did not have a bill of rights.  A majority of state ratifying conventions focused on this point and demanded that one be added.  Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York, all explicitly called for a bill of rights.  The federalists in those states could only fight to make them suggestions rather than mandatory in order to get the Constitution ratified.  North Carolina and Rhode Island still refused to ratify the Constitution, at least in part due to the lack of a bill of rights.  Pennsylvania, which had ratified early and unconditionally, held a second convention before the ratification process was complete in other states.  That group also called for a bill of rights.

James Madison
The concept of a bill of rights had become an ancient bulwark of freedom in English history.  The Magna Carta of 1215 limited the king’s power in certain ways that were designed to establish a rule of law, and rejected the idea of an absolute ruler who could do whatever he wanted.  This notion found its way into the English Bill of Rights in 1689, following the Glorious Revolution in England.

The English Bill set out some basic principles that had become foundational to what most leaders thought was necessary for a free society.  It rejected the idea that the king could suspend or ignore laws passed by Parliament.  It also barred the king from levying taxes without the approval of Parliament.  This was the basis for the colonial complaint of taxation without representation.  

The English Bill also guaranteed the right of free speech and to petition the government.  It barred the king from keeping a standing army in time of peace without Parliament’s approval.  It guaranteed Englishmen, at least Protestants, the right to keep arms. It also required jury trials for most cases, banned excessive bail or fines, cruel and unusual punishments, and fines or forfeitures before a trial.  

The colonists had used this as the basis for justifying their Declaration of Independence.  These were the sorts of inalienable rights that the king had violated.  Americans wanted to establish that these rights had to be protected above all else.  All states had some statutory or constitutional guarantee for the projections of rights.  Most of these were created in 1776, when the states declared independence, and some were based on rights that were already written into their colonial charters.

The Articles of Confederation did not have a bill of rights.  This was because the authority under the Articles was so limited, that it was thought to be unnecessary.  But when the Confederation Congress established the Northwest Territory, it built a bill of rights into the Northwest Ordinance.

Opposition

Many of the leading federalists, including Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, James Wilson, and Oliver Ellsworth opposed a bill of rights.  Much of the concern had more to do with strategy than any opposition to the principles in such a bill.  They did not want any changes to slow up the ratification of the Constitution.  They also did not want to see a second constitutional convention that might go well beyond adding a bill of rights, and undo many of the other provisions established at the first convention.

But even beyond those strategic considerations, leading federalists argued that creating one was a bad idea.  For starters, they argued that the US Constitution was the same as the Articles of Confederation, in that it only gave the federal government certain enumerated powers.  Unlike states that had all sorts of potential powers (what we call today general police powers) the federal government could only act in those areas that the Constitution specified.

So, for example, there was no worry that Congress could pass a law infringing on the freedom of speech or press because there was no enumerated power in the Constitution that allowed Congress to have that power.  Hamilton wrote in one of the federalist papers: "why declare things shall not be done, which there is no power to do?"

The Federalists also argued that there was an affirmative danger in listing a specific bill of rights.  By defining those rights, they were concerned that they might inadvertently leave some right off of the list, leading to the implication that the government might infringe on that overlooked right.  Some also argued that since the Constitution did nothing to repeal the various rights protected by state constitutions, that that the people still had those protections.

Beyond that, men like Madison believed that simply writing down certain rights was essentially meaningless.  He called them “parchment barriers.”  A majority in what he called “popular hysteria” might approve of taking away some of those rights.  That had already happened at times at the state level.  Simply having a right on paper, that the government did not recognize, and that the voters did not care about, was essentially meaningless.  The protection of rights comes from the demands of the people and the obedience of government to those demands.

Madison’s Conversion

James Madison had been a leading opponent of a bill of rights at both the Constitutional Convention and during the ratification conventions, mostly for the same reasons most federalists opposed them.  They were an unnecessary distraction from creating and implementing the new Federal Constitution.

