Chapter 21 4. The Great Compromise

It was Gouveno Maurice who realized the mystery. The representative of Pennsylvania, Guweno Morris, was born in New York and was of English and French descent.His family is rich and prominent, and he has been in politics for several generations. He himself is an intelligent and talented man. He graduated from King's College at the age of 16 and was 35 when he participated in the Constitutional Convention.He was the representative who spoke the most during the meeting and was also the main finalist of the constitutional text.The young gentleman was a staunch opponent of slavery and had repeatedly denounced the evils of the institution. On August 8, he and Rufus King spoke successively to denounce slavery.It is a criminal system, says Gouveno Morris, and God damn the state that practices it!The inhabitants of Georgia and South Carolina, who traveled thousands of miles to Africa, flouted the sacred laws, and dragged their fellow race there from their kindred, made them shed human tears, and threw them into the most cruel conditions. How cruel and inhumane!Then our government, which claims to protect human rights, should allow these slave owners to have more voting rights than the citizens of Pennsylvania and New Jersey!The citizens of Pennsylvania and New Jersey will never consent to this.They will look at this kind of viciousness with anger and horror!

Here, there is a very noteworthy reference to "citizens of Pennsylvania and New Jersey."Indeed, the most staunch opponents of slavery at the Constitutional Convention were Gouverneau Morris of Pennsylvania and Paterson of New Jersey, together with Rufus King of Massachusetts.Obviously, on the issue of slavery, there is no difference between big and small states, only the dispute between the north and the south.There are 8 northern states, 2 large states (Pennsylvania, Massachusetts), 2 medium states (New York, Connecticut), and 4 small states (New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware).There are 5 states in the south, 2 large states (Virginia, North Carolina), 2 medium states (Maryland, South Carolina), and 1 small state (Georgia).The northern states basically did not hold slaves or no longer engaged in the slave trade, while the southern states basically held slaves and even hoped that the slave trade would be legalized.

In this way, the account will be clear.To oppose slavery, it is necessary to win the support of small states.Because 4 of the 5 small states are in the north and only 1 is in the south, they still think they can become a big state.If both chambers were proportional, and blacks counted the population, Georgia and South Carolina would have a huge advantage, and they certainly wouldn't support New Jersey and Delaware.For example, when it was voted on June 11 that "the seat distribution rules of the Second House are the same as those of the First House," the three slave states of the man's side, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, were all tied to the three major states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Voting in favor together against the two middle northern states of Connecticut and New York, the two small northern states of New Jersey and Delaware, and the middle southern state of Maryland.The reason is that the proportional system is good for the southern slave states.On the contrary, if the system of equality is implemented, the North with eight seats can completely contain the South with only five seats, not to mention that Maryland often stands on the side of the North, and Virginia has other ideas about the slave trade.

Thus, on July 13th, said Gouveno Morris, the north and the south have been marked.In the past, he always thought this was a kind of "heresy", but now he has to face reality and turn to support the "evil principle" of equal seats in the second house.His point was clear: Equality, evil as it was, was more acceptable than the “evil” of slavery.The lesser of two evils, he would rather make concessions to Xiaobang than compromise with slavery. Speaking of this, most representatives don't want to entangle any further. On July 16, the convention began with a vote on seats in both chambers.Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina are in favor, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia are in favor, and Massachusetts is in favor of it. Reluctantly passed the package plan of the revised 11-member committee - the first court implemented the proportional system according to the principles of domestic law; the second court implemented the equal system according to the principles of international law.The Constitutional Convention finally reached a compromise.

This vote was later called the "Great Compromise" by historians, but at that time, the representatives did not have any "sense of greatness". Not only did they not feel great, but many people felt very aggrieved and useless .Randolph said today's vote made things extremely awkward.Originally, he would like to do some more persuasion work, or discuss under what circumstances the Senate can implement an equal voting system, and under what circumstances it cannot.But he found that Xiaobang still demanded an equal vote in all cases, and they won.If New York had been there (on July 10, Lan Xin and Yatz left the meeting to show their boycott, and the New York delegation lost its voting rights since then), most likely they would also be on their side (in fact, if the representatives of New Hampshire and Rhode Island came, they would also be on their side. will be so).There was nothing he could do, but he hoped that the meeting could be adjourned so that everyone could think again.

Paterson said the convention should not only adjourn, but adjourn.Let everyone go back and ask for opinions.Of course, if Mr. Randolph withdrew his motion to adjourn indefinitely, he would also be in favor.General Pinckney said he could not imagine coming back to South Carolina, and that it was foolish to expect a consensus to be reached.Bloom (Delaware representative) said that the adjournment is tantamount to courting death, even if it is passed by a narrow margin, the constitutional convention must do something.Rutledge (South Carolina representative) said he saw no other chance for compromise.Xiaobang's point of view has been fixed, and they have repeatedly stated that they will stick to it to the end. What Dabang has to do now is to decide whether to make concessions or not.

