Dec 21, 2015
Road to the
Constitution
Failures of the Articles of
Confederation
CONSTITUTIONALCONVENTION
PROBLEMS AT THE
CONVENTION
VA PLAN
NJ PLAN
CT PLAN
COMMERCE COMPROMISE
3/5U.S.
Constitution
FAILURE OF ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
State governments too powerful:–Power to tax:–Power to regulate trade:–Power to dictate policy to national
government:–Power to raise militia:
NEED FOR A STRONGER NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
• Great Britain was waiting for the United States to fail:• Large states taking advantage of
small states:• Jealousy kept states from working
together:• U-N-I-T-E-D STATES was not united:
Government officials realized after Shays’ Rebellion that a change was needed
A convention of representatives from each state were called to Philadelphia in 1787
JONATHAN DAYTON (New Jersey) was the youngest at age 26
BEN FRANKLIN (Pennsylvania) was the oldest at age 81
34 of the 55 were lawyers
Also included soldiers, planters, educators, ministers, physicians, financiers, and merchants
GUIDELINES FOR THE CONVENTION
•Work of the Convention would remain a secret:
•White, highly educated, successful men with political experience would be sent:
•A majority vote was required on an issue:
•George Washington would preside over the Convention:
PROBLEMS AT THE CONVENTION
•Small States and Large States cannot agree on representation;
•Northern States and Southern States cannot agree on the issue of slavery and commerce;
•Federalist and Anti-Federalist cannot agree on the power of the National Government:
Bicameral Legislature (Two – houses)
Both houses will base representation on population with equal number of representatives in each house
Will have a president, legislature, and court system—Three Branches of Government!
Chief executive chosen by legislature and court system
Proposed by:Edmund Randolf
Unicameral Legislature (One – house)
Representation in legislature will be the same for all states
Congress could tax and regulate trade
Proposed by:William Patterson
Resolved Virginia and New Jersey Plans
Bicameral legislature (Two – houses) Representation in one house (the
House of Representatives) will be determined by population (representative elected by the people)
Representation in the other house (the Senate) will be the same for each state (two per state, elected by the state legislature)
Proposed by:Roger Sherman
Fixing problems with commerce and trade
Congress was allowed to regulate interstate and foreign trade.
Congress could tax imports, but not exports
Congress was forbidden to restrict the importation of slaves for 20 years, but could levy a tax, for every imported slave as much as $10.
Slaves were not considered free if they ran away to a free state, but rather had to be returned if caught.
Three-Fifths Compromise Counted every 5 slaves as 3 free persons for taxation and representation purposes in Congress.
How will we elect our president? Elected by Congress?? Elected by the people??
Compromise: The Electoral College
What problems did the “framers” of the Constitution face AFTER the Constitutional Convention? Anti-Federalists disapproved
wanted a Bill of Rights added
Federalists fought against Anti-Federalists
9 out of the 13 states needed to approve the constitution before it would take affect
What problems did the “framers” of the Constitution face AFTER the Constitutional Convention? (continued) Federalists wrote a series of essays “The Federalist Papers” convincing people to support the ratification of the Constitution
Federalists agreed to add a Bill of Rights soon after ratification