However, by the time Madison had taken his seat in Congress, he had changed his views on this topic.  Patrick Henry and other anti-federalists in Virginia saw Madison as dangerous. They tried to keep him out of the federal government completely, first denying him an appointment as Senator, then drawing congressional districts to put his home in a strongly anti-federalist district.  

When Madison entered the election contest against James Monroe for a seat in the House of Representatives, he knew that his voters were not happy with his federalist tendencies and were inclined to vote against a representative who would push for a stronger federal government.  So, Madison did what any politician fighting for political survival would do.  He flip-flopped.  

Ok, maybe I sound a bit cynical in saying that.  We generally think of a flip-flop at completely changing one’s view on an issue of principle.  As I said before, Madison never objected to the fundamental principles that a bill of rights would protect.  He simply saw it as an unnecessary distraction.  With the ratification process behind them, a bill of rights would not impede the implementation of the constitution.  In fact, if he could introduce a bill of rights on his own terms, it might take away some of the political pressure to hold that second constitutional convention.

Even as late as August of 1788, Madison was still pushing the federalist line that a bill of rights taken up by the first Congress would be a distraction.  Madison called for having a few years without a bill so that there would be some experience as to exactly what rights should be protected.

But as the election heated up, Madison changed that view.  In a letter in the fall of 1788, Madison candidly admitted, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, that he was fine with a bill of rights, if it was done properly, but that he mostly favored it to satisfy others. 

My own opinion has always been in favor of a bill of rights; provided it be so framed as not to imply powers not meant to be included in the enumeration. At the same time I have never thought the omission a material defect, nor been anxious to supply it even by subsequent amendment, for any other reason than that it is anxiously desired by others

Jefferson strongly encouraged Madison to support the bill of rights, not only out of political expediency but because such “parchment protections” as Madison called them did make a difference.  While Jefferson conceded that popular governments might still violate those rights in some cases, writing out those rights would help to protect them.  In particular, it would give the judiciary more ammunition to protect those rights against the popular will.  So, while Madison still believed a bill of rights to be mostly about satisfying others, he did decide to make it a priority.

Madison made his new views public with a letter written on January 2, 1789, to a local Baptist Minister, George Eve, Madison wrote in part:

it is my sincere opinion that the Constitution ought to be revised, and that the first Congress meeting under it, ought to prepare and recommend to the States for ratification, the most satisfactory provisions for all essential rights, particularly the rights of Conscience in the fullest latitude, the freedom of the press, trials by jury, security against general warrants &c.

To further his point, Madison wrote another letter to Thomas Mann Randolph a couple of weeks later, which he knew would be published in the newspapers a few days before the election.  In it, Madison reiterated his willingness to amend the Constitution.

The report, which, I have reason to believe is most injurious, charges me, with being a strenuous advocate for the perfection of the Constitution as it stands, and an inflexible opponent to the change of a single letter. The truth, on the contrary is, that I have ever thought it might be improved in several points, although I never could see the dangers which alarmed many; and what is more, was an unsuccessful advocate in the General Convention, which framed the instrument, for several of the very amendments, since recommended by this, and other States.

He Continued: 

 It is particularly, my opinion, that the clearest, and strongest provision ought to be made, for all those essential rights, which have been thought in danger, such as the rights of conscience, the freedom of the press, trials by jury, exemption from general warrants, &c.

He also argued in favor of amendments rather than a second convention.  In this point, he argued that it would be a much faster and easier way to get these changes into the Constitution. In short, Madison not only supported a Bill of Rights, he made it a top priority and promised voters that he would personally initiate these proposed amendments right away when he got to Congress.

Madison’s motives were not simply to win the election.  He had also come to realize that so many people had demanded a bill of rights, that it was probably inevitable.  By leading the fight to create the bill, Madison could make sure it was done the way he wanted, and could also be done in a way that avoided that dreaded second constitutional convention.

First Draft

After winning his seat in Congress, Madison focused on producing a draft bill of rights.  I use the word focus cautiously, because Madison was doing a host of other things at this same time, including writing President Washington’s inaugural address, helping to get the President’s residency set up in New York and many other things.

