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Constitutional Convention. Remarks on the Ineligibility of Members of the House of Representatives for Other Offices, [23 June 1787]

Constitutional Convention. Remarks on the
Ineligibility of Members of the House of Representatives
for Other Offices1

[Philadelphia, June 23, 1787]

Mr. Hamilton.2 Evasions cd. not be prevented—as by proxies—by friends holding for a year, & them opening the way &c.

Hunt and Scott, Debates description begins Gaillard Hunt and James Brown Scott, eds., The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America. Reported by James Madison (New York, 1920). description ends , 155.

1Robert Yates’s version of H’s speech reads: “The clause may be evaded many ways. Offices may be held by proxy—they may be procured by friends, &c” (Yates, Secret Proceedings and Debates description begins Robert Yates, Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled at Philadelphia, in the Year 1787, For the Purpose of Forming the Constitution of The United States of America (Albany, 1821). description ends , 161).

2Near the close of debate on June 22, the Convention again took up a proposal that members of the lower branch of the legislature be declared ineligible for office for a year after the expiration of the term for which they had been elected, a proposal on which H had spoken on June 22. See “Constitutional Convention. Remarks on the Ineligibility of Members of the First Branch of the Legislature for Other Offices,” of that date.

Before H spoke, George Mason argued that he thought the proposal “essential to guard agst. evasions by resignations, and stipulations for office to be fulfilled at the expiration of the legislative term” (Hunt and Scott, Debates description begins Gaillard Hunt and James Brown Scott, eds., The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America. Reported by James Madison (New York, 1920). description ends , 155).

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