In pursuance of the call, delegates to the proposed Convention were duly appointed by the Legislatures of the several States, and the Convention assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1787. The present Constitution was the well-ripened fruit of their deliberations. In transmitting it to Congress, General Washington, who was the President of the Convention, in a letter, bearing date September 17, 1787, uses this instructive language:-- “It is obviously impracticable, in the Federal Government of _these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each_, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance as on the object to be obtained. 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 interests. In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, THE CONSOLIDATION OF OUR UNION, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence.” These famous words were in harmony with the constant sentiments of Washington. Here is additional evidence, from a letter to John Jay, during the summer of 1786:-- “We have errors to correct. We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature, in forming our Confederation. Experience has taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good, _without the intervention of a coercive power_. I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without having lodged somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union _in as energetic a manner as the authority of the State governments extends over the several States_.” These are the words of Washington; and he then proceeds:-- “To be fearful of investing Congress, constituted as that body is, with ample authorities for national purposes, appears to me the very climax of popular absurdity and madness.”[184] The Constitution was duly transmitted by Congress to the several Legislatures, by which it was submitted to Conventions of delegates “chosen in each State by the people thereof,” who ratified the same. Afterwards, Congress, by resolution, dated September 13, 1788, setting forth that the Convention had reported “a Constitution _for the people of the United States_,” which had been duly ratified, proceeded to authorize the necessary elections under the new government.