The Constitutional Convention
A. Articles of Confederation
Written in 1776. Started being used in 1781. States
kept the power and the central gov. only had a few
powers.
Big Problems
*States more powerful than central gov.
*Central gov. couldn’t tax.
*Central gov. couldn’t regulate trade.
*No president or national courts.
*All 13 to amend 9/13 for major change
*States didn’t do as asked.
B. Shays Rebellion
• Massachusetts needed to pay back war debts.
• To raise money they raised taxes and wanted to be
paid in gold or silver.
• Farmers protested and stopped the farm sales.
• Daniel Shays led a group to the courthouse in
Springfield to stop farm sales.
• A small battle took place and Shay’s small army left.
• This was proof that they new government wasn’t
working.
C. Constitutional Convention
1. Key Info
– May 1787
– Philadelphia, PA
– 55 delegates from 12 states
D. Divisions at the Convention
1. Amend or Revise
– Some wanted to just amend the articles
– Others wanted to change the structure of
government altogether
– The convention was called to just fix the articles
not to throw it out
– The delegates decided to overstep their authority
2. Virginia Plan
– Virginia brought a plan to the convention
– Led by James Madison
– Plan called for:
•
•
•
Two chamber legislature with representation based
on population
States with larger population (like Virginia) would
have more power
Would add an executive and judicial branch to the
national government
I GOT THE
POWAH!
I don’t.
3. New Jersey Plan
– Favored by small states
– One chamber legislature
– Each state would get an
equal vote in the
legislative branch
– Also created executive and
judicial branches
– Plan aimed at keeping
state governments more
powerful than the national
government
Put that in your
juice box and suck
it Virginia!
E. Compromises
1. The Great Compromise
– Called for a two chamber legislature
– Senate: Each state gets the same number of
representatives (2)
– House of Representatives: number of
representatives from a state is based on
population
– Approved July 16, 1787
2. Three-Fifths Compromise
– Who counts in population?
– Slave states wanted their slaves to be counted
towards representation
– States with small slave populations did not want
slaves to be counted
– If counted slave states would have more power in
congress
– Convention decides to count each slave as 3/5 of a
person for population
– This did not allow enslaved African Americans to
vote.
F. Passing the Constitution
1. Convention
– Constitution approves the final draft of the
constitution on Sept 17, 1787
2. Ratification
– 9 out of 13 states had to ratify, or approve, the
constitution
– Ratification votes had to be done through special
conventions called in each state
– Constitution sent to states on September 28, 1787
for approval
– In June of 1788 New Hampshire became the 9th state
to ratify it
– May 1790, Rhode Island becomes the final state to
ratify the constitution.
New Gov. 3 Branches, each branch can
control the other (checks & balances).
One president picked by electoral
college. National court system.
Ratify
Const. had to be approved by 9 of the 13
states.
2 groups Federalists were For the Constitution
and the Antifederalists were Against it.
Federalists James Madison, Alexander Hamilton,
Washington and Franklin. A series of
editorials were written supporting the
Const. These were called the
Federalist Papers.
Antifeds
Didn’t want a strong central gov.
States rights were more important.
Sam Adams & Patrick Henry.
Bill of
Rights
Added even before that states had
ratified the Const. Some states (N.Y. &
Vir.) wouldn’t ratify without the B of R
Ratified
Delaware was the first and Rhode
Island was the last of the orig. 13