Federal Constitution adequate to the exigences of the government and the preservation of the Union." This resolution, with a preamble, was immediately transmitted to the several Speakers of State Legislatives Assemblies, and they were laid before the representatives of the people in all the States of the Confederacy. While a feeling generally prevailed, that something must be done to avert the threatened anarchy, toward which governmental operations were rapidly tending, great caution was observed in the delegation of powers to those who should be appointed members of the proposed convention.' In May, 1787, delegates from all the States, except New Hampshire and Rhode Island,' assembled at Philadelphia, in the room where Congress was in session when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Washington, who was a delegate from Virginia, was, on motion of Robert Morris, chosen President. Able statesmen were his associates,' and they entered earnestly upon their duties. They had not proceeded far, however, before they perceived that the Articles of Confederation were so radically defective, and their powers so inadequate to meet the wants of the country, that, instead of trying to amend that old code, they went diligently to work to form a new Constitution. For some time they made but little progress. There were 'The great question that came up before the members, at the very commencement of the session of the Convention, was, "What powers do we possess? Can the amendments to the Articles of Confederation be carried so far as to establish an entirely new system?" The day fixed for the assembling of the Convention, was the 14th of May. On that day, delegates from only half the States were present. The remainder of the delegates did not all arrive before the 25th. Ignorant and unprincipled men, who were willing to liquidate public and private debts by the agency of unstable paper money, controlled the Assembly of Rhode Island, and that body refused to elect delegates to the Convention. But some of the best and most influential men in the State joined in sending a letter to the Convention, in which they expressed their cordial sympathy with the object of that national assembly, and promised their adhesion to whatever the majority might propose. The following are the names of the delegates: New Hampshire.-John Langdon, John Pickering, Nicholas Gilman, and Benjamin West. Massachusetts.-Francis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, and Caleb Strong. Connecticut.-William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth. New York.-Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and Alexander Hamilton. New Jersey-David Brearley, William Churchill Houston, William Paterson, John Neilson, William Livingston, Abraham Clark, and Jonathan Dayton. Pennsylvania.-Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Thomas Fitzsimmons, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and Benjamin Franklin. Delaware.-George Reed, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickenson, Richard Bassett, and Jacob Brown. Maryland.-James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin. Virginia.-George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, Jr.. George Mason, and George Wythe. Patrick Henry having declined his appointment, James M'Clure was nominated to supply his place. North Carolina.--Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Willie Jones. Richard Caswell having resigned, William Blount was appointed a deputy in his place. Willie Jones having also declined his appointment, his place was supplied by Hugh Williamson. South Carolina-John Rutledge, Charles Pinckey, Charles C. Pinckney, and Pierce Butler. Georgia.-William Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, George Walton, William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton. • Page 250. The members who were most conspicuous as debaters in the Convention, were Randolph, Madison, and Mason, of Virginia; King, Gerry, and Gorham, of Massachusetts; Gouverneur Morris, Wilson, and Dr. Franklin, of Pennsylvania; Johnson, Sherman, and Ellsworth, of Connecticut; Lansing and Hamilton, of New York; the two Pinckneys, of South Carolina; Paterson, of New Jersey; Martin, of Maryland; Dickenson, of Delaware; and Dr. Williamson, of North Carolina. great diversities of opinion,' and it seemed, after several days, that the convention must, of necessity, dissolve without accomplishing any thing. Some proposed a final adjournment. At this momentous crisis, Dr. Franklin arose, and said to the President, "How has it happened, sir, that while groping so long in the dark, divided in our opinions, and now ready to separate without accomplishing the great objects of our meeting, that we have hitherto not once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and graciously answered." After a few more remarks, he moved that "henceforth, prayers, imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business." The resolution was adopted; clergymen were invited to officiate; greater harmony prevailed in the convention; and so visible was the guidance of Divine Wisdom from that time, that the most skeptical was confounded. They went straight forward to the glorious termination of their labors. 