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The Constitutional Convention

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The Constitutional Convention The Constitutional Convention I. Convention Begins May 25th , 1787 A. State legislatures appointed 74 delegates, 55 showed 12 states represented (No Rhode Island) 8 delegates had signed Dec of Independence, 5 Articles of Confederation B. Organization 1. GW chosen unanimously to preside 2. Each state had one vote 3. 7 states present for quorum 4. Debates, votes, compromises to be kept secret from the public C. Basic Agreements 1. Limited and representative government 2. National gov’t divided into 3 branches ( exec., leg., judicial) 3. Needed to strengthen National government while protecting states rights II. Decisions and Compromises A. Virginia Plan 1. Written by James Madison, introduced by Edmund Jennings Randolph Proposed Strong National legislature, with two houses (BI- Cameral) Lower house by people, upper house by lower house Power to bar laws made by states 2. Strong executive to be chosen by legislature 3. National Judiciary to be appointed by legislature as well 4. Federalists/NATIONalists came to convention with this in hand- sets the agenda for the convention 5. Small States realized they would be dominated- WHY? Needed to come up with plan of their own B. New Jersey Plan 1. Counter proposal by William Patterson of New Jersey 2. Wanted a UNICAMERAL legislature with one vote per state. 3. Weak, plural (more than one) executives to be chosen by Congress 4. Wanted to remain a Confederation of States C. Debate on Representation based on Population or equally almost broke up the convention D. GREAT COMPROMISE (Connecticut Compromise) 1. Proposed by Roger Sherman of Conn. 2. BI-Cameral Legislature a. Lower house- REPRESENTS PEOPLE House of Representatives based on Population All tax laws would begin here Reps elected by the people b. Upper house- REPRESENTS STATES Senate based on equal representation Senate elected by State Legislatures (Changed with 17th Amendment) E. 3/5ths Compromise 1. 1/3rd of Southern population were enslaved persons of African heritage South wanted to count them equally as free persons to give them more representation- but not for taxation 2. North wanted slaves to count for taxation, but not for representation 3. Settled that slaves would count as 3/5ths of a person for both F. Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise 1. National government to have control over all trade, but could not interfere with Slave trade until 1808 2. Congress could not charge export taxes (would have hurt South more than North) G. Slavery Question 1. The word SLAVE not mentioned in Constitution 2. Delegates knew that if this became a true topic of debate, southern states would have left, nor would they ever accept the constitution if it interfered with slavery. H. Electoral College 1. Balanced those who feared lack of democracy if state legislatures were to choose with those who feared uninformed masses 2 # of electors equals the number of Senators plus the number of representatives I. 4 year term for President, with re-election possible Constitution finished on September 17th, 1787 Signed by 39 of the Delegates Problems with Ratification Surprisingly, not everyone agreed with the new Constitution (that’s sarcasm- why else would only 39 out of 55 sign it!) I. federalists vs. anti-federalists A. anti-federalist 1. Opposed new Constitution because it proposed a strong national government 2. Support came from inland farmers and laborers who feared strong government 3. Criticized document for being developed in secret 4. Felt the delegates went far beyond their orders- thus the document was extra-legal since the convention had only been authorized to revise the Articles of Confederation 5. Angered by the lack of a Bill of Rights (even the English had one) Wanted a written guarantee of people’s freedoms 6. Included- Elbridge Gerry, George Mason, Patrick Henry, Luther Martin B. federalists 1. Favored a strong national government 2. Support came from merchants and city dwellers 3. Thought that the lack of strong government would lead to anarchy 4. Thought that the Bill of rights was not necessary because 8 states already had them in their state constitutions 5. Finally agreed to the Bill of Rights in order to ensure ratification and support 6. Included- James Madison, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, II. Federalist Papers A. A series of essays (85) written by Madison, Jay, and Hamilton to urge ratification. B. Most famous are #10 and #51 III. Ratification A. Special State Ratifying Conventions, rather than State Legislatures 1. Elected by popular vote rather than selected B. Constitution would be used as law of land as soon as ratified by 9 of 13 states C. By June, 1788 9 out of 13 had Ratified it D. federalists agreed to Bill of Rights- gained ratification by all states when NY and VA agreed .
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