164. THE CHARACTER OF THE CONVENTION.-In all sixty-five delegates were appointed, but only fifty-five attended. Of these one had sat in the Albany Congress of 1754; three in the StampAct Congress of 1765; seven in the Congress of 1774; nine had signed the Declaration of Independence; forty-three had been members of Congress, and eighteen were members at this time. Twenty-nine had received a liberal education, either in the colleges of the country or in the universities of Great Britain. In ability, education, and political experience, the Convention well represented the best elements of the country. Washington and Franklin were the two most famous members; Madison and Hamilton were the ablest political thinkers, but there was a large number of men of a high order of ability.

165. THE STATUS OF SLAVERY IN 1787.-In Massachusetts and New Hampshire slavery had ceased to exist, and in the five other Northern States it was doomed to an early extinction. The most enlightened Southern men looked upon the institution as a great evil to be remedied as soon as possible; and it appears to have been the general expectation in the South that the remedy would come at an early day. Still, in 1787, slavery existed in all the States but two. There were 600,000 slaves in the country, and nearly all in the South. The industrial prosperity of the Southern States, and particularly of the two Carolinas and Georgia, depended for the time upon slave labor. It was almost universally believed that their emancipation would be attended by greater evils than slavery itself. Even Mr. Jefferson, who was a strong anti-slavery man, said the two races, equally free, could not live together in the same government.

166. THE WORDS "STRONG AND "WEAK."-The ambiguities lurking in these words have much confused the history of the Federal Convention. To say that a man favored a strong" or a "weak" government by no means settles his status. For example, Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, favored a strong government; yet he resisted giving Congress the control of commerce, and finally refused to sign the Constitution lest it become an instrument of tyranny. His strong government was one of three departments, having a bicameral Congress, in which the States should be ratably represented. Mr. Patterson, of New Jersey, and the Northern State-men generally, wanted a weak government;

yet they all wanted to give Congress the control of commerce. Their weak government was one in which the States were equally represented.

167. COMPOSITION OF THE LARGE-STATE PARTY.-This party was not composed exclusively of large States. Had it been, it would never have commanded more than three votes out of twelve. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia voted, on the motions involving this issue, along with Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland made up the other party. New Hampshire was not present until July 23, and Rhode Island not at any time. Had these two States been present from the beginning, it is impossible to say what the final outcome would have been. "A more fortunate union of circumstances for evenhanded compromise could hardly have been imagined. The large States had, through all the preliminary debates, a majority of six to five, large enough to insure a general run of success in nationalizing the new government, but not so large as to obviate the necessity of deference to the minority."1

Washington is reported to have said before the work of the Convention began: "It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise the standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."

1 Johnston: Lalor's Cyclopædia of Political Science, "The Convention of 1787.”

CHAPTER IX.

THE CONSTITUTION FRAMED.

168. THE FIRST COMPROMISE.-Twice before June 15th it had been suggested that different rules of suffrage should be adopted for the different houses. No attention was paid to these suggestions at the time. June 29, Mr. Johnson, of Connecticut, proposed that, instead of longer opposing the National idea to the State idea, the Convention should combine the two, -make the suffrage proportional in the one house and equal in the other. Mr. Ellsworth, also of Connecticut, made that motion. The Union, he said, was partly National, partly Federal; proportional representation in the first branch would be conformable to the National principle, and an equality of voices in the other would be conformable to the Federal principle. Dr. Franklin seconded the motion. "The small States contended," he said, "that the National principle would endanger their liberties; the large States contended that the Federal principle would endanger their money. When a broad table is to be made, and the edges of the planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint." This compromise, sometimes called the "Connecticut Compromise," was finally adopted. With it were coupled two other propositions. The first of these, "all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives," was a concession to the large States, that were to have so much weight in the Lower House. The other one, that in apportioning Representatives and direct taxes three-fifths of the slaves should be counted, was a con

cession to the three Southern States. This compromise was not adopted as a whole at one time, but by separate votes, item by item. The concession of an equal vote to the small States was made irreversible. Article V. of the Constitution declares: "No State without its consent shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

169. EFFECTS OF THE COMPROMISE. The adoption of this compromise was followed by two favorable results. The men most opposed to an efficient government went home in disgust; while the Small-state men who really wanted such a government were put in a good humor, and were ready to assist in making it as strong as was necessary. Now that they were convinced that their States would not be merged in a consolidated National Government, or their influence lost in public affairs, such delegates as Dickinson and Patterson worked side by side with Franklin and Madison in perfecting the details of the Constitution. Nothing could show more conclusively that the most radical difference of opinion related to the organic nature of the government, rather than to its powers or its frame-work.

170. THE SECOND COMPROMISE. This relates to commerce. It simply balances the two propositions: "Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and between the several States, and with the Indian tribes," and, "No tax or duty shall be laid on any article exported from any State." The first was a concession to the commercial States of the North; the second, to the agricultural States of the South.

171. THE THIRD COMPROMISE. -The Carolinas and Georgia maintained that Congress should be prohibited from abolishing the slave trade, or taxing it more highly than any other commerce. After a heated debate, that brought the Convention to a stand-still as effectually as the representation

question had done, the three States united with New England in carrying a new compromise. It was conceded, on the one hand, that Congress should not forbid the trade for twenty years; and, on the other, that, in the meantime, Congress might impose upon the negroes imported a tax of ten dollars a head. The three States also assisted in striking out of the Constitution, as it then stood, a clause requiring a two-thirds vote in each House of Congress to enact navigation laws. Virginia was strongly opposed to this compromise. She thought the first feature would tend to perpetuate slavery, while she resisted giving the control of commerce to a majority in Congress. It was also a part of the arrangement that slaves escaping from one State into another should be given up to their masters on demand.

172. STAGES OF PROGRESS.-Few of these need be here reported. July 24 the whole subject, including all the material that had been accumulated, was referred to a committee of five, called the Committee of Detail, to report a draft of constitution. The report of this committee, submitted August 6, bears a general resemblance to the Constitution as finally adopted. The whole ground was now gone over again; some old features were dropped, and some new ones added. September 8, the articles already agreed to were sent to a Committee of Revision, consisting of five, for arrangement and revision of style. Four days later, the Constitution came back nearly in its present form,' and the proceedings entered on their final stage. Three or four days were now spent in a final revision. A few changes were made. The most important change was the

1" The finish given to the style and arrangement of the Constitution fairly belongs to the pen of Mr. [Gouverneur] Morris; the task having. probably, been handed over to him by the chairman of the committee, himself a highly respected member, and with the ready concurrence of the others. A better choice could not have been made, as the performance of the task proved." -James Madison.