THE DRAFT OF AUGUST 6 AND THE CONSTITUTION.

The Draft of August 6 was discussed in the Convention from August 7 to September 8. It was then referred to a Committee on Style, who, on September 13, reported the Constitution in a finished form. The Convention adjourned September 17.

The debates on the Draft and the alterations made in it are treated by Bancroft in the following chapters: "The Powers of Congress," "The President," "The Federal Judiciary," "The Last Days of the Convention."

Bancroft, ii. 119-222;

Curtis, ii. 193-487;

Lalor, i. 639-640, 548-549 ;

Rives, ii. 425-475 ;

Elliot, v. 382-565.

M

DRAFT OF A CONSTITUTION,

REPORTED BY COMMITTEE OF DETAIL, AUGUST 6.

We, the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare, and establish the following Constitution for the government of ourselves and our posterity :

Article I.-The style of the government shall be "The United States of America."

Art. II. The government shall consist of supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers.

Art. III. The legislative power shall be vested in a Congress, to consist of two separate and distinct bodies of men, a House of Representatives and a Senate; each of which shall in all cases have a negative on the other. The legislature shall meet on the first Monday in December in every year.

Art. IV. Sec. 1. The members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen, every second year, by the people of the several States comprehended within this Union. The qualifications of the electors shall be the same, from time to time, as those of the electors, in the several States, of the most numerous branch of their own legislatures.

Sec. 2. Every member of the House of Representatives shall be of the age of twenty-five years at least; shall have been a citizen in the United States for at least three years before his election; and shall be, at the time of his election, a resident of the State in which he shall be chosen.

Sec. 3. The House of Representatives shall, at its first formation, and until the number of citizens and inhabitants shall be taken in the manner hereinafter described, consist of sixty-five members, of whom 3 shall be chosen in N. H., 8 in Mass., I in R. I., 5 in Ct., 6 in N. Y., 4 in N. J., 8 in Pa., 1 in Del., 6 in Md., 10 in Va., 5 in N. C., 5 in S. C., and 3 in Ga.

Sec. 4. As the proportions of numbers in different States will alter from time to time; as some of the States may hereafter be divided; as others may be enlarged by addition of territory; as two or more States may be united; as new States will be erected within the limits of the United States,-the legislature shall, in