The privy council function of the Senate was thus in effect abolished by its own action.  Thereafter the President had practically no choice save to conclude matters subject to subsequent ratification by the Senate.  It soon became the practice of the Senate to restrict the President’s power of appointment by conditioning it upon the approval of the Senators from the State in which an appointment was made.  The clause providing for the advice and consent of the Senate was among the changes made in the original draft to conciliate the small States, but it was not supposed that the practical effect would be to allow Senators to dictate appointments.  It was observed in the Federalist that “there will be no exertion of choice on the part of Senators.”  Nevertheless there was some uneasiness on the point.  In a letter of May 31, 1789, Ames remarked that “the meddling of the Senate in appointments is one of the least defensible parts of the Constitution,” and with prophetic insight he foretold that “the number of the Senators, the secrecy of their doings, would shelter them, and a corrupt connection between those who appoint to office and the officers themselves would be created.”

Washington had to submit to senatorial dictation almost at the outset of his administration, the Senate refusing to confirm his nomination of Benjamin Fishbourn for the place of naval officer at Savannah.  The only details to be had about this affair are those given in a special message of August 6, 1789, from which it appears that Washington was not notified of the grounds of the Senate’s objection.  He defended his selection on the ground that Fishbourn had a meritorious record as an army officer, had held distinguished positions in the state government of Georgia which testified public confidence, and moreover was actually holding, by virtue of state appointment, an office similar to that to which Washington desired to appoint him.  The appointment was, in fact, no more than the transfer to the federal service of an official of approved administrative experience, and was of such manifest propriety that it seems most likely that the rejection was due to local political intrigue using the Georgia Senators as its tool.  The office went to Lachlan McIntosh, who was a prominent Georgia politician.  Over ten years before he had killed in a duel Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Gwinnett was the challenger and McIntosh was badly wounded in the duel, but the affair caused a feud that long disturbed Georgia politics, and through the agency of the Senate it was able to reach and annoy the President of the United States.