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Manuscript draft of a treatise contemplating the proposed Constitution of the United States, eight pages on two sets of adjoining sheets, 8 x 12.5, no date but circa 1787. Headed "Some remarks on the Federal Constitution," the draft begins: "As the Constitution which has been agreed upon by the Federal Convention is now before the people for their consideration; doubtless it is the duty as well as the interest of every citizen of the United States; with moderation carefully to attend to the matter; as it is a matter of grate importance on which perhaps may depend the fate of America."
The manuscript takes issue with the idea of "equal representation" in Congress, referring to the 'Three-fifths Compromise,' in small part: "How is this an equal representation when fifty slaves has as grate a Representation in Congress as thirty free men, and they them selves are allow no part in choosing. In the Southern States gentlemen keep a number of slaves for the Bennefit of Cultevating and carrying on their farms and plantations which slaves they consider as so much personal estates. In the northern states, gentlemen and farmers keep horses and oxen for the bennefit of Cultevating and carrying on their farms…now I query whether the horses & oxen in the northern states mighten't as justly have been reconed in order to the just preportioning of the Representatives, as the slaves are reconed in the Southern States." In very good to fine condition, with scattered light staining, and minor edge loss.
This manuscript reflects the charged atmosphere of the ratification debates that followed the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when the proposed federal framework was scrutinized by citizens far beyond the formal political elite. Written in the idiom of an engaged but critical observer, it grapples directly with one of the most contentious compromises of the new Constitution: representation tied to enslaved populations. The author’s pointed comparison between enslaved people in the South and livestock in the North underscores the moral tensions embedded in the 'Three-fifths Compromise,' revealing how deeply controversial the measure was among contemporaries. As such, the document offers a valuable window into the popular constitutional discourse of the late 1780s, illustrating how concerns about equity, property, and political power shaped early American opinion on the proposed national government.
