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qualification was required of voters. A delegate could be sent to Congress, who could debate on all questions, but not vote.

Education was liberally provided for by granting the proceeds from the sales of certain sections of the public lands, to the public school fund.

Slavery was forever prohibited from the territory or from any state which should be organized out of any portion thereof.

This ordinance became the model upon which all the territories of the United States have been organized. As a piece of wise legislation, it was far-reaching in its effect on the future history of the country.

285. The Constitutional Convention.-1787.- With the exception of Rhode Island, all the states promptly responded to the suggestion of Congress and of the Annapolis Trade Convention. The latter part of May saw the delegates of twelve states in session at Philadelphia, with George Washington as president and William Jackson as secretary, of the convention.

Edmund Randolph, governor of Virginia, made the opening address, in which he suggested that a national government ought to be established consisting of a legislative, an executive, and a judicial department.

This was a wide departure from the government under the Articles, which provided only for a legislative department-the Congress. The convention had not proceeded far, when it saw that an attempt to revise the Articles of Confederation was useless. The Articles were therefore thrown aside, and the convention proceeded to the formation of an entirely new constitution. The sessions of the convention, which consumed a period of nearly four months, were behind closed doors.

286. The Men Who Composed the Convention.-Among its delegates were some of the ablest men in the country. Some had been members of both the First and the Second Conti

nental Congress, and had signed the Declaration of Independence. From Connecticut came Roger Sherman; from Massachusetts, Rufus King; from New York, Alexander Hamilton; from Pennsylvania, the venerable Franklin and Robert Morris; from South Carolina, John Rutledge and the two Pinckneys; from Delaware, John Dickinson; while from Virginia came Washington and Edmund Randolph and James Madison.

287. The Constitution, the Result of Compromise.-The constitution as it stands to-day does not set forth the ideas of government as held by any one member of the convention; each article, each section, and each clause was passed only after the most severe scrutiny. On certain questions it seemed almost impossible for the convention to agree. "Compromise" is written in every line.

288. The Three Great Compromises. It was agreed that there should be two houses of Congress. The larger states wished the number of members in each house to be based on the population of the several states. The smaller states insisted upon some plan of equal representation. It was conceded to the smaller states that the Senate should be composed of two senators from each state; and to the larger, that the number of members in the House of Representatives should be based on population.

The second compromise arose over the question as to whether slaves should be counted in apportioning representatives to each state. The northern and middle states, with less than 60,000 slaves, opposed counting the slaves unless they were also counted when direct taxes were levied; some of the states in the south, where there was a population of more than 600,000 slaves, insisted upon counting all in determining representation, but not for taxation. The compromise provided that three-fifths of the slaves should be counted, both in apportioning representatives and in levying direct taxes.

The third compromise was on the question of the regula

tion of commerce, but indirectly involved the question of slavery. The north wished Congress to have power over commerce. The south objected; at the same time some of the southerners wished that the slave trade should be permitted, to which the north objected. The compromise provided thai Congress should have control of commerce, and that the importation of slaves should not be prohibited prior to the year 1808.

289. The Constitution before the People for Adoption.When the convention adjourned September 17, 1787, it submitted the new constitution to Congress, which in turn submitted it to the state legislatures, and these submitted it to the people of the several states for their ratification. It was a season of peril to the young republic. Should the constitution not receive the votes of nine of the thirteen states, all the labor of the convention would be for naught. So bitter had been the contest in the convention that a number of the delegates had gone home dissatisfied with the result. These as a rule threw their influence against its ratification. For various reasons, some of the strongest men in the colonies were opposed to its adoption, of whom Samud Adams of Massachusetts and Patrick Henry of Virginia were notable examples. But happily, the counsel of such men as Washington and Madison and Franklin and Hamilton prevailed. Delaware was the first to ratify, and on June 9, 1788, New Hampshire gave it its votes as the ninth state. Virginia soon followed, and on the 26th of July New York gave its assent, though after a prolonged struggle. Rhode Island and North Carolina failed to ratify until after the inauguration of Washington.

290. "The Federalist."-While the constitution was before the people of New York, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay greatly aided in its adoption by issuing a series of essays explaining the provisions of the constitution. These were published in a newspaper over the common signature of "Publius." They were afterwards collected and published

in a volume styled "The Federalist." So clearly wer the principles of federal government discussed that "The Federalist” immediately took rank as a classic in the political literature of the republic.

291. The First Two Political Parties - Federalists and Anti-Federalists.-When the constitution was before the people for ratification, those in favor of its adoption were known as Federalists and those who opposed were known as Anti-Federalists.

While the Federalist party, with Washington as President, organized the government under the new constitution, still during the first administration of Washington, party lines were not closely drawn. However, a division soon occurred, with Hamilton as leader of the Federalist party and Jefferson as the leader of the Democratic-Republican party-that name taking the place of Anti-Federalist.

292. Amendments to the Constitution.-At the time of the ratification many Anti-Federalists had voted for the constitution on the strength of a promise from the leading Federalists that they would vote for certain amendments to the constitution after the government should be instituted. A few of the states had cast their votes for ratification with this express understanding.

Within two years after the inauguration of Washington the first ten amendments to the constitution were adopted (1791). These are sometimes called "The Bill of Rights.'

The Eleventh Amendment was added in 1798; the Twelfth, in 1804; the Thirteenth, in 1865; the Fourteenth, in 1868; and the Fifteenth, in 1870.

The text of the constitution, as amended, follows:

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

PREAMBLE

WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare,

and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America.

ARTICLE I.-LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

SECTION I.-All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

SECTION II.-CLAUSE 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.

CLAUSE 2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

CLAUSE 3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.1 The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one; Connecticut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five; and Georgia, three.2

CLAUSE 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

CLAUSE 5. The House of Representatives shall choose their

1 Meaning slaves. (Through the influence of Edmund Randolph, the word slave does not appear in the original articles of the Constitution.)

Under the census of 1900 one representative is apportioned to every 193,291 persons,

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