1787.]
REFERRED RESOLUTIONS
221
RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONVENTION,
REFERRED, ON THE TWENTY-THIRD AND TWENTY-SIXTH OF JULY 1787, TO A COMMITTEE OF DETAIL, [MESSRS RUTLEDGE, RANDOLPH, GORHAM, ELLSWORTH, AND WILSON,] FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPORTING A CONSTITUTION.
Journals.
| June 2. |
"I. Resolved, That the government of the United States ought to consist of a supreme legislative, judiciary, and executive. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "II. Resolved, That the legislature consist of two branches. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21. 22. 23. |
"III. Resolved, That the members of the first branch of the legislature ought to be elected by the people of the several states, for the term of two years; to be paid out of the public treasury; to receive an adequate compensation for their services; to be of the age of twenty-five years at least; to be ineligible to, and incapable of holding, any office under the authority of the United States, (except those peculiarly belonging to the functions of the first branch,) during the term of service of the first branch. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25. | "IV. Resolved, That the members of the second branch of the legislature of the United States ought to be chosen by the individual legislatures; to be of the age of thirty years at least; to hold their offices for six years, one third to go out biennially; to receive a compensation for the devotion of their time to the public service; to be ineligible to, and incapable of holding, any office under the authority of the United States, (except those peculiarly belonging to the functions of the second branch,) during the term for which they are elected, and for one year thereafter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "V. Resolved, That each branch ought to possess the right of originating acts. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Postponed, 27. "VI. Resolved, That the national legislature ought to possess | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 16. 17. |
the legislative rights vested in Congress by the Confederation; and moreover, to legislate, in all cases, for the general interests of the Union, and also in those to which the states are separately incompetent, or in which the harmony of the United States may be interrupted by the exercise of individual legislation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "VII. Resolved, That the legislative acts of the United States, made by virtue, and in pursuance, of the articles of union, and all treaties made and ratified under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the respective states, as far as those acts or treaties shall relate to the said states, or their citizens and inhabitants; and that the judiciaries of the several states shall be bound thereby in their decisions, any thing in the respective laws of the individual states to the contrary notwithstanding. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16. | "VIII. Resolved, That, in the original formation of the legislature of the United States, the first branch thereof shall consist of sixty-five members, of which number
But as the present situation of the states may probably alter in the number of their inhabitants, the legislature of the United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
