be found upon examination that fourteen provisions of the plan which Randolph submitted were ultimately incorporated in the Constitution. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina on the same day submitted a plan of federal government, which he had prepared, but of this little is known.

1 The manuscript of Mr. Pinckney's plan is lost and no copy has been preserved. Mr. Madison has pointed out that the draft which goes under Mr. Pinckney's name, and as printed in Elliot, V, 129-132, coincides closely with the Constitution finally adopted, and contains many provisions which Mr. Pinckney opposed and highly disapproved. The draft in Elliot was prepared more than thirty years after the Convention adjourned. Elliot, V, 578-579.

CHAPTER II.

THE VIRGINIA PLAN.

On the thirteenth of May, consideration of Randolph's resolutions was postponed, at his request, in order to take up three new ones which he offered, raising the question of the general character of the proposed plan of government.1 A union merely federal would not accomplish the objects attempted by the Articles, namely, common defense, the security of liberty, and the general welfare; nor would any treaty between the States, as individual sovereignties, be sufficient; therefore a national government ought to be established consisting of a supreme legislative, executive and judiciary.

This was the first use of the term national in the sense in which it is now commonly understood, and at once raised apprehensions and objections. General Pinckney and Gerry doubted whether the act of Congress recommending the Convention, or the commissions of the members, authorized them to discuss a Constitution founded on different principles than the Articles. A federal government, said Gouverneur Morris, was a mere compact rest

1 This chapter is based on the debates in the Convention from May 30 to June 14, as it follows the debates in their chronological order the author has considered it unnecessary, except in special instances to cite the page of the debates. Authority for the statements in the present chapter are: Madison's Notes in the Documentary History of the Constitution, III, 13-123; Elliot, V, 132-190; the Journal in Documentary History of the Constitution, I, 199-223; 55-64; Elliot, I, 150-175; Yates's Minutes, Elliot, I, 391-410; Albany Edition, 1821, 97-121; Madison's Works (Gilpin), II, 721-862; Madison's Notes in the Journal of the Federal Convention, Edited by E. H. Scott, Chicago; Albert Scott & Co., . 1893, 72-163.

2 See the first use of the term "nation," page 194.

A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.

315

ing on the good faith of the parties, but a national government had a complete and comprehensive operation. One defect of the Confederation, said Mason, was its inability to coerce and punish delinquent States. But punishment could not be executed on the States collectively, therefore, a government was needed which would operate strictly on individuals. Sherman thought it was necessary only to give the Confederation additional powers, especially that of raising money, which involved the rest, but the jurisdiction of the federal government and that of the States should never be concurrent. By a vote of seven and a half States to one, it was decided to establish a national government, consisting of a supreme legislative, executive and judiciary, and the first great step in reform was taken.1

Madison feared that the apportionment of representation in the national legislature according to the number of free inhabitants might divert discussion from the main issue to a change in the existing basis. King objected to an apportionment according to quotas of contribution, because of its variableness and uncertainty. It was agreed, however, that representation should not be on the existing plan. Read reminded the Convention that the Delaware deputies were restrained by their commission from assenting to any change in the rule of suffrage. If attempted this might make it their duty to retire. Though their aid could not be lost without concern and the threatened secession of a State so early in the discussion was ominous, yet Gouverneur Morris remarked that the change proposed was so fundamental to the national government it could not be dispensed with. The acts of a

1 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, aye; Connecticut, no; New York, divided. Hamilton aye, Yates no, so the vote of the State was lost.

316

THE LOWER HOUSE.

national government must take effect, said Madison, without the intervention of the State legislatures. There was as much reason for having representation among the States apportioned to population, in the formation of a national government, as, in a State government, for an apportionment of representation among the counties; but the question was postponed, with the understanding that no objection to the question of proportional representation would emanate from any other State than Delaware. Pennsylvania alone dissented to the organization of the legislature in two branches, out of complaisance to Franklin, who was partial to a single House, such as this State then had.2

Sherman thought that the first branch ought to be chosen by the State legislatures and not by the people, who should have as little as possible to do with the government, as they needed information and were constantly liable to be misled. Gerry, with the turmoil of Shays' rebellion fresh in his memory, regarded this excess of democracy as confirming Sherman's views. It was a maxim of democracy to starve public servants. The leveling spirit in the country was dangerous, but as the larger branch of the legislature was to be the grand depository of the democratic principles of government and form the American House of Commons, Mason thought it should sympathize with every part of the community and therefore be chosen advantageously by the people from different parts of the whole republic. Wilson, true to the position which he had taken ten years before in Congress, agreed with Mason, and compared the national government to a lofty pyramid, and therefore in need of as broad a base as possible. In

1 May 31. Randolph's third resolution.

2 For thirteen years, under the Constitution of 1776, till supplanted by the Constitution of 1789-90.

THE LOWER HOUSE.

317

a republican government the confidence of the people, he said, is peculiarly essential. Moreover the influence of the assemblies ought not to be increased by making them the electors of the national legislature. A popular election would largely obviate all conflicts between the general and the local governments. The opposition of the States to federal measures during the past six years had proceeded more from their officials than from the people at large.

Madison favored a popular election, remarking that in some States, and he referred to Maryland,' one branch of the legislature, the Senate, was composed of men removed from the people by an intervening body of electors. If the first branch of the national legislature was elected by the assemblies, the second branch by the first, the executive by both branches, and other appointments be made by the executive, the people would be lost sight of altogether, and the sympathy necessary between them and their rulers be too little felt. The great fabric should rest on the solid foundation of the people and not merely on the pillars of the State legislatures. But Gerry, whose distrust of popular government was deep, thought that the people might be suffered to nominate candidates, from whom the State legislatures would choose the national representatives. It was clear, therefore, that the new government was not to be wholly national in its sources, but, by a vote of six States to two, it was decided that the first branch of its legislature should be chosen by the people.2 Spaight objected to Randolph's plan of choosing

1 Kentucky imitated the Maryland system of electing senators (Constitution 1776), Articles XIV, XV, XVI, in its Constitution of 1792, Article I, but abandoned it in 1799.

2 Randolph's fourth resolution. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, aye; New Jersey, South Carolina, no; Connecticut and Delaware, divided.