f. They gave Congress no power to coerce a State—it could only recommend to the States.
g. They required a two-thirds vote on all questions in Congress, and votes were cast by States. Most bills may pass the present Congress by a majority vote.
h. Congress could not reach the individual to punish him for crime committed against the Federal government, except through the State in which the crime was committed. Often the States refused to act.
i. The Articles could not be amended without the consent of all of the States. Several times one State defeated the amendment of the Articles.
The various States chose a total of sixty-five delegates to attend the Federal convention at Philadelphia. Of these, fifty-five actually sat in the convention. Of the entire number, forty-two were present on the last day and thirty-nine signed the Constitution.
Of the fifty-five who sat in the convention, twenty-five were from north of the Mason and Dixon Line, or from the northern States, and thirty were from the southern States. Of the thirty-nine signers, nineteen were from the North and twenty from the South. The three who refused to sign were Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia. These three men thought the Constitution gave too much power to the central government and did not leave enough to the States.
Eight of the men who signed the Constitution were of foreign birth. They were Alexander Hamilton, William Patterson, James Wilson, Robert Morris, James McHenry, Thomas Fitzsimons, William R. Davie, and Pierce Butler. You will notice that Hamilton, Wilson, Patterson, and Morris were among the most influential men in the convention. Many of America's greatest men have been of foreign birth.
The oldest man in the convention was Benjamin Franklin who was eighty-one years of age. The youngest man was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey who was only twenty-seven. Charles Pinckney was twenty-nine years old, and Alexander Hamilton was thirty. The average age of the entire membership in the convention was 43-2/5 years.
The membership in the convention included a remarkable group of men—in fact the most remarkable group of statesmen that ever assembled for the making of a constitution. They had gained their experience in five different ways: colonial legislatures, State legislatures, State conventions, Continental Congresses, and in the Congress of the Confederation. Six of them had the honor of having signed the Declaration of Independence—Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Robert Morris, Roger Sherman, George Read, and George Clymer. Thirty delegates were college men and twenty-six had degrees.
The Constitution in Article VII says, “The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.”