May 1787
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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55 delegates
Lawyers, physicians, generals, governors, planters, and a college president
Well educated
All states represented,except Rhode Island

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Presided over meeting
Gave the meeting greater significance
Would later become the first president of the United States

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Oldest delegate (80 years old)
Like Washington, was well respected and added a positive presence to the meetings

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Powerful speaker and writer
Wrote the Preamble
Wrote final draft of
Constitution
Tried to get
Constitutional
Convention to ban slavery

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Father of the
Constitution
His notes became the best record of what happened at the convention.
Supporter of strong central government

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Governor of Virginia
Proposed creating strong national government instead of rewriting Articles
Introduced Virginia
Plan to convention

 Presented the New
Jersey plan, a plan that revised the
Articles of
Confederation

 Proposed a compromise to the
New Jersey and
Virginia plan which came to be known as
The Great
Compromise

 English Parliamentary Traditions
 The Magna Carta (1215)
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 The English Bill of Rights (1689)
Enlightenment Thinkers
 John Locke
▪ Natural Rights
 Baron de Montesquieu
▪ Separation of Powers

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Convention began by choosing George
Washington to preside over meetings.
Each state would have one vote on all questions.
The delegates decided to keep all the sessions secret. This made it possible for the delegates to talk freely.

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Proposed by Edmund Randolph
Two-house (bicameral) legislature
Members of the lower house elected by the people
Members of the upper house elected by the lower house
Number of representatives would be proportional to the population of each state

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Proposed by William Paterson
Kept Confederation’s One-House legislature
Gave Congress the power to tax and regulate trade
Congress would elect a weak executive branch consisting of more than one person

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Suggested by Roger Sherman
Two-House legislature
Lower House (House of Representatives)
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 Membership would be proportional to population of the state
Upper House (Senate)
 Each state would have two members

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Northern states wanted to ban slavery throughout the nation
Southern states considered slavery essential to their economies
It was agreed that Congress would not interfere with the slave trade until 1808

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Southern states wanted slaves to be counted as population for the purpose of representation in the
House of Representatives
Northerners wanted slaves to be counted as property and taxed
Compromise—slaves would be counted as 3/5 of a free person for the purpose of taxation AND representation

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9 out of 13 states had to ratify (approve) the
Constitution
Federalists-supporters of the Constitution
 James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay defended the Constitution in The Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalists-opposed ratification
 Lacked a bill of rights to protect individual freedoms

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June 21, 1788—New
Hampshire (the 9 th state) ratified the Constitution
June 25, 1788—Virginia ratified the Constitution
June 26, 1788—New York ratified the Constitution
November 1789—
Constitution ratified by
North Carolina
May 1790—Constitution ratified by Rhode Island