Excerpts from The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792

Robert A. Rutland, ed., 3 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1970).

1788 Documents

11 June 1788 Supporters of the Constitution Use Weak Arguments. . . ., pp. 1059-1068.

[reprinted from David Robertson, comp., Debates and Other Proceedings of the Convention of Virginia . . . June, 1788 . . . , 2d ed. (Richmond, 1805).

p. 1066: "Maryland and Potowmack have been mentioned [by Gov. Edmund Randolph]. I have had some little means of being acquainted with that subject, having been one of the commissioners who made the compact with Maryland. There is no cause of fear on that ground. Maryland, says the gentleman, has a right to the navigation of the Potowmack. This is a right which she never exercised. Maryland was pleased with what she had in return for a right which she never exercised. Every ship which comes within the state of Maryland, except some small boats, must come within our country. Maryland was very glad to get what she got by this compact, for she considered it as next to getting it without any compensation on her part. She considered it at least as next to a quid pro quo."