Despite his other work, Madison had promised his constituents to make the bill of rights a priority.  He got to work researching what should go into it.  Madison relied heavily on the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written largely by George Mason in 1776, although others, including Madison himself, had played a role in drafting their final version.  Madison also went back to the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the works of philosopher John Locke.

Madison also tried to use more contemporary sources.  He reviewed all the state constitutions of see what those documents considered to be the most important protections.  He also consulted all of the proposals drafted by the various state ratifying conventions.  Of particular concern to him were the proposals made by the voters of Virginia.  

The various conventions, along with reports from minority committees in states that did not formally propose amendments, totaled over 200 changes to the Constitution. Many of these were duplicative.  Even after removing all the duplicate requests, Madison came up with a list of about seventy five distinct amendments.

Although Madison consulted a great many documents while drafting his proposed amendments, he did not seem to consult with many people during his process.  He had corresponded with Thomas Jefferson and others about whether to add a bill of rights.  He also showed his final proposal to George Washington before submitting it to Congress. But he did not seem to work with anyone else as he drafted the specific proposals that he planned to introduce into Congress.

Madison, of course, expected that once he introduced his proposals, that Congress would tear into them and make plenty of changes.  This was the same thing that happened when he introduced his Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention. But by presenting a completed proposal, Madison would at least control where the debate began, and hopefully prevent it from moving too far afield.

His goal was to draft a comprehensive list of all the major concerns raised by the states and on which there was a general consensus.  He wanted the focus to be on an expression of protected rights.  Madison did not want the debate over amendments to veer into a discussion of substantive changes to the Constitution itself. He viewed this more as an addition or supplement to the original document, not an effort to rewrite the whole thing.

Madison still saw this effort as substantively meaningless.  He already believed that the Constitution, as written, did not give the federal government the power to infringe on the basic liberties of the people.  This was an effort to keep his constituents happy and to satisfy anti-federalist complaints that the new Constitution did not protect these rights.  

As a result, he simply compiled a list of various rights that people had.  He did not make any effort to create a system for the federal government to protect those rights or any sort of enforcement mechanisms or procedures for the people to use when the government overstepped its bounds.  Madison noted states had all provided for different protections.  For example, five states had established religions or permitted them.  Five also did not provide for protection of rights of assembly, petition, the right to council, or trial by jury in civil cases. Two states did not say anything about a free press.  Four states had no restrictions on things like excessive fines or bail, self-incrimination, or the need for search warrants.  The majority of states had no problem with ex post facto law or double jeopardy,.  Most did not require grand juries.  Only a couple explicitly provided for freedom of speech or a prohibition on double jeopardy.

Madison’s main focus was to make sure that the federal government would not infare on these rights.  He made very few changes to ensure states would protect the people from state infringements of their rights.  Indeed, if Madison had tried to empower the federal government with power to prevent states from interfering with the rights of the people, that would have led to a backlash from anti-federalists about allowing the federal government to interfere with state powers.  Each state would continue to have full authority to establish its own rights.  Madison’s amendments primarily sought to ensure that the federal government would not infringe on his list of rights.

Madison believed that the best way to preserve these rights was for the people to be on the watch at all times for a government that might infringe on them.  Beyond that, the separation of powers that was spelled out in the original Constitution that would prevent fleeting majorities who might elect someone who would run roughshod over their rights, from having sufficient power to put those violations of rights into effect.

In his final proposal to Congress, Madison did add a few substantive restrictions.  He added a rule that would increase the size of the House of Representatives so that there would be one representative for every 30,000 voters.  There had been a push for this rule at the convention, and several states, including Virginia, had demanded such a rule at their ratifying conventions.

Madison also added a rule that members of Congress could not increase their own compensation prior to an intervening election.  In other words, members of congress could not get into office, give themselves a big raise, and collect before the voters could say anything about it.  The voters would have a say in their reelection before any pay raise went into effect.

