h. Congress could not reach the individual to punish him for crime committed against the Federal government, except through the State in which the crime was committed. Often the States refused to act. i. The Articles could not be amended without the consent of all of the States. Several times one State defeated the amendment of the Articles. 44 The small States having only small areas and therefore less room for settlers, were afraid of any form of union government which gave the States proportional representation in Congress. These small States declared they would not ratify the Articles of Confederation until those States having large areas of western lands would agree to cede those lands to the Federal government. The seven States holding western lands agreed to cede their lands in January, 1781, and on March 1st, Maryland as the last State ratified the Articles of Confederation. 45 The various States chose a total of sixty-five delegates to attend the Federal convention at Philadelphia. Of these, fifty-five actually sat in the convention. Of the entire number, forty-two were present on the last day and thirty-nine signed the Constitution. Of the fifty-five who sat in the convention, twenty-five were from north of the Mason and Dixon Line, or from the northern States, and thirty were from the southern States. Of the thirty-nine signers, nineteen were from the North and twenty from the South. The three who refused to sign were Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia. These three men thought the Constitution gave too much power to the central government and did not leave enough to the States. Eight of the men who signed the Constitution were of foreign birth. They were Alexander Hamilton, William Patterson, James Wilson, Robert Morris, James McHenry, Thomas Fitzsimons, William R. Davie, and Pierce Butler. You will notice that Hamilton, Wilson, Patterson, and Morris were among the most influential men in the convention. Many of America’s greatest men have been of foreign birth. The oldest man in the convention was Benjamin Franklin who was eighty-one years of age. The youngest man was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey who was only twenty-seven. Charles Pinckney was twenty-nine years old, and Alexander Hamilton was thirty. The average age of the entire membership in the convention was 43-2/5 years.