small: the former inclined to a representation based on population; the
latter insisted that the States should be equal units. Again, the trading
States--New England, New York, and Maryland--were inclined to grant large
powers over commerce; the agricultural States, particularly Virginia,
wished to see commerce regulated still by the States in part. Another line
of division was between the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding States;
here the champions were Massachusetts on one side, and South Carolina on
the other. Throughout the convention these various elements combined and
recombined as their interests seemed affected. Although there were no
permanent parties, the members of which regularly voted together, there
was disagreement and disappointment from the beginning to the end.


62. SOURCES OF THE CONSTITUTION.


[Sidenote: American experience.]

Another popular delusion with regard to the Constitution is that it was
created out of nothing; or, as Mr. Gladstone puts it, that "It is the
greatest work ever struck off at any one time by the mind and purpose of
man." The radical view on the other side is expressed by Sir Henry Maine,
who informs us that the "Constitution of the United States is a modified
version of the British Constitution ... which was in existence between
1760 and 1787." The real source of the Constitution is the experience of
Americans. They had established and developed admirable little
commonwealths in the colonies; since the beginning of the Revolution they
had had experience of State governments organized on a different basis
from the colonial; and, finally, they had carried on two successive
national governments, with which they had been profoundly discontented.