1. Confederation to Constitution, 1776-1791 The Philadelphia Convention Who attended & How was it organized ? We the People, Lesson 11

2. I. Congress starts the process delegates: representatives sent by Congress to the convention to fix the Articles of Confederation Year the convention was called: 1787 Where did they meet? Philadelphia Congress told the delegates at the convention to: 1. develop a plan to improve the Articles of Confederation 2. send the plan to Congress for approval

3. II. Fifty-five men: delegates to the Philadelphia Convention all were men average age 42 Characteristics of the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention most played important role in American Rev. well educated some were rich, none were poor 3/4 had served in Congress

4. Three very important delegates 1. George Washington: was the most _respected and honored man in America did not want to become involved in talks about the need to strengthen national gov. went to the convention because _he did not want people to think that he had lost his faith in a republican form of government 2. James Madison: often called the “Father of the Constitution” brought to the convention a plan for a stronger national government—called the Virginia Plan our knowledge of the convention is based on Madison’s notes

5. Ben Franklin: 81years old and in poor health one of the most respected men in America his primary role at the convention was encouraging the delegates to cooperate with each other when they disagreed he supported important compromises needed to solve disagreements btwn. delegates

6. III. Americans who were not at the convention List those who did not attend and why 1. Thomas Jefferson was in France (ambassador) 2. Thomas Paine was in France 3. John Adams was in England (ambassador) 4. Patrick Henry against formation of a constitution to create a strong national government

7. Who in the American population were not represented? 1. no women 2. no free black men 3. no slaves 4. no poor farmers 5. Rhode Island legislature refused to attend— hostile to any idea of a new constitution

8. IV. The convention begins 1. The framers decided the problems with the Articles of Confederation were too serious to try to correct them so they decided to write a new constitution. 2. The record of what was said was kept a secret for 30 yrs. a. they wanted to feel free to express their opinions & they didn’t want people outside the convention to try to influence what they were doing. b. they wanted to constitution to be accepted so they didn’t want people to know about the arguments that went on during its creation. 3. Each state had one vote so that small states would cooperate—they would not feel that they were less powerful than states with larger populations.

9. The Framers basic beliefs about government: the government should have limited powers (based on a constitution) the purpose of the government was to protect basic rights & promote general welfare of its citizens. a strong national government was needed to make sure the first two beliefs happened a Republican form of government of elected representatives was necessary to make sure the government served the common welfare to prevent the government from abusing its power the Framers included the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The Constitution was written in less than 4 months.