Debate in the New York Convention (June 24, 1788)

June 24, 1788.

Hon. Mr. Lansing . . . I believe it was undoubtedly the intention of the framers of this Constitution to make the lower house the proper, peculiar representative of the interests of the people; the Senate, of the sovereignty of the states. . . . Now, if it was the design of the plan to make the Senate a kind of bulwark to the independence of the states, and a check to the encroachments of the general government, certainly the members of this body ought to be peculiarly under the control, and in strict subordination to the state who delegated them. . . . The idea of rotation has been taken from the articles of the old Confederation. . . .

Hon. Mr. Hamilton . . . Sir, the main design of the Convention, in forming the Senate, was to prevent fluctuations and cabals. With this view, they made that body small, and to exist for a considerable period.