184. Compromise as to Apportionment.--Should the members of the House of Representatives be distributed among the states according to population? At first sight the answer seemed to be perfectly clear. But the real question was, should slaves who had no vote be counted as a part of the population? It was finally agreed that the slaves should be counted at three-fifths of their real number. This rule was called the "federal ratio." The result of this rule was to give the Southern slave states representation in Congress out of all proportion to their voting population. [Sidenote: Power of Congress over commerce.] [Sidenote: Restriction as to slave-trade.] 185. Compromise as to the Slave-Trade.--When the subject of the powers to be given to Congress came to be discussed, there was even greater excitement. The Northerners wanted Congress to have power to regulate commerce. But the Southerners opposed it because they feared Congress would use this power to put an end to the slave-trade. John Rutledge of South Carolina even went so far as to say that unless this question was settled in favor of the slaveholders, the slave states would "not be parties to the Union." In the end this matter also was compromised by providing that Congress could not prohibit the slave-trade until 1808. These were the three great compromises. But there were compromises on so many smaller points that we cannot even mention them here. [Illustration: SIGNING OF THE CONSTITUTION, SEPTEMBER 17, 1787. From an early unfinished picture. This shows the arrangement of the room and the sun behind Washington's chair.] [Sidenote: Franklin's prophecy.] 186. Franklin's Prophecy.--It was with a feeling of real relief that the delegates finally came to the end of their labors. As they were putting their names to the Constitution, Franklin pointed to a rising sun that was painted on the wall behind the presiding officer's chair. He said that painters often found it difficult to show the difference between a rising sun and a setting sun. "I have often and often," said the old statesman, "looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." And so indeed it has proved to be. [Sidenote: Strength of the Constitution. _McMaster_, 168-169.]