THE ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION, THE CRISIS OF
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT, AND
THE CALLING OF THE
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
Contact Information
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Alan Gibson, CSU, Chico, 400 W. 1st St., Chico, CA
95929-0455
530-898-4952
Agibson@csuchico.edu
Thesis of the First Two Presentations
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Both the terms of the settlement of British North America and
Americans’ experiences during the American Revolution
understandably led them to favor highly decentralized and
democratic (for that time) political systems following the
Revolution. Reacting against an effort to impose centralization
by a monarchical power, the Americans formed a
decentralized, republican polity or a truly federal union.
Experience with this “Confederation System” under the Articles
of Confederation, however, proved that it led to its own sets of
problems, including the impotence of the national government,
problems within the states, and even the possibility of disunion
and war between the states. The Framers of the Constitution,
then, created a different kind of federal union to respond to
these problems.
Colonial and
Revolutionary Origins of
the Confederation
System
Settlement of North America
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The American colonies were settled without a great
deal of supervision by the British government or the
chartered trading companies that created them.
Neither the British government nor these companies
had the resources to finance or control the process of
colonization in North America. The reach of the
Atlantic was too great. In theory, American colonists
were beholden to the King and the British crown
exercised absolute authority over them. In practice,
the British empire was a highly decentralized federal
union from the beginning with the colonies as selfgoverning entities.
Origins of the American Revolution
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After 1763, Parliament and the crown enacted a
series of mercantilist measures and sought to
rationalize the administration of the colonies (to
provide uniform rules for their conduct. They also
sought to defend the colonies (by placing British
regulars on the North American continent). Most
infamously, the crown sought to raise revenue for this
defense of the colonies. Eventually, the crown asserted
authority independent of colonial consent.
Colonial Expectations and Revolt
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The colonists had engaged in self-rule for at least a
century and believed themselves to be Englishmen
equal to anyone in the mother country. Thus, British
policies from 1763 to 1776 challenged their
expectations of local control, violated their
understanding of the rights of Englishmen, and
insulted their understanding of their place within the
British empire colonists. Denying the need for colonial
representation led the colonists to feel like they were
little better than the Native Americans that they
sought to “pacify” or the Africans that they had
enslaved.
Federal Union with Britain
Few of the men who would eventually become leading
revolutionaries initially wanted to separate with the mother
country. The belief that revolution and separation were
necessary was a long and tortured path. As the imperial crisis
worsened, the men who would become revolutionaries (Adams,
Jefferson, James Wilson) wanted a federal union with the
mother country. Eventually, they came to want to be a part of
a federal union in which they recognized a common King with
British citizens in Britain, but governed themselves in their local
colonial assemblies. They wanted, in other words, for local
assemblies to set their own trade and tax policies and thus to
be sovereign in North America, but colonists also still wanted to
be a part of the British Empire under the King.
Federal Union Among the American States
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Such a relationship was of course unacceptable to
the Crown and Parliament. The more the Crown
tightened its grip, the more British colonists in North
America came to believe that revolution and
separation were the only possible alternatives.
Hence, they declared independence. But most
important, what did they do upon independence?
They formed a federal union among themselves
similar to the one that they had sought with the
mother country. The states were joined in loosejointed confederation under the Articles of
Confederation.
The Articles of
Confederation
The Articles as a “Firm League of Friendship”
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A Confederation on the ancient model of confederations.
Delegates to the Continental and Confederation Congresses were
ambassadors. They were the states’ men, not statesmen.
Equality between the states. Each state cast one vote in Congress.
Extraordinary majorities were required to pass legislation on treaties, wars,
and economic matters.
The Articles conferred limited powers for limited purposes. Explicit powers
include the power to coin and borrow money, requisition the states for men
and money, wage war, conduct diplomacy, negotiate treaties, establish
uniform standards of weights and measures, regulate Indian affairs, decide
disputes between the states, and admit new states into the nation.
Article II: “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence,
and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation
expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.”
What was Accomplished Under the
Articles of Confederation Government
1. Coordination of the War Effort and Effective
Negotiation of the Treaty of Paris
2. Peace Among the States was Maintained
3. Emancipation of slaves and abolishment of slavery in
Northern States.
4. Development of participatory democracy within the
states
5. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was passed.
Orderly settlement of the West was begun.
Problems With the Articles
“The Poor Federal
government is sick almost
unto death.”
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Henry Knox, quoted in Cathy D. Matson, and Peter S. Onuf, A Union of Interests: Political and Economic Thought in American
America (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990), 54.
Powers Not Conferred by
the Articles
Powers Not Conferred by the Articles of
Confederation
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The Articles provided no power to compel taxation.
Instead, quotas of payment were requested from the
states. Under the Articles, requisitions were in theory
mandatory. Congress set forth a dollar value for each
state. States then raised the money through whatever
taxation system that they had in place. There was,
however, no system to make the states comply. Many
delegates to Congress argued that coercion was an
implicit power of the articles, but coercion was
impossible against the largest states and impractical
and destructive against any of them.
