Part 20 (2/2)

184. Compromise as to Apportionment.--Should the members of the House of Representatives be distributed among the states according to population? At first sight the answer seemed to be perfectly clear. But the real question was, should slaves who had no vote be counted as a part of the population? It was finally agreed that the slaves should be counted at three-fifths of their real number. This rule was called the ”federal ratio.” The result of this rule was to give the Southern slave states representation in Congress out of all proportion to their voting population.

[Sidenote: Power of Congress over commerce.]

[Sidenote: Restriction as to slave-trade.]

185. Compromise as to the Slave-Trade.--When the subject of the powers to be given to Congress came to be discussed, there was even greater excitement. The Northerners wanted Congress to have power to regulate commerce. But the Southerners opposed it because they feared Congress would use this power to put an end to the slave-trade. John Rutledge of South Carolina even went so far as to say that unless this question was settled in favor of the slaveholders, the slave states would ”not be parties to the Union.” In the end this matter also was compromised by providing that Congress could not prohibit the slave-trade until 1808. These were the three great compromises. But there were compromises on so many smaller points that we cannot even mention them here.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIGNING OF THE CONSt.i.tUTION, SEPTEMBER 17, 1787. From an early unfinished picture. This shows the arrangement of the room and the sun behind Was.h.i.+ngton's chair.]

[Sidenote: Franklin's prophecy.]

186. Franklin's Prophecy.--It was with a feeling of real relief that the delegates finally came to the end of their labors. As they were putting their names to the Const.i.tution, Franklin pointed to a rising sun that was painted on the wall behind the presiding officer's chair.

He said that painters often found it difficult to show the difference between a rising sun and a setting sun. ”I have often and often,” said the old statesman, ”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.”

And so indeed it has proved to be.

[Sidenote: Strength of the Const.i.tution. _McMaster_, 168-169.]

187. The Const.i.tution.--It will be well now to note some of the points in which the new Const.i.tution was unlike the old Articles of Confederation. In the first place, the government of the Confederation had to do only with the states; the new government would deal directly with individuals. For instance, when the old Congress needed money, it called on the states to give it. If a state refused to give any money, Congress could remonstrate--and that was all. The new government could order individuals to pay taxes. Any one who refused to pay his tax would be tried in a United States court and compelled to pay or go to prison.

In the second place the old government had almost no executive powers.

The new government would have a very strong executive in the person of the President of the United States.

[Sidenote: Interpretation of the Const.i.tution.]

[Sidenote: John Marshall's decisions.]

188. The Supreme Court.--But the greatest difference of all was to be found in the Supreme Court of the United States provided in the Const.i.tution. The new Congress would have very large powers of making laws. But the words defining these powers were very hard to understand.

It was the duty of the Supreme Court to say what these words meant. Now the judges of the Supreme Court are very independent. It is almost impossible to remove a judge of this court, and the Const.i.tution provides that his salary cannot be reduced while he holds office. It fell out that under the lead of Chief Justice John Marshall the Supreme Court defined the doubtful words in the Const.i.tution so as to give the greatest amount of power to the Congress of the United States. As the laws of the United States are the supreme laws of the land, it will be seen how important this action of the Supreme Court has been.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OPENING LINES OF THE CONSt.i.tUTION.]

[Sidenote: Opposition to the Const.i.tution. _Source-Book_, 172-175.]

189. Objections to the Const.i.tution.--The great strength of the Const.i.tution alarmed many people. Patrick Henry declared that the government under the new Const.i.tution would be a national government and not a federal government at all. Other persons objected to the Const.i.tution because it took the control of affairs out of the hands of the people. For example, the Senators were to be chosen by the state legislatures, and the President was to be elected in a round-about way by presidential electors. Others objected to the Const.i.tution because there was no Bill of Rights attached to it. They pointed out, for instance, that there was nothing in the Const.i.tution to prevent Congress from pa.s.sing laws to destroy the freedom of the press. Finally a great many people objected to the Const.i.tution because there was no provision in it reserving to the states or to the people those powers that were not expressly given to the new government.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CONSt.i.tUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.]

[Sidenote: Opponents of the Const.i.tution.]

[Sidenote: The first ten amendments.]

190. The First Ten Amendments.--These defects seemed to be so grave that patriots like Patrick Henry, R.H. Lee, Samuel Adams, and John Hanc.o.c.k could not bring themselves to vote for its adoption. Conventions of delegates were elected by the people of the several states to ratify or to reject the Const.i.tution. The excitement was intense. It seemed as if the Const.i.tution would not be adopted. But a way was found out of the difficulty. It was suggested that the conventions should consent to the adoption of the Const.i.tution, but should, at the same time, propose amendments which would do away with many of these objections. This was done. The first Congress under the Const.i.tution and the state legislatures adopted most of these amendments, and they became a part of the Const.i.tution. There were ten amendments in all, and they should be studied as carefully as the Const.i.tution itself is studied.

[Sidenote: Const.i.tution adopted. _Higginson_, 216; _Source-Book_, 175-180.]

191. The Const.i.tution Adopted, 1787-88.--In June, 1788, New Hamps.h.i.+re and Virginia adopted the Const.i.tution. They were the ninth and tenth states to take this action. The Const.i.tution provided that it should go into effect when it should be adopted by nine states, that is, of course, it should go into effect only between those states.

<script>