The Constitutional Convention

1
The Constitutional Convention

• May 1787
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2
Who was there?

• 55 delegates
• Lawyers, physicians, generals, governors,
  planters, and a college president
• Well educated
• All states represented,except Rhode Island

3
George Washington

• Presided over meeting
• Gave the meeting greater significance
• Would later become the first president of the
  United States

4
Benjamin Franklin

• Oldest delegate (80 years old)
• Like Washington, was well respected and added a
  positive presence to the meetings

5
Gouverneur Morris

• Powerful speaker and writer
• Wrote the Preamble
• Wrote final draft of Constitution
• Tried to get Constitutional Convention to ban
  slavery

6
James Madison

• Father of the Constitution
• His notes became the best record of what happened
  at the convention.
• Supporter of strong central government

7
Edmund Randolph

• Governor of Virginia
• Proposed creating strong national government
  instead of rewriting Articles
• Introduced Virginia Plan to convention

8
William Paterson

• Presented the New Jersey plan, a plan that
  revised the Articles of Confederation

9
Roger Sherman

• Proposed a compromise to the New Jersey and
  Virginia plan which came to be known as The Great
  Compromise

10
What Influenced the Framers?

• English Parliamentary Traditions
• The Magna Carta (1215)
• The English Bill of Rights (1689)
• Enlightenment Thinkers
• John Locke
• Natural Rights
• Baron de Montesquieu
• Separation of Powers

11
Debates, Decisions and Compromises

• Convention began by choosing George Washington to
  preside over meetings.
• Each state would have one vote on all questions.
• The delegates decided to keep all the sessions
  secret. This made it possible for the delegates
  to talk freely.

12
The Virginia Plan

• Proposed by Edmund Randolph
• Two-house (bicameral) legislature
• Members of the lower house elected by the people
• Members of the upper house elected by the lower
  house
• Number of representatives would be proportional
  to the population of each state

13
The New Jersey Plan

• Proposed by William Paterson
• Kept Confederations One-House legislature
• Gave Congress the power to tax and regulate trade
• Congress would elect a weak executive branch
  consisting of more than one person

14
The Great Compromise

• Suggested by Roger Sherman
• Two-House legislature
• Lower House (House of Representatives)
• Membership would be proportional to population of
  the state
• Upper House (Senate)
• Each state would have two members

15
Slavery Issue

• Northern states wanted to ban slavery throughout
  the nation
• Southern states considered slavery essential to
  their economies
• It was agreed that Congress would not interfere
  with the slave trade until 1808

16
The 3/5 Compromise

• Southern states wanted slaves to be counted as
  population for the purpose of representation in
  the House of Representatives
• Northerners wanted slaves to be counted as
  property and taxed
• Compromiseslaves would be counted as 3/5 of a
  free person for the purpose of taxation AND
  representation

17
Ratification

• 9 out of 13 states had to ratify (approve) the
  Constitution
• Federalists-supporters of the Constitution
• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay
  defended the Constitution in The Federalist
  Papers
• Anti-Federalists-opposed ratification
• Lacked a bill of rights to protect individual
  freedoms

18
Adopting the Constitution

• June 21, 1788New Hampshire (the 9th state)
  ratified the Constitution
• June 25, 1788Virginia ratified the Constitution
• June 26, 1788New York ratified the Constitution
• November 1789Constitution ratified by North
  Carolina
• May 1790Constitution ratified by Rhode Island