Powers Not Conferred by the Articles of
Confederation
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The absence of a means of making the states comply
with orders for requisitions created a free-rider
problems. The “goods” or benefits delivered by the
national government were available to states whether
they complied with requests for requisitions or not.
Powers Not Conferred by the Articles of
Confederation
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The Articles conferred no power on the government
to establish uniform commercial regulations.
No powers under the Articles were exercised
directly upon individuals.
Was a government really created by the Articles of
Confederation?
“Short Leash” Republicanism and the
Articles of Confederation
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The government created by the Articles had only one branch
(Congress) and thus no independent judiciary, executive, or
scheme of separation of powers. The Articles stipulated that
each state could have between 2 and 7 delegates. Delegates
were appointed annually in “such a manner as the legislatures
of each State shall direct.” Delegates could be recalled at any
time by the state legislatures and were subject to rotation in
office (no delegate could serve for more than three years in
any term of six years). The constituency of the delegates was
their respective state legislatures, not the people. The state
legislatures paid the salaries and expenses of the delegates.
“Short Leash” Republicanism and the
Articles (continued)
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A President was chosen by Congress to serve as a
presiding officer over the Committee of the States
(a committee that was formed to do the business of
Congress when it was not in full session). The
President was also subject to rotation as each was
eligible to serve only one year in every three.
“Short Leash” Republicanism and the
Articles (continued)
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Article IX courts were created to consider land claims. No congressional
delegate could serve on these bodies and the judges were chosen in a
complex process to ensure their impartiality.
The republican character of the Articles was insured by the prohibitions in
Article VI against the granting of titles of nobility by the states or the
national government or their acceptance by any person who held office
under the United States.
Freedom of speech and debate were guaranteed in Congress, members
could not be questioned outside of Congress for speeches made inside it,
and were protected coming and going to Congress. A journal of the
proceedings was published and the votes of each delegate would be
recorded on the request of any delegate. The Articles thus attempted to
meet the criteria that we call transparency and publicity.
The Second Tier in the Confederation
System: The First State Constitutions, 1776 1787
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“Short Leash” Republicanism is even more evident in the state
constitutions.
Annual Elections of the Lower House (12 of 14 state
constitutions adopted between 1776 and 1787) and
Governors (10 of 14 state constitutions)
Short Terms for Members of the Upper House (no state had a
longer term than 5 years and four states had annual elections).
“Good Behavior” for Judges
Directly elected branches. The lower House was directly elected
in each state, the upper House in Eight States, and Governors
were elected by the legislature in a majority of states. Judges
were appointed by the legislature or jointly between the
legislature and the Governor.
The Second Tier in the Confederation
System (continued)
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Additional institutional features and plebiscitary
devices in the states included: rotation in office,
written guarantees for the right of the people to
instruct their representatives into their state
Declarations of Rights, schemes of separation of
powers designed to control the Executive.
Numerous representatives elected from small electoral
districts and, perhaps most importantly, were confined
within a small geographic compass compared to the
vast extended republic governed by the national
government created in 1787.
The Crisis of
Republican
Government
Powers Not Conferred by the Articles of
Confederation
The inability of the government under the Articles to secure
money to have a functioning budget meant that the United
States was really not able to pay for the debts that it incurred.
Instead, paper money was printed which became worthless.
The government gave this money in payment for supplies that
were impressed (stolen) from ordinary Americans. This created
great resentment. Loans were secured from other countries. But
would they be repaid after the Revolution was completed? In
1786, Congress attempted to float a loan for $500,000 but
attracted not a single subscriber. (Calvin Johnson, Righteous
Anger, 29)
Widespread Non-compliance
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States refused to comply with Congressional
Requisitions. From 1781 to 1786, Congress
requested 15 million dollars from the states but
received only 2.5 million. As Jack Rakove has
noted the Americans fought a Revolution based
in large part on the grievance of “No taxation
without representation,” but ended up with a
system of representation without taxation.
Widespread Non-compliance
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“On average states paid 53 percent of the quotas
payable in specie and 27 percent of the quotas
payable in indents.” [Indents were simply
certificates issued at the close of the American
Revolution for interest due on the public debt.]
Georgia paid nothing under the period under the
Articles. (Documentary History of the Ratification of
the Constitution, Volume 1, Note 6, p. 221)
“The Newburgh Conspiracy”
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The inability of the government to finance the
Revolution and pay the debts of the United States
had profound effects. In March, 1783, the
Continental Army threatened revolt. They had not
been paid for several months. They were tired,
poorly clothed, and hungry. Congress seemed
obtuse to their needs. They had been promised a
generous pension for their service in the war, but this
seemed unlikely now. Hamilton seems even to have
been behind the revolt.
“The Newburgh Conspiracy”
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Washington would have none of this. He addressed
his officers and assured them that he would do
everything in his power to get them the benefits that
they had been promised. But he would not led or
abide a revolt. His commitment was to the rule of
law. He was a military leader under civilian control.
“The Newburgh Conspiracy”
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Most famously, after reading a speech that he had
written, Washington pulled a letter from his pocket
from a Virginia delegate to the Confederation
Congress, Joseph Jones. Jones had written
Washington expressing sympathy for the cause of the
troops and pledged to work in Congress on their
behalf. Washington, however, initially had trouble
reading the letter and famously observed,
“Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown grey
in your service, and now I find myself going blind.
