The Constitutional Convention was called to address issues with the weak central government under the Articles of Confederation. Delegates debated plans for the new government, including the Virginia Plan which proposed a two-house legislature based on population and the New Jersey Plan which proposed one house with equal state representation. The Great Compromise blended these ideas by creating a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the House and two senators per state in the Senate. Additionally, the Three-Fifths Compromise was adopted to determine representation and taxation based on state populations, including counting slaves as three-fifths of a person. The convention also established the executive and judicial branches and a process for electing the president through the Electoral College

1. The Constitutional
Convention
Essential Question
How did leaders reshape the government with at the
Constitutional Convention?

2. Bell Ringer
• Why were so
many Americans
concerned about
the government
under the
Articles of
Confederation?

3. The Constitutional
Convention
• “Convention”- a meeting
• Some leaders were
satisfied with the
independent state
governments
• Others wanted a stronger
central government
• The meeting was to settle
this issue

4. Checkpoint
• What was the major issue at the Constitutional
Convention?

5. Washington at the
Convention
• Initially didn’t want to be
there
• Worried that the new
nation would not survive
under the A.O.C.
• Unanimously voted the
presiding officer
• Strong supporter of the
new constitution

6. James Madison
• Wrote the first drafts of the
new Constitution
• Authored the basic plans of
government outlined in the
new document
• He was a federalist, he
believed in a STRONG
central government
• Even though he was a
federalist, he did NOT
believe the government
should have unlimited
power

7. Checkpoint
• Who is considered the “father of the Constitution?
• Washington and Madison were both “federalists.”
What does this mean?

8. The Virginia Plan vs. The
New Jersey Plan
• The Virginia Plan
(Edmund Randolph)
• Called for a two-house
legislature with
proportional representation
(based on population)
• The New Jersey Plan
(William Paterson)
• Called for a one-house
legislature with each state
having a single vote
Both Plans:
- Were federal systems with three branches
- Gave the government more power than it had under the Articles of
Confederation

9. Checkpoint
• Which plan involved creating a two-house
(bicameral) legislature based on the population of
the state?
• Which plan involved creating a one house
legislature with every state having a single vote?

10. The Great Compromise
• Idea of Roger Sherman
• Different representation in
a bicameral (2-house)
Congress
• Senate would have two
members per state (good
for small states)
• House of Representatives
would have members
based on population (good
for large states)

11. Checkpoint
• Under the Great Compromise, how many
representatives would each state have in the
Senate?
• Under the Great Compromise, representation in
the House of Representatives is based on what?

12. Slavery
• The American Revolution
caused people to start
questioning the American
idea of freedom as it
relates to slavery
• States began to outlaw
slavery or tax the
importation of slaves
• First antislavery society
formed in Pennsylvania
(Quakers)

13. Manumission Law in Virginia
• The number of free
African-Americans
increased after this law
was passed
• It encouraged the freeing
of slaves (“manumission”)

14. Why did the South cling to
slavery?
• They believed that their
economy and way of life
would crumble without it
• The Southern way of life is
controlled, predominantly,
by agriculture (The
Plantation System)

15. Questioning the Slave Trade
• Slave trade was already
banned in the North
• Southern states believed it
was essential to their
economy
• Northerners agreed to not
interfere until 1808

16. Three-Fifths Compromise
• Delegates from the North
and South debated how to
count the slave population
• If they were counted as one
person, the Southern states
would have more
representatives in Congress
• Southern states would also
be taxed more because
taxation was based on
population
• The compromise was made
five slaves would be
counted as three people

17. Powers of the President
• The delegates agreed that
an executive was needed
• The debated issues were:
• How powerful should the
president be?
• How should he be elected?

18. Powers of the President
• How powerful should he
be?
• Delegates agreed that the
president would have veto
power and that each house
of Congress could override
his veto with a 2/3 majority

19. How to elect a president?
• Some delegates believed
that he should simply be
elected by popular vote
• Others disagreed because
they did not trust the
decision making skills of the
“common man”
• The final decision was that
the president would be
chosen by a number of
“electors” in his state
• This would become known
as the Electoral College

20. Electoral College

21. Electoral Map- 2012

22. Debating a Bill of Rights
• Delegates worried that
without a bill of rights, the
government might abuse its
power
• George Mason proposed
that a bill of rights be added
to the new constitution
• Most delegates believed
that the new carefully
defined government
protected rights enough
without a bill of rights,
therefore it was defeated.

23. Approving the Constitution
• Approved on September
17, 1787
• Some delegates refused to
sign due to the lack of a
bill of rights
• The approved draft went to
the states for approval
• Only 9 of the 13 states
would have to approve the
new constitution