To JOHN FRANKLIN JAMESON
PREFACE↩
The
available sources of our information for studying the work of the
convention that framed the present Constitution of the United States are
scattered through various printed volumes; and some material has never
been published. The present work was undertaken with the primary purpose
of
gathering all available records into a single work of two or three volumes, but it was also intended that these records should be in trustworthy form. The latter aspect has subsequently developed into the more important feature of this edition.
gathering all available records into a single work of two or three volumes, but it was also intended that these records should be in trustworthy form. The latter aspect has subsequently developed into the more important feature of this edition.
It has been found
that most printed texts of the more important records cannot be accepted
implicitly because of the liberties that have been taken with the
manuscripts in preparing them for publication. Furthermore, in the case
of the most important record of all, Madison’s Debates, it is easily
proved that, over thirty years after the Convention, the author revised
the manuscript and made many changes upon insufficient data, which
seriously impaired the value of his notes. This is also true of other
records. It has accordingly become the first purpose of the editor in
this work to present the records of the Federal Convention in the most
trustworthy form possible. Mistakes and inaccuracies are unavoidable,
but no effort has been spared to reduce these to a minimum.
The other purpose
of this work, to gather all of the available records into a convenient
and serviceable edition, has not, however, been neglected. From the
editor’s own experience and from that of others in studying and teaching
the subject of the formation of our Constitution, certain needs have
presented themselves in quite definite form, and the attempt has been
made to meet those needs in the present edition. The extent and variety
of the material has made the task a difficult one to accomplish, and the
results are by no means satisfactory. Other methods of arrangement have
been tried, [viii]
but in every case insuperable objections presented themselves, and it
finally seemed best to adopt the plan of gathering together all the
records of each day’s session, and of allowing each record for that day
to remain complete by itself. This method has made it impossible to
place subject headings at the top of each page, and the editor has
endeavored partially to supply this lack by giving cross references to
some of the more important subjects in foot-notes, and by making the
general index as nearly exhaustive as is possible. A special index has
been added, giving such references for every clause in the Constitution
finally adopted as will enable any one to trace the origin and
development of that particular clause, and to find every item in the
present work that bears upon it.
While carrying on
his investigations the editor has been fairly overwhelmed by the
courtesies extended to him. In the examination of manuscripts, every
possible facility has been afforded him. He was placed at a disadvantage
by working most of the time at a great distance from the depositories
of all the documents he required, and his work would have been prolonged
indefinitely, — it would, perhaps, have been impossible — had it not
been for the assistance rendered him whenever asked: documents have been
examined, copied, and even photographed for his special use; every
request has been cheerfully complied with, and no trouble seems to have
been too great. Where the material was in printed form, permission to
reprint has been readily granted in every instance. Assuredly, the
“gospel of service” is a fundamental article in the creed of American
historical scholarship.
In publicly
acknowledging his indebtedness to so many who have been of service to
him, the editor desires to express his obligations in particular: to Mr.
John A. Tonner, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library of the
Department of State, to his predecessors, Mr. William McNeir and Mr.
Andrew H. Allen, and to their obliging assistants, in whose care are
most of the manuscripts from which the texts of this edition have been
taken; to the late Edward King, of New York City, for permission to use
the Rufus King manuscripts, to the New York Historical Society and its
Librarian, Mr. Robert H. Kelby, the custodians of these manuscripts; to
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and its Librarian, Mr. John [ix]
W. Jordan, for the privilege of examining and copying the Wilson
manuscripts; to Mr. Herbert Putnam and his able staff in the Library of
Congress for their many courtesies, especially to Mr. Worthington C.
Ford, the former Chief of the Division of Manuscripts and to the present
Chief, Mr. Gaillard Hunt, who have been unfailing in their kindliness
and assistance; to Mr. William Harden, Librarian of the Georgia
Historical Society, for his scholarly description of the annotations on
Baldwin’s copy of the printed draft of September 12; to the Department
of Foreign Affairs of the French Government for the privilege of
examining and copying from its Archives; to the Editors of the American Historical Review for permission to reprint documents from that journal; to Miss Kate Mason Rowland for permission to use extracts from her Life of George Mason;
to Mr. William M. Meigs for the privilege of reprinting the draft of
the Committee of Detail, published in photograph facsimile in his Growth of the Constitution;
to Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons for permission to reprint freely from
their series of “Writings of the Fathers of the Republic” — Jefferson,
King, Madison, Randolph and Washington; and to the Macmillan Company for
permission to reprint extracts from A. H. Symth, Writings of Benjamin Franklin.
The editor has
repeatedly called upon his friends for advice and assistance, which have
always been cheerfully given. Without holding them in any way
responsible for its short-comings, he wishes to express his appreciation
of the fact that this work would not have taken its present form had it
not been for their suggestions, nor would the editor have endured to
the end but for their kindly encouragement. He is especially grateful to
President Lowell of Harvard; to Mr. Frederick J. Turner, of Wisconsin;
to Mr. Charles H. Hull, of Cornell; to the late Edward G. Bourne, of
Yale; and to Mr. Roger Foster, of New York. He feels still more indebted
to two others who have been his constant advisers and have rendered him
every assistance ungrudgingly — Mr. Andrew C. McLaughlin, of Chicago,
and Mr. J. Franklin Jameson, Director of the Department of Historical
Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. To the latter this
work has been dedicated in recognition of his great services to the
cause of American historical scholarship.
[x]
Finally, the
editor would express his appreciation of the consideration shown him by
President David Starr Jordan and the authorities of Leland Stanford
Junior University; their liberal policy, while he was a member of the
faculty of that institution, made it possible for him to carry on and
complete this work.
Max Farrand.
New Haven, Connecticut
February 1, 1910
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