voters.

The Senators were (until 1913) elected by the state legislatures. The President was chosen by electors who were elected either by the legislatures or by the people; but after some years the latter mode of election was adopted in all the

states.

(4) The Constitution declared that it was the " supreme law of the land"; that is, a higher law, above state laws or constitutions, and also above all acts of Congress which did not agree with it.

(5) The place of the states in the Union was much more clearly stated than in the old Articles, and the whole framework of the government was so arranged as to give the new federal government a chance to do its work without interfering with the states.

128. Ratification of the Constitution (1787-1790). The members of the convention never thought that they could put their work into effect themselves; they simply drew it up for the states to act upon. On September 17, 1787, they sent it out, wisely demanding that a special convention in each state meet for the purpose of considering and ratifying the proposed document. Even then the hard work of the convention came near failing, because so many states were inclined to hold back. Anybody could see that if the new Constitution should go through, the states were bound to be less powerful than before, and the Union more powerful.

The best argument in favor of a new Constitution was, that it was the only thing that would make the Union strong enough to be permanent. A back-country farmer member of one of the conventions discussed the argument in favor of the Constitution thus: "I don't think the worse of the Constitution, because lawyers and men of learning and moneyed men are fond of it. I don't suspect that they want to get into Congress and abuse their power. . Now is the time to reap the fruit of our labor, and if we don't do it now I am afraid we shall never have another opportunity.'

The ratification by nine states was necessary for the establishment of the Constitution. In eight states (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Maryland,

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South Carolina, New Hampshire) this ratification was easy. There was a hard struggle in the three large states of Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York; and no union could expect to succeed from which any one of these was left out. The very fear of failure carried the Constitution through. By narrow majorities, in the teeth of opposition, the Constitution was ratified in those three states; so that eleven of the thirteen states at once came under what people called “The New Roof." North Carolina and Rhode Island followed in 1789 and 1790.

While the state conventions were being held, the argument was brought against the Constitution that its friends wanted to set up a centralized government. They replied that on the contrary they were Federalists in favor of a federal form of government. Madison, Hamilton, and others joined in a series of articles, called The Federalist, in a New York newspaper, defending the Constitution. The opponents then took the name of Anti-Federalists, as the best that they could find.

129. Summary. — The main subject of this chapter is the weakness of the Confederation, and the work of the federal convention which was called to make the new Constitution, in order to avoid the mistakes of the old one.

After the Revolutionary War, the American people seemed ready for peace, happiness, and profit, but the war had caused many losses and left behind it many heavy burdens of public and private debt. Still, the country was doing well, even though Great Britain did not grant favorable conditions of trade.

Seven of the thirteen states laid claim to parts of the territory west of the mountains, but cessions to Congress wiped out nearly all these rival claims. Then Congress, by the Northwest Ordinance (1787), provided the first actual territorial government. Emigrants from the East at once poured into the Northwest Territory, as they were already pouring into Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Confederation was hampered by the fact that the British still held some of the northern posts, and by the fact that the states were divided in sentiment over slavery. Some of the states set the slaves free. Congress could not raise

HART'S SCH. HIST. — 10

money enough for national needs, and public sentiment demanded a constitutional convention.

The convention met in 1787 and was made up of the ablest men in the country. They steered the assembly through its difficulties by suggesting compromises that could be accepted by both sides. They founded the new Constitution on their experience in colonies, states, and the Confederation. They made the Constitution a fundamental law, protecting the rights of man, including popular government, and providing a" higher law than the acts of Congress or of the states.

To get the necessary ratification of nine states was difficult. Some people thought the Constitution gave too much power to a centralized government; others wanted it because it would preserve the rights of the minority. It was soon ratified by eleven states and thus became the Constitution of the nation.

REFERENCES

Maps. Avery, Un. States, VI. - Hart, Epoch Maps, nos. 6, 8; Wall Maps. McLaughlin, Confed. and Constitution. - Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 196.

Histories. Bassett, Un. States, chs. x, xi.

