At last the only body, which has ever been called together in the
United States to consider a frame of national government, was ready
to report and to adjourn. A new plan of government lay on the table
signed by thirty-nine of the fifty-five men attending the convention.
They admitted its defects, but agreed that it was the best frame that
could be obtained at the time, and resolved to throw themselves on the
indulgence of their constituents. As much was confessed in the
explanatory and conciliatory circular, which they prepared to accompany
the document to the Congress and thence, they hoped, to the States.
"Individuals entering society," so the circular argued, "must give up a
share of liberty to preserve the rest. It is at all times difficult to
draw with precision the line between those rights which must be
surrendered and those which may be reserved; and, on the present
occasion, this difficulty was increased by a difference among the
several states as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular
rights. The Constitution which we now present is the result of a spirit
of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the
peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.
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