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The Constitutional Convention�

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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

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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.

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The Founding Fathers

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Issues that divided the nation’s leaders�

  • The power of the federal government. 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?

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The Virginia Plan

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  • Called for a new national government. Threw out the Articles of Confederation
  • 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.

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New Jersey Plan

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  • 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.

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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

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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.

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Ratification

  • Once the Constitution was written, it was sent to the states to ratify.
  • The Constitution said that once 9/13 �states had accepted it, it would �become the new national �government.
  • However, the Founders knew �that 9/13 alone would not work. �It had to be unanimous.

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Ratification

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Ratification

  • Debates, articles, letters, advertisements and more exploded across America as the states considered whether to vote for or against the new Constitution.
  • At the beginning of the voting, probably most people opposed it. The main reason was they felt it made the federal government just too powerful and did not allow for the rights of the people.
  • Many states already had Bills of Rights that spelled out the rights of the people.

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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.

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