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