House challenges the treaty and seeks a role in its approval

James Madison, then a member of the House of Representatives, argued that the treaty could not, under Constitutional law, take effect without approval of the House, since it regulated commerce and exercised legislative powers granted to Congress. The ensuing debate was an early example of originalism, in which Madison lost. Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth wrote an advisory opinion rejecting any alleged right of the House of Representatives to decide upon the merits of the treaty. The House, with a Democratic-Republican majority, still had to agree to appropriate the funds needed to fulfill the treaty's terms.