1. Creating the Constitution
Ch. 5 Section 2

2. Review Articles of Confederation Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
Shays’s Rebellion

3. A New Constitution
1787- delegates from all states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia
To revise the Articles of Confederation
Known as the Constitutional Convention
55 men attended
George Washington – presiding officer
Ben Franklin – old, wrote a lot of speeches but had other people read them, slept a lot, diffused tense situations with humor
James Madison – secretary, wrote down everything
Thomas Jefferson – serving as American minister in France at the time

4. The Virginia Plan
Plan created by James Madison, introduced by the governor of Virginia  Edmund Randolph
The Virginia Plan consisted of…
Scrap the Articles of Confederation
Create a government with 3 branches
Power to make laws binding on the states and have taxes
Create a Congress with 2 houses (bicameral)
Have members of the lower house elected by the people - members of the upper house appointed by lower house
The # of people sent to Congress from each state would be based on that state’s population  favored large states

5. The New Jersey Plan Plan created by William Patterson
To combat the Virginia Plan
So that large states would not have more representation
The New Jersey Plan
Modified Articles of Confederation
Congress would have 1 house (unicameral)
Have the power to raise taxes and regulate trade
Representation in Congress would be equal for each state - not based on population  favored small states

6. The Great Compromise (The Connecticut Compromise)
Ben Franklin headed the committee to decide on a compromise
Compromise idea proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut
The compromise consisted of…
Congress would have 2 houses - the House of Representatives & the Senate
In the House, states would be represented according to population
Members of the House would be elected by voters
In the Senate, states would have equal representation  2 senators per state
Members of the Senate would be elected by state legislatures

7. The Slave Issue
Northern states didn’t want slaves in southern states to count as part of the population b/c…
Southern states would have more representatives in the House
Slaves can’t vote
Northern states said if you count slaves for the House they should be counted for taxation purposes as well
Southern states didn’t want this b/c they would be responsible for more taxes

8. 3/5th’s Compromise
It was decided that every 5 slaves in a state would count as 3 free persons
For determining both representation in the House and taxes in that state