Constitutional Convention
Met in Philadelphia in the summer of
1787 to revise the Articles of
Confederation
 -55 Delegates (planters, lawyers,
generals)
 -Also known as the Philadelphia
Convention

James Madison

He was known as the Father of the
Constitution because he wrote the basic
plan
George Washington
- Unanimously chosen to preside over
the meetings
 -President of the Constitutional
Convention

Virginia Plan (Large States)
-Mostly written by
James Madison
 -called for 2 house
legislature, a chief
executive chosen by
the legislature and a
court system
 -representatives
would be proportional
to population

New Jersey Plan (Small States)
-kept the Confederation’s
one-house legislature with
one vote for each state
 -Congress could set taxes
and regulate trade –
Powers the AOC did not
have before
 -Congress would elect a
weak executive branch
consisting Of more than
one person

The Great Compromise

- Roger Sherman suggested a compromise
to resolve the Disagreements
Three-Fifth Compromise

- Count each enslaved person as 3/5 of
a free person for both taxation and
representation
Slave Trade

- The slave trade was banned within the
North’s borders and wanted to ban it
throughout the nation
Bill of Rights

George Mason
proposed adding
a bill of rights to
protect individual
liberties, but it
was defeated and
not added until
later
September 17, 1787

Constitution was signed (without a Bill of
Rights)
Liberty Kids: We the People Part
One