and duly confirmed by the several States, will effectually provide for the same.

"And be it further enacted, That, in case of the death of any of the said Deputies, or of their declining their appointments, the Executive is hereby authorized to supply such vacancies; and the Governor is requested to transmit forthwith a copy of this Act to the United States in Congress, and to the Executives of each of the States in the Union."

Under this Act, Deputies were appointed, as provided; at the head of the list of whom was placed George Washington.

TENTH, NORTH CAROLINA.

The State of North Carolina responded, as appears from the following Commission to her Deputies given by the Governor :

"To the Hon. Alexander Martin, Esq., greeting:

"Whereas, our General Assembly, in their late session, holden at Fayetteville, by adjournment, in the month of January last, did, by joint ballot of the Senate and House of Commons, elect Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Willie Jones, Esqrs., Deputies to attend a Convention of Delegates from the several United States of America, proposed to be held at the City of Philadelphia, in May next, for the purpose of revising the Federal Constitution:

"We do, therefore, by these presents, nominate, commissionate, and appoint you, the said Alexander Martin, one of the Deputies for and in behalf, to meet with our other Deputies at Philadelphia on the 1st of May next, and with them, or any two of them, to confer with such Deputies as may have been, or shall be appointed by the other States, for the purpose aforesaid: To hold, exercise,

and enjoy the appointment aforesaid, with all powers, authorities, and emoluments, to the same belonging, or in any wise appertaining, you conforming in every instance to the Act of our said Assembly, under which you are appointed.

"Witness, Richard Caswell, Esq., our Governor, Captain-General, and Commander-in-Chief, under his hand and our seal, at Kinston, the 24th day of February, in the eleventh year of our independence, A. D. 1787." Similar Commissions were given to each of the other Delegates appointed.

ELEVENTH, SOUTH CAROLINA.

The State of South Carolina responded as follows: 'By his Excellency, Thomas Pinckney, Esq., Governor and Commander-in-Chief, in and over the State aforesaid:

"To the HON. JOHN RUTLEDGE, Esq., greeting:

"By virtue of the power and authority invested by the Legislature of this State, in their Act passed the 8th day of March last, I do hereby commission you, the said John Rutledge, as one of the Deputies appointed from this State, to meet such Deputies or Commissioners as may be appointed and authorized by other of the United States to assemble in Convention, at the City of Philadelphia, in the month of May next, or as soon thereafter as may be, and to join with such Deputies or Commissioners (they being duly authorized and empowered) in devising and discussing all such alterations, clauses, articles, and provisions, as may be thought necessary to render the Federal Constitution entirely adequate to the actual situation and future good government of the Confederated States; and that you, together with the said Deputies or Commissioners, or a majority of them, who

shall be present (provided the State be not represented by less than two), do join in reporting such an act to the United States, in Congress assembled, as, when approved and agreed to by them, and duly ratified and confirmed by the several States, will effectually provide for the exigencies of the Union.

"Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the State, in the City of Charleston, this 10th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1787, and of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States of America, the eleventh."

Signed by the Governor, and countersigned by the Secretary.

TWELFTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The State of New Hampshire responded, in the language of the following Act of her Legislature:

"An Act for appointing Deputies from this State to the Convention proposed to be holden in the City of Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of revising the Federal Constitution.

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Whereas, in the formation of the Federal Compact, which frames the bond of union of the American States, it was not possible, in the infant state of our Republic, to devise a system which, in the course of time and experience, would not manifest imperfections that it would be necessary to reform:

"And whereas, the limited powers, which, by the Articles of Confederation, are vested in the Congress of the United States, have been found far inadequate to the enlarged purposes which they were intended to produce; and whereas, Congress hath, by repeated and most urgent representations, endeavored to awaken this, and other States of the Union, to a sense of the truly critical and alarming situation in which they may inevitably be

involved, unless timely measures be taken to enlarge the powers of Congress, that they may thereby be enabled to avert the dangers which threaten our existence as a free and independent people; and whereas, this State hath been ever desirous to act upon the liberal system of the general good of the United States, without circumscribing its views to the narrow and selfish objects of partial convenience; and has been at all times ready to make every concession, to the safety and happiness of the whole, which justice and sound policy could vindicate:

"Be it therefore enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened, that John Langdon, John Pickering, Nicholas Gilman, and Benjamin West, Esqs., be, and hereby are, appointed Commissioners; they, or any two of them, are hereby authorized and empowered, as Deputies from this State, to meet at Philadelphia said Convention, or any other place to which the Convention may be adjourned, for the purposes aforesaid, there to confer with such Deputies as are, or may be, appointed by the other States for similar purposes, and with them to discuss and to procure and decide upon the most effectual means to remedy the defects of our Federal Union, and to procure and secure the enlarged purposes which it was intended to effect, and to report such an Act to the United States in Congress, as, when agreed to by them, and duly confirmed by the several States, will effectually provide for the same."

From all these responses of the States, to the call for a Convention of the States, it clearly appears that the sole object of all was to change and modify the Articles of Confederation, so as better to provide for the wants and exigencies of "the Union," which must have meant the Union then existing, and which we have seen was a Union of Sovereign States. The object was not to change the

Federative character of that Union. This is an important point to be kept constantly in view, and never lost sight of. The Convention was called with this sole view, and the call was responded to by every State with this sole view.

Under the call and appointment of Delegates, as we have seen, the Convention did meet in Philadelphia, on the second Monday in May (14th of that month), 1787. Washington, a Deputy or Delegate from the State of Virginia, was chosen the President of the Convention. The Convention remained in session until the 17th of September thereafter-four months and three days. It was assembled as a Convention of the States. The Delegates represented distinct, separate, and acknowledged Sovereign powers. The vote upon all questions was taken by States, without respect to the number of Delegates from the several States respectively. Here is the Journal of their proceedings from the day of their meeting to their adjournment. The result of their deliberations and actions was such changes in the Federal Constitution as were set forth in the paper which they presented to the States. This paper is what has ever since been known as the present Constitution of the United States. Now the great question that we have to consider is the nature and character of the alterations in the old fundamental law, or Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, which the new Constitution made. Is the Federative feature of "the Union" changed in it? This is the great question. If the Union, as it existed before, was a Compact between Sovereign States, as has been most conclusively shown, is there any thing upon the face of the proceedings of the Convention, or upon the face of the new Constitution, which shows, either

* Elliot's Debates, vol. i, pp. 139-318.