2 After long and animated debates, the Convention referred all propositions, reports, etc., which had been agreed to from time to time, to a Committee of Detail, consisting of Rutledge, Randolph, Gorham, Ellsworth, and Wilson. The Convention then adjourned, and ten days afterward [August 6, 1787] it met, and that committee reported a rough sketch of the Constitution, as it now stands. Now, again, long and sometimes angry debates were had. Amendments were made, and all were referred to a committee for final revision. That committee submitted the following resolution on the 12th of September, which was adopted: 1 Edmund Randolph submitted a plan on the 29th of May, in a series of Resolutions, which was known as the "Virginia Plan." It proposed to form a general government, composed of a legislature, and an executive and judiciary department; a revenue, and an army and navy, independent of the control of the several States; to have power to conduct war, establish peace, and make treaties; to have the exclusive privilege of coining money, and the general supervision of all national transactions. Upon general principles, this plan was highly approved; but in that Convention there were many ardent and pure patriots, who looked upon the preservation of the State sovereignties as essential, and regarded this proposition as an infringement upon State Rights. Mr. Paterson also submitted a plan for amending the Articles of Confederation. It proposed to enlarge the powers of Congress, but left its resources and supplies to be found through the medium of the State governments. This was one of the most serious defects of the old League-a dependence of the general government upon the State governments for its vitality. Other propositions were submitted from time to time, and the most intense solicitude was felt by every member. Subjects of the most vital interest were ably discussed, from day to day; but none created more earnest debate than a proposition for the general government to assume the debts of the States contracted in providing means for carrying on the war. The debts of the several States were unequal. Those of Massachusetts and South Carolina amounted to more than ten millions and a half of dollars, while the debts of all the other States did not extend, in the aggregate, to fifteen millions. This assumption was finally made, to the amount of twenty-one millions five hundred thousand dollars. See page 370. Oliver Ellsworth was one of the soundest men in the Convention, and was ever one of the most beloved of the New England patriots. He was born in Windsor, Connecticut, in April, 1745. He was educated at Yale College, and at Princeton, and at the age of twenty-five, he commenced the practice of law at Hartford. He was an eloquent speaker, and became very eminent in his profession. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1777, and in 1784 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. He was the first United States senator from Connecticut, under the new Constitution, and in 1796 he was appointed Chief Justice of the United States. He was an embassador to the French court from 1799 to 1801. He died in November, 1807, at the age of sixty-two years. See next page. "Resolved unanimously, That the said report, with the resolutions and letters accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several Legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the Convention, made and provided, in that case." The new Constitution, when submitted to the people,' found many and able opposers. State rights, sectional interests, radical democracy, all had numerous friends, and these formed the phalanx of opposition. All the persuasive eloquence of its advocates, with pen and speech, was needed to convince the people of its superiority to the Articles of Confederation, and the necessity for its ratification. Among its ablest supporters was Alexander Hamilton,' whose The Convention agreed to the revised Constitution on the 15th of September, and on the 17th it was signed by the representatives of all the States then present, except Randolph, Gerry, and Mason. The Constitution was submitted to Congress on the 28th, and that body sent copies of it to all the State Legislatures. State Conventions were then called to consider it; and more than a year elapsed before the requisite number of States had ratified it. These performed that act in the following order: Delaware, Dec. 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, Dec. 12, 1787; New Jersey, Dec. 18, 1787; Georgia, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. 9, 1788; Massachusetts, Feb. 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788; New York, July 26, 1788; North Carolina, Nov. 21, 1788; Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. 2 Alexander Hamilton was born on the Island of Nevis, British West Indies, in January, 1757. He was of Scotch and French parentage. He became a clerk to a New York merchant at St. Croix, and he was finally brought to New York to be educated. He was at King's (now Columbia) College, and was distinguished as a good speaker and writer, while yet a mere lad. When the Revolution broke out, he espoused the Republican cause, entered the army, became Washington's favorite aid and secretary, and was an efficient officer until its close. He made the law his profession, and, as an able financier, he was made the first Secretary of the Treasury, under the new Constitu |