Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/283

1787] Effect of the first resolution. Second resolution. 251 upon the same footing. He could never agree to inequality, putting ten States at the mercy of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Wilson disputed the contention that independence gained from Great Britain made the colonies independent of each other. The Declaration of Independence spoke of the " United Colonies " as free and independent States, that is, independent unitedly, not individually. Hamilton was of the same mind; he denied that separation from Great Britain had thrown the colonies into a state of nature. He admitted that they were now met on equality, but could see no inference that the form of government could not be changed. He would however allay the fears of the smaller States by mentioning two facts which would make them secure in a national government, though without their present equality. One was, the local situation of the largest three States ; Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania were separated by distance and by all such peculiarities as distinguished one State from another. Hence there need be no fear of combination. The other was, that as there was a gradation in the States, from Virginia down to Delaware, it would always happen that ambitious combinations among a few States might and would be counteracted by defensive combinations of greater extent among the rest. The closer the union of the States, the less the opportunity for the stronger to injure the weaker. On the next day it was moved by Ellsworth to drop the word " national " and make the resolution read, that " the government of the United States ought to consist" etc., which was agreed to without dissent. So the resolution went to the committee of detail, to be put into form on August 6, in the draft Constitution. There it was divided into Articles I and II; the first declaring the style of the government to be the United States of America, with a declaration prefixed that " We, the people of the States of " etc., finally changed to " We, the people of the United States," ordain etc. ; the second, that the government should consist of supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers. Both, with the declaration, were at once adopted by the Convention. But, without further debate upon the merits of the subject, both articles, reserving the declaration, were ultimately dropped by the final committee on style and arrangement as unnecessary by way of formal provision. (2) REPRESENTATION. The second of the Randolph resolutions provided "that the rights of suffrage in the national legislature ought to be proportioned to the quotas of contribution, or to the number of free inhabitants, as the one or the other rule might seem best in different cases." This resolution touched a vital point; it would make a radical CH. VIII.