Drafting the Constitution
 Shay’s Rebellion
 Constitutional Convention
 Fair Representation
 The Great Compromise
 Three-Fifths Compromise
 Federalism
 Separation of Powers
 Electoral Collage
 Article V
Shay’s Rebellion
 Daniel Shay
 Veteran of Bunker Hill
 Was supposed to go to prison for unpaid
taxes
 Rebelled and led an army to close the courts
so he could avoid going to prison
 No strong central government to control
rebellions like these
Constitutional Convention
 Sept. 1786
 James Madison & Alexander Hamilton

Called a meeting of the states to discuss the
federal government

5 states showed up
 Called a new convention in Philadelphia in
May 1787
 All states except R.I. showed up
Const. Convention cont.
 Delegates to the convention realized that the
Articles of Confederation weren’t enough
 Couldn’t / shouldn’t fix the Articles
 Needed a stronger central government
Fair Representation
 Population


Small states wanted one legislative house
more representative elected by the people
Larger states wanted a legislative house of
representatives and the members of that
house would elect members to an upper
house
The Great Compromise
 Roger Sherman
 Two house congress

Lower house represents the people

Elected directly by the people
 Based on population

Upper house would be elected by state
legislatures

Each state had two
 Founding fathers really didn’t trust the people

Too uneducated
Three-Fifths Compromise
 Slave states would have a larger population
because of slaves and thus more
representatives in Congress
Three-Fifths Compromise cont.
 If slaves were property
they should not be
counted at all
 If slaves were people
they should be counted
as whole persons
(If they were people,
then how was it moral to
enslave people?)
Three-Fifths Compromise cont.
 The compromise allowed that 3/5 of the
states’ slaves may be counted for rep.
purposes

Side stepped the issue of slavery
 Made a condition in the Const. that said
Congress could not deal with the slave trade
for 20 years
Federalism
 Divided power between the state and national
government
Federalism cont.
Delegated (Enumerated)
Powers
 Powers granted to the
national gov’t




Foreign affairs
Coining $
National Defense
Regulating trade
between the states
Reserved Powers
 Powers kept by the
states



Supervising Education
Marriage Laws
Regulating trade within
the state
Separation of Powers
 Three branches of gov’t created



Legislative – Make the laws
Executive – Carry out the laws
Judicial - Interpret the laws
 Created a system of checks and balances so
that one branch could not dominate the other
branches
Electoral College
 Method of electing the President
 Upper class did not trust the lower class
 Each state would choose a number of
electors equal to their number of reps. &
senators
Article V
 Allowed for amending the Const.
 Const. was not perfect, but rather “perfectible”
 Congress still had to ratify
 George Washington did not expect the Const.
to last 20 years