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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO THE SECRETARIES OF STATE, THE TREASURY, WAR, AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XIII (1794-1798) [1892]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. XIII (1794-1798).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO THE SECRETARIES OF STATE, THE TREASURY, WAR, AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

Philadelphia, 25 March, 1796.

Sir,

The resolution moved in the House of Representatives, for the papers relative to the negotiation of the treaty with Great Britain,1 having passed in the affirmative, I request your opinion,

1. Whether that branch of Congress has or has not a right, by the constitution, to call for those papers?

2. Whether, if it does not possess the right, it would be expedient under the circumstances of this particular case to furnish them?

3. And, in either case, in what terms would it be most proper to comply with, or to refuse, the request of the House?

These opinions in writing, and your attendance, will be expected at ten o’clock tomorrow. I am, &c.

[1 ]The treaty with Great Britain, commonly called Jay’s Treaty, having been ratified in London on the 28th day of October, 1795, and returned to the United States, a copy of it was laid before Congress, by the President, on the 1st of March. It now became the duty of the House of Representatives to make appropriations for carrying the treaty into effect. The party in the House, opposed to the treaty, were not satisfied with the course pursued by the President in promulgating it by a proclamation, before the sense of the House of Representatives had been in any manner obtained upon the subject. A resolution was brought forward by Mr. Livingston, which, after an amendment by the original mover, assumed the following shape:

“Resolved, that the President of the United States be requested to lay before this House a copy of the instructions given to the minister of the United States, who negotiated the treaty with Great Britain communicated by his message of the 1st instant, together with the correspondence and documents relating to the said treaty, excepting such of said papers as any existing negotiation may render improper to be disclosed.”

A debate arose which did not terminate till the 24th of March, when the resolution passed in the affirmative by a vote of sixty-two to thirty-seven, and it was accordingly sent to the President by a committee of the House. The President replied to the committee, “that he would take the request to the House into consideration.”

The members of the cabinet were unanimous in advising the President not to comply with the resolution. Each of them stated the grounds of his opinion in writing. During the progress of the debate, Chief-Justice Ellsworth drew up an argument, showing that the papers could not be constitutionally demanded by the House of Representatives. Madison wrote to Jefferson, 4 April, 1796: “The absolute refusal [of the President] was as unexpected as the tone and tenor of the message are improper and indelicate.” He suspected that Hamilton was the author.