mortality into the constitution which we wish to last forever. A total separation of the states from each other or partial confederacies would alike be truly deplorable; and those who may be accessory to either can never be forgiven by their country, nor by themselves." * "In all the states," said Hamilton, "the rights of individuals with regard to suffrage are modified by qualifications of property. In like manner states may modify their right of suffrage, the larger exercising a larger, the smaller a smaller share of it. Will the people of Delaware be less free if each citizen has an equal vote with each citizen of Pennsylvania? The contest is for power, not for liberty. "No government can give us happiness at home which has not the strength to make us respectable abroad. This is the critical moment for forming such a government. As yet we retain the habits of union. We are weak, and sensible of our weakness. Our people are disposed to have a good government; but henceforward the motives will become feebler and the difficulties greater. It is a miracle that we are now here, exercising free deliberation; it would be madness to trust to future miracles. We must therefore improve the opportunity, and render the present system as perfect as possible. The good sense of the people, and, above all, the necessity of their affairs, will induce them to adopt it." # It was then decided, by the six national states to four, Maryland being divided, that the rule of suffrage in the first branch ought to bear proportion to the population of the several states. A reversal of this decision was never attempted. Ellsworth now put forth all his strength as he moved that in the second branch the vote should be taken by states: "I confess that the effect of this motion is to make the general government partly federal and partly national. I am not sorry that the vote just passed has determined against this rule in the first branch; I hope it will become a ground of compromise with regard to the second. On this middle ground, * Gilpin, 990, 992; Elliot, 256, 257; Yates in Elliot, i., 462. Yates in Elliot, i., 463. #Yates in Elliot, i., 464. Gilpin, 995; Elliot, 259. Yates in Elliot, i., 464. and on no other, can a compromise take place.* If the great states refuse this plan, we shall be forever separated. "In the hour of common danger we united as equals; is it just to depart from this principle now, when the danger is over? The existing confederation is founded on the equality of the states in the article of suffrage, ‡ and is declared to be perpetual. Is it meant to pay no regard to this plighted faith? We then associated as free and independent states. To perpetuate that independence, I wish to establish a national legislature, executive, and judiciary; for under these we shall preserve peace and harmony." A Abraham Baldwin, a native of Connecticut, a graduate of Yale college, for four years one of its tutors, a recent emigrant to Georgia, from which statę he was now a deputy, stepped forth to the relief of Ellsworth, saying: "The second branch ought to be the representation of property,◊ and ought not to be elected as the first." t "If a minority will have their own will, or separate the union," said Wilson, on the thirtieth, "let it be done. I cannot consent that one fourth shall control the power of three fourths. The Connecticut proposal removes only a part of the objection. We all aim at giving the general government more energy. The state governments are necessary and valuable. No liberty can be obtained without them. On this question of the manner of taking the vote in the second branch depend the essential rights of the general government and of the people." ↑ Ellsworth replied: "No salutary measure has been lost for want of a majority of the states to favor it. If the larger states seek security, they have it fully in the first branch of the general government. But are the lesser states equally secure? We are razing the foundation of the building, when we need only repair the roof.** And let it be remembered that these remarks are not the result of partial or local *Gilpin, 996, 997; Elliot, 260. Elliot, i., 464, 465. Gilpin, 998; Elliot, 260. #Yates in Elliot, i.,465. Gilpin, 998; Elliot, 260. A Yates in Elliot, i., 465. ** Gilpin, 1003; Elliot, 263; Yates in Elliot, i., 468. views. In importance, the state I represent holds a middle rank." none. "If there was real danger to the smaller states," said Madison, “I would give them defensive weapons. But there is The great danger to our general government is, that the southern and northern interests of the continent are opposed to each other, † not from their difference of size, but from climate, and principally from the effects of their having or not having slaves. Look to the votes in congress; most of them stand divided by the geography of the country, not by the size of the states.