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16 been put out of the way, and with him all dynastic pretensions, the progress attained was satisfactory. There was not much warmth in the debates till the point was reached whether the executive authority should be vested in one person or in three. It was finally decided in favor of one, with the expectation that in the course of time, and checked by laws en acted by congress, the president would not have it in his power to do much harm. In the matter of terri torial division, grave difficulties were encountered from the absence of reliable statistical data respecting pop ulation, revenue, and resources; for it was noticed that some of the states were more powerful than others, and it was necessary to establish a sort of equilibrium. The last territorial division of intendencias under the Spanish rule was recommended by some members, but objected to by others, because Queretaro and Tlascala, which at that time were mere corregimientos de letras, wanted to be separate states. Some trouble was experienced with respect to the territories, namely, Colima, the Californias, and Tehuantepec. But the greatest difficulty was to fix upon the quota of reve nue that each state was to contribute for the support of the general government, inasmuch as the revenue of each being unknown, the distribution as fixed upon was mere guess-work, and the result was, that after ward very few of the states punctually paid their quotas.

Each part of the constitution, when passed, was published and given the force of law. This was done respecting the election of president and vice-president