The Constitution provided that representatives should be distributed among the states according to population as modified by the federal ratio. 宪法规定各州根据"联邦比例"修正过的人口数来分配代表人数，

　　To do this it was necessary to find out how many people there were in each state. 为了做到这一点就必须查明各个州有多少人。

　　In 1791 the first census was taken. 1791年进行了第一次人口普查，

　　By that time both North Carolina and Rhode Island had joined the Union, and Vermont had been admitted as the fourteenth state. 此时北卡罗莱纳和罗得岛加入联邦，佛蒙特已经被接受为第十四个州。

　　It appeared that there were nearly four million people in the United States, or not as many as one hundred years later lived around the shores of New York harbor. 普查表明美国有接近四百万人，或者说，还不如一百年后生活在纽约港周围的人数多，

　　There were then about seven hundred thousand slaves in the country. 而且，在全国有大约七十万奴隶，

　　Of these only fifty thousand were in the states north of Maryland. 这些奴隶中有五万人生活在马里兰以北的各个州。

　　The country, therefore, was already divided into two sections: one where slavery was of little importance, and another where it was of great importance. 因此，这个国家实际上已经被分为两个地区：一个地区奴隶制无关紧要，另一个地区则奴隶制举足轻重。

　　201. New States. 201．新增的几个州

　　The first new state to be admitted to the Union was Vermont (1791). 联邦要接受的第一个新州是佛蒙特州（1791年），

　　The land which formed this state was claimed by New Hampshire and by New York. 这个州的土地来源于被新罕布什尔州和纽约州宣布有主权的地方，

　　But during the Revolution the Green Mountain Boys had declared themselves independent and had drawn up a constitution. 但是，在革命战争时期"青山军"曾经宣布独立并曾经起草过一部宪法，

　　They now applied to Congress for admission to the Union as a separate state. 现在向国会申请加入联邦作为一个独立的州。

　　he next year Kentucky came into the Union. 第二年肯塔基被接受为联邦的州，

　　This was originally a part of Virginia, and the colonists had brought their slaves with them to their new homes. Kentucky, therefore, was a slave state. 这个地方原来属于弗吉尼亚，并且殖民者还将奴隶带到他们新的家园。因此，肯塔基是一个有奴隶的州。

　　Vermont was a free state, and its constitution forbade slavery. 佛蒙特是一个自由的州，它的宪法禁止奴隶制。