Were slaves to be reckoned as persons or as chattels? 258 Attitude of the Virginia statesmen 259 It was absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina 260 The three fifths compromise, suggested by Madison, was a genuine English solution, if ever there was one 261 There was neither rhyme nor reason in it, but for all that, it was the best solution attainable at the time 262 The next compromise was between New England and South Carolina as to the foreign slave-trade and the power of the federal government over commerce 263 George Mason calls the slave-trade an "infernal traffic" 264 And the compromise offends and alarms Virginia 265 Belief in the moribund condition of slavery 266 The foundations of the Constitution were laid in compromise 267 Powers granted to the federal government 268 Use of federal troops in suppressing insurrections 269 Various federal powers 270 Provision for a federal city under federal jurisdiction 271 The Federal Congress might compel the attendance of members 272 Powers denied to the several states 272 Should the federal government he allowed to make its promissory notes a legal tender in payment of debts? powerful speech of Gouverneur Morris 273 Emphatic and unmistakable condemnation of paper money by all the leading delegates 274 The convention refused to grant to the federal government the power of issuing inconvertible paper, but did not think an express prohibition necessary 275 If they could have foreseen some recent judgments of the supreme court, they would doubtless have made the prohibition explicit and absolute 276 Debates as to the federal executive 277 Sherman's suggestion as to the true relation of the executive to the legislature 278 There was to be a single chief magistrate, but how should he be chosen? 279 Objections to an election by Congress 280 Ellsworth and King suggest the device of an electoral college, which is at first rejected 281 But afterwards adopted 282 Provisions for an election by Congress in the case of a failure of choice by the electoral college 283