se men worked in secret. It was a severe
task they had to perform, for some wanted one thing and some another,
and many times it looked as if they would never agree; but at length all
disputes were settled and their long labors were at an end.

General Washington was president of the Convention, and back of the
chair on which he sat the figure of the sun was painted on the wall.
When it was all over, Benjamin Franklin pointed to this painting and
said to those who stood near him:

"Often while we sat here, troubled by hopes and fears, I have looked
towards that figure, and asked myself if it was a rising or a setting
sun. Now I know that it is the rising sun."

The rising sun indeed it was, for when the Convention had finished its
work it had formed the noble Constitution under which we now live, the
greatest state paper which man has ever formed.

But I fancy you want to know more about the noble framework of
government built by the wise men of the Convention of 1787.

After the Union was formed there were thirteen states still, but each of
these had lost some of its old powers. The powers taken from the states
were given to the general government. Every state had still the right to
manage its own affairs, but such things as concerned the whole people
were managed by the general government.

What were these things? Let us see. There was the power to coin money,
to lay taxes, to control the post-office, and to make laws for the good
of the whole nation. And there was the power to form an army and navy,
to make treaties with other countries, and to declare war if we could
not get on in peace.

Under the Confederation which was formed during the Revolutionary War,
the states could do these things for themselves; under the Constitution
they could do none of these things, but they could pass laws that
affected only themselves, and could tax their own people for state
purposes.

I have spoken several times of the general government. No doubt you wish
to know what this government was like. Well, it was made up of three
bodies, one of which made laws for the people, the second considered if
these laws agreed with the Constitution, the third carried out these
laws, or put them in force.

The body that made the laws was named the Congress of the United States.
It consisted of two sections. One was called the Senate, and was made up
of two members from each state. As we have now more than forty-five
states the Senate a