governments by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

Mr. Sherman seconded the motion.

Mr. Hamilton was fearful that if the motion should be adopted it would alarm the people, who would think that some extraordinary emergency had arisen in the Convention. It would have been well to have adopted such a motion at the beginning of the session.

Mr. Randolph proposed that a sermon be preached on the fourth of July, and after that prayers. An adjournment was finally carried without a vote by ayes and nays.

June 29.-Dr. Johnson said this controversy seemed endless. On the one side the States were considered as districts of people, and hence entitled to representation according to their numbers; on the other side it was contended that they were political societies, and hence each should be represented equally. He suggested that each side was partially right, and that therefore the true ground was a compromise; let one branch represent exclusively the people and the other (the Senate) represent the States.

Mr. Madison agreed with Dr. Johnson, that the mixed nature of the government ought to be kept in view. He made a lengthy speech in favor of this proposition. The debate was continued through the day, and it was finally agreed that the representation should be according to the ratio of inhabitants.

June 30.-Mr. Brearly moved that the President write to the Executive of New Hampshire requesting the imme

diate attendance of the delegates from that Sate, as the difficulties of the Convention are such, that they wanted all the aid possible. Not agreed to.

Mr. Ellsworth moved that each State be allowed an equal vote in the second branch, and supported his motion by a lengthy argument.

Mr. Wilson opposed the motion. He said we were forming a government for men, not for imaginary States.

Mr. Madison thought the difficulty was not between the large and small States, but really between the States having slaves and those not having, or expecting soon not to have slaves. He thought a fair compromise would be to have one branch represented according to the number of free inhabitants only, and the other represented by the whole, counting the slaves as freemen, instead of counting them as five to three. By this arrangement the southern scale would have the advantage in one House and the northern in the other.

Dr. Franklin thought "both sides must part with some of their demands."

The discussion was continued through the day without arriving at any conclusion.

July 2.-On the question allowing each State one vote in the second branch it was lost. Ayes 5. Noes 5.

General Pinckney proposed that a committee of one from each State should be appointed to devise and report a compromise.

Mr. Morris favored a committee. He said the object of the second branch was to check the excesses of the first branch. He thought it must be a branch of property interest, and must also be permanent in order to give stability to the government. Without it the country would have no confidence in the plan. Loaves and fishes would bribe demagogues. Give us a senate for life, with

out pay, and we will have an honest and conservative branch.

Mr. Madison opposed the committee. It was discussed at length, and on the question, nine States voted Aye. New Jersey and Delaware voted No.

The committee was elected by ballot, and was composed of Messrs. Gerry, Ellsworth, Yates, Patterson, Dr. Franklin, Bedford, Martin, Mason, Davie, Rutledge and Baldwin. To give the committee time to deliberate, the Convention adjourned till Thursday the 5th.

July 5. Mr. Gerry, from the committee appointed on Monday last, made the following report:

1. That in the first branch each State shall be allowed one member for every forty thousand inhabitants, counting all free persons and three-fifths of the slaves, and that all money bills, or bills fixing salaries of public officers, shall originate in the first branch, and shall not be altered or amended by the second branch.

2. That in the second branch each State shall have an equal vote.

[Note. This report was considered as a compromise between the large and small States. The large States were apprehensive that by allowing the small ones an equal representation in the Senate, they might, by combination, vote undue burdens upon them in the way of appropriations of the public money. Hence, the arrangement that money bills shall originate in the House where the representation is in accordance with the ratio of inhabitants, thus protecting the large States in that branch, while the small States find their protection in the Senate, where they have an equal representation. How admirable the arrangement! How beautifully ordered by our fathers for the protection of the rights of the whole Union, is this model constitutionthe perfection of governmental excellence-the sum total of the wisdom of ages in the science of self-government!

This report was founded on a motion made, in the committee, by Dr. Franklin.]

Mr. Madison did not consider the concession of the small States that the House should originate all money bills as of much moment. He said the senators could get the members of the House to adopt their notions by handing them amendments, and thus avoid the check that this clause was designed to afford. He thought we should form a government on just principles, and the small States would find it to their interest to adopt it.

A long debate ensued, participated in by Messrs. Morris, Bedford, Ellsworth, Mason, Rutledge and others, and without the question the Convention adjourned.

July 6. Mr. Morris moved to commit so much of the report as relates to one member to every forty thousand inhabitants to a committee of five, which was agreed to.

The clause relating to an equality of votes in the Senate being under consideration, it was postponed, and the clause relating to money bills taken up. After some discussion it was agreed to.

July 7. The clause allowing each State one vote in the Senate being up, after a long and zealous discussion, it was postponed until the committee of five, on the number of members in the first branch, should report.

July 9. Daniel Carroll, of Maryland, took his seat.

Mr. Morris, from the committee of five, reported that the House should at first consist of forty-six members. New Hampshire, two; Massachusetts, seven; Rhode Island, one; Connecticut, four; New York, five; New Jersey, three; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, four; Virginia, nine; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five; Georgia, two; and that Congress should alter the number from time to time, as it should think proper.

Mr. Patterson thought the proposed estimate for the future too vague. He could regard negro slaves in no

light but property. They were not represented in the State governments, and hence should not be in the rational government.

Mr. Madison suggested as a compromise, that in the House the representation should be according to the number of free inhabitants; that the Senate was designed, in one respect, to be the guardian of property, and that branch.

should represent slaves and all. After some further discussion, the first clause of the report was referred to a committee of one from each State.

July 10. Mr. King, from the committee appointed yesterday, reported that the House should consist of sixtyfive members. After a long and animated discussion the report was adopted. South Carolina and Georgia alone voting No.

July 11. Mr. Randolph's motion, requiring a census to be taken in order to correct inequalities in representation, was taken up.

Mr. Butler and Gen. Pinckney insisted that blacks should have an equal representation with the whites, and therefore moved that "three-fifths" be struck out.

Mr. Gerry, and Mr. Gorham, favored three-fifths.

Mr. Butler, said the labor of a slave in South Carolina, was as valuable as that of a freeman in Massachussets. Free negroes in the North, have an equal representation with the whites. So should the slaves of the South have.

Mr. Williamson, said that the Eastern States contended. for the equality of blacks where taxation was in view, they ought then to be willing to allow an equal representation. On the question, Mr. Butler's motion was lost, only Delaware, South Carolina, and Georgia, voting Aye.

Mr. Morris, said that if slaves were to be considered as inhabitants, not as wealth, then there would be no use for