The Constitutional ConventionA constitution is a plan for government. Before we had the constitution, our first government was called the Articles of Confederation. Let’s look at the strengths of the articles:-United the 13 colonies together-Won the Revolutionary War-Negotiated peace with Great Britain which ended that war-Established the Northwest Ordinance which established the methods for admitting new states to the union.
Now let’s look at the weaknesses of the articles. The government could not enforce any laws, the government could not resolve disputes between states, could not resolve negotiate treaties, could not levy taxes and as a result of that could not pay its debts, could not maintain order. Our founding fathers feared that rebellion, such as Shay’s, were a threat to the new republic.
The Constitutional Convention. This is called in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. From 12 states, 55 delegates attended. They attended in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. The person who resided over the Constitutional Convention was George Washington.
James Madison is considered the Father of the Constitution. He wrote a series of papers called the Federalist Papers which were written in support of this constitution. He also wrote the Bill of Rights which are the first 10 amendments of the constitution.
There were two plans for the Constitution Convention. The first was the Virginia Plan and the second was the New Jersey Plan.
The Virginia Plan was brought by James Madison. He came and asked for bicameral legislature with representation based on population which favored the large state. He wanted a single executive chosen for only one term, a supreme court and lower courts with judges appointed for life.
The New Jersey Plan was established to counteract the Virginia Plan. This was a plan that favored small states. You have a unicameral legislature in which each state has only one vote. It also asked for a plural executive chosen by congress for only one term and a supreme court only; judges were appointed for life.
The Connecticut Compromise. The Legislative branch will be established having a bicameral Congress. It will be composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Within the Senate, each state has two votes. In the House of Representatives, representation will be based on population and they will control all revenue bills.
The Connecticut Compromise also established a strong Executive branch. It had a President and a vice President. They were elected for 4 years and there were no term limits until the 22nd amendment.
The Judicial branch has a Supreme Court only. Congress was given the power to create lower courts when needed. Judges were appointed by the President for life.
There were two other compromises there. One was the Three-fifths compromise saying that three out of every five slaves would be counted for representation and taxation. Also the Commerce compromise in which interstate commerce would be controlled by the national government and tariffs on imported goods, but not exports.
The new constitution corrected many of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Now you have an Executive who could enforce the laws, you have a Supreme Court that could resolve disputes between the states, and you have an Executive who could negotiate treaties, and a Legislative branch who could levy taxes. Congress could now borrow money and pay down debts and the Executive would maintain order.
The ratification of the Constitution required 9 of the 13 states to approve it. Following the Constitutional convention, the federalists and the anti-federalist both came out writing with a series of papers for and against this new constitution. A Bill of Rights was added to appease the Anti-Federalists.
