never represented in the convention; the large states had therefore a
majority of one. On June 13 it was voted that the ratio of representation
in both branches of the legislature should be in proportion to the
population. Two days later, Patterson of New Jersey brought forward a plan
satisfactory to the small States, by which the old plan of vote by States
was to be retained, and the Confederation practically continued. For many
days the two parties were unable to agree; the crisis was so serious that
on June 28 Franklin, who was not renowned for piety, moved that
thenceforward the sessions be opened with prayer. The deadlock was finally
broken by the so-called Connecticut Compromise, adopted July 7: equal
representation was to be preserved in the upper house, and proportional
representation was to be granted in the lower.

[Sidenote: Representation of slaves.]

When it was proposed to levy taxes on the same basis, the Southern members
objected that their negroes were not equal to freemen as producers of
wealth. On July 12, the matter was adjusted by a compromise: the
Southerners agreed to count slaves only at three fifths of their number,
in apportioning both representatives and direct taxes. Since direct taxes
have been but three times assessed in the history of the United States,
the practical advantage was on the side of the North.

[Sidenote: Slave trade.]

It was otherwise in the third difficult question. Near the end of the
convention the commercial and the agricultural States came into a
disagreement. New England was anxious that Congress should have power to
pass Acts protecting American shipping; on the other hand, the South
desired to continue the slave-trade. Pinckney declared that "South