American Revolution/Chapter 10: Constitutional Convention

The Articles of Confederation had many weaknesses, and couldn't be fixed. So we had to make a whole new constitution, this is why we have the Constitutional Convention.

55 delegates from all of the 13 colonies (except Rhode Island, they were hostile toward any type of new government) met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss changes to the Article of Confederations. At thee start of the convention, the delegates elected George Washington as the leader of the Convention. Under Washington and the Delegate's decision, the new plan was to create a new constitution.

Debates

Debate 1: How much power should the national government have?

Virginia Plan (Edmund Randolph and James Madison)

Edmund Randolph and James Madison, father of the constitution, proposed the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan called for a strong national government with three branches: The Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Legislator Branch. The Legislator Branch would be bicameral, with 2 houses. It stated that representation for both houses, would be based on population. Obviously, the smaller states were outraged by this proposal. It was obvious that the larger states would have more representation than the smaller states.

New Jersey Plan (William Paterson)

In reaction towards the Virginia Plan, William Paterson proposed the New Jersey plan. The New Jersey plan called for 3 branches. The only difference is that the New Jersey plan proposed a unicameral house (1 house). He also stated that no matter how populated the state is, they can have only one vote. That way, it can be equal.

The Great Compromise [Connecticut Plan] (Roger Sherman)

Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, made the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise has two bicameral houses, in the lower house (House of Representatives), the number of representatives would be based on population. While the upper house, the Senate, each state has two senators only, no matter how populated the state is. After a month of discussing, the Great Compromise was accepted by the delegates.

Debate 2: How will slaves count?

The next debate was whether slaves count. The issue was whether slaves should be counted as a population. If slaves were counted as a population, then this would affect the number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Obviously, the South supported this, but the North opposed. There was a big argument over whether slaves should be counted as population between the North and the South. The South stated they wanted slaves to be counted as population, but they were not allowed to vote. The North stated that if your slaves can't vote, they can't be counted as part of the population.

3/5 Compromise

The three fifth compromise was accepted by all of the delegates. This compromise states that 3/5 of a slave population would be counted as population and would be taxed.

Debate 3: Slave trade

This was next in line for debates at the Convention. The North wanted to abolish slavery. The South wanted the slaves, since their economy and labor depended on slaves. The North and South agreed on that they are allowed to import slaves, until 1808.

Debate 4: Tariffs

The next topic of debate was over tariffs, taxes on imports and exports. The South didn't support this since they exported several goods to Great Britain, and they didn't want these taxes with their imports and exports since they could loose business and money. The other hand, the North supported this since they didn't want foreign competition on their industries.

So the final conclusion was that the government can tax imports, but not exports.

Debate 5: Presidency

The delegates argued over how long the President should serve in office. The final agreement was that a president may serve 4 terms only.

Wrapping Up, and getting it out to the public

After long... LONG 3 months of summer behind the doors in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, they were ready to show this new constitution to the public. Is this constitution going to be accepted? Denied? Will this constitution go through changes?