183.  The Compromise as to Representation.—­The discussion now turned on the question of representation in the two houses of Congress.  After a long debate and a good deal of excitement Benjamin Franklin and Roger Sherman proposed a compromise.  This was, that members of the House of Representatives should be apportioned among the states according to their population and should be elected directly by the people.  In the Senate they proposed that each state, regardless of size, population, or wealth, should have two members.  The Senators, representing the states, would fittingly be chosen by the state legislatures.  It was agreed that the states should be equally represented in the Senate.  But it was difficult to reach a conclusion as to the apportionment of representatives in the House.

[Sidenote:  The federal ratio.]

184.  Compromise as to Apportionment.—­Should the members of the House of Representatives be distributed among the states according to population?  At first sight the answer seemed to be perfectly clear.  But the real question was, should slaves who had no vote be counted as a part of the population?  It was finally agreed that the slaves should be counted at three-fifths of their real number.  This rule was called the “federal ratio.”  The result of this rule was to give the Southern slave states representation in Congress out of all proportion to their voting population.

[Sidenote:  Power of Congress over commerce.]

[Sidenote:  Restriction as to slave-trade.]

185.  Compromise as to the Slave-Trade.—­When the subject of the powers to be given to Congress came to be discussed, there was even greater excitement.  The Northerners wanted Congress to have power to regulate commerce.  But the Southerners opposed it because they feared Congress would use this power to put an end to the slave-trade.  John Rutledge of South Carolina even went so far as to say that unless this question was settled in favor of the slaveholders, the slave states would “not be parties to the Union.”  In the end this matter also was compromised by providing that Congress could not prohibit the slave-trade until 1808.  These were the three great compromises.  But there were compromises on so many smaller points that we cannot even mention them here.

[Illustration:  SIGNING OF THE CONSTITUTION, SEPTEMBER 17, 1787.  From an early unfinished picture.  This shows the arrangement of the room and the sun behind Washington’s chair.]

[Sidenote:  Franklin’s prophecy.]

186.  Franklin’s Prophecy.—­It was with a feeling of real relief that the delegates finally came to the end of their labors.  As they were putting their names to the Constitution, Franklin pointed to a rising sun that was painted on the wall behind the presiding officer’s chair.  He said that painters often found it difficult to show the difference between a rising sun and a setting sun.  “I have often and often,” said the old statesman, “looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”  And so indeed it has proved to be.