1787

The Constitutional Convention

Drafting a New Nation

The Call for a Convention

! Operating under The Articles of

Confederation, America was on the

brink of a financial disaster
Without the power to levy taxes, the
federal government had no means to pay
off a substantial war debt
n Massive inflation plagued the Country,
leading to anger and rebellion
n

The Call for Convention cont

! Sensing the country was falling apart,

Congress called for states to meet for the

purpose of revising the Articles of
Confederation
! Seventy-four delegates representing the 13
states were appointed to attend the
convention
n

Fifty-five of these appointees actually attended the

sessions

Key Delegates
! James Madison (Virginia)
n

His immense contributions would earn him the

title of the Father of the Constitution

! George Washington (Virginia)

n

His presence gave the convention legitimacy

! Alexander Hamilton (New York)

! George Mason (Virginia)
! John Dickinson (Delaware)

Notable Absences
! Patrick Henry
n

Refused to attend, claiming he smelt a

rat

! Thomas Jefferson
n

Was serving as a Foreign Diplomat in Paris

! John Adams
n

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

! The first order of business was to elect

a president for the convention

! George Washington was nominated and
unanimously approved
n

Washington was easily the most revered

and respected American

Change of plan
! With the rules set in place and

Washington presiding, the delegates

began the work of fixing the
government on May 29, 1787
! Although the convention was called to
fix The Articles of Confederation, the
tone would soon change

Change of Plan
! Washington recognized Edmund

Randolph of Virginia as the

conventions first speaker
! To the surprise of many, Randolph
introduced a plan for an entirely new
government
n

This plan would come to be known as the

Virginia Plan

The Virginia Plan

! The Virginia Plan proposed a

government made up of three branches

The Legislative Branch would make the
laws
n The Executive Branch would enforce the
laws
n The Judicial Branch would interpret the
laws
n

The Virginia Plan

! The Virginia Plan also proposed a legislature
with two houses
n

In both houses, the number of representatives

from each state would be based on a states total
population or wealth
The legislature would have the power to levy
taxes, regulate commerce and make laws

! The small states were not happy

n

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

! The New Jersey plan called for a
legislative branch with only one house
n

In it, each state would have equal

representation (1 vote)

! This plan called for a considerably

weaker national government

Virginia vs. New Jersey

Virginia Plan

New Jersey Plan

The Legislative branch

would have two houses

The Legislative Branch

would have one house

Representation determined Each state would have one

by population (proportional vote (equal representation)
representation)
Strong national
government, with powers
divided among three
branches

Weaker national
government with an even
weaker executive branch

The Great Compromise

! The two plans were put to a vote on

June 19, with the Virginia Plan scoring a

victory
! Debate, however, continued over
representation in the legislature
Big states favored proportional
representation (based on population)
n Small states favored equal representation
(1 vote per state)
n

The Great Compromise Cont

! In early July an agreement was made,
which would be known as the great
compromise

To satisfy the smaller states, each state

would have an equal number of votes in
the Senate
n To satisfy the larger states, representation
in the House of Representative would be
based on a states total population
n

Three-Fifths Compromise
! Because representation in the House of

Representatives would be based on state

population, the delegates had to decide
who would be counted
n

The Southern states had more slaves and

thought that slaves should be counted as
people when determining state
population
wThis would give Southern states more

representation in the House of

Representatives

Three-Fifths Compromise
n

The Northern states balked at this idea,

claiming that slaves were not citizens, and
thus, should not be used to determine
representation

! After much debate, the delegates reached

another compromise, which would be known

as the Three-Fifths Compromise
! Under this compromise, three-fifths of the
slave population would be counted to
determine representation in the House of
Representatives

Finished?
! Finally, on Saturday, September 15,

1787, the delegates voted to approve

the new Constitution
! It was then sent to the states for
ratification, or approval
9 of the 13 states had to ratify the
Constitution before it would become law
n The fight was far from over
n

Ratification
! As state conventions opened to determine the
fate of the Constitution, debate swirled
around the young nation
! The country was split into two camps:
Federalists and Antifederalists
n

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

Antifederalists

Supported a strong
national government

Favored stronger state

governments

Favored dividing power

among into three separate
branches

Wanted a weak executive

branch and strong
legislative branch

Proposed a single person

to lead the executive
branch

Believed a Bill of Rights

needed to be included to
protect peoples rights

Supporters included James Supporters included

Madison and Alexander
George Mason and Patrick
Hamilton
Henry

The Federalist Papers

! The Federalists had a key ally: the press
! In response to attacks by Antifederalists, the

Federalists struck back with essays printed in

newspapers
! The best known of these essays are The
Federalist papers, which were first published
in New York Newspapers

The Federalist Papers

! Written by three well-known politicians --

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John

Jay -- The Federalist papers clearly defined
why people should support ratification
! The support garnered by these newspaper
reports gave the Federalists a clear
advantage

The Bill of Rights

! Even with the majority of support, there
was still strong opposition to ratification
in several key states, including Virginia
and Massachusetts
! In order to ratify the constitution, these
states demanded that a Bill of Rights be
included

The Bill of Rights

! Supporters of a Bill of Rights believed it was

necessary in order to protect the people from

the power of the national government
! James Madison took up the tasks of drafting
the Bill of Rights
n

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