Transcript
The Constitutional Convention
Drafting a New Nation
1787
The Call for a Convention
The Articles of Confederation was a disaster Without the power to levy taxes, the
federal government was broke Massive inflation lead to anger and
rebellion
The Call for Convention cont…
Representatives from each state met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles55 delegates from 13 states attended
Key Delegates
James Madison (Virginia) Known as the “Father of the Constitution”
George Washington (Virginia) His presence gave the convention
legitimacy.
Alexander Hamilton (New York)George Mason (Virginia)John Dickinson (Delaware)Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania)
Notable Absences
Patrick Henry Refused to attend, saying he “smelt a
rat”
Thomas Jefferson Was serving as a Foreign Diplomat in
Paris
John Adams Was serving as a Foreign Diplomat in
London
James Madison
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it (the government) to control itself.”
The Convention Begins
Although the convention was called to fix The Articles of Confederation, the tone would soon change The convention’s first speaker introduced a plan for an entirely new government, The Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan
Proposed a government made up of three branches The Legislative Branch would make
the laws The Executive Branch would enforce
the laws The Judicial Branch would interpret
the laws
The Virginia Plan
The legislative branch would have two houses A state’s population would determine its
number of representatives in both houses.
Called for a strong national governmentThe small states were not happy This was “the rat” many of them had feared
The New Jersey Plan
In response to the Virginia Plan, small states offered the New Jersey Plan Called for a legislative branch with
only one house In it, each state would have equal
representation (1 vote)
This plan called for a weaker national government
Virginia Plan New Jersey PlanLegislative branch with two houses
Legislative Branch with one house
Representation determined by population (proportional representation)
Each state would have one vote (equal representation)
Strong national government
Weak national government
Virginia vs. New Jersey
The Great Compromise Cont…
The Great Compromise To satisfy the smaller states, each
state would have an equal number of votes in the Senate
To satisfy the larger states, representation in the House of Representative would be based on a state’s total population
3/5 CompromiseThe delegates had to decide who would be counted when determining representation in the House of Reps The South had more slaves and
thought that they should be counted towards a state’s population
The Northern states contended that slaves were not citizens, so they should not be counted.
3/5 Compromise3/5 Compromise 3/5 of the slave population would be
counted to determine representation in the House of Representatives
Finished?
On September 15, 1787, the delegates voted to approve the new ConstitutionIt was then sent to the states for ratification (approval) 9 of the 13 states had to ratify the
Constitution before it would become law The fight was far from over
Ratification
As state conventions opened to determine the fate of the Constitution, debate swirledThe country was split into two camps: Federalists supported ratification of the
constitution Antifederalists opposed the new
constitution, claiming it took too much power away from the states and the people
Federalists vs Antifederalists
Federalists AntifederalistsSupported a strong national government
Favored stronger state governments
Wanted power divided into three separate branches
Were fearful of a strong president
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay
Wanted a Bill of Rights included to protect people’s rights
George Mason, Patrick Henry
The Federalist Papers
The Federalists had a key ally: the pressThe Federalists argued their points with essays printed in newspapersThe best known of these essays were called The Federalist Papers
The Bill of Rights
Even with the majority of support, there was still strong opposition in several key statesIn order to ratify the constitution, these states demanded that a Bill of Rights be included
The Bill of RightsSupporters of a Bill of Rights believed it was necessary in order to protect the people from the power of the national governmentJames Madison was charged with writing the Bill of Rights When he was finished, Congress edited the list and
sent it back to the states for ratification With Virginia casting the deciding vote in 1791, ten
of these amendments were ratified and became law.
These ten amendments became known as the Bill of Rights
top related