The Letters Of Richard Henry Lee 1779 1794 PDF Download

Excerpt from The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, Vol. 2: 1779-1794 Lee gives very different reasons from those some times assigned for his declining the proffered honor of representing his state in the Federal Convention. Suggestions also to its delegates, such as, that the right of making paper money Shall be exclusively vested in Congress, indicate his desire to aid their work. Later he expressed the belief that a practical improvement of our federal Constitution would come from the Convention, and of the plan it produced he wrote, This Constitution has a great many excel lent regulations in it, and if it could be reasonably amended would be a fine system. The proposals for amendment that Lee made to Congress when it was considering the Constitution are here (pp. 442 n. - 444. N.) printed for the first time from an original draft found in the interesting Shippen Collection. During the struggle for ratification he was urging adoption of the Constitution with amend ments, and opposing the proposals for rejection and a new convention. He sought his appointment to the United States Senate that he might fight for his cherished Bill of Rights and other amendments. Lee's interest in foreign relations was keen, and it is appropriate that the final letter of the volume Should be to Washington, approving his policy of neutrality and peace. Gratefully the editor acknowledges his obligation to those mentioned in the preface of the first volume for past and continued aid to his work. Appreciation and thanks are also expressed to Professor George Petrie, Dean of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, to Dr. Charles 0. Paullin of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and to Mr. Joseph Sabin of New York for suggesting or presenting additional letters of Lee. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.