286 BURR— THE TREATY-MAKING POWER LApriizo, 



transmitted a copy thereof to Congress. The House was dominated 

 by the party opposed to Washington and the Federalists. John 

 Marshall was then a member of the House, and in his " Life of 

 Washington " has summarized the positions taken. 



" By the friends of the administration, it was maintained," he writes, 

 " that a treaty was a contract between two nations, which, under the consti- 

 tution, the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, had 

 a right to make, and that it was made when, by and with such advice and 

 consent, it had received his final act. Its obligations then became complete on 

 the United States, and to refuse to comply with its stipulations, was to break 

 the treaty, and to violate the faith of the nation. 



"By the opposition it was contended, that the power to make treaties, if 

 applicable to every object, conflicted with powers which were vested exclu- 

 sively in Congress. That either the treaty-making power must be limited in 

 its operation so as not to touch objects committed by the constitution to 

 Congress, or the assent and co-operation of the House of Representatives 

 must be required to give validity to any compact so far as it might compre- 

 hend those objects. A treaty, therefore, which required an appropriation of 

 money, or any act of Congress to carry it into effect, had not acquired its 

 obligatory force until the House of Representatives had exercised its powers 

 in the case. They were at full liberty to make or to withhold such appro- 

 priation, or other law, without incurring the imputation of violating any 

 existing obligation, or of breaking the faith of the nation."*'' 



A resolution passed requesting the President to lay before the House 

 the papers relating to the treaty. 



"It was," says Marshall, "a subject for serious reflection, that in a 

 debate unusually elaborate, the House of Representatives had claimed a right 

 of interference in the formation of treaties, which, in the judgment of the 

 President, the Constitution had denied them."" 



Washington's reply is of the greatest importance and is appended in 

 full in the notes. ^^ 



" Having been," he said, " a member of the General Convention, and 

 knowing the principles on which the Constitution was formed, I have ever 

 entertained but one opinion upon this subject; and from the first establishment 

 of the Government to this moment, my conduct has exemplified that opinion. 

 That the power of making treaties is exclusively vested in the President, by 

 and with the advice and consent of the senate, provided two-thirds of the 



"Marshall's "Life of Washington," ist ed.. Vol. V., Chap. VIII., pp. 

 651-2. 



*Vrf., p. 654. 

 " See note 4. 