Madison did not carefully number his changes, so you can count them differently.  Most people will say there are about 15-20 amendments in his initial proposal.  Among the rights protected are: 

  • freedom of religion, free speech and free press. 
  • the right to assemble and to petition government, 
  • the right to keep and bear arms, 
  • the right not to have soldiers quartered in people’s homes, 
  • protections against double jeopardy, self-incrimination, 
  • the right to due process, 
  • protection of private property, 
  • prohibitions on excessive bail or fines
  • Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments
  • Protections of searches without probable cause or specific warrants
  • The right to a speedy criminal trial where the accused is informed of the charges and has a right to confront accusers and bring witnesses

Recalling his concern that a list of rights might allow people to claim that the list is finite, Madison also added a clause that his list should not be construed to diminish other rights not mentioned. Madison did put a few restrictions on states.  He added a clause that no state could violate the rights of conscience, freedom of the press, or trial by jury in criminal cases.

He also proposed rules that would prevent appeals to federal court if the value was below a certain amount, or that appellate courts could reevaluate the facts of a case decided by jury.  He also added rules for grand juries in capital crimes, and that jury verdicts had to be unanimous, and that trials had to be local.  Finally, Madison added an explicit rule that the legislative, executive, and judicial branches could not try to exercise the powers of the other branches and that any powers not delegated by the Constitution nor prohibited to the states, continued to belong to the states.

This was the set of proposals that Madison brought to Congress in the summer of 1789.  

Next week, we’ll discuss what Congress did with these proposals.

- - -

Next Episode 362 Debating the Bill of Rights 

Previous Episode 360 Judiciary Act of 1789

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Further Reading

Websites

“James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 17 October 1788,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-11-02-0218

“James Madison to George Eve, 2 January 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-11-02-0297

“Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 15 March 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-14-02-0410

“James Madison to Thomas Mann Randolph, 13 January 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-11-02-0304

 James Madison’s Proposed Amendments to the Constitution, June 8, 1787 https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/education/bill-of-rights/images/madison.pdf

Congress Creates the Bill of Rights, Part I: https://www.archives.gov/files/legislative/resources/bill-of-rights/CCBR_I.pdf

Madison’s Consistency on the Bill of Rights: https://nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/madisons-consistency-on-the-bill-of-rights

Madison and Jefferson Discuss the Bill of Rights: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/blog/madison-and-jefferson-discuss-the-bill-of-rights

RUMBLE, WILFRID E. “JAMES MADISON ON THE VALUE OF BILLS OF RIGHTS.” Nomos, vol. 20, 1979, pp. 122–62. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24219130

Leibiger, Stuart. “James Madison and Amendments to the Constitution, 1787-1789: ‘Parchment Barriers.’” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 59, no. 3, 1993, pp. 441–68. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2210003

Gerber, Scott D. “Roger Sherman and the Bill of Rights.” Polity, vol. 28, no. 4, 1996, pp. 521–40. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3235344

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Brant, Irving James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800. Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1950 (borrow only). 

Conley, Patrick T. and John Kaminski (eds) The Bill of Rights and the States, Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1992 (borrow only) 

Dudley, William The Bill of Rights: Opposing Viewpoints, San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1994 (borrow only). 

Schwartz, Bernard The Great Rights of Mankind: A History of the American Bill of Rights, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977 (borrow only) 

Rutland, Robert The Birth of the Bill of Rights, 1776-1791, Northeastern Univ. Press, 1955 (borrow only). 

Schwartz, Bernard Roots of the Bill of Rights, Vol. 5. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1971 (borrow only). 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

The Bill of Rights: With Writings that Formed its Foundation, Applewood Books, 2008. 

Congress Creates the Bill of Rights: The Complete Proceedings, The National Archives, 2023. 

De Pauw, Linda Grant (ed) Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791: Senate Legislative Journal (Volume 1), Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1972.

DeRose, Chris Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation, Regnery History, 2011.

Godwin, Robert A. From Parchment to Power: How James Madison Used the Bill of Rights to Save the Constitution, AEI Press, 1997. 

