law in James Wilson of Pennsylvania; the philosophy of government in James Madison, called the “father of the Constitution.”  They were not theorists but practical men, rich in political experience and endowed with deep insight into the springs of human action.  Three of them had served in the Stamp Act Congress:  Dickinson of Delaware, William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut, and John Rutledge of South Carolina.  Eight had been signers of the Declaration of Independence:  Read of Delaware, Sherman of Connecticut, Wythe of Virginia, Gerry of Massachusetts, Franklin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, and James Wilson of Pennsylvania.  All but twelve had at some time served in the Continental Congress and eighteen were members of that body in the spring of 1787.  Washington, Hamilton, Mifflin, and Charles Pinckney had been officers in the Revolutionary army.  Seven of the delegates had gained political experience as governors of states.  “The convention as a whole,” according to the historian Hildreth, “represented in a marked manner the talent, intelligence, and especially the conservative sentiment of the country.”

THE FRAMING OF THE CONSTITUTION

=Problems Involved.=—­The great problems before the convention were nine in number:  (1) Shall the Articles of Confederation be revised or a new system of government constructed? (2) Shall the government be founded on states equal in power as under the Articles or on the broader and deeper foundation of population? (3) What direct share shall the people have in the election of national officers? (4) What shall be the qualifications for the suffrage? (5) How shall the conflicting interests of the commercial and the planting states be balanced so as to safeguard the essential rights of each? (6) What shall be the form of the new government? (7) What powers shall be conferred on it? (8) How shall the state legislatures be restrained from their attacks on property rights such as the issuance of paper money? (9) Shall the approval of all the states be necessary, as under the Articles, for the adoption and amendment of the Constitution?

=Revision of the Articles or a New Government?=—­The moment the first problem was raised, representatives of the small states, led by William Paterson of New Jersey, were on their feet.  They feared that, if the Articles were overthrown, the equality and rights of the states would be put in jeopardy.  Their protest was therefore vigorous.  They cited the call issued by the Congress in summoning the convention which specifically stated that they were assembled for “the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”  They cited also their instructions from their state legislatures, which authorized them to “revise and amend” the existing scheme of government, not to make a revolution in it.  To depart from the authorization laid down by the Congress and the legislatures would be to exceed their powers, they argued, and to betray the trust reposed in them by their countrymen.