The Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention Constitutional – related to the constitution Convention – meeting Therefore it is a Constitution Meeting

The Constitutional Convention A meeting in Philadelphia to fix the Articles of Confederation, to fix the government Only 12 states sent representatives Rhode Island did not send anyone

The Constitutional Convention Everyone decided: The Articles of Confederation were too weak The Articles of Confederation had many mistakes Time to write a new national constitution

The Constitutional Convention Ideas for the new federal government Will have three branches (parts) Government needs to make laws Government needs power to carry out the laws Government needs power to judge the laws The government needs the power to get money to do its work

The Constitutional Convention States disagree about: How to set up each branch How many votes large and small states get

The Constitutional Convention Compromises the states made to each other: The Great Compromise The Three-fifths Compromise The Slave Trade Compromise

The Constitutional Convention The Great Compromise The federal government has 2 houses of Congress In the Senate – all states get 2 votes each – equal In the House of Representatives – states with more people, get more votes

The Constitutional Convention The Three-Fifths Compromise States with slaves can count 3/5 of their slaves to help with the population count This helps get more votes in the House of Representatives

The Constitutional Convention The Slave Trade Compromise Congress could not end the slave trade for at least 20 years Congress could make all the rules about trade

The Constitutional Convention The Constitution was DONE!!!

Next… The constitution had to be ratified [accepted or approved] by at least 9 states

Ratifying the Constitution Some people wanted to ratify/accept the constitution Some people did not want to ratify/accept the constitution

Ratifying the Constitution Federalists – wanted to ratify Liked the strong national government Felt the constitution was fair, some power for the national government, some power for the states Included: Lawyers Doctors Ministers Wealthy business men Newspaper owners

Ratifying the Constitution Anti-federalists – against the constitution Felt the constitution took too much power away from the states Felt the rights of the people would be taken away Included: Farmers Small business owners townspeople

Ratifying the Constitution The Federalist Papers Written by James Madison Alexander Hamilton John Jay Explained the meeting in Philadelphia Explained the constitution

Ratifying the Constitution December 1787, Delaware was the first state to ratify Delaware is now called “The First State”

Ratifying the Constitution By summer 1788 – 9 states had ratified the constitution

The Constitution Now the supreme (top) law of the land All 13 states ratified the Constitution 1791 – The Bill of Rights became the first amendment to the Constitution