THE CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION
DO NOW
• Think of a time that you had to compromise with
someone and come to some sort of agreement.
What did you have to give up, and what did the
other person have to give up in order for you to
meet in the middle?
THE CONVENTION BEGINS
• The Constitutional Convention was set up to revise the
Articles of Confederation.
• However, a brand new Constitution would come out of
the Convention.
• Meeting in May 1787 was 55 delegates from the
colonies including Ben Franklin (81), James Madison,
Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, who was
elected President of the Convention.
• The Convention took place in
secrecy because the delegates
wanted to speak their minds freely,
and did not want outside pressures.
DIVIDED
The Virginia Plan
• Two delegates from Virginia
proposed the Virginia Plan.
In this plan, there would be
two houses within the
legislative branch.
• Seats in both houses would
be awarded based on
population.
• Larger states would have
more representation than
smaller ones
• Proponents of this plan felt
that it was only fair for a
state with more people to
have more representation
The New Jersey Plan
• Small states objected
strongly to the Virginia Plan
because they feared that
large states could easily
outvote them in Congress.
• After two weeks of debate,
William Paterson of NJ
proposed a plan in which
each state would be given
one vote in the legislature,
regardless of population
THE GREAT COMPROMISE
• With tempers flaring over the issue of representation, the
Convention was close to falling apart without reaching
an agreement
• Roger Sherman of Connecticut worked out a
compromise which he hoped would satisfy both small
states and large states.
• Sherman’s Plan called for a two house legislature.
• The House of Representatives would be based on
population.
• The Senate would consist of two senators from each
state, regardless of the population
• The delegates narrowly approved Sherman’s Plan as
each side had to compromise to preserve the nation
THREE- FIFTHS COMPROMISE
• A disagreement emerged between the Northern states and
the Southern states.
• Should slaves be counted in a state’s population, considering
that they were treated like property and couldn’t vote?
• The southern states wanted them to count because a higher
population total would mean more representatives sent to
Congress.
• The Northern states said that they should not count because
they didn’t have the right to vote.
• An agreement was made in which three fifths of the slaves in
any state would count toward the state’s population.
• For instance if a state had 5,000 slaves, 3,000 would be
counted for the state’s Population
• This became known as the Three-Fifths Compromise
MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE
CONSTITUTION…
• The delegates also had to decide the following:
• How many years should the President serve?
• How should the Courts be organized?
• Would members of the Congress be paid?
• Finally, by September 17,1787, the Constitution was
ready. Now it had to be ratified by 9 of the 13 states.
• Debates took place in each state.
• Those who supported the new Constitution were called
Federalists.
• Those who opposed the new Constitution were called
Antifederalists
FEDERALISTS VS. ANTI-FEDERALISTS
Federalists
Anti-Federalists
• Supported a Strong Central
Government
• The Articles of
Confederation proved that
a stronger Central Gov.
was needed.
• The Constitution would
allow the federal
government to function
effectively
• The Constitution still
protected rights of
individual states
• Believed that the Constitution
gave too much power to the
National government and left
the states to be too weak
• Thought that the Constitution
gave the President too much
power and feared that the
President would become like a
King.
• They wanted a Bill of Rights to
be added to the Constitution
and refused to sign it if the Bill
of Rights was not added.
THE CONSTITUTION IS PASSED!
• Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution is
December 1787.
• In June 1788, the 9th State to ratify was New Hampshire,
and the Constitution was in effect.
• Eventually all states would ratify.
• The Bill of Rights would be added to the Constitution,
giving all Americans
basic rights, not to be
taken away by the
government.
DEFEND YOUR POSITION…
• Pretend you are a citizen in 1789. Would
you argue for or against the Constitution?
How would you defend your position?