Note 171 — E. CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION (continued 2)
Reading edition
The first veto provision in a State Constitution (New York, 1777) ran as follows:—
"Section III. And whereas laws inconsistent with the spirit of this constitution, or with the public good, may be hastily and unadvisedly passed: Be it ordained that the governor for the time being, the chancellor, and the judges of the supreme court, or any two of them together with the governor, shall be and hereby are constituted a council to revise all bills about to be passed into laws by the legislature. ... [Provision for veto procedure and reconsideration in language essentially the same as in Massachusetts provision given below.]
"And in order to prevent unnecessary delays, be it further ordained that if any bill shall not be returned by the council within ten days after it shall have been presented, the same shall be a law, unless the Legislature shall, by their adjournment, render a return of the said bill within ten days impracticable; in which case the bill shall be returned on the first day of the Legislature after the expiration of the ten days."
The Veto Provision in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 ran:—
"Article II. No bill or resolve of the senate or house of representatives shall become a law, and have force as such, until it shall have been laid before the governor for his revisal; and if he, upon such revision, approve thereof, he shall signify his approbation by signing the same. But if he have any objection to the passing of such bill or resolve, he shall return the same, together with his objections thereto, in writing, to the senate or house of representatives, in whatsoever the same shall have originated, who shall enter the objections sent down by the governor, at large, on their records, and proceed to reconsider the said bill or resolve; but if after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the said senate or house of representatives shall, notwithstanding the objections, agree to pass the same, it shall, together with the objections, be sent to the other branch of the legislature, when it shall also be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the members present, shall have the force of law; but in all such cases, the vote of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays; and the names of the persons voting for or against the said bill or resolve shall be entered upon the public records of the Commonwealth.
"And in order to prevent unnecessary delays, if any bill or resolve shall not be returned by the governor within five days after it shall have been presented, the same shall have the force of law."
The Virginia Plan recommended essentially the New York method. The Massachusetts delegates at Philadelphia, however, contended strenuously for the plan in use in their State, and finally carried their point. The "pocket-veto" clause (the last provision of the text above) was original in the Federal Constitution.