The Constitutional Convention

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The Constitutional Convention

• 1787

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Constitutional Convention

• September 17, 1787
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Purpose To revise the Articles of Confederation.
• Outcome Constructed a new Constitution for the
  United States with a stronger Central Government

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Signing the Constitution
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Pennsylvania States House
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Constitutional Convention

• 55 delegates
• Eight signed the Declaration of Independence
• Famous People
• Benjamin Franklin (Oldest at 81 years)
  Pennsylvania
• George Washington Virginia
• Alexander Hamilton New York
• James Madison Virginia Father of the
  Constitution
• All debates kept secret during the Convention.

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Independence Hall

• Declaration of Independence was signed 1776
• Articles of Confederation was created and
  approved 1777
• U.S. Constitution was constructed and approved
  1787

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Major Debates at the ConventionLarge States v.
Small States(Population)
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
Great Compromise
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Virginia Plan

• The resolutions proposed, for example,
• a new form of national government having three
  branches
• legislative, executive and judicial.
• The Virginia Plan proposed instead a legislative
  branch consisting of two chambers (bicameral
  legislature), in each of which the states would
  be represented in proportion to population.
• States with a large population, like Virginia
  (which was the most populous state at the time),
  would thus have more representatives than smaller
  states.

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New Jersey Plan

• The New Jersey Plan proposed a single-chamber
  legislature in which each state, regardless of
  size, would have one vote, as under the Articles
  of Confederation.
• The New Jersey Plan supported the three branches
  of government executive, legislative and
  judicial.

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Great Compromise

• In the end, the convention settled on the
  so-called Connecticut Compromise, creating a
  House of Representatives apportioned by
  population and a Senate in which each state is
  equally represented.
• Three branch government- executive, legislative
  and judicial.

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Copy the Issues on the board!
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• If you were delegates to the Constitutional
  Convention, what do think would be the best way
  to resolve the problem of how to count slaves in
  the population?
• Answer

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• If you were delegates to the Constitutional
  Convention, what do you think would be the best
  way to resolve the problems of whether to permit
  slave trading and what to do with runaway slaves?
• Answer

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Northern and Southern States Compromise
Copy into Spiral then read pages 208-209
Constitutional Convention 1787
1. Explain the Three-Fifths Compromise
2. Explain the Slave Trade Compromise
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Ideas Behind the Constitution
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Ideas Behind the Constitution

• Lessons from the Roman Republic
• -Roman Example
• -Roman Warning
• Lessons from the British
• -Magna Carta
• -English Bill of Rights
• American Experience
• -Constitutional Tradition
• -Revolutionary Era

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• Lessons from the Enlightenment Period
• -John Locke and Natural Rights
• -Baron de Montesquieu and the Separation
  of Powers
• -From out of the Old, the New

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Ratification and the Bill of Rights
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Federalists Debate Antifederalists

• Federalists

• Antifederalists

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Key Issue Need for a Bill of Rights

• Against

• For

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Ratifying the Constitution

• How to ratify the U.S. Constitution?
• (PP 216 236)

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New Government

• First President elected was George Washington
  Jan 1789
• First Vice President elected was John Adams
• First capital met in New York City
• First action taken was to add the Bill of Rights
• First to ratify the Constitution was Delaware

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Three Branches of Government

• Executive
• Branch

Legislative Branch
Judicial Branch
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Comparing and Contrasting the First Two Government

• Articles of Confederation

U.S. Constitution
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Sources

• Digital Images From the Library of Congress
• Graphs (Slides) History Alive Curriculum
• Information New Jersey Plan and Great
  Compromise- http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki