Mod. Hist., Cambridge The South agreed to permit the passage of navigation acts by a majority of each house of Congress, in return (1) for the privilege of importing slaves for twenty years, or until 1808, the tax upon these slaves not to exceed ten dollars per head, and (2) the provision that exports should never be taxed, the Southern exports of that day being the most important source of that section's wealth. Term and election of the President. Stanwood, 1-9. Fiske, Critical Period, 277-285. Progress of the work. Fiske, The closing session. 190. Completing the Work of the Convention. For the Presidency, most of the members favored a single person, because the committees of the Confederation had been so unsatisfactory; but in regard to election, reëligibility, and length of term, the convention did not know its own mind. They first voted in favor of a term of seven years without reëlection, then changed to six, went back to seven, and, during the closing weeks of the sessions, decided upon four, with reëligibility. The election of the President presented a much more difficult problem. They were afraid to make him subordinate to Congress by leaving the choice to that body, did not dare intrust election to the people, and were unwilling to leave it to the state legislatures. After agreeing to two of these plans at different times, they finally hit upon indirect election through competent electors chosen by the States. It must not be thought that all of the time of the convention was devoted to settling disputes. Week after week the work progressed slowly but surely, points being settled quickly if little difference of opinion existed, but being delayed often by debate and honest differences of opinion. The Virginia plan was used practically as the foundation upon which the new Constitution was erected, and on September 17, 1787, the document was completed and signed by delegates from twelve States. Madison closes his "Debates," which are our chief source of information regarding the sessions of the convention, with this very suggestive account. "Whilst the last members were signing, Doctor Franklin, looking towards the President's chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that painters had round it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. 'I have,' said he, often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.' 999 RATIFICATION AND PROVISIONS Prejudices to be over come.. 191. Feeling of the People toward a New Constitution. Before the Constitution could go into effect, it was to be ratified by conventions called in the different States for that purpose. If accepted by nine of these States, it went into effect "between the States so ratifying the same." When we consider, however, that the Philadelphia Convention possessed no legal authority to frame a national Constitution, that the mass of the people did not fully appre- McLaughciate the evils of the Confederation, and that even those who lin, Confeddid, being much attached to their state governments, were 277-281, unwilling to surrender any of the State's authority to Con- 287-288. gress, we can see that the outlook for ratification was by no means bright. eration, ratification. stitutional Hist., I, No sooner had the convention adjourned than the members Conditions who had returned to their respective States, and other ad- favorable to vocates of the proposed government, began to organize their followers so as to secure the necessary ratification. Though Curtis, Confew in numbers at first, they included most of the able and progressive political leaders, and, by skillful management 623-640. and forceful argument,1 won over to the side of the Constitution the doubters, and many who at first opposed the change. These men were known as the Federalists, while those who favored a government like that of the Confederation, in which the States practically controlled Congress, were called the Anti-Federalists. The latter had quite an advantage, because the people as a whole were prejudiced in favor of state supremacy, and did not relish a change that strengthened the national government at the expense of the States. 1 The discussions over the Constitution produced a large number of able papers from the advocates or opponents of the new plan. Among these, a series discussing the whole situation and the provisions of the Constitution in detail has become famous among political documents under the title of The Federalist. The authors were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, and their commentary stands to-day as the ablest exposition of the Constitution in existence. one in Convention by the Unanimous Day of September in the your of our Lord one the Independance of the United States of "We have hereunto subscribed our Names, Delawar Maryland Virginia Geo Freak Gunning Bedford jun an of The Senifer Dan Carroll Wmplount H. Jamo, Johnson Connecticut Roger Sherman David Brearley. New Jersey Hm Paterfire Amfylvania Gea Clymer, The Jim Simons TUTION, WITH SIGNATURES The small Fiske, New McLaughlin, Confederation, 286-295. The last four States. Fiske, Prepara tions for - 192. The First Nine States. The good work that the convention had done in pacifying the small States by adopting the Connecticut compromise, was shown in the readiness with which the small States accepted the Constitution. In Delaware, after a very brief session, it was ratified unanimously on December 6, 1787, while in New Jersey and Georgia came unanimous votes but little later. Pennsylvania was the first of the large States to fall into line, her convention, on December 17, deciding in favor of the new government by a vote of 46 to 23. The New England States decided a little less promptly. Connecticut gave its approval without great delay, but the New Hampshire Convention adjourned without action, and the stormy debates in the Massachusetts Convention lasted a month. Nowhere was the attachment to local government so strong as in the Bay State, and the opposition made a strong plea on the ground that the new Constitution created a consolidated government which would be a menace to state rights and individual liberty. The Massachusetts Convention was finally persuaded to ratify, on condition that the majority ask Congress to submit to the States a number of amendments. New Hampshire later gave its consent by a close vote, but not until both Maryland and South Carolina had ratified. This was the last of the nine States necessary for the establishment of the Constitution. 193. The Later States. - Conventions were in session in both Virginia and New York when New Hampshire gave its decision. In the former the vote was taken four days later, resulting in a small majority for the Federalists. Here, again, the agreement was made to ask for certain amendments, embodying a bill of rights similar to those in the state constitutions. The New York Convention continued to debate the question for several weeks, during which the masterly arguments of Alexander Hamilton converted enough of the Anti-Federalists to give to the Constitution a majority of three. North Carolina and Rhode Island did not ratify at this time, the former entering the Union in November, 1789, and the latter in May, 1790. Meanwhile Congress was making its preparations to inaugurate the new government. Almost exactly a year after the members of the Philadelphia Convention had signed the Constitution, the Congress of the Confederation named the first Wednesday in January, 1789, as the day for selecting presidential electors, and the first Wednesday in March for the first meeting of Congress under the Constitution. |