ll upon the president for
papers relating to the treaty with Great Britain.]

This dissatisfaction was not concealed. On the 2d of March, Mr.
Livingston laid upon the table a resolution, requesting the President
"to lay before the house a copy of the instructions to the minister of
the United States, who negotiated the treaty with the king of Great
Britain, communicated by his message of the 1st of March, together
with the correspondence and other documents relative to the said
treaty."

On the 7th of March, he amended this resolution by adding the words,
"excepting such of the said papers as any existing negotiation may
render improper to be disclosed."

After some debate, Mr. Madison proposed to modify the amendment of Mr.
Livingston, so as to except such papers, as in the judgment of the
President, it might be inconsistent with the interest of the United
States at this time to disclose. This proposition was rejected by a
majority of ten voices, and the discussion of the original resolution
was resumed. The debate soon glided into an argument on the nature and
extent of the treaty making power.

The friends of the administration maintained, that a treaty was a
contract between two nations, which, under the constitution, 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.

The opposition contended, that the power to make treaties, if
applicable to every object, conflicted with powers which were vested
exclusively 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 comprehend 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 appropriation, or
other law, without incurring the imputation of violating any existing
obligation, or of breaking the faith of t