One of the immediate and most dangerous results of the British treaty was to put the new Constitution to a very serious test. The theory which divides our government into departments, executive, legislative, and judicial, and which makes each department supreme in its own sphere, could not be worked out with even theoretical perfection; the framers of the Constitution were themselves obliged to admit exceptions in this arrangement of powers, and one of the most serious exceptions related to treaties. The Constitution begins by saying, "_All_ legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives," and proceeds to give Congress the express power "to make _all_ laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof." But on the other hand the Constitution also says that the President "shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties," and finally it declares that "this Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and _all_ treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land," State laws or constitutions to the contrary notwithstanding. Here was an obvious conflict of powers, resulting from an equally obvious divergence of theory. Congress possessed _all_ legislative powers. The President and Senate possessed the power to make treaties, which were, like the Constitution and the laws of Congress, the supreme law of the land. Congress, then, did not possess _all_ legislative powers. The President alone, with two-thirds of the Senate, could legislate. The British treaty contained provisions which could only be carried into execution by act of Congress; it was, therefore, within the power of the House of Representatives to refuse legislation and thus practically break the treaty. The House was so evenly divided that no one could foresee the result, when Edward Livingston began this famous debate by moving to call on the President for papers, in order that the House might deliberate with official knowledge of the conditions under which the treaty was negotiated.