enlightened state of men's minds, we might expect a lasting confederacy,
if it was founded on fair principles.

John Adams advocated the voting in proportion to numbers. He said, that
we stand here as the representatives of the people; that in some states
the people are many, in others they are few; that therefore their vote
here should be proportioned to the numbers from whom it comes. Reason,
justice, and equity never had weight enough on the face of the earth, to
govern the councils of men. It is interest alone which does it, and it
is interest alone which can be trusted; that therefore the interests,
within doors, should be the mathematical representatives of the
interests without doors; that the individuality of the colonies is a
mere sound. Does the individuality of a colony increase its wealth or
numbers? If it does, pay equally. If it does not add weight in the
scale of the confederacy, it cannot add to their rights, nor weigh in
argument. A. has £50, B. £500, C. £1000, in partnership. Is it just they
should equally dispose of the monies of the partnership? It has been
said, we are independent individuals, making a bargain together. The
question is not, what we are now, but what we ought to be, when our
bargain shall be made. The confederacy is to make us one individual
only; it is to form us, like separate parcels of metal, into one common
mass. We shall no longer retain our separate individuality, but become
a single individual as to all questions submitted to the confederacy.
Therefore all those reasons, which prove the justice and expediency of
equal representation in other assemblies, hold good here. It has been
objected, that a proportional vote will endanger the smaller states.
We answer, that an equal vote will endanger the larger. Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, are the three greater colonies.
Consider their distance, their difference of produce, of interests,
and of manners, and it is apparent they can never have an interest