MAKING THE CONSTITUTION
%174. Call for the Constitutional Convention.%--Finding that it could
do nothing, because so few states were represented, and because the
powers of the delegates were so limited, the convention recommended that
all the states in the Union be asked by Congress to send delegates to a
new convention, to meet at Philadelphia in May, 1787, "to take into
consideration the situation of the United States," and "to devise such
further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the
Constitution of the Federal government adequate to the exigencies of
the Union."
%175. The Philadelphia Convention.%[1]--Early in 1787 Congress
approved this movement, and during the summer of 1787 (May to September)
delegates from twelve states (Rhode Island sent none), sitting in secret
session at Philadelphia, made the Constitution of the United States.
[Footnote 1: All we know of the proceedings of this convention is
derived from the journals of the convention, the notes taken down by
James Madison, the notes of Yates of New York, and a speech by Luther
Martin of Maryland. They may be found in Elliot's _Debates_, Vol. IV.]
[Illustration: Independence Chamber[2]]
[Footnote 2: The room where the Constitution was framed.]
%176. The Virginia and New Jersey Plans%.--The story of that
convention is too long and too complicated to be told in full.[1] But
some of its proceedings must be noticed. While the delegates were
assembling, a few men, under the lead of Madison, met and drew up the
outline of a constitution, which was presented by the chairman of the
Virginia delegation, and was called the "Virginia plan." A little later,
delegates from the small states met and drew up a second plan, which was
the old Articles of Confederation with amendments. As the chairman of
the New Jersey delegation offered this, it was called the "New Jersey
plan." Both were discussed; but the convention voted to accept the
Virginia plan as the basis of the Constitution.
[Footnote 1: For short accounts, read "The Framers and the Framing of
the Constitution" in the _Century Magazine_, September, 1887, or
"Framing the Constitution," in McMaster's _With the Fathers_, pp.
106-149, or Thorpe's _Story of the Constitution_, Chautauqua Course,
1891-92, pp. 111-148.]
%177. The Three Compromises.%--This plan called, among other things,
for a national legislature of two branches: a Senate and a House of
Representatives. The populous states insisted that the number of
representatives sent by each state to Congress should be in proportion
to her population. The small states insisted that each should send the
same number of representatives. For a time neither party would yield;
but at length the Connecticut delegates suggested that the states be
given an equal vote and an equal representation in the Senate, and an
unequal representation, based on population, in the House. The
contending parties agreed, and so made the first compromise.
But the decision to have representation according to population at once
raised the question, Shall slaves be counted as population? This divided
the convention into slave states and free (see p. 186), and led to a
second compromise, by which it was agreed that three fifths of all
slaves should be counted as population, for the purpose of apportioning
representation.
A third compromise sprang from the conflicting interests of the
commercial and the planting states. The planting states wanted a
provision forbidding Congress to pass navigation acts, except by a
two-thirds vote, and forbidding any tax on exports; three states also
wished to import slaves for use on their plantations. The free
commercial states wanted Congress to pass navigation laws, and also
wanted the slave trade stopped, because of the three-fifths rule. The
result was an agreement that the importation of slaves should not be
forbidden by Congress before 1808, and that Congress might pass
navigation acts, and that exports should never be taxed.
%178. The Election of President.%--Another feature of the Virginia
plan was the provision for a President whose business it should be to
see that the acts of Congress were duly enforced or executed. But when
the question arose, How shall he be chosen? all manner of suggestions
were made. Some said by the governors of the states; some, by the United
States Senate; some, by the state legislatures; some, by a body of
electors chosen for that purpose. When at last it was decided to have a
body of electors, the difficulty was to determine the manner of electing
the electors. On this no agreement could be reached; so the convention
ordered that the legislature of each state should have as many electors
of the President as it had senators and representatives in Congress, and
that these men should be appointed in such way as the legislatures of
the states saw fit to prescribe.
