Sioux City Academy of Science and Leiters. 119 
to the nature of commerce, by which all trade was sup- 
posed to be gain for one party and loss to the other, re- 
sulted in a great desire for dependencies which might be 
forced to trade with the dominant country, on profitable 
terms. The colonies dreaded each other, suspected each 
other, disliked each other, but were drawn together by a 
powerful if imperfect conception of their common needs 
and common destiny. 
When it came to a union, they were all in favor of it, 
but were afraid of it. They met in convention and 
worked out the constitution as the only plan on which 
they could agree. And when it was done, none of them, 
perhaps, would have accepted it, bitter as their need was, 
without some assurance that by no chicanery, no combi- 
nation, no possible means could the terms of this pact 
be changed without the consent of the states to a degree 
practically unanimous. So it was that Article V. of the 
Constitution went into effect without any objection, so 
far as I have been able to learn, on the ground that it 
made amendment too hard. In fact it was regarded as 
an innovation in the other direction. It took unanimous 
consent to amend the old Articles of Confederation. And 
I know of no prior constitution or federative pact in 
history which contained any provision for amendment. 
Most of them were concessions wrung from monarchs, 
and were supposed to be the final word on the subject, 
and guaranteed against change for all time. So the 
Article providing for amendments was regarded as a 
venture into an untried field, promising relief from uni- 
yersally conceded evils, but yet not containing much 
danger to the little sovereignty of the little state which 
chose to stand for the original bargain. 
Some spoke hopefully of the probability of amend- 
ments, others saw very little chance of them. Samuel 
Adams, for instance, in a speech in the Massachusetts 
constitutional convention, said in discussing the matter: 
“Suppose, sir, nine states accept the constitution, with- 
out any conditions at all; and the four states should wish 
to have amendments, where will you find the nine states 
to propose, and the legislatures of nine states to agree to 
the introduction of amendments? Therefore, it seems to 
me that the expectation of amendments taking place in 
the future will be frustrated.” 
