1 of 32

Great Compromise

2 of 32

Failures of the Articles

  • No power to tax = No Money
  • No Army
  • Shays Rebellion

​

3 of 32

Constitutional Convention :

  • Original goal of Constitutional Convention was to fix Articles of Confederation.

​

4 of 32

Constitutional Convention

  • Almost immediately delegates decide to create new government instead

​

5 of 32

The Constitutional Convention begins�

  • Summer, 1787 - Philadelphia
  • Delegates from all the states invited to a convention to improve the Articles of Confederation, which were not working
  • Only Rhode Island didn’t attend
  • 55 delegates attended

6 of 32

Leaders of the Convention

  • George Washington was asked to preside (lead) over the convention.
  • James Madison kept notes of the discussions and is often called “The Father of the Constitution.”
  • The men who wrote the Constitution are called the “Founding Fathers.”
  • All the participants in the Convention were wealthy, white, males.

7 of 32

8 of 32

Issues that divided the nation’s leaders�

  • The power of the federal government.
    • How Powerfully should it be?
  • Would the states or the federal government have the most power?
  • Representation in Congress (How many members on Congress would each state get?
  • Small states wanted equal representation,
  • Large states wanted it to be determined by population of the states
  • Slavery – How would slaves be counted? Would the slave trade continue?

9 of 32

10 of 32

The Virginia Plan

  • Called for a new national government.
  • Three separate branches of government – a legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch
  • Representation in the legislative branch based on population of state
  • Large states like the plan, small states don’t.

11 of 32

12 of 32

New Jersey Plan

​

  • Legislature - has one house.
  • Each state gets one vote.
  • Small states like the plan, the large states hate it.
  • There would have to be a compromise.

13 of 32

Divided

The Virginia Plan

  • In this plan, there would be two houses within the legislative branch.
  • Seats in both houses would be awarded based on population.
  • Larger states would have more representation than smaller ones
  • Proponents of this plan felt that it was only fair for a state with more people to have more representation

The New Jersey Plan

  • Small states objected strongly to the Virginia Plan because they feared that large states could easily outvote them in Congress.
  • After two weeks of debate, William Paterson of NJ proposed a plan in which each state would be given one vote in the legislature, regardless of population

​

14 of 32

15 of 32

The Great Compromise

  • Legislature would have two houses (parts):
    • House of Representatives and a Senate
  • House - based on the population of state
  • Senate - Two senators per each state

​

16 of 32

17 of 32

Legislative Branch Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hltv8-nzcUc&ab_channel=HISTORY

18 of 32

Slavery

  • The Southern states refused to approve the Constitution unless slavery continued.
  • It was a terrible compromise to make, but the Northern states had no choice if they wanted a Constitution.
  • 3/5 Compromise – This allowed five slaves to be counted as three people when deciding state populations. This went to deciding numbers in House of Representatives
  • Congress can not ban the slave trade until 1808.

​

19 of 32

20 of 32

21 of 32

Ratification

  • Ratification or to Ratify - The action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.
  • After the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, the fight for Ratification began.
  • 9 out of 13 states had to ratify the Constitution before it would go into effect.
  • However, the Founders knew that 9/13 alone would not work.
  • It had to be unanimous.

​

​

22 of 32

Federalists v. Anti-Federalists

  • Debates, articles, letters, advertisements and more exploded across America as the states considered whether to vote for or against the new Constitution.
  • Two factions (opposing groups) emerged:
    • Federalists who supported the Constitution
    • Anti-Federalists who opposed to the Constitution
  • These two groups argued for their position in newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets

​

23 of 32

Federalists v. Anti-Federalists

Federalists

Anti-Federalists

24 of 32

Federalists:

  • Supported the constitution
  • Believed in a stronger federal government
  • Believed a national government was needed to handle the nation’s economy, establish its monetary system, promote justice, and protect individual liberty
  • Saw excess freedom as a threat to security
  • Believed the Constitution was sufficient to protect individual rights

25 of 32

Famous Federalists:

  1. Benjamin Franklin
  2. Alexander Hamilton
  3. James Madison
  4. George Washington

26 of 32

Federalists and Voting

Voting Power: Believed voting should be limited to landowners and wealthy citizens. They thought these groups would make more educated and stable decisions for the nation.

Central Government: Supported a strong central government that would have ultimate control over national decisions, believing this would unify and stabilize the country.

27 of 32

Anti-Federalists:

​

  • Supported a less powerful federal government
  • In favor of stronger state governments
  • Believed a strong national government would destroy states’ rights.
  • They thought the constitution resembled a monarchy
  • Opposed the Constitution
  • Favored the Articles of Confederation
  • Believed the Constitution was not sufficient to protect individual rights

28 of 32

Famous Anti- Federalists:

​

  1. John Hancock
  2. Patrick Henry
  3. George Mason

29 of 32

Anti- Federalists and Voting

Voting Power: Advocated for broader voting rights, supporting the idea that all citizens should have a voice in government.

Local Government Power: Favored stronger state and local governments to allow individual communities more direct control over decisions that impacted them.

30 of 32

The Federalist Papers

  • Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John way under pen name Publius (Latin word for public).
  • A series of letters published in newspapers
  • Written for three reasons:
    • To influence the vote in favor of ratification
    • To explain the Constitution for future interpretation
    • Outlined how the Constitution should be set up
  • Included 85 letters published from October 1787 to April 1788 and later bound in book form.

31 of 32

The Federalist Papers

  • Federalists Papers 1-14 - Stressed importance of the Union
  • Federalists Papers 15-22 - Stressed inadequacy of the Articles of confederation
  • Federalists Papers 23-36 - Explained arguments for the Type of Government Contained in the Constitution
  • Federalists Papers 37-51 - Explained the Republican Form of Government
  • Federalists Papers 52-83 - Explained the 3 branches of government.
  • Federalists 84-85 - Answers questions of objections to the Constitution

​

32 of 32

Ratification

  • In order to win support for the new Constitution
  • Federalists, those who supported the Constitution, agreed to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
  • This was made possible because the Constitution itself allows a process for it to be amended, or changed.
  • The first ten amendments, or changes, to the Constitution describe the rights of the people. Today these are known as the Bill of Rights.