(First Party System: Twelfth Amendment) “Mr. TRACY’s SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1803. ON THE PASSAGE OF THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION…” ([Washington: 1803]), 24pp., 7 1/2 x 4 3/4 in. string bound. Volume includes the text of the proposed amendment, Uriah Tracy’s lengthy address to the Senate opposing its passage and the record of the vote in favor.
Uriah Tracy (1755 – 1807), a staunch Massachusetts Federalist, delivered a lengthy address opposing the passage of the amendment designed to prevent the confusion of the presidential elections of 1796 and 1800. In the first instance, while Electors overwhelmingly elected John Adams President, his political nemesis Thomas Jefferson, was elected Vice President as he came in second place. In 1800 it was a tie between Burr and Jefferson, landing the decision in the House of Representatives.
Primarily Tracy believed that requiring electors to make a distinct choice for President and for Vice President would weaken the influence of smaller states: shifting the balance of power between the states and the federal government: “I shall attempt to prove, sir, that the resolution before us, contains principles which have a manifest tendency to deprive the small states of an important right, secured to them by a solemn and constitutional compact, and to vest an overwhelming power in the great states. And, further, I shall attempt to show, that in many other points the resolution is objectionable, and for a variety of causes, ought not to be adopted.” Tracy wonders aloud at one point that the concept of states rights was breaking down completely: “And is this resolution a precursor to a complete consolidation of the union, and to the establishment of a simple republic? –Or will it suffice to break down every federative feature which secures to one portion of the union, to the small states, their rights?”
Tracy dove into a litany of other reasons the amendment should be rejected including this very interesting observation: “The manner of electing the Vice-President, as proposed by the amendment … exposes us to the selection of a less important, and more unfit person , than the constitutional provision…” As John Adams observed during his eight long years in the Vice Presidency: “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” Logically Tracy concluded that no fit person would ever aspire to such an insignificant office. Much more fine content for the student of the first party system.
Shaw Shoemaker 5387; Sabin 96420.
Light horizontal creases, light toning and dampstains, else very good.
(EXA 4089) $475