Labunski, Richard James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights, Oxford Univ. Press, 2006. 

Levy, Leonard W. Origins of the Bill of Rights, Yale Univ. Press, 1999. 

Smith, Craig To Form a More Perfect Union: The Ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, 1787-1791, Univ. Press of America, 1993. 

Veit, Helen E. (et. al) (eds) Creating the Bill of Rights: The Documentary Record from the First Federal Congress, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1991. 

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


Sunday, August 3, 2025

ARP360 Judiciary Act of 1789

Last week we covered the establishment of the executive branch, with the appointments of secretaries of war, state, and treasury, as well as an Attorney General.  This week, we take a look at the establishment of the Federal court system.

Senate Bill

The first bill introduced in the new US Senate was the Judiciary Act.  The Constitution had given relatively little details on what the court system would look like. One reason for this was that the Convention delegates did not seem to agree, and figured it would be better to leave that debate up to the legislature.  Well, now the legislature had to fill in those details.

The Judiciary Act became Senate Bill No. 1.  It was introduced on April 7, 1789, the second day that the Senate had gotten a quorum to begin business.  The first day had been taken up with confirming the electoral college vote for President George Washington, and electing its officers, including Senator John Langdon of New Hampshire as the first President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

It was important to get the courts up and running, but drafting the details of the bill would take time.  The Senate referred the bill to committee for consideration.  It included one member from each state.  There were only eight states represented in the Senate at the time, so the initial committee only had eight members, including Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, William Paterson of New Jersey, William Maclay of Pennsylvania, Caleb Strong of Massachusetts, and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.  A week later, senators from Maryland and South Carolina finally showed up and were also added to the committee.

Remember that the Senate only consisted of twenty senators at the time, and only eleven or twelve of them were showing up at the time for sessions.  Many states only had one senator present. So the committee consisted of almost all the active senators who had arrived in New York.

Oliver Ellsworth

I mentioned the names of the key players on the committee.  Typically most credit for the bill is given to Oliver Ellsworth.  He has been involved in a number of things in our story, but I haven’t really focused on Ellsworth before.  A little background: Ellsworth came from a relatively good Connecticut family.  He started college at Yale, but transferred to the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, where he became good friends with William Paterson and Luther Martin. 

Ellsworth became a successful attorney before the Revolutionary War.  He also served in the Connecticut militia, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before the war began.  Ellsworth was a patriot and, as a militia officer, led cavalry against the British in New York in 1776.  Military life, though, was not his thing.  Ellsworth maintained his legal practice during the war and served in the Continental Congress beginning in 1777.  After the war, Ellsworth became a state judge in Connecticut.  

He also received an appointment to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.  There, he worked alongside his old college buddies Patterson of New Jersey and Martin of Maryland to help draft the Constitution.  I mentioned that during the Convention some delegates were more active, and others barely showed up at all. Ellsworth was one of the more active delegates at the convention, and served on the Committee of Detail, which played a big role in the final version of the Constitution.

Ellsworth left the convention a few weeks before it ended, so he never signed it.  Still he was a strong supporter, and also played a big role in Connecticut’s ratification convention.  He emerged as a leading Federalist and was seen as very supportive of the Washington Administration.  After being appointed one of Connecticut's first US Senators, Ellsworth took on a role which was essentially the majority leader of the Senate, although that position did not officially exist at the time.

Committee on the Judiciary

On the Senate Committee that had been designated to write the Judiciary Bill, Ellsworth became the bill’s main author.  This would not be easy.  The outline of the judicial branch had been particularly vague as written at the Convention.  The delegates did this because they really didn’t agree on what the judicial branch should look like.  Just like the senators would not agree on what it should look like.

There were many states that had used their ratifying conventions to put restrictions on the new sort of federal court system that this committee was tasked with creating.  Republican senators on the Committee like Richard Henry Lee and William Maclay were sent to the Senate with instructions to limit the power of the new federal court system.  Other federalist senators like Ellsworth and his old college buddy William Paterson, advocated for a more powerful federal court system that could handle a wide range of issues.

