views. In importance, the state I represent holds a middle rank." * "If there was real danger to the smaller states," said Madison, "I would give them defensive weapons. But there is none. 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. 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." # Dayton replied: "Assertion for proof and terror for argument, however eloquently spoken, will have no effect. It 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 Still I would preserve the state rights as carefully as the trial by jury." I answer. *Yates in Elliot, i., 469, 470. + Gilpin, 1007; Elliot 265, 266; Yates in Elliot, i., 470; Paterson MS. Gilpin, 1009; Elliot, 266; 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." + 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 * Gilpin, 1012-1014; Elliot, 268. Yates in Elliot, i., 473, 474. Gilpin, 1016; Elliot, 269, 270. # Gilpin, 1017; Elliot, 270. A Yates in Elliot, i., 475. by the executive;* but the committee was ordered by a great majority; and the house showed its own inclination by selecting Franklin, Gerry, Ellsworth, Yates, Paterson, even Bedford and Martin, Mason, Davie, Rutledge, and Baldwin. To give them time for their task, and to all the opportunity of celebrating the anniversary of independence, the convention adjourned for three days. † *Gilpin, 1019, 1020; Elliot, 271, 272. Gilpin, 1023, 1024; Elliot, 278. CHAPTER IV. THE ADJUSTMENT OF REPRESENTATION. FROM THE THIRD TO THE TWENTY-THIRD OF JULY 1787. On the morning of the third of July the grand committee accepted as a basis for a compromise* the proposal of Franklin,† that in the first branch of the first congress there should be one member for every forty thousand inhabitants, counting all the free and three fifths of the rest; that in the second branch each state should have an equal vote; and that, in return for this concession to the small states, the first branch should be invested with the sole power of originating taxes and appropriations. The settlement of the rule of representation for new states was considered, but was left to the convention. "The committee have exceeded their powers," + cried Wilson, when Gerry, on the fifth, delivered the report to the convention. Madison encouraged the large states to oppose it steadfastly. Butler denounced the plan as unjust.# Gouverneur Morris, delighting to startle by his cynicism, condemned alike its form and substance, I adding: "State attachments and state importance have been the bane of the country. We cannot annihilate the serpents, but we may perhaps take out their teeth. Suppose the larger states agree, the smaller states must come in. Jersey would follow the opinions of New York and Pennsylvania. If persuasion does not unite the small states with the others, the sword will. The strongest party * Yates in Elliot, i., 478. #Gilpin, 1028; Elliot, 275. |