6. On the 4th day of June, 1823, a political convention, composed of gentlemen from the western portion of the State, met in Raleigh. It was presided over by Bartle Yancey. The object of the convention was to devise measure to secure greater weight in the Legislature to their great and growing popular majorities. Many wise and desirable changes in the Constitution of 1776 were suggested, and the result was that sectional feeling ran very high. So much so, that in time the people of the west might have proceeded to extreme measures had not the Legislature of 1834 come to the rescue in the passage of the "Convention Bill." 7. On a close vote, aided by the votes of eastern borough members, the bill was passed which provided that, in case a call for a convention therein contained should be endorsed by a majority of the voters in the State, then a convention should be held; and each member chosen, before taking his seat should take oath that he would not be a party to any further alterations of the Constitution than those specified in the enabling act. 1835. 8. The Convention met in Raleigh on June 4th 1835, and Nathaniel Macon was made President. Many of the ablest men in the State were members. Judge Gastor, Governor David L. Swain and Judge J. J. Daniel were leaders in the debates. Borough representation and free negro suffrage were abolished. The election of Governor was taken from the Assembly and committed to the people. The legislative sessions were made biennial instead of annual, as of old. Each county was to send one member to the House of Commons, and more if its population justified so doing. One hundred and twenty members constituted this body, while the Senators were limited to fifty. The upper House was to represent taxation; and the lower, population. 9. These organic changes were ratified by a popular majority of more than five thousand votes. This change of Constitution was soon followed by the first popular election for Governor. Governors Miller, Burton, Owen and Swain had successively occupied the Executive Office in North Carolina, until the Legislature, in 1835, for the last time, selected a Governor in the person of Richard Dobbs Spaight, of Craven. 10. This gentleman did not equal his father in the brilliance of his endowments, but he was well fitted for the exigencies of a contest before the people. He was nominated for re-election by the Democrats the next year, but was beaten by the Whig nominee, Edward B. Dudley, of Wilmington. Mr. Dudley was not only a very able lawyer, but proved himself a statesman of enduring worth. QUESTIONS. 1. What is said of these troublesome years? 2. What troubles were seen in North Carolina? What divisions had rung up between the eastern and western men of the State? 3. How did the men of the two sections view the question of representation?