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Publications of the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Division of International Law

Washington

u s. Comet Convention, 1787

THE DEBATES IN

THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787
WHICH FRAMED THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

REPORTED BY

JAMES MADISON

A Delegate from the State of Virginia

i.....

הווייי

International Edition

GAILLARD HUNT AND JAMES BROWN SCOTT

EDITORS

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 Conven-
tion; for we had many Interests to reconcile. (Benjamin Franklin to Mr. Grand,
October 22, 1787. Documentary History of the Constitution, Vol. IV, pp. 341-
342.)

NEW YORK

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 WEST 32ND STREET

LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE, AND BOMBAY

1920

COPYRIGHT 1920

BY THE

CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE

WASHINGTON, D. C.

EXTRACT FROM THE WILL OF JAMES MADISON1

APRIL 19, 1835

Considering the peculiarity and magnitude of the occasion which produced the convention at Philadelphia in 1787, the Characters who composed it, the Constitution which resulted from their deliberation, it's effects during a trial of so many years on the prosperity of the people living under it, and the interest it has inspired among the friends of free Government, it is not an unreasonable inference that a careful and extended report of the proceedings and discussions of that body, which were with closed doors, by a member who was constant in his attendance, will be particularly gratifying to the people of the United States, and to all who take an interest in the progress of political science and the cause of true liberty.

1

1 Writings of James Madison (Hunt, Editor), Vol. IX (1910), p. 549.

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