The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-13

Il
and they therefore decided to construct
a constitution that should rest. not upon
the States alone but upon individual citi-
zens,
At no time were all the States represented
in the Philadel pha convention. When
the first regular session was held. on May
Is, 1881, delegates from only nine States
except Rhode Island, were also represented
for most of the four months during which
the convention held it's meetings. The
convention would doubtless have proved
n failure but for the sagacious resolution
passed at the outset that the sessions
should be secret In this way the people
of the several States were prevented from
taking sides prematurely in response 70
differences of opinion in The convention.
They were not to be invited 10 judge of the
proposed revision, which, as It turned out
was to be the substitution of an entirely
new instrument. until it was completed
The serious work of the convention began
when the delegates from Virginia pro-
a
by Madison for central government en-
tirely different from that of the Confedera-
ton. This outline, known in history as
the Virginia plan," favored Congress-
of two houses, the members Of the lower
house to be chosen by the people and those
OF the upper house TO be chosen by tho
lower from candidates nominated by the
State Legislatures. II was obvious that
by this plan the more populous States
would dominate not only the lower house,
but indirectly the higher also. The Nir-
GINA scheme provided for an executive
depart nlnnt, which The Confederation did
not possess but did not state whether
there should be- only one executive, ike
our President, or an executive council,
like that which now exists in Switzerland.
There was also TO be n national judiciary,
to decide cases that came up under the
laws made by Congress, No provision
for such a judiciary had been made by
the Articles of Confederation,
When the Virginia plan was discussed
by the Philadelphia convention in COM
mittee of the whole, it soon became mani
fest that majority Of the delegates were
heartily in favor Of Madison's proposnl
Several of the delegates from smell Sfotos,
however feared to grant much power to
government that might I've controlled
by the large States. These men insisted
| upon combining themselve" 70 the func-
tons contemplated when they were APP
pointed. They desired, In other words,
to revise the existing Articles of Con-
federation, rather than construct an en-
ingy, they drew up revised Articles OF
Confederation. usually described as the
New Jersey Plan," because they were
offered to the convention by William Pat
tcrson of that State. This plan proposed
simply to enlarge the powers Of the old
Congress by giving that body the right
TO levy duties and other taxes; but at the
same time 1t provided what the Articles
had lacked, namely, a Federal executive
| and a Federal Judiciary. The committee
| Of the whole reported the Virginia plan
with some notifications to the conven-
| ton, which, however, did not adopt it,
but, at the instance OF Connecticut, ac-
| copied a compromise between the Vir-
| ginia and New jersey schemes Over
| the cues ion of representation there was
long and bitter debate, The large Stat et
| naturally wanted the number Of member.
| in both houses to he proporionate TO the
| population Of the States represented; the
| small States, on their part, demanded
! that both houses or at least one of them
should he modelled on the unicameral
| Congress of tho Confederation, in which
each State had one vote. According To
| tn" compromise proposed by the Con-