Speaking for the opposition, Lee reminded the committee of the complaints outlined in the Constitution that Americans considered it illegitimate to be tried in courts that were some distance from their homes, and without a jury.  These were issues listed in the Declaration of Independence as reasons for breaking with Britain.  And remember, there was no bill of rights attached to the Constitution yet, so many senators wanted those protections in the Judiciary Bill.

Another big issue was debts to Britain.  Part of the peace treaty had promised good faith in allowing British creditors to collect pre-war debts owed by Americans.   Many states had pretty much ignored this promise and were not making it easy for British creditors to pursue debt collection.  Many anti-federalists opposed a new federal court system that would make things easier for British creditors.

Among the changes the Virginia ratifying convention had demanded was limiting federal courts to maritime cases and the Supreme Court to cases involving foreign diplomats and disputes between state governments.  The federalists, men like Ellsworth and Paterson, disagreed. They wanted a robust federal court system that could hear a wide variety of cases.  At a minimum, this included any questions involving federal laws and treaties. They wanted to create a whole system of trial courts in all the states to hear a wide variety of issues.

The committee worked to form a consensus among the disparate views represented on the committee.  After about three weeks, by the end of April, the committee had drafted their guiding principles for the bill.

They agreed to establish both a Supreme Court, as well as two levels of lower federal courts.  The Supreme Court would consist of six judges that would convene for relatively short terms twice each year.  They also agreed to establish district courts in each state.  In between the district courts and the Supreme Court would be circuit courts.  

These would hear appeals from the district courts. The country was divided into three circuits. One circuit would consist of New York and New England. Another would be South Carolina and Georgia.  The final one would include New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.   Rather than appoint a whole new set of judges to sit on the circuit court, the committee would have two the Supreme Court justices serve in each circuit, with the justices sitting on a circuit court panel with a single district court judge to form a three judge panel to hear appeals from the district courts.  So the justices would literally ride circuit.  Each circuit court would also meet for a short period, twice each year, allowing Justices to do this double duty in both circuit courts and the Supreme Court.

The committee also agreed to some things that would limit the scope of the federal courts.  One, which had been suggested by several state ratifying conventions, was to put a minimum dollar amount on civil cases that could be heard in federal court.  One reason was to prevent people from being forced to travel a great distance to contest relatively small cases. Most states would have only one federal district court, meaning a person might have to travel more than a hundred miles to contest a case in federal court.

The committee tentatively agreed that a case had to be worth $300 or more.  At the time, $300 was a fair amount of money, probably as much as a common laborer would earn in an entire year.  This limit ensured that the majority of cases, which usually involved smaller amounts, would remain exclusively in state courts.

One area of general agreement was that federal courts would hear maritime issues.  That is, cases that involved ships on the high seas.  In the colonial era, these tended to be held by British admiralty courts, and were not a traditional area of jurisdiction for state courts.  Members also agreed to limit Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction from state courts to issues that involved federal law.  State interpretations of state law would be final and unreviewable.

With these general guidelines in place by early May, the committee was ready to start writing the bill.  The records on this process are pretty sparse.  There does not seem to be much official record of a subcommittee to draft the bill. But we do know that Ellsworth, Paterson, and Strong were the ones who worked together to draft the bill.  All three were strong federalists who wanted a pretty robust federal court system, but were also mindful of putting in some limits to keep the anti-federalists from getting too upset.

It took the subcommittee about a month to come up with a completed bill.  They submitted it to the full Senate.  At the time, all Senate proceedings were secret. Unlike the House, there was no way for the public to watch the Senate, and its records were not published publicly.

The committee submitted the proposed bill to the full Senate on June 12.  Under the new Senate rules, the 16 page bill would be printed and distributed to the senators for review.  It would also be read, literally read out loud, to the Senate, in full, several times. After the first reading, senators could propose amendments.

