The Constitutional Convention

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The Constitutional Convention

• Explain the challenges in writing and ratifying
  the U.S. Constitution including
• Issues debated during the convention resulting in
  
• the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths
• Compromise, and the compromise over the slave
• trade
• The Federalist/Antifederalist debate
• The debate over a Bill of Rights

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Meeting in Philadelphia

• February 1787, the Confederation Congress invited
  each state to send delegates to a convention
• Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Independence Hall
• Assembly Room
• Began May, 25,1787
• All states were represented except Rhode Island
• 74 individuals were invited, 55 attended
• They met to revise the Articles of Confederation
• But after four months of intense debate, they
  left with a completely new government

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The Constitutional Convention Overview

• Most delegates were well educated
• 29 had college degrees
• 23 were lawyers
• Many had served on their state legislatures
• ¾ had been representatives in the Continental
  Congress
• Average age 42
• Eight had signed the Declaration of Independence
• Most were natives of the 13 colonies-8 were born
  elsewhere
• 17 of them were slave owners
• No women, Africans Americans, or Native Americans
  were present

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The Constitutional Convention Overview

• George Washington unanimously elected president
  of the Convention
• James Madison Father of the Constitution
• Oldest member-Benjamin Franklin 81 years old
• Youngest-Jonathan Dayton 26 years old

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The Constitutional Convention Overview

• Several delegates were not present
• Thomas Jefferson Americas Minister to France
• John Adams American Diplomat in France
• Patrick Henry refused to attend smelt a rat
• John Jay away in New York at his Foreign Office
• Samuel Adams and John Hancock were also absent

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Great Compromises

• Several issues divided the delegates
• Some wanted small changes to the Articles, while
  others wanted to rewrite the Articles completely
• Even the delegates who wanted change had
  different goals
• Many delegates disagreed over how strong to make
  the national government

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Virginia Plan

• Presented by Edmund Randolph
• Offered a whole new plan for the government that
  would give sovereignty to the national government
• Madison, Randolph and other Virginia delegates
  drew up the plan before others had arrived
• Called for three branches
• Legislative makes laws
• Executive enforce laws
• Judicial interpreted laws
• Proposed the legislature to be bi-cameral, two
  houses
• number of representatives from each state would
  be based upon the states population or its
  wealth.
• had the following powers
• levy taxes
• regulate commerce
• make laws in all cases where the separate states
  are incompetent (unable)
• This plan favored the larger (more populated)
  states

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The New Jersey Plan

• Presented by William Patterson
• Alternative to the Virginia Plan
• Presented by the smaller states to stop the
  larger states from getting too much power
• Proposed the legislature to be unicameral, one
  house
• Every state would have 1 vote
• Every state would have equal representation
• Had the following powers
• Tax citizens in all states
• Regulate commerce

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Compromise is Reached

• The issue of representation led to the Great
  Compromise
• After a month of debate, the delegates were
  unable to agree on how states should be
  represented
• Finally, Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed a
  compromise plan
• This became known as the Great Compromise

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The Great Compromise

• This plan gave sovereignty (supreme power) to the
  central government
• Set up a bicameral legislature
• Upper House- Senate Equal representation-pleasing
  the small states (2 from each state)
• Lower House- House of Representatives (435
  today) representation would be based upon the
  states population-pleasing the large states
• Allowed the Constitutional Convention to move
  ahead

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Slavery in the Population

• Because representation in the House was to be
  based upon the population of each state, the
  delegates had to decide how should slaves be
  counted in the population.
• North Slaves should be counted for taxation but
  not for representation they are not citizens,
  they cannot vote
• South Slaves should be counted for
  representation but not for taxation

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The Three-Fifths Compromise

• Three-fifths of the slave population would be
  counted when determining representation and
  taxation
• 3 free people 3 representation taxation
• 5 slaves 3 representation taxation

