ons, which, at the
end of ten days, by working on Sunday, they were able to present to
the Convention. This draft of a constitution was printed on seven folio
pages with wide margins for notes and emendations.

The Convention resumed its sessions on Monday, the 6th of August, and
for five weeks the report of the committee of detail was the subject of
discussion. For five hours each day, and sometimes for six hours, the
delegates kept persistently at their task. It was midsummer, and we read
in the diary of one of the members that in all that period only five
days were "cool." Item by item, line by line, the printed draft of the
Constitution was considered. It is not possible, nor is it necessary, to
follow that work minutely; much of it was purely formal, and yet any one
who has had experience with committee reports knows how much importance
attaches to matters of phrasing. Just as the Virginia Plan was made
more acceptable to the majority by changes in wording that seem to us
insignificant, so modifications in phrasing slowly won support for the
draft of the Constitution.

The adoption of the great compromise, as we have seen, changed the whole
spirit of the Convention. There was now an expectation on the part of
the members that something definite was going to be accomplished, and
all were concerned in making the result as good and as acceptable
as possible. In other words, the spirit of compromise pervaded every
action, and it is essential to remember this in considering what was
accomplished.

One of the greatest weaknesses of the Confederation was the inefficiency
of Congress. More than four pages, or three-fifths of the whole printed
draft, were devoted to Congress and its powers. It is more significant,
however, that in the new Constitution the legislative powers of the
Confederation were transferred bodily to the Congress of the United
States, and that the powers added were few in number, although of course
of the first importance. The Virginia Plan declared that, in addition to
the powers under the Confederation, Congress should have the right "to
legislate in all cases to which the separate States are incompetent."
This statement was elaborated in the printed draft which granted
specific powers of taxation, of regulating commerce, of establishing
a uniform rule of naturalization, and at the end of the enumeration of
powers two clauses were added giving to Congress authority:

"To call forth the aid of the