Afterwards, when it was definitely decided to have two Houses, the
question as to the position of the smaller States was again raised in
deciding how the Senate was to be composed. Some were for making its
representation proportional to population, like that of the lower House,
and this the small States resisted. Franklin said that the trouble
seemed to be that with proportional representation in the Senate the
small States thought their liberties in danger, and if each State had an
equal vote in the Senate the large States thought their money was in
danger. He would, therefore, try to unite the two factions. Let each
State have an equal number of delegates in the Senate, but when any
question of appropriating money arose, let these delegates “have
suffrage in proportion to the sums which their respective States do
actually contribute to the treasury.” This was not very practical, but
it proved to be a step which led him in the right direction.
A few days afterwards, in a committee appointed to consider the
question, he altered his suggestion so that in the lower House the
representation should be in proportion to population, but in the Senate
each State should have an equal vote, and that money bills should
originate only in the lower House. The committee reported in favor of
his plan, and it was substantially adopted in the Constitution. The
lower House was given proportional representatives, and the Senate was
composed of two Senators from each State, which gave absolute equality
of representation in that body to all the States. Money bills were
allowed to originate only in the lower House, but the Senate could
propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.
Thus the great question was settled by one of those strokes of
Franklin’s sublime luck or genius. He disapproved of the whole idea of a
double-headed Congress, and thought the fears of the small States
ridiculous; but, for the sake of conciliation and compromise with John
Dickinson and his earnest followers, his masterful intellect worked out
an arrangement which satisfied everybody and is one of the most
important fundamental principles of our Constitution. Without it there
would be no federal union. We would be a mere collection of warring,
revolutionary communities like those of South America. It has never been
changed and in all human probability never will be so long as we
retain even the semblance of a republic.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN’S GRAVE IN CHRIST CHURCH GRAVEYARD,
PHILADELPHIA]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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