Date: 1796-03-30
President: George Washington

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:         With the utmost attention     I have considered your resolution of the 24th. instant, requesting me to lay     before your House, a copy of the instructions to the Minister of the United     States who negotiated the Treaty with the King of Great Britain, together with     the correspondence and other documents relative to that Treaty, excepting such     of the said papers as any existing negotiation may render improper to be disclosed.          In deliberating upon this subject, it was impossible for me to lose sight   of the principle which some have avowed in its discussion; or to avoid extending   my views to the consequences which must flow from the admission of that principle.  I trust that no part of my conduct has ever indicated a disposition to withhold   any information which the Constitution has enjoined upon the President as a   duty to give, or which could be required of him by either House of Congress   as a right; And with truth I affirm, that it has been, as it will continue to   be, while I have the honor to preside in the Government, my constant endeavour   to harmonize with the other branches thereof; so far as the trust delegated   to me by the People of the United States, and my sense of the obligation it   imposes to &quot;preserve, protect and defend the Constitution&quot; will permit.  The nature of foreign negotiations requires caution; and their success must   often depend on secrecy: and even when brought to a conclusion, a full disclosure   of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions, which may have been proposed   or contemplated, would be extremely impolitic: for this might have a pernicious   influence on future negotiations; or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps   danger and mischief, in relation to other powers. The necessity of such caution   and secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making Treaties in   the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the principle on which   that body was formed confining it to a small number of Members.  To admit then a right in the House of Representatives to demand, and to have   as a matter of course, all the Papers respecting a negotiation with a foreign   power, would be to establish a dangerous precedent.  It does not occur that the inspection of the papers asked for, be relative   to any purpose under the cognizance of the House of Representatives, except   that of an impeachment, which the resolution has not expressed. I repeat, that   I have no disposition to withhold any information which the duty of my station   will permit, or the public good shall require to be disclosed: and in fact,   all the Papers affecting the negotiation with Great Britain were laid before   the Senate, when the Treaty itself was communicated for their consideration   and advice.  The course which the debate has taken, on the resolution of the House, leads   to some observations on the mode of making treaties under the Constitution of   the United States.  Having been a member of the General Convention, and knowing the principles   on which the Constitution was formed, I have ever entertained but one opinion   on 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 Senators present concur, and that every   treaty so made, and promulgated, thenceforward became the Law of the land. It   is thus that the treaty making power has been understood by foreign Nations:   and in all the treaties made with them, we have declared, and they have believed,   that when ratified by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate,   they became obligatory. In this construction of the Constitution every House   of Representatives has heretofore acquiesced; and until the present time, not   a doubt or suspicion has appeared to my knowledge that this construction was   not the true one. Nay, they have more than acquiesced: for till now, without   controverting the obligation of such treaties, they have made all the requisite   provisions for carrying them into effect.  There is also reason to believe that this construction agrees with the opinions   entertained by the State Conventions, when they were deliberating on the Constitution;   especially by those who objected to it, because there was not required, in commercial   treaties, the consent of two thirds of the whole number of the members of the   Senate, instead of two thirds of the Senators present; and because in treaties   respecting territorial and certain other rights and claims, the concurrence   of three fourths of the whole number of the members of both houses respectively,   was not made necessary.  It is a fact declared by the General Convention, and universally understood,   that the Constitution of the United States was the result of a spirit of amity   and mutual concession. And it is well known that under this influence the smaller   States were admitted to an equal representation in the Senate with the larger   States; and that this branch of the government was invested with great powers:   for on the equal participation of those powers, the sovereignty andpolitical   safety of the smaller States were deemed essentially to depend.  If other proofs than these, and the plain letter of the Constitution itself,   be necessary to ascertain the point under consideration, they may be found in   the journals of the General Convention, which I have deposited in the office   of the department of State. In these journals it will appear that a proposition   was made, &quot;that no Treaty should be binding on the United States which   was not ratified by a Law&quot;; and that the proposition was explicitly rejected.  As therefore it is perfectly clear to my understanding, that file assent of   the House of Representatives is not necessary to the validity of a treaty: as   the treaty with Great Britain exhibits in itself all the objects requiring legislative   provision; And on these the papers called for can throw no light: And as it   is essential to the due administration of the government, that the boundaries   fixed by the constitution between the different departments should be preserved:   A just regard to the Constitution and to the duty of my Office, under all the   circumstances of this case, forbids a complyance with your request.