The Constitutional Convention

Drafting a New Nation

1787

The Call for a Convention

The Articles of Confederation was a disaster Without the power to levy taxes, the

federal government was broke Massive inflation lead to anger and

rebellion

The Call for Convention cont…

Representatives from each state met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles55 delegates from 13 states attended

Key Delegates

James Madison (Virginia) Known as the “Father of the Constitution”

George Washington (Virginia) His presence gave the convention

legitimacy.

Alexander Hamilton (New York)George Mason (Virginia)John Dickinson (Delaware)Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania)

Notable Absences

Patrick Henry Refused to attend, saying he “smelt a

rat”

Thomas Jefferson Was serving as a Foreign Diplomat in

Paris

John Adams 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

Although the convention was called to fix The Articles of Confederation, the tone would soon change The convention’s first speaker introduced a plan for an entirely new government, The Virginia Plan

The Virginia Plan

Proposed a government made up of three branches The Legislative Branch would make

the laws The Executive Branch would enforce

the laws The Judicial Branch would interpret

the laws

The Virginia Plan

The legislative branch would have two houses A state’s population would determine its

number of representatives in both houses.

Called for a strong national governmentThe small states were not happy 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 Called for a legislative branch with

only one house In it, each state would have equal

representation (1 vote)

This plan called for a weaker national government

Virginia Plan New Jersey PlanLegislative branch with two houses

Legislative Branch with one house

Representation determined by population (proportional representation)

Each state would have one vote (equal representation)

Strong national government

Weak national government

Virginia vs. New Jersey

The Great Compromise Cont…

The Great Compromise To satisfy the smaller states, each

state would have an equal number of votes in the Senate

To satisfy the larger states, representation in the House of Representative would be based on a state’s total population

3/5 CompromiseThe delegates had to decide who would be counted when determining representation in the House of Reps The South had more slaves and

thought that they should be counted towards a state’s population

The Northern states contended that slaves were not citizens, so they should not be counted.

3/5 Compromise3/5 Compromise 3/5 of the slave population would be

counted to determine representation in the House of Representatives

Finished?

On September 15, 1787, the delegates voted to approve the new ConstitutionIt was then sent to the states for ratification (approval) 9 of the 13 states had to ratify the

Constitution before it would become law The fight was far from over

Ratification

As state conventions opened to determine the fate of the Constitution, debate swirledThe country was split into two camps: 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 AntifederalistsSupported a strong national government

Favored stronger state governments

Wanted power divided into three separate branches

Were fearful of a strong president

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay

Wanted a Bill of Rights included to protect people’s rights

George Mason, Patrick Henry

The Federalist Papers

The Federalists had a key ally: the pressThe Federalists argued their points with essays printed in newspapersThe best known of these essays were called The Federalist Papers

The Bill of Rights

Even with the majority of support, there was still strong opposition in several key statesIn order to ratify the constitution, these states demanded that a Bill of Rights be included

The Bill of RightsSupporters of a Bill of Rights believed it was necessary in order to protect the people from the power of the national governmentJames Madison was charged with writing the Bill of Rights 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