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


Congress each State should be required
to contribute according to its popula-
ton. An enumeration OF the people would
therefore be needed for the assessment
Of direct taxes, as well al for tho adjust
ment Of representation in the House OF
Representatives. 1t would obviously be
a very simple matter to count the number
of human beings in each State. but the
convention was sharply divided by the
inquiry whether negro slaves should be
counted az the whites "o-e. Naturally,
the delegates from the Southern States
did not want the negroes to be counted
which direct taxes were paid; on the other
hand, they did wish them to he counted
when Representatives were apportioned.
The North. for equally patent reasons,
wanted the opposite in both cases. BY
the compromise finally adopted Ave ne
groes were to be counted as equal to three
whites when the population was enumer-
ated for either direct taxation or repre-
sentation.
The third of the great compromises OF
which the Constitution Is an outcome was
also concerned with the question OF slavery.
The extreme Southern States demanded the
right to import slaves without restrictions,
but practically all Of the other States we're
opposed to the slave trade. In the Northern
States commerce was the chief industry,
and the New Englanders insisted that Con-
gress should have the power to pass navi-
CATION laws, like ordinary bills, by ma
jority vote. The Southern States, on their
part, apprehended that their agricultural
interests would be endangered unless two
thirds vote was required for all laws re-
lating to commerce. These sectional differ
ences were at last accommodated by the
third and last great compromise effected
by a combination Of the extreme Southern
with the New England States. In view OF
what was to happen afterward, 1t is curious
to find, at this conjuncture, Massachusetts
and South Carolina cooperating against
Virginia. BY the compromise, the South
agreed to permit the passage OF navigation
acts by a majority of each house of Con-
gress, in return for the privilege Of import
ing slaves for twenty years, or until 1908,
the tax upon such slaves not TO exceed SO
per head.
When the Federal Governement provided
by the new Constitution went into operation
in April 1880, neither North Carolina nor
Rhode Island had ratified the agreement
reached at Philadelphia. The former State
did not enter the Union until November,
1880, and the latter not until May, 1890.
What was their political status in the inter
val? Indisputably, they were bound to one
another by the Articles Of Confederation.
which. they could justly hold, were also
binding on the other eleven States, which,
under the Articles, had no right to organize
a new Government without the consent OF
all of the thirteen States. On this occasion,
however. as on many another, might made
right. Geographically isolated as they
were, North Carolina and Rhode Island
we're virtually coerced into an ultimate
adoption OF the Constitution. II, on the
contrary, the other three New England
States had sided with Rhode Island, as for
some time Massachusetts and New Hamp-
shire seemed likely to do. the other nine
States would have found themselves power
less TO coerce them. New England could
and would have formed separate con-
federation.
v.
In ono Of his chapters. Mr.. Ashley recalls
the interesting fact that during the debates
in the Philadelphia convention one Of the
delegates did not hesitate 70 assert that
no one expected that the Constitution they
were then framing would be in use century
later. II may seem at first sight that events
h; 80 falet'ed this prediction, but that is
not actually the case, II is true that, o.
tensiblv. the Constitution OF 1887, with only
fifteen amendments. is still the foundation
of our Federal Union and Of our national
Government Mr. Ashley is quite right,
however in cautioning his readers against
supposing that the Constitution is really
the same thing now that it was then. Its
form is almost identical with that OF hum
dred years ago. but it's spirit has been greatly
modified In 1890 the people were much
, moro attached to their Stete Governments
| then they were 70 the Government Of the
| nation; consequently, the national Gov
| eminent was not then allowed to do many
things that we consider perfectly proper
although nominally Congress had az much
power then az it has now" This simply
means that many of the chief changes In
| the relation of the States or Of the people
to the central Government since 1887 have
| not been made by constitutional amend
ments, hut nv more liberal construction
F, Of the powers granted to the Federal Coy
eminent in the original Constitution. We
can see how differently the people felt
| toward the Constitution in 1889 and in 1865,
| if we compare the first eleven amendments
! which, in certain respects, restrict the power
of the Federal Government. with the Thr-
| teenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amend
| ments, which, on the contrary, placed
I certain limitations upon the States The
| Fourteenth Amendment In particular,
| not only forbids the States to interfere with
| the rights which any citizen possesses by
! virtue Of his United States citizenship,
but it Gays to the States that, If they take
away from the citizen, without due process
of law. any rights which he has because Of
his State citizenship, he shall be protected
in Federal courts. As Mr.. Ashley says,
| 1t ia impossible to imagine such restriction
of State powers being sanctioned by the
people at the time the Constitution was
adopted.
The three most important features OF
the -unwritten const ituio are here de-
scribed az follows: In the first place, the
| Federal Government has become an es-
sentially democratic government the chief
officials Of which are elected by the adult
male citizens, and the principal departme =
| of which are directly responsible TO the popu-