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Foreign Slave Trade

• Slavery had already been outlawed in several
  northern states
• Some delegates believed slavery was wrong and
  wanted the federal government to ban the slave
  trade
• Others said that the southern states economies
  depended upon the slave trade
• Southern delegates stated they would not accept
  any plan unless their right to import slaves be
  untouched, and would leave the Union if the
  Constitution immediately ended the slave trade

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The Commerce Compromise

• Because other trade issues needed to be resolved,
  the delegates agreed to another compromise
• How much power should Congress have over trade?
• North Wants the Federal government to control
  trade
• South Wants each state to control trade/set own
  rules
• On August 20, 1787, they reached an agreement
  agreed
• Congress gains power to control trade
• Congress will tax imports not exports
• Congress could not ban the slave trade until 1808
• Fugitive Slave Act passed-runaway slaves had to
  be returned to owners

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The Executive Compromise

• How should the Executive Branch be run?
• Delegates decide 1 person will head the Executive
  Branch
• What safeguard will be built in to make certain
  this person doesnt become too powerful?
• Congress has the ability to impeach the President
• Definition impeach bring an official to trial
  for misconduct in office
• How should the President be chosen?
• Some delegates believe the Congress should choose
  the President
• Others believed there should be a direct election

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The Electoral College

• Compromise
• Each state will chose electors equal to the
  number of representatives and senators that state
  has in Congress
• Electors will chose the President
• Indirect election of the President
• The Electoral College was established by the
  founding fathers as a compromise between election
  of the president by Congress and election by
  popular vote

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The Electoral College

• The process for selecting electors varies
  throughout the United States
• The political parties nominate electors at their
  State party conventions or by a vote of the
  party's central committee in each State
• Electors are often selected to recognize their
  service and dedication to their political party
• They may be State-elected officials, party
  leaders, or persons who have a personal or
  political affiliation with the Presidential
  candidate.
• The voters in each State choose the electors on
  the day of the general election
• The electors' names may or may not appear on the
  ballot below the name of the candidates running
  for President, depending on the procedure in each
  State

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The Electoral College
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John Locke

• 1632-1704
• 1690 published The First and Second Treaties on
  Government
• All people have the inalienable right to life,
  liberty, and property
• People created government and choose to be
  governed
• Governments arise from an agreement, or contract,
  between the ruler and the ruled-Social Contract
  Theory
• A ruler only had power as long as he had the
  consent of the people
• Influenced the Declaration of Independence and
  the writing of the U.S. Constitution

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Jean Jacques Rousseau

• 1712-1778
• A significant Enlightenment thinker
• Published The Social Contract in 1762
• Believes in a model society in which people form
  a community and make a contract with each other,
  not a ruler
• People would give up some freedoms for the needs
  of the majority
• Community would vote on all decisions-majority
  rule
• Popular sovereignty-political authority belongs
  to the people

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Baron Charles-Louis Montesquieu

• 1689-1755
• He built on Lockes ideas in The Spirit of the
  Laws
• Government should be divided into separate
  branches to protect peoples freedom
• Separation of powers-each branch of government is
  limited by the others
• The separate branches must share power
• No one branch can gain too much power or control
  the government completely
• The U.S. Constitution has three branches of
  government

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Francois-Marie ArouetVoltaire

• 1694-1778
• French philosopher
• In his writings he argued that the purpose of
  life is the pursuit of human happiness through
  progress in science and the arts
• He spoke out against censorship-removal of
  information considered harmful
• He believed in freedom of thought, freedom of
  speech and freedom of religion
• Influenced the creation of the U.S. Bill of Rights

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The Signing of the Constitution

• On September 15, 1787 the delegates voted for the
  Constitution in its final form
• It was four pages long
• It took four months to write
• On September 17, 1787, all but three delegates
  signed the Constitution (39 total-see page 203)
• It was sent along with a letter from Washington
  to the Confederation Congress which sent it to
  the states for ratification

