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Appendix I
Richard Morris: Notes on the Constitution,
January-July 1788
New York ChiefJustice Richard Morris was the only Federalist delegate who
did not vote on the final question to ratify the Constitution in the New York
Convention on 26 July. Morris is recorded as speaking briefly in the Conven-
tion on seven occasions, and he voted to accept the committee of the whole
report on 25 July. No extant letters from Morris have been found. Conse-
quently, Morris's notes are the most substantial record of his opinion of the
Constitution. The notes consist of twenty manuscript pages in a small note-
book.
Morris's manuscript notebook is in the Morris-Popham Papers at the Library
of Congress in a folder of unlabeled notebooks and journals. It is uncertain
when or why Morris wrote these notes. A quotation from Constitutional Con-
vention delegates Robert Yates and John Lansing's letter to Governor George
Clinton, 21 December 1787, suggests that at least part of Morris's notes were
written after 14 January 1788, the day that Yates and Lansing's letter was first
printed in newspapers.
federal Legislature
Distinct from Indept of the people-Same In [teres]t as the people
a part of the people. their Int. insep [ar] able-while Right of Elect [io] n
continues.
Congress no power over it-Power as to time & place or a Delin-
quent State Defeat
Interest connect Interest of the Governors with Governed-both Safe
Objection to the powers Vested in Congress. if Limited. how pre-
scribe their Bounds. Quantum of tax
Lyberty of press.
Raising Troops.
Consolidation of the States our only Security for Lyby prop [ert]y
and Existance as a Nation
The Supm. Law-
Power of Congress by Constitution Extends only to Matters General
in their Nature: in those the Laws of Congress must be Supreme or
they are Nothing
The Rights of the people Secured by their Several Constitutions-
what is not Taken Away by Express words Remains-
Facts-
The Union of the States Little better than Nominal at best imperfect
inefficient and precarious-our National Character Contemptible our
finances deranged our Resources Exhausted of Course Unable to Sat-
isfy the National Creditors-
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