The Constitution as it left the hands of its framers was not entirely
satisfactory to anybody. Owing to the discordant interests and mutual
jealousies of the states, it was of necessity an instrument of many
compromises. One of the great compromises was that by which the small
states were given as many senators as the large. Another is embalmed in
the provisions recognizing slavery and permitting slaves to count in the
apportionment of representatives. (The number of a state's
representatives was to be determined "by adding to the whole number of
free persons ... three-fifths of all other persons.") Another was the
provision that direct taxes should be apportioned among the states
according to population. With all its compromises, however, the
Constitution embodied a great governmental principle, full of hope for
the future of the country, and the state conventions to which it was
submitted for ratification were wise enough to accept what was offered.
Ratification by certain of the states was facilitated by the publication
of that remarkable series of papers afterward known as the "Federalist."
These were the work of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay,
and first appeared in New York newspapers.

One of the objections to the new Constitution in the minds of many
people was the absence of a "bill of rights" containing those provisions
for the protection of individual liberty and property (e.g., trial by
jury, freedom of speech, protection from unreasonable searches and
seizures) which had come down from the early charters of English
liberties. In deference to this sentiment a series of ten brief
amendments were proposed and speedily ratified. Another amendment (No.
XI) was soon afterward adopted for the purpose of doing away with the
effect of a Supreme Court decision. Thereafter, save for a change in
the manner of electing the President and Vice-president, the