The American Nation Volume 10; A History from Original Sources

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XIII SHALL THE CONFEDERATION BE PATCHED UP ? (1787) THE consideration of the Virginia plan went rapidly forward in the early days of the convention. The discussions were in the committee of the whole house, and there was so much agreement that there seemed good reason for hoping that within a short time all the essential features of the new Constitution could be decided on. The convention was in the hands of the large-state men, and opposition to their general plans was not as yet crystallized. For the time being the critical proposition, the suggestion of proportional representation, was postponed. Without discussion it was resolved that each branch of the legislature should have the right to originate laws, and that all powers belonging to the Congress of the Confederation should be transferred to the new government. The proposal to give the central authority legislative power in cases to which the separate states are incompetent met with some objection, for the fear naturally arose that the states would be robbed oftheir essential powers. Madison and Randolph declared their preference for definite and enumerated powers; but for the time being the resolution in the general form was adopted. Without opposition it was resolved to bestow on the national legislature the right to negative all laws contravening in its opinion the Articles of Union or any treaties subsisting under the authority of the Union. The adoption of such a resolution (May 31), before the convention had been at work a week, shows the settled purposes of the men controlling its deliberations, their determination to remedy the chief fault of the Confederation, and also the advantage they had in the early days over the local- ists, who were as yet without organization. 1 Elliot.Debotes, 1...