division of the States into large and small States. Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, the States which
claimed to extend to the Mississippi on the west and cherished
indefinite expectations of future growth, were the "large" States. They
desired to give as much power as possible to the new national
government, on condition that the government should be so framed that
they should have control of it. The remaining States were properly
"small" states, and desired to form a government which would leave as
much power as possible to the States. Circumstances worked strongly in
favor of a reasonable result. There never were more than eleven States
in the convention. Rhode Island, a small State, sent no delegates. The
New Hampshire delegates did not appear until the New York delegates
(except Hamilton) had lost patience and retired from the convention.
Pennsylvania was usually neutral. The convention was thus composed of
five large, five small, and one neutral State; and almost all its
decisions were the outcome of judicious compromise.

The large States at first proposed a Congress in both of whose Houses
the State representation should be proportional. They would thus have
had a clear majority in both Houses, and, as Congress was to elect the
President, and other officers, the government would thus have been a
large State government. When "the little States gained their point," by
forcing through the equal representation of the States in the Senate,
the unsubstantial nature of the "national" pretensions of the large
States at once became apparent. The opposition to the whole scheme
centred in the large States, with very considerable assistance from New
York, which was not satisfied with the concessions which the small
States had obtained in the convention. The difficulty of ratification
may be estimated from the final votes in the following State
conventions: Massachusetts, 187 to 163; New Hampshire, 57 to 46;