Jurisdiction was a big issue.  The committee recommended that the courts have jurisdiction over any questions of federal law.  On the first day of debate, Lee, who had voted against the bill in committee, moved to restrict district courts to maritime and admiralty issues only.  Other issues involving federal law could be argued first in state courts, then appealed to federal circuit courts.  The Senate majority rejected this amendment.

They also put limits on the federal appellate courts so that they could not retry the facts that had been determined by lower courts.  They could only focus on the way the laws were applied to those facts.  This gave juries a final say over the facts of a case.

Part of the issues involving the judiciary got mixed in with the debate over the proposed bill of rights.  I’ll address the bill of rights in an upcoming episode, but since those amendments covered a fair amount of restrictions on the courts, senators allowed those amendments to put some safeguards on the federal courts rather than putting all of it in the Judiciary Bill.

The final bill created thirteen district courts, one in each of the eleven states, plus one in Maine, which was still part of Massachusetts, and another in Kentucky, which was still part of Virginia, along with the three appellate circuits and the six justices on the Supreme Court.  The final bill passed the Senate by a vote of fourteen to six.  With that, the bill moved to the House of Representatives on July 20.

House Vote

The House, at the time, was busy debating the Bill of Rights.  It put off debate on the Judiciary Bill until the end of August.  Madison had been the key leader in getting the Bill of Rights through the House, and was expected to lead another fight over the judiciary bill.  Instead, Madison took a more laid back approach.  He did not make any fundamental attacks on the bill.  The House ended up proposing about 50 changes, but these were all pretty minor changes.  They generally accepted the structure of the courts as outlined by the Senate.  

Madison seemed to convey his attitude during his closing speech on the debate.  He essentially said that the bill was imperfect, but that it was late in the session and they had to get it done.  Since this was a statute, unlike the constitutional amendments they had just considered before this, any problems with the judiciary bill could be fixed through statutory changes down the road.

As a result, the House passed the bill 37-16.  A joint committee made a few more minor changes, but Congress passed the final bill on September 21, and signed by the president three days later.  By the end of September, Congress had ended its session and the members went home.

Appointing Judges

Before they could leave though, the Senate also had to confirm some federal judges. The President had signed the bill on September 24, and the senators wanted to leave town by the end of the month. Washington had been following the Judiciary bill and had appointments all ready to go as soon as the bill was passed.

Only a few months into his term, Washington had already given up on the Constitutional requirement that he seek the advice and consent of the Senate.  In early August, the Senate had rejected one of Washington’s appointments to a position as a tax collector at the Port of Savannah.  Washington walked into the Senate and asked for the reasons why his appointment was rejected.  The President’s sudden appearance without invitation was met with shocked silence.  Eventually, one of the senators who opposed the appointment told Washington that the Senate owed him no explanation of their motives and sent the president packing.

A few weeks later Washington returned to the Senate to seek its advice on a potential treaty with some Indian tribes.  Washington expected that he could discuss the proposed treaty with the senators and get their advice. Washington came armed with a copy of the proposed treaty and was prepared to answer any questions, along with his Secretary of War Henry Knox. Instead, the senators seemed to argue with each other for hours over matters  of procedure.  Many of them could not hear the reading of the treaty.  Eventually, the Senate voted to refer the treaty to committee for deliberation and not give the President any answer.  Washington, who had expected an answer right then, showed one of his rare flashes of temper as he stormed out of the Senate.  After that, Washington had given up on seeking the advice of the Senate.  Instead, he simply sent proposals to them for their consent.

So, when he signed the Judiciary Bill into law, Washington had not made any formal attempts to seek the advice of the Senate about his appointments.  He did not even have an attorney general at this point to give him advice, since the Judiciary Act created the office of attorney general. Instead, Washington relied on informal discussions with Madison, and to a lesser extent Hamilton.  This annoyed some senators on the point that the President was seeking advice from non-senators and not seeking the advice of senators as the Constitution required.

