THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

DO NOW Think of a time that you had to compromise with someone and come to some sort of agreement. What did you have to give up, and what did the other person have to give up in order for you to meet in the middle?

THE CONVENTION BEGINS The Constitutional Convention was set up to revise the Articles of Confederation. However, a brand new Constitution would come out of the Convention. Meeting in May 1787 was 55 delegates from the colonies including Ben Franklin (81), James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, who was elected President of the Convention. The Convention took place in secrecy because the delegates wanted to speak their minds freely, and did not want outside pressures.

DIVIDED The Virginia Plan Two delegates from Virginia proposed the Virginia Plan. In this plan, there would be two houses within the legislative branch. Seats in both houses would be awarded based on population. Larger states would have more representation than smaller ones Proponents of this plan felt that it was only fair for a state with more people to have more representation The New Jersey Plan Small states objected strongly to the Virginia Plan because they feared that large states could easily outvote them in Congress. After two weeks of debate, William Paterson of NJ proposed a plan in which each state would be given one vote in the legislature, regardless of population

THE GREAT COMPROMISE With tempers flaring over the issue of representation, the Convention was close to falling apart without reaching an agreement Roger Sherman of Connecticut worked out a compromise which he hoped would satisfy both small states and large states. Sherman’s Plan called for a two house legislature. The House of Representatives would be based on population. The Senate would consist of two senators from each state, regardless of the population The delegates narrowly approved Sherman’s Plan as each side had to compromise to preserve the nation

THREE- FIFTHS COMPROMISE A disagreement emerged between the Northern states and the Southern states. Should slaves be counted in a state’s population, considering that they were treated like property and couldn’t vote? The southern states wanted them to count because a higher population total would mean more representatives sent to Congress. The Northern states said that they should not count because they didn’t have the right to vote. An agreement was made in which three fifths of the slaves in any state would count toward the state’s population. For instance if a state had 5,000 slaves, 3,000 would be counted for the state’s Population This became known as the Three-Fifths Compromise

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION… The delegates also had to decide the following: How many years should the President serve? How should the Courts be organized? Would members of the Congress be paid? Finally, by September 17,1787, the Constitution was ready. Now it had to be ratified by 9 of the 13 states. Debates took place in each state. Those who supported the new Constitution were called Federalists. Those who opposed the new Constitution were called Antifederalists

FEDERALISTS VS. ANTI-FEDERALISTS Federalists Supported a Strong Central Government The Articles of Confederation proved that a stronger Central Gov. was needed. The Constitution would allow the federal government to function effectively The Constitution still protected rights of individual states Anti-Federalists Believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the National government and left the states to be too weak Thought that the Constitution gave the President too much power and feared that the President would become like a King. They wanted a Bill of Rights to be added to the Constitution and refused to sign it if the Bill of Rights was not added.

THE CONSTITUTION IS PASSED! Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution is December In June 1788, the 9 th State to ratify was New Hampshire, and the Constitution was in effect. Eventually all states would ratify. The Bill of Rights would be added to the Constitution, giving all Americans basic rights, not to be taken away by the government.

DEFEND YOUR POSITION… Pretend you are a citizen in Would you argue for or against the Constitution? How would you defend your position?