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st upon the maintenance of absolute equality in the Congress. This difference gave more trouble than any other question that came before the Convention, and for some time threatened to prove irreconcilable and to hinder any final agreement. It was ultimately settled by a compromise. Provision was made for the representation of the people of the States in one branch of the Federal Legislature (the House of Representatives) in proportion to their numbers; in the other branch (the Senate), for the equal representation of the States as such. The perpetuity of this equality was furthermore guaranteed by a stipulation that no State should ever be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate without its own consent.[31] This compromise required no sacrifice of principle on either side, and no provision of the Constitution has in practice proved more entirely satisfactory. It is not necessary, and would be beyond the scope of this work, to undertake to give a history of the proceedings of the Convention of 1787. That may be obtained from other sources. All that is requisite for the present purpose is to notice a few particulars of special significance or relevancy to the subject of inquiry. Early in the session of the Convention a series of resolutions was introduced by Mr. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, embodying a proposed plan of government, which were considered in committee of the whole House, and formed the basis of a protracted discussion. The first of these resolutions, as amended before a vote was taken, was in these words: "_Resolved_, That it is the opinion of this committee that a national Government ought to be established, consisting of a supreme legislative, executive, and judiciary." This was followed by other resolutions--twenty-three in all, as adopted and reported by the committee--in which the word "national" occurred twenty-six times. The day after the report of the committee was made, Mr. Ellsworth, of Connecticut, moved to strike out the words "national Government" in the resolution above quoted, and to insert the words "Government of the United States," which he said was the proper title. "He wished also the plan to go forth as an amendment of the Articles of Confederation."[32] That is to say, he wished to avoid even the appearance of undertaking to form a _new_ government, instead of reforming the old one, which was the proper object of the Convention. This motion was agreed to wi
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