New York Assembly. Motion that Five Delegates be Appointed to the Constitutional Convention, [16 April 1787]
New York Assembly. Motion that
Five Delegates be Appointed to the
Constitutional Convention
[New York, April 16, 1787]
Mr. Hamilton made a motion that the House would agree to a resolution in the words following, viz.
Resolved, (if the Honorable the Senate concur herein) That two Delegates be appointed, in addition to those already appointed to represent this State at the Convention proposed to be holden at Philadelphia, on the second Monday of May next; and that any three of the persons heretofore appointed and of those now to be appointed, shall be sufficient to represent this State at the said Convention; and that this House will be ready on Wednesday next to proceed to the appointment of the said two Delegates, in the manner in which Delegates are appointed to Congress.
The question being put, whether the House would agree to the said resolution, it was carried in the affirmative.1
, 1787, 165–66.
1. For information on the appointment of New York delegates to the Constitutional Convention, see “Resolution on the Appointment of Delegates to the Constitutional Convention,” February 26, 1787, and “Appointment as Delegate to the Constitutional Convention,” March 6, 1787.
Despite the Assembly’s agreement on February 28 with the Senate’s preference for a delegation of three to the Convention, H revived the Assembly’s earlier recommendation that five delegates be appointed. H’s motion was agreed to by the Assembly, but rejected by the Senate (, 1787, 166, 171).
According to The [New York] Daily Advertiser of April 19, H accompanied his motion with the following remark: “He mentioned the great benefits that would arise from sending, either Mr. Chancellor [Robert R.] Livingston, Mr. [Egbert] Benson, Mr. [James] Duane, or Mr. [John] Jay, particularly the latter. These were names he threw out for the consideration of the members.” For an amplification of these remarks, see “Remarks on a Motion that Five Delegates Be Appointed to the Constitutional Convention,” April 16, 1787.