Elson, Side Lights, I. McLaughlin, Confed. Nation, 1-63.

ch. ii. — Fish, Dev. of Am. Nation., chs. ii, iii. and Constitution, ch. iii. - Walker, Making of the Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 8, 22, 28, 32. Beard, Readings, §§ 14-21. Caldwell and Persinger, Source Hist., 233-245, 267-283. Harding, Select Orations, nos. 6-9. Hart, Contemporaries, III. §§ 3775; Patriots and Statesmen, II. 153-361; Source Book, §§ 64-70. — Hill, Liberty Docs., chs. xv-xvii. - James, Readings, §§ 36-38. - Old South Leaflets, nos. I, 12, 13, 15, 16, 40, 99, 127, 186, 197.

Bellamy, Duke
Ford, True

Side Lights and Stories. Adams, Familiar Letters. of Stockbridge (Shays). Bird, Nick of the Woods (Ky.). · George Washington. - Wallington, Am. Hist. by Am. Poets, I. 291, 295. Pictures. Avery, Un. States, VI.—Mentor, serial no. 75.- Sparks, Expansion of Am. People. - Wilson, Am. People, II.

QUESTIONS

(§ 118) 1. What was there to make the American people happy after the Revolution?

(§ 119) 2. What property losses were caused by the Revolution? 3. Why was there trouble about debts? 4. How do we know that the country was prosperous? 5. How did England treat American trade to British colonies?

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(120) 6. What were the "Stay and Tender" laws? 7. What did people do to relieve themselves from distress? 8. What was the Shays Rebellion?

(§ 121) 9. What were the western state claims? 10. What did Congress promise with regard to the western lands? II. How were the state claims settled?

(§ 122) 12. How did Congress organize the western territories? 13. What was the Northwest Ordinance? 14. How did people prepare to occupy the West? 15 (For an essay). Account of the settlement by the Ohio Company.

(§ 123) 16. Why did the Confederation come near breaking down? 17. How did the abolition of slavery begin? 18. What was Mason and Dixon's line? 19. What did Washington think of the Confederation? 20. What was the Annapolis Convention?

(§ 124) 21. How was the Constitutional Convention formed? 22. How did it carry on its business? 23. What sort of men were members? 24 (For an essay). An account of life inside the convention.

(§ 125) 25. What were the three great compromises of the convention? 26. What was the compromise about the two houses of Congress? 27. What was the compromise about shipping? 28. What was the compromise about slavery?

(§ 126) 29. Where did the framers of the Constitution find their ideas? (§ 127) 30. What are the most important principles of the Constitution? (§ 128) 31. How was the Constitution ratified? 32. Why was it ratiñed? 33. Who were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists? 34 (For an essay). Account of the proceedings in a ratifying convention.

CHAPTER XII

HOW PEOPLE LIVED A CENTURY AGO (1790–1820)

130. Numbers and Races. The first federal census, taken in 1790, showed a total number reported of 3,930,000 civilized people. Of these, about a fifth (760,000) were negroes. In addition about 80,000 Indians were known to live east of the Mississippi.

Only about three per cent of the people lived in towns, the largest of which were the seaports of Philadelphia with 42,000 people, New York with 33,000, Boston with 18,000, Charleston with 16,000, and Baltimore with 14,000. All these places were still hardly better than big, overgrown villages, badly paved, lighted, and policed. About half the Americans lived in the North and about half lived south of Mason and Dixon's line (§ 123).

The only way to find what races composed the white population is to examine the family names; and they show that about five sixths were descended from English ancestors; one twelfth were Scotch, Scotch-Irish, and Irish, most of whom spoke English; about a twentieth were Germans; and about a fiftieth were Dutch. The records also include a few French and Spanish names and a few hundred Jewish names. Most of the Scotch-Irish lived in the four states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the two Carolinas. Pennsylvania was the only state in which the non-English element was as large in proportion as it is to-day.

The census brought out many droll family names, such as Toughman, Pettyfool, Goodfellow, Fryover, Moonshine, Spitznoggle, and Witchwagon. Some of the combinations of names are very amusing, such as Sarah Simpers, William Sorrows, River Jordan, Jemima Crysick, History Gott, Noble Gun, Sillah Jester, Joseph Came, and Chrysty Forgot.