Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-12

The presentation of the small State
viewpoint was finally intrusted to Pater-
son of New Jersey, who opened the at
tack on the Virginia plan on June Q.
His argument, from the strictly legal
standpoint. is well nigh irrefutable. He
called the attention Of the delegates Ito
the nature, structure and powers" Of
the convention of which they were q
part. The convention was formed in
pursuance Of an act Of Congress which
provided that the delegates should con-
fine themselves to the amendment of
the Articles. The Articles Of Confedera-
ton, therefore, formed the proper basis
Of procedure. Any other course meant
usurpation by the convention. 1.-THE
people Of America" he added, ''are
sharp-sighted and not to be deceived"
1.-THE idea Of a national Gas against
q federaD government never entered
into the minds Of the people. We have, "
continued Paterson, mo power to go be-
yond the Federal scheme, and If we had
the people are ripe for no other" The
basis Of the Confederation he held to be
equal power for each State, which the
new plan destroyed.
The Virginia or nationalistic plan
could not be maintained" he added.
lin reference to use as nation or as
confederacy. A confederacy suppoSes
sovereignty in the members composing
1t, and sovereignty supposes equality"
The cleavage between the two groups
was so complete that Wilson of Penn
sylvania made an address in which he
urged that, in the event of the failure
Of all the States to agree on a new form
Of government, and in view of the al
ready apparent dissolution Of the Con-
federation, majority, or even q major
ity of the States, should unite for their
own safety. He again stressed the basic
justice of the argument for proportional
representation. "Al authority Is de-
rived from the people," he said. Equal
numbers Of people ought to have an
equal number, of representatives. and
different numbers of people, different
numbers of representatives" This prin-
ciple had been violated, he declared, in
the Confederation, owing to the urgent
circumstances of the times.
Franklin succeeded in momentarily
lessening the tension by pretending to
take seriously the suggestion that the
territory of all the States be pooled
and that, under redivision, each State
be given the same amount of territory
as all the others. He smilingly offered
a part of Pennsylvania to New Jersey
and another part to Delaware. He then
be based on contributions to the Gen.
trail Government.
Repeated votes showed that unless
some form of compromise could be ar
arrived at, the convention would result
in o complete failure. The large States
became alarmed at q sudden turn in
sentiment toward the Small-State view
point, particularly as result of the
insistence of the Virginia and South
Carolina leaders on having slaves
counted in determining the total pop
ulation to be represented in each State.
The injection of the slave representa-
ton issue brought from Gerry this
singing rejoinder: Property is not to
be the rule of representation. why,
then, should the blacks, who are prop
erty in the South, be in the rule Of
representation. more than the cattle
and horses of the North?" Finally the
Great Compromise was agreed upon,
whereby representation in the Senate
was by States and In the House by
population.
Washington, in his only expression
Of opinion in the meeting, secured one
representative for each $4,000 of pop
ulation as the basis for the Lower
House. Some distribution had to be
made before a census could be taken.
Hence the division of 1887, with pro-
visions for alterations on the basis of
actual census returns. 1t must be
borne in mind that there were approx
imately $4,000 slaves, mostly in the
South, and that by agreement five
slaves counted as three citizens in the
apportionment. The temporary dis
trtbution of Representatives and the