%179. Sources of the Constitution.%--An examination of the
Constitution shows that some of its features were new; that some were
drawn from the experience of the states under the Confederation; and
that others were borrowed from the various state constitutions. Among
those taken from state constitutions are such names as President,
Senate, House of Representatives, and such provisions as that for a
census, for the veto, for the retirement of one third of the Senate
every two years, that money bills shall originate in the House, for
impeachment, and for what we call the annual message.[1]
[Footnote 1: On the sources of the Constitution, read "The First Century
of the Constitution" in _New Princeton Review,_ September, 1887,
pp. 175-190.]
The features based directly on experience under the Articles of
Confederation are the provisions that the acts of Congress must be
_uniform_ throughout the Union; that the President may call out the
militia to repel invasion, to put down insurrection, and to maintain the
laws of the Union; that Congress shall have _sole_ power to regulate
_foreign trade_ and _trade between the states._ No state can now coin
money or print paper money, or make anything but gold or silver legal
tender. Congress now has power to lay taxes, duties, and excises. The
Constitution divides the powers of government between the legislative
department (Senate and House of Representatives); the executive
department (the President, who sees that laws and treaties are obeyed);
and the judicial department (Supreme Court and other United States
courts, which interpret the Constitution, the acts of Congress, and the
treaties).
The new features are the definition of treason and the limitation of its
punishment; the guarantee to every state of a republican form of
government; the swearing of state officials to support the Federal
Constitution; and the provision for amendment.
Among other noteworthy features are the creation of a United States
citizenship as distinct from a state citizenship, the limitation of the
powers of the states; and the provision that the Constitution, the acts
of Congress, and the treaties are "the supreme law of the land."
%180. Constitution submitted to the People.%--The convention ended
its work, and such members as were willing signed the Constitution on
September 17, 1787. Washington, as president of the convention, then
sent the Constitution to the Continental Congress sitting at New York
and asked it to transmit copies to the states for ratification. This was
done, and during the next few months the legislatures of most of the
states called on the people to elect delegates to conventions which
should accept or reject the Constitution.
%181. Ratification by the States.%--In many of these conventions
great objection was made because the new plan of federal government was
so unlike the Articles of Confederation, and certain changes were
insisted on. The only states that accepted it just as it was framed were
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, and Maryland.
Massachusetts, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, and Virginia
ratified with amendments. (For dates, see p. 176.)
%182. "The New Roof."%--The Constitution provided that when nine
states had ratified, it should go into effect "between the states so
ratifying." While it was under discussion the Federalists, as the
friends of the Constitution were named, had called it "the New Roof,"
which was going to cover the states and protect them from political
storms. They now represented it as completed and supported by eleven
pillars or states. Two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina, had not
ratified, and so were not under the New Roof, and were not members of
the new Union. Eleven states having approved, nothing remained but to
fix the particular day on which the electors of President should be
chosen, and the time and place for the meeting of the new Congress. This
the Continental Congress did in September, 1788, by ordering that the
electors should be chosen on the first Wednesday in January, 1789, that
they should meet and vote for President on the first Wednesday in
February, and that the new Congress should meet at New York on the first
Wednesday in March, which happened to be the fourth day of the month.
Later, Congress by law fixed March 4 as the day on which the terms of
the Presidents begin and end.[1]
[Footnote 1: The question is often asked, When did the Constitution go
into force? Article VII. says, "The ratification of the conventions of
nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this
Constitution between the states so ratifying the same." New Hampshire,
the ninth state, ratified June 21, 1788, and on that day, therefore, the
constitution was "established" between the nine.]
%183. How Presidents were elected%.--It must not be supposed that our
first presidents were elected just as presidents are now. In our time
electors are everywhere chosen by popular vote. In 1788 there was no
uniformity. In Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia the people had a
complete, and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire a partial, choice. In
Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia the
electors were appointed by the legislatures. In New York the two
branches of the legislature quarreled, and no electors were chosen.
