Our Knowledge of the Convention.—­The Convention lasted from May 25 to September 17, 1787.  The sessions were secret.  Fortunately we are not dependent on the secretary’s report alone for our knowledge of the meetings.[8] Mr. Madison seemed to understand the full meaning of the convention from the first, and decided to give an accurate account of the proceedings.  He wrote:  “Nor was I unaware of the value of such a contribution to the fund of materials for the history of a Constitution on which should be staked the happiness of a people great even in its infancy, and possibly the cause of liberty throughout the world.”  His notes were purchased by the government from Mrs. Madison, in 1837, for the sum of thirty thousand dollars.  They were published as “Madison’s Journal of the Constitutional Convention.”

[Footnote 8:  It was published in 1819 as a part of Volume I of “Elliot’s Debates.”]

Plans for a Government; Virginia Plan.—­The magnitude of the labors of this convention can be understood only when we read the report of the discussions as given by Madison.  It was at once determined that no time should be lost in patching up the articles, but that a new Constitution should be formed.  Two sets of resolutions were early submitted, each setting forth a plan of government.  The Virginia plan was largely the work of Mr. Madison.  It provided for the establishment of a national government with supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers.  The legislative power was to be vested in a Congress of two separate houses.  The executive was to be chosen by both houses of Congress and the judiciary by the Senate.  Representation in both houses of Congress was to be based on population or the contributions to the support of the government.  This scheme was fiercely attacked by the delegates from the small States, for it would clearly give control into the hands of the more powerful States.

The New Jersey Plan.—­The New Jersey plan, presented by Mr. Patterson of that State, was agreed upon by the members from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.  This Small-State plan, so called, provided for a continuance of the government under the Articles of Confederation.  They were to be revised in such a manner as to give Congress the power to regulate commerce, to raise revenue, and to coerce the States.  The Small-State party insisted that the Virginia plan, if adopted, would destroy the sovereignty of the States.  They would rather, they said, submit to a foreign power than be deprived of equality of suffrage in both branches of the legislature.  Madison, Wilson, King, and other leaders of the Large-State party declared that the basis for the new government was to be the people and not the States; that it would be unfair to give Delaware as many representatives as Virginia or Pennsylvania.  After many days of fruitless debate, a compromise, sometimes called the “First Great Compromise,” was presented and finally adopted.  This provided that the House of Representatives should be composed of members elected on the basis of population.  In the Senate, large and small States were to be equally represented.