But both Randolph and Rufus King wanted to adjourn for a day, and Paterson agreed that Dabong should be given a chance.So the meeting was adjourned, but the result was the same whether the meeting was adjourned or not.Dabang representatives gathered together to discuss for a long time, but could not come up with a proposal.Because things have become clear, they have only two options, agreeing to a compromise.Or resolutely oppose it, even if the Constitutional Convention fails to achieve anything.Clearly, many people are unwilling to take the latter risk.They are more divided on this issue than on whether to implement an equal voting system.They could not imagine that only some large states would form a separate alliance, nor could they come up with any plan to compete with the demands of small states, so they had no choice but to let it go.

Only Gouverneau Morris raised the issue of reconsideration of the Second House seat the next day.It seems that this gentleman is still worried about the equal voting system.His speech on July 13 was nothing more than a sentiment: "evil" slavery was worse than "evil" equality.But his proposal was not seconded.According to Madison's notes, the expressions on the faces of some of the delegates showed that they were desperate about this, and no one wanted to cause trouble, and no one wanted to discuss it any more.Everyone understands that this matter has "fallen out of nowhere", and only hopes that the following questions can "return from familiarity".

On the issue of slavery, the Constitutional Convention also reached a series of compromises.These compromises, of course, avoid the word "slave" in favor of euphemisms. Article 1, Section 3 of the "Federal Constitution" stipulates that the number of members of the House of Representatives and the amount of direct taxes shall be distributed among the states that may be included in the Federation in proportion to their respective populations.The population of each state is determined by freemen always plus three-fifths of all other populations.The total number of freemen includes those who have served a certain number of years under indentured service, but excludes Indians who are not taxed.The so-called "all other populations" here actually refer to slaves.This is the famous "3/5 clause".This clause is unfair.It's not fair to black people, and it's not fair to the North.Because although slaves account for 3/5 of the population, they do not have the right to vote.In this way, the per capita political representation of free people in the five southern states is higher than that of the northern states.This was the first compromise between the North and the South on the slave issue.

The second compromise was Article I, Section 9 of the Federal Constitution, which provided that, except in rebellion or invasion, Congress shall not, before 1808, enact laws prohibiting the immigration of any existing state, if that state believed that such persons should be permitted to emigrate or entry words.However, for the entry of such persons, a tax of no more than 10 U.S. dollars may be levied per person.In other words, as long as South Carolina and Georgia believed that the slaves they trafficked and bought were "people who should be admitted," the federal government had nothing to do with it.Of course, there are limits to this compromise.One is that this privilege is limited to 13 old states, and the other is that it is limited to before 1808.But even so, South Carolina and Georgia bought themselves a 20-year opportunity to import slaves.

The third compromise is that Article IV, Section 2 of the Federal Constitution provides that a person who is required by the laws of a state to perform servitude or labor in that state, if he flees to another state, shall not be exempted by the laws or regulations of the other state. such servitude or labour, he shall be surrendered upon the request of the person entitled to such servitude or labour.The "person who must perform labor or labor in a state according to the laws of a state" mentioned here is actually a slave; and the so-called "party entitled to this labor or labor" is actually a slave owner.The meaning of this clause is that if slaves from the south escape to the north, the north cannot take them in and liberate them just because slavery has been abolished this week.They must be returned to the slave owners in the South. It now appears that these three compromises are completely different from the compromises on the issue of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and there is nothing great about it.Far from being great, it's downright sinful and dangerous.Because the fuse of the Civil War was buried inside.For many Americans who founded their country on the idea that "all men are created equal," slavery is intolerable; and for the southern states that have tasted the sweetness of the slave trade and slavery, the tendency to abolish slavery in the North makes slavery intolerable. They fidget.So the South finally decided to break up with the North, and this triggered a four-year-long war, which resulted in the deaths of five or six hundred thousand people (140,414 in the North and 224,097 in others; the South went to war in only three years) 74,524 people died, and 59,297 other deaths), many properties disappeared, and the entire South was almost turned into a piece of scorched earth. Regarding this war, the North and the South have different opinions.The North called it a "civil war," the South called it an "international war," and it was an old question left over from the Constitutional Convention: Is the United States of America one country, or is it dodging the Union?The compromise at that time was "half the country, half the alliance."Because it is a country, the House of Representatives is proportional; because it is a union, the Senate is equal.But if it is a union, the southern states have the right to withdraw, and if it is a country, the so-called independence of the southern states (State) is a rebellion.This is why the Civil War is unclear. That being the case, why do we say that the concession made by the Constituent Assembly is a "great compromise"?This can only be explained later.We're going back to the meeting now to see what else the delegates had to say there.