As the Constitution required that the electors should vote by ballot for
two persons, such as had been appointed met at their state capitals on
the first Wednesday in February, 1789, made lists of the persons voted
for, and sent them signed and certified under seal to the president of
the Senate. But when March 4, 1789, came, there was no Senate. Less than
a majority of that body had arrived in New York, so no business could be
done. When at length the Senate secured a majority, the House was still
without one, and remained so till April. Then, in the presence of the
House and Senate, the votes on the lists were counted, and it was found
that every elector had given one of his votes for George Washington, who
was thus elected President. No separate ballot was then required for
Vice President. Each elector merely wrote on his ballot the names of two
men. He who received the greatest number of votes, if, in the words of
the Constitution, "such number be a majority of the whole number of
electors appointed," was elected President. He who received the next
highest, even if less than a majority, was elected Vice President. In
1789 this man was John Adams of Massachusetts.
[Illustration: Federal Hall, New York[1]]
[Footnote 1: From an old print made in 1797.]
[Illustration: G Washington]
%184. The First Inauguration.%--As soon as Washington received the
news of his election, he left Mount Vernon and started for New York. His
journey was one continuous triumphal march. The population of every town
through which he passed turned out to meet him. Men, women, and children
stood for hours by the roadside waiting for him to go by. At New York
his reception was most imposing, and there, on April 30, 1789, standing
on the balcony in front of Federal Hall (p. 171), he took the oath of
office in the presence of Congress and a great multitude of people that
filled the streets, and crowded the windows, and sat on the roofs of the
neighboring houses.[1]
[Footnote 1: Full accounts of the inauguration of Washington may be
found in _Harper's Magazine_, and also in the _Century Magazine_, for
April, 1889.]
SUMMARY
1. When independence was about decided on, Congress appointed a
committee to draft a general plan of federal government.
2. This plan, called Articles of Confederation, Maryland absolutely
refused to ratify till the states claiming land west of the Alleghany
Mountains ceded their claims to Congress.
3. New York and Virginia having ceded their claims, Maryland ratified in
March, 1781.
4. These cessions were followed by others from Massachusetts and
Connecticut; and from them all, Congress formed the public domain to be
sold to pay the debt.
5. The sale of this land led to the land ordinance of 1785 and the
ordinance of 1787, for the government of the domain and the new
political organism called the territory.
6. The defects of the Articles made revision necessary, and produced
such distress that two conventions were called to consider the state of
the country. That at Annapolis attempted nothing. That at Philadelphia
framed the Constitution of the United States.
7. The Constitution was then passed to the Continental Congress, which
sent it to the legislatures of the states to be by them referred to
conventions elected by the people for acceptance or rejection.
8. Eleven having ratified, Congress in 1788 fixed a day in 1789 (which
happened to be March 4), when the First Congress under the Constitution
was to assemble.
9. The date of the first presidential election was also fixed, and
George Washington was made our first President.
/1776. New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode
The Colonies adopt | Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Constitutions and --| Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North
become States. | Carolina, South Carolina.
|1777. New York, Georgia.
\1780. Massachusetts.
/Framed by Congress 1776-1777.
|Adopted by the states 1777-1781.
Articles of |In force March 1, 1781.
Confederation --|Kind of government.
|Defects. Result of the defects.
|Trade convention at Annapolis.
\Constitutional convention called.
/Proceedings of the convention.
|The three compromises.
Constitution of |Sources of the Constitution.
the United States.-|Original features.
|Derived features.
| Ratification by the states.
\The Constitution in force.
/Land claims of seven states.
|Demands for the surrender of \
|the western territory. |
The Territories. --|The cessions by the states. |--The Public
|Ordinance of 1785. | Domain.
|Ordinance of 1787. |
\Territorial government created./
The President. /Manner of electing.
\Inauguration of Washington.
The Congress. /Organization of the First
\under the Constitution.
/The Supreme Court
The Judiciary. --|The Circuit Court
\The District Court
/Secretary of State
The Secretaries. --|Secretary of Treasury
|Secretary of War
|The Attorney-general.
\Origin of the "Cabinet."