smaller States and the other the larger States. Randolph of Virginia presented the Large State Plan, or the so-called "Virginia Plan," which proposed a Congress of two houses with power to legislate on all national matters and to compel obedience on the part of the States. Representation in both houses was to be based on population, thus giving the larger and more populous States the control of both branches of the legislature; furthermore, since by this scheme the President, executive officers, and judges were to be appointed by Congress, supervision of the whole administration of the new government would be under the control of the larger States.

Patterson of New Jersey introduced the Small State Plan, or the so-called "New Jersey Plan," which provided for a Congress consisting of one house. According to

Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

INDEPENDENCE HALL.

Pennsylvania's Old State House in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and where the Federal Constitutional Convention met.

this plan each State was to have equal representation. The result was a compromise. It was agreed that there should be a legislature of two houses: a Senate, the less numerous branch, and a House of Representatives, the more nufmerous branch. In the Senate each State was to have an equal representation, thus putting the small States on an equal footing with the large ones; but in the House of Representatives

the representation was to be according to population, thus favoring the larger States.

It was also decided by the Convention that the Constitution f should be considered ratified and should go into effect as soon

as accepted by nine of the thirteen States. Persons favoring f the adoption of the Constitution by their respective States were called Federalists, and those opposing it were called Anti-Federalists. From this contest rose the first political parties in the United States.

The Convention adjourned in September, having been in session a little over four months. Gladstone, the famous English statesman, considered this constitution the greatest work ever struck off at one time by the hand of man.

The fundamental difference between the new Constitution and the old Articles was that the Constitution provided an adequate executive and judiciary to enforce the federal laws directly upon the individual instead of depending upon the indirect enforcement by the State governments, which had enforced only such as they individually approved.

Arguments For and Against Adoption. The Federalist Party with such leaders as Hamilton, Washington, and Marshall favored the proposed Constitution because it established a strong national government. This party was especially strong in commercial New England, where the weakness of the old Confederation and the tariff discriminations of the States were brought forcibly home. The arguments used by the Federalists appeared in a collection of eighty-five essays, called "The Federalist," written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. These essays contain an excellent exposition of the Constitution.

The Anti-Federalists, such as Patrick Henry and George Clinton, favored strong State governments and a comparatively weak national government. They felt that too much power was given to the central government and that State liberty Iwould be crushed out. Patriotism at that time was devotion to the State. A citizen of Virginia abroad called himself a

f

f

f

«Virginian" and not an “American.” The Anti-Federalists compared a strong national government to the English government, by which they had so recently felt oppressed, and they declared that it would be a government founded upon the destruction of the governments of the several States.

1789 CONSTITUTION

1781

ARTICLES OF CONFED-
ERATION

A further objection was that the Constitution contained no definite "bill of rights" guaranteeing to individuals such fundamental liberties as freedom of speech, liberty of the press, assurance against unjust arrest, and trial by jury. The Federalists practically agreed to add these guarantees, which promise was fulfilled by the adoption of the first ten constitutional amendments in 1791. It was feared that a President might become so popular as to obtain life tenure of office, and thus the government might degenerate into a monarchy. Patrick Henry cried, "We shall have

1776

DECLARATION OF INDE

PENDENCE

1775

SECOND CONTINENTAL CON-
GRESS

1774

FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

STONES IN THE MONUMENT TO UNION Adapted from Forman's " Advanced Civics"

a King; the army will salute him monarch."

By June, 1788, the Federalists prevailed. New Hampshire,1 the ninth State, ratified. The Continental Congress provided for the election of a President and his inauguration on March

1 The Constitution was ratified by the several States in the following order: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788; New York, July 26, 1788; North Carolina, November 21, 1789; and Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.

4, which day has since been observed as the beginning of à new term of office. Owing to a delay in the assembling of the new Congress, which Congress had to count the electoral vote, Washington was not inaugurated or our new government put into actual operation until April 30, 1789.

BEARD, CHARLES A.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. 1913.

FISKE, JOHN. The Critical Period of American History. 1888. MACDONALD, WILLIAM. Select Documents of United States History, 1776-1861. 1901.

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT

1. Name the three kinds of colonies and describe the characteristics of each.

1774 Where?

2. When did the First Continental Congress meet?
3. What was done by the First Continental Congress?

4. When did the Second Continental Congress meet?
? Where?

5. What was accomplished by the Second Continental Congress? 16. What were the Articles of Confederation? When were they framed? When ratified? Why the delay?

7. What were the powers of the Confederate Congress?

8. Name five distinctive features of the Articles of Confederation which proved to be their greatest defects.

9. Describe the unsatisfactory conditions existing during the Critical Period. What dispute arose between New York and New Jersey? New York and Connecticut? Maryland and Virginia?

10. When and where was the Constitution drafted?

11. What was the " Virginia Plan"? The "New Jersey Plan"? What was the compromise?

12. How many States were required for the ratification of the Constitution?

13. What was the fundamental difference between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation?

14. Who favored the adoption of the Constitution and what argument did they use for its adoption? Who opposed it and what were their arguments?

15. In what year was the required number of ratifications obtained? 16. When was Washington inaugurated as first President of the United States?

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Let five pupils report on the experiences commemorated by the five stones of the pyramid.

2. Prepare a five-minute paper on "The Critical Period of the American Confederation (1781-1789)." Consult Fiske's "Critical Period of American History."

3. What did the individual State gain by entering the federal union? What did it lose?

4. If our thirteen states had not united, what nation would probably control northern New England? Florida? Louisiana? Texas? California? Washington? Wisconsin? Minnesota ?

5. Which of the following arguments in favor of a league of nations were also applicable to our thirteen states at the time of their union?

(a) Steamships are drying up oceans, airplanes are removing mountains, and wireless is actually eliminating space; that is, scientific inventions have increased the causes of international conflict because nations of different religions, customs, and languages have been brought together. Steamships bring Japanese to the United States, airplanes bring liquor from Mexico, and wireless exchanges yellow journal comments before the facts are known.

(b) Progress is made by coöperation; hence we should not fight but should coöperate with our commercial competitors in developing all backward countries and thereby create trade enough for us all.

(c) Every community that enjoys peace and order has government. The township, the county, the State, and the United States of America have peace and order because they have governments to secure it. But in the international community where nations meet to settle their complex relations, just as individuals meet in their community, we have had no impartial officers to adjust their differences. Public opinion and noble impulse must be organized to enforce its will upon the selfish.

(d) Justice is maintained by impartial laws that are enforced by impartial tribunals:

(e) War takes lives, destroys property, consumes natural resources, and hence increases the cost of living. Therefore, we should settle international disputes by ballots and not by bullets. (See Appendix II.)