judiciary (law interpreting). Several plans were presented for consideration, the most important of which were (1) the Virginia Plan and (2) the New Jersey Plan.

An outline of an entirely new constitution, drawn The up by James Madison and presented by the Vir- Virginia ginia delegates, was known as the Virginia Plan. Among other things it proposed the division of

Plan

The

New
Jersey
Plan.

Decision

to Draft a New Constitution.

Three

Great

Compromises.

Congress into two houses-a Senate and a House of Representatives-and that representation in each house should be based on the wealth or the population of the states. The people were to choose the members of the House of Representatives, and the members of the House were to elect the members of the Senate. This plan was favored by the larger states.

In behalf of the smaller states the chairman of the New Jersey delegation presented a plan which was little more than a mere revision of the Articles of Confederation, and which gave all states equal representation in Congress.

Feeling that a mere revision of the articles would be worthless, the convention, in spite of the fact that it was authorized only to amend the articles, finally decided to draft an entirely new form of government, and selected the Virginia Plan as the basis of its work. The decision to draft a new constitution was brought about largely through the influence of Washington, who urged the delegates not to be content merely to make such changes in the Articles as they believed would meet with popular favor, but to exert all their energies toward drafting a form of government in which they themselves would have confidence, even though it might not meet the approval of the people.

The jealousies of the states led to violent and stormy disputes, and more than once it seemed as though the convention would have to end its labors without success. But the wise judgment and un

impeachable honesty of Washington, the sound common sense and ready wit of Franklin, and the broad scholarship and able statesmanship of Madison, served to hold the convention to its work, and to the efforts of these men the formation and

adoption of the Constitution was largely due. Upon three points there was great diversity of opinion, and upon each a compromise was necessary before agreement was reached.

In Regard to Representation.

In Determining Population.

The discussion of the question of representation in Congress divided the convention into large states and small states the former desiring representation on the basis of population, while the latter contended for equal representation as under the Articles of Confederation. Both sides were firm, but finally agreed to the suggestion of the Connecticut delegates that the states have equal representation in the Senate (Const. Art. I, Sect. 3, Cl. 1-8), and representation according to population in the House of Representatives (Const. Art. I, Sect. 2, Cl. 3-5).

On the question as to whether the slaves should be counted as population in determining the number to be apportioned for each representative in the House, the convention was divided into slave states and free states. The former wished to have the slaves counted in determining representation, but not for purposes of taxation. The latter contended that the slaves should not be counted for either purpose; but that if counted they should be reckoned for determining taxation as well as for determining representation, since it was the cardinal principle of the Revolution that taxation and representation are inseparable. Finally, on the suggestion of Madison that the labor of five slaves would probably be equal to the labor of three free persons, it was agreed that five slaves should be reckoned as three free persons, in the apportionment of representatives in the lower branch of Congress and in levying direct taxes. (Const. Art. I,

Sect. 2, Cl. 3.) This agreement virtually made each owner of one hundred slaves equal in political power to sixty free persons.

Control of and the

Commerce

Slaves.

On the question of the control of commerce The Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire were arrayed against South Carolina and Georgia. As the three New England states wished the ImportaFederal Government to regulate commerce, and as tion of the two southern states felt it necessary to import negroes for the exhausting labor of cultivating rice and indigo, it was finally agreed that Congress should have absolute control of commerce, both foreign and domestic (Const. Art. I, Sect. 8, Cl. 3), but that the importation of slaves should not be prohibited prior to the year 1808 (Const. Art. I, Sect. 9, Cl. 1). It was also agreed that no tax should ever be laid on exports (Const. Art. I, Sect. 9, Cl. 5).

Work

Com

pleted.

The number of delegates chosen to the Federal The Convention was sixty-five, but only fifty-five attended. Thirteen left for home before the convention finished its work; three refused to sign the report; thirty-nine attached their signatures to the complete document. On the seventeenth of October, 1787, the convention came to an end and reported the result of its labors to Congress. Congress received the report of the committee and referred the proposed Constitution to conventions of the several states called for the special purpose of considering the new form of government.

A thorough, earnest, and oftentimes bitter dis- Ratificussion of the proposed Constitution followed its cation.