Washington had also learned his lesson with the rejection of his port collector that he needed to consult individually with legislators from the state where he was making appointments these were the people most likely to reject a nominee, often for local political reasons. By conferring with senators and congressmen from the appointee’s home state, Washington realized he could avoid many future rejections.

We don’t have much recorded about these informal discussions about nominees.  We do know that Washington was concerned that the Supreme Court have some geographic diversity.  There were only six justices, so not every state could be included on the court, but there was no more than appointment from each state, and the larger states were the ones represented.

Washington considered a few people for Chief Justice, including James Wilson of Pennsylvania and John Rutledge of South Carolina.  In the end though, Washington wanted a leader who was known more nationally.  He selected John Jay of New York.  Jay, of course, was well known for his work on the peace treaty that ended the war, and was a highly respected jurist.  Wilson and Rutledge both received nominations as associate justices, as did John Blair of Virginia, William Cushing of Massachusetts, and Robert Harrison of Maryland.

Washington made these nominations on the very same day that he signed the Judiciary Act into law, September 24, 1789.  Despite whatever bother senators felt about their lack of input into these nominations, they confirmed all of them two days later, with no hearings, and little debate.  It appears that Washington did not even confer with all of the nominees beforehand.  Harrison, after being informed of his confirmation by the Senate, wrote back to refuse the appointment as associate justice.

On that same day that he appointed the Justices, in fact on the same piece of paper, Washington also appointed 13 district judges, 13 US attorneys, and 13 US marshals for each of the new Federal district courts.  Again, without debate, the Senate confirmed all of them two days later.

With no good record as to why Washington chose his nominees, we cannot say for certain how he made them.  Presumably, he did consult with politicians from each of the states, as well as his trusted aide, men like Madison.  Lots of people were lobbying for government jobs at the time. Washington had a strict rule of not discussing nominations with anyone unless he initiated the conversation.  

Decades later, Madison would comment on Washington’s process for choosing nominees: 

Although not idolizing public opinion, no man could be more attentive to the means of ascertaining it. In comparing the candidates for office, he was particularly inquisitive as to their standing with the public, and the opinion entertained of them by men of public weight. On important questions to be decided by him, he spared no pains to gain information from all quarters; freely asking from all whom he held in esteem, and who were intimate with him, a free communication of their sentiments, receiving with great attention the different arguments and opinions offered to him, and making up his own judgment with all the leisure that was permitted.

A week after the Senate confirmation, Washington recorded in his diary that he had sent out all the commissions.  His work on the creation of the federal courts was complete.

Next week: Congress proposes a Bill of Rights.

- - -

Next Episode 361 The Bill of Rights - First Draft

Previous Episode 359 George Washington's Inaugural

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Further Reading

Websites

The Judiciary Act of 1789: https://www.usmarshals.gov/who-we-are/history/historical-reading-room/judiciary-act-of-1789-charter-us-marshals-and-deputies

Federal Judiciary Act (1789): https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/federal-judiciary-act

George Washington and the Supreme Court: https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/george-washington-and-the-supreme-court

The Jay Court, 1789-1795: https://supremecourthistory.org/history-of-the-courts/jay-court-1789-1795

Robert Hanson Harrison https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/robert-hanson-harrison

“George Washington to the United States Senate, 24 September 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0053

“Detatched Memoranda, ca. 31 January 1820,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-01-02-0549

.“George Washington to Robert Hanson Harrison, 28 September 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0067

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800 Volume One Part 2: Commentaries on Appointments and Proceedings, Columbia Univ. Press, 1985 (borrow only). 

The Documentary history of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800 Volume 4, Organizing the Federal Judiciary, Legislation and Commentaries Columbia Univ. Press, 1985.

Brant, Irving James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800. Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1950 (borrow only). 

Brown, William G. The Life of Oliver Ellsworth, New York: MacMillan, 1905. 

Eisenberg, David The Judiciary Act of 1789, National Archives, 1989 (borrow only). 

Maclay, William Sketches of Debate in the First Senate of the United States, in 1789-90-91, Harrisburg: Lane S. Hart, 1880. 

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.