# Defensive power ought to be given, not between the large and small states, but between the northern and southern. Casting about in my mind for some expedient that will answer this purpose, it has occurred that the states should be represented in one branch according to the number of free inhabitants only; and in the other according to the whole number, counting the slaves as free. The southern scale would have the advantage in one house, and the northern in another." By this willingness to recede from the strict claim to representation in proportion to population for the sake of protecting slavery, Madison stepped from firm ground. The argument of Ellsworth drawn from the faith plighted to the smaller states in the existing federal compact, he answered only by taunts: "The party claiming from others an adherence to a common engagement ought at least to be itself guiltless of its violation. Of all the states, Connecticut is perhaps least able to urge this plea." A Fixing his eyes on Washington, Ellsworth rejoined: "To you I can with confidence appeal for the great exertions of my state during the war in supplying both men and money. ◊ The muster rolls will show that she had more troops in the field than even the state of Virginia. We strained every nerve to raise them; and we spared neither money nor exertions to complete our quotas. This extraordinary exertion has Gilpin, 1004; Elliot, 264. Yates in Elliot, i., 465, 466. Gilpin, 1006; Elliot, 264. #Yates in Elliot, i., 466. The date in Madison is 30 June. | Gilpin, 1006; Elliot, 264, 265. ◊ Gilpin, 1007; Elliot, 265. VOL. VI.-18 Δ A Gilpin, 1005; Elliot, 264. Yates in Elliot, i., 469. greatly impoverished us, and has accumulated our state debts; but we defy any gentleman to show that we ever refused a federal requisition. If she has proved delinquent through inability only, it is not more than others have been without the It is the ardent wish of the state to strengthen same excuse. the federal government.” * Davie of North Carolina, breaking the phalanx of national states, preferred the proposition of Ellsworth to the proportional representation, which would in time make the senate a multitudinous body.† Connecticut had won the day. Startled by the appearance of defeat, Wilson hastily offered to the smallest states one senator, to the others one for every hundred thousand souls. This expedient Franklin brushed aside, saying: "On a proportional representation the small states contend that their liberties will be in danger; with an equality of votes, the large states say their money will be in danger. A joiner, when he wants to fit two boards, takes a little from both.” ‡ And he suggested for the several states a like number of delegates to the senate, with proportionate votes on financial subjects, equal votes on questions affecting the rights of the states. King inveighed against the "phantom of state sovereignty:" "If the adherence to an equality of votes is unalterable, we are cut asunder already. My mind is prepared for every event, rather than to sit down under a government which must be as short-lived as it would be unjust." # It Dayton replied: "Assertion for proof and terror for argument, however eloquently spoken, will have no effect. should have been shown that the evils we have experienced proceeded from the equality of representation.” "The plan in its present shape," said Madison, "makes the senate absolutely dependent on the states; it is, therefore, only another edition of the old confederation, and can never answer. Still I would preserve the state rights as carefully as the trial by jury." | * Yates in Elliot, i., 469, 470. Gilpin, 1007; Elliot 265, 266; Yates in Elliot, i., 470; Paterson MS. #Gilpin, 1010, 1011; Elliot, 266, 267. Gilpin, 1012; Elliot, 267; Yates in Elliot, i., 471. Bedford scoffed at Georgia, proud of her future greatness; at South Carolina, puffed up with wealth and negroes; at the great states, ambitious, dictatorial, and unworthy of trust; and defied them to dissolve the confederation, for ruin would then stare them in the face.* To a question from King, whether by entering into a national government he would not equally participate in national security, Ellsworth answered: "I confess I should; but a general government cannot know my wants, nor relieve my distress. I depend for domestic happiness as much on my state government as a new-born infant depends upon its mother for nourishment. If this is not an answer, I have no other to give." t On the second of July five states voted with Ellsworth for equal suffrage in the senate; five of the six national states answered, No. All interest then centred upon Georgia, the sixth national state and the last to vote. Baldwin, fearing a disruption of the convention, and convinced of the hopelessness of assembling another under better auspices, dissented from his colleague, and divided the vote of his state. So the motion. was lost by a tie; but as all believed that New Hampshire and Rhode Island, had they been present, would have voted with Connecticut, the convention moved rapidly toward its inevitable decision. For a moment Charles Pinckney made delay by calling up his scheme for dividing the United States into northern, middle, and southern groups, and apportioning the senators between the three; # a measure which, with modifications, he repeatedly brought forward. Cotesworth Pinckney liked better the motion of Franklin, and proposed that a committee of one from each state, taking into consideration both branches of the legislature, should devise and report a compromise. "Such a committee," said Sherman, "is necessary to set us right." A Gouverneur Morris, who, after a month's absence, had just returned, spoke abruptly for a senate for life to be appointed 營 Gilpin, 1012-1014; Elliot, 268. t Yates in Elliot, i., 473, 474. Gilpin, 1016; Elliot, 269, 270. #Gilpin, 1017; Elliot, 270. A Yates in Elliot, i., 475. |