Read the “Guide to Readiug” on p. 199. As you read the section, study the
pictures, maps, and graphics for more information.
1.
2.
Which state did not attend the Constitutional Convention in 1787?
Rhode Island
Economic Depression, pp. 199-201 -- Read to find out what post-war problems faced (and divided) the new nation.
3.
Why was the 1787 Convention called?
People began to fear that the Articles of Confederation government could not handle the nation’s problems
4.
What problems did Americans face in the depression after the revolution?
 Rice exports dropped due to wartime damage to plantations
 British closed West Indies markets to US trade
 Currency shortage
 High prices
5.
What particular problem did many farmers face? What did they want the government to do to solve their problems? Was that a good idea? Why or why not?
 Farmers couldn’t pay debts, so land was seized to be sold and debtors arrested
 Issue paper money, make new policies to help debtors

6.
Who was Daniel Shays? Describe Shays’s Rebellion.
Former captain in Continental Army; angry farmers forced western Massachusetts courts to close so judges couldn’t foreclose on land; marched toward Springfield, Mass, to seize arsenal
7.
Why did Shays’ Rebellion worry Washington and many other Americans?
Was stopped by a state militia; federal government had taken no action; worried that government couldn’t control unrest, prevent violence; some worried that the average person would become part of a mob if given political power
8.
Between 1776 and 1786, all states except
South Carolina
and
Georgia had outlawed or heavily taxed the importation of slaves. What do you think they hoped to accomplish with such an import tax on slaves?
Make it difficult or impossible for people to bring in more slaves
True or
False
– Slavery was not practiced in the Northern states because it was illegal.
9.
Quakers (in Pennsylvania)
formed the first American anti-slavery society. What states soon abolished slavery?
PA, CT, RI, NY, NJ
10.
List specific examples that prove this statement to be true: “Despite laws in several states abolishing slavery, free African Americans in those states still faced discrimination.”
Barred from public places, few had the right to vote, separate schools, churches, cemeteries
11.
Why did the South cling to the institution of slavery?
Plantation system depended on it (economy)

12.
Why did Virginia’s free African American population grow?
13.
Who founded the Free African Society, an early self-help organization that worked in the African American community?
Philadelphia preachers Richard Allen and Absolom Jones
A Call for Change, pp. 201 – Read this carefully to identify strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
14.
The U.S. was “a union of 13 states, but it had not yet created a nation” (p. 201). For what reasons did some Americans demand a reform of the Article s of Confederation?
They saw a strong national government as a solution to the
U.S.’s problems
15.
Why did James Madison and Alexander Hamilton call for a convention? To discuss trade issues and Articles of Confederation
16.
What changed Washington’s mind about the need to meet to discuss the Articles of
Confederation?
Shays’ Rebellion
A Call for Change, pp. 201 – Read this carefully to identify key delegates at the Convention and the two major plans of government that were
proposed.
17.
When and where did the Constitutional Convention meet?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – May 1787
18.
Describe the delegates. Who was not represented?
55 – planters, merchants, lawyers, physicians, generals, governors, a college president; 3 under 30, Ben Franklin – over
80; well-educated (26 had college degrees in a time when only
1/1000 white men went to college)
No women, Native Americans, African Americans
19.
Why were sessions kept secret, behind closed doors?

So delegates could speak freely
20.
Edmund Randolph
proposed the Virginia Plan . Whose work and ideas was it based upon?
James Madison
List the provisions of the Virginia Plan, in your own words.
Strong national (central) government
 2-house (bicameral) legislature: i.
lower house chosen by people, ii.
upper house chosen by lower house; iii.
representation would be proportional to a state’s population
 a single chief executive (president), chosen by the legislature
 a national court system
21.
Who objected to the Virginia Plan? Why?
Small states’ delegates – DE, NJ, etc.; feared loss of power to larger states
22.
William Paterson
proposed the New Jersey Plan . How did it keep states equal in Congress?
One-house legislature with equal representation for states – one vote per state
List the parts of the New Jersey Plan.
 One house legislature – one vote per state
 Congress could levy taxes and regulate trade
 Weak executive branch with a plural executive

Compromise Wins Out, pp. 203-5 – Read to find out how new states would be added to the U. S.
23.
Roger Sherman (CT)
proposed the Great Compromise, also known as the
Connecticut Compromise. What did it say? How did it satisfy both large and small states on the question of representation?
Two-house legislature,
 one house w/ representation based on population (for large states) and
 one w/ equal representation (two members per state)
(for small states)
24.
James Wilson proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise. What problem did it attempt to resolve?
Would slaves be counted in census so Southern states could gain seats (representatives) in the House of Representatives?
Would slaves, as property, be counted for taxes?
3 out of 5 slaves would be counted for both representation and taxation purposes
25.
How many senators would each state get?
2
26.
How did the Convention compromise on the issue of slavery?
Agreed Congress could not interfere in the slave trade until
1808. (Southerners believed they would have less reason to rely on slavery by then, because tobacco was wearing out their
soil.)
(The same compromise allowed a tax on imports – to encourage
Northern industry to grow by taxing goods from other countries and making foreign goods more expensive so people would buy Northern goods, and to raise money to pay the debt

– and banned any tax on exports – to keep Southerners from losing overseas markets for their tobacco, rice, and indigo.)
27.
George Mason (VA)
proposed a bill of rights. What is a bill of rights? Why did some say it was needed? Why wasn’t one originally included in the Constitution?
A document protecting individual rights of citizens
The new government might abuse its power without it
Most believed the new Constitution with its carefully defined list of government powers was adequate to protect individual rights.
28.
When and where was the Constitution signed?
September 17, 1787 – Philadelphia State House
29.
Why did 2 delegates refuse to sign it?
No bill of rights
30.
How many states needed to ratify the Constitution before it was enacted?
9