results were certain. Steadily the wonderful Constitution was
moulded into shape, and on the 17th of September was signed by all the
delegates except Randolph and Mason, of Virginia, and Gerry, of
Massachusetts. It was then submitted to Congress, which forwarded it to
the respective States for acceptance or rejection--the assent of nine
being necessary to make it operative.

So important a document was sure to elicit earnest discussion and many
able men opposed its adoption. At that early day appeared the germs of
the present political parties. The problem was as to the right division
of power between the national or central government and the respective
States. Those who favored the widest latitude to the States were called
Republicans, while their opponents were given the name of Federalists.
The views of the latter predominated in the main, though the
Constitution was really a compromise between its supporters and
opponents.

The beneficent features of the instrument were so manifest that its
adoption soon followed. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire ratified it,
and, being the ninth State, its provisions became operative throughout
the Union. North Carolina and Rhode Island did not assent, and the
Constitution went into effect without their vote. These two States had
issued a good deal of paper money, and disliked the Constitution because
it forbade such action. The opposition of the other States was caused by
the fear that too much power was conferred upon the central government.
To remove this not wholly unreasonable objection, the first ten
amendments were adopted and ratified in 1791.

FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION.

The Constitution supplied the great requirement without which the
government itself would have been a nullity: the power to act supplanted
the power simply to advise. The government consists of three
departments: a legislative or Congress, which makes the laws; an
executive department, consisting of the President and his officers, to
execute the laws made by Congress; and a judiciary department (the
Federal courts), which decides disputed questions under the laws. The
Constitution is our supreme law and must be obeyed by the general
government, the State governments, and the people; if not, the general
government punishes the offender.

Congress, or the legislative department, consists of two branches, the
Senate and House of Representatives. Each State, no matter what its
population, is entitl