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Ratification of the Constitution

• When the Constitution was made public, a huge
  debate began
• Federalists-supporters of the Constitution
  believed that the Constitution balanced various
  political views excellent plan for government
• George Washington, James Madison, John Jay,
  Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton
• Wealthy planters, farmers, lawyers, workers and
  craftspeople
• Defended their views in the Federalist Papers

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Antifederalists

• Anti Federalists People who opposed the
  Constitution
• They thought the Constitutional Convention should
  not have created a new government
• The Constitution gave too much power to the
  central government
• Others believed it needed a section that
  protected the individual rights of the people
• George Mason, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams,
  Patrick Henry
• Most were small farmers, and debtors, but some
  were wealthy
• They were challenged by many Americans who
  thought the country needed a stronger central
  government

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The Debate Goes On

• Federalist and Antifederalists debated whether
  the Constitution should be ratified-formally
  approved
• They made speeches, printed pamphlets, and wrote
  papers advocating their views
• Otis Warren wrote a pamphlet entitled
  Observations on the New Constitution, in which
  she criticized the lack of individual rights it
  provided
• The Federalists had to convince people that a
  change was needed and had to address peoples
  fears
• Antifederalists wrote articles and pamphlets that
  became known as the Antifederalist Papers

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Federalist Papers

• One of the most important defenses of the
  Constitution appeared in a series of essays that
  became known as the Federalist Papers
• These essays supporting the Constitution were
  written anonymously under the name Publius
• They were actually written by Alexander Hamilton,
  James Madison, and John Jay
• The authors tried to reassure Americans that the
  new federal government would not overpower the
  states
• The diversity of the United States would prevent
  any single group from dominating the government
  Madison
• These papers were widely printed around the
  country
• They were finally collected and published in 1788

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Ratification Debate

• The Constitution needed only 9 states to pass,
  but needed all states to establish and preserve
  national unity
• Every state except Rhode Island held special
  state conventions that gave citizens the chance
  to discuss and vote on the Constitution
• On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first
  state to ratify the Constitution
• New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify and
  the document went into effect in July 1788
• Problem The new government did not have the
  support of New York and Virginia
• Madison convinced the delegates of Virginia to
  ratify in mid 1788
• New York after much debate also ratified that
  same year
• Rhode Island was the last to ratify in May 1790

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The Bill of Rights

• Several states ratified the U.S. Constitution
  only after they were promised the addition of a
  Bill of Rights
• Many Federalists argued that the nation did not
  need a federal bill of rights, because the
  Constitution itself was a bill of rights
• It was written to protect the liberty of the U.S.
  citizens
• Madison wanted to make the bill of rights one of
  the nations first priorities
• In Congresss first session, Madison encouraged
  the legislators to put together a bill of rights
  that would then be added to the Constitution as
  amendments or official changes

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Article V

• In article V of the U.S. Constitution, the
  founders had provided a way to change the
  document when necessary in order to reflect the
  will of the people
• The process requires that proposed amendments
  must be approved by a two-thirds majority vote of
  both houses of Congress
• Then the proposed amendment must be ratified by
  three-fourths of the states before taking effect

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The Bill of Rights

• Legislators took ideas from the following when
  creating a bill of rights
• state ratifying conventions
• the Virginia Declaration of Rights
• The English Bill of Rights
• The Declaration of Independence
• They wanted to make sure that the abuses
  (Tyrannical Acts of the British King) listed in
  the Declaration of Independence were illegal
  under the new government
• In September 1789 Congress proposed 12 amendments
  and sent them to the states for ratification
• By December 1791 the states had ratified the Bill
  of Rights-the first 10 amendments of the United
  States Constitution
• This list of proposed amendments were intended to
  protect the rights of the people
• These set a clear example of how to amend the
  Constitution to fit the need of a changing nation
• Making the United States Constitution a living
  breathing document still surviving over 200
  years