Washington’s officers dispensed in tears.
Governmental Organization and the “Vices
of the Political System of the United States”
The organization of government established under the
Articles of Confederation also led to numerous other
“vices of the political system of the United States” – to
borrow Madison’s phrase. Most importantly, the
absence of the power to regulate commerce and to
compel taxation led to commercial warfare between
the states and to inadequate revenues for the national
government.
Encroachments of the States on the Rights
of Each Other
States restricted access to each other’s ports and
passed laws favoring their vessels. They also
restricted commercial intercourse with each other. This
brought on retaliatory measures by other states.
“Commercial Warfare” between the states was
common.
Encroachments Upon and Violations of
Federal Authority
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States encroached on Federal Authority – States conduct their
own wars with Indian nations and negotiate their own treaties.
The most important of these were Georgia’s famous war with
the Creek Indians.
States violated treaties negotiated with the United States –
E.g. the Paris Peace Treaty of 1783. Many Framers feared
that this would lead to war with other nations.
A Crisis of Union
Many of the Framers worried that the corporate
aggressiveness of the states – both against federal
prerogatives and against each other - would lead to
the civil war and the creation of separate
confederacies. Would the union survive under the
Articles of Confederation?
Vulnerability of the United
States to foreign powers
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Britain and Spain still occupied lands on North
America. France, Britain, and Spain all still had
territorial ambitions in North America. The American
army following the Revolution was not wellorganized or prepared. Indeed, it could barely be
said to exist.
The National Debt and State Debts
By 1779, the United States had emitted at least
$226,200,000 in paper bills. The state
governments had emitted about 209,000,000. The
United States was some 435 million dollars in debt
after the Revolution. This was an extremely large
amount in the context of these times. How was this to
be paid?
Multiplicity, Mutability, and Injustices of the
laws of the states.
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Pressured by majorities within the states, state
legislatures passed paper money legislation, stay
laws, and other debtor relief legislation. Many of the
men who would later become Founders believed that
this was a fundamental violation of the rights of
contract and property. Such legislation, Madison
argued, brought into question the fundamental
principle of republican governments, that the majority
is the safest guardian of the public good and private
rights.
Multiplicity, Mutability, and Injustices of the
laws of the states (continued)
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“The mutability of the laws of the States is found to be a
serious evil. The injustice of them has been so frequent and so
flagrant as to alarm the most ste[a]dfast friends of
Republicanism. I am persuaded I do not err in saying that the
evils issuing from these sources contributed more to that
uneasiness which produced the Convention, and prepared the
public mind for a general reform, than those which accrued to
our national character and interest from the inadequacy of the
Confederation to its immediate objects.”
Madison to Jefferson, Oct. 24th, 1787
Other Problems with the Confederation
Government
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The Articles were never popularly ratified. They thus
lacked legitimacy.
The Articles proved impossible to amend. All 13
states had to approve amendments. Rhode Island
was unwilling to comply with amendments granting
the national government the power to levy an
impost or to regulate commerce.
Navigation Rights on the Mississippi
Many of the Southern men who would eventually fight for a
new constitution believed that navigation rights on the
Mississippi River had to be secured to insure the value and
settlement of western lands and he ability of American farmers
to make their agricultural products available for export. In
1784, Spain closed the Mississippi to American trade. Within
two years, John Jay – then Secretary of State under the
Confederation – presented to Congress a treaty that proposed
ceding to Spain navigation rights on the Mississippi for 25
years. New Englanders favored this treaty because it promised
to increase commerce between Spain and the fledgling United
States. This heightened sectional conflict.
Shays’ Rebellion
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Massachusetts imposed a 60 % tax increase to dissolve its
revolutionary war debts in three years. Daniel Shays, a
revolutionary war veteran, then led a revolt to prevent
foreclosures on the farms for several thousand (estimates range
from a few hundred to 15,000) “desperate debtors” in
Massachusetts. Shays’ rebels shut down the court system in
western Massachusetts and threatened a government arsenal
in Springfield, Massachusetts. Henry Knox, one of Washington’s
generals during the Revolutionary War, was employed by the
Confederation Congress to estimate the number of men in
rebellion and whether action should be taken. He probably
exaggerated the number of rebels and certainly exaggerated
their threat, but his reports were circulated among the nation’s
elite.
Shays’ Rebellion
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The rebellion was put down by a voluntary force raised by
Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin. Four rebels were
killed by the 4400 troops raised and under the command of
General Benjamin Lincoln. Daniel Shays escaped and lived to
be 84 in the state of New York.
Shays’ Rebellion
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Shays’ Rebellion was important for several reasons
Illustrated the Impotence of the National Government and the
problems within the States. The Confederation Congress could
not put down the rebellion quickly because it required
compliance by all the states to raise a national army.
Furthermore, the Congress had no money to pay any troops
who acted.
Shays’ illustrated foreign influence in America as many
Americans thought the British had instigated the rebellion.
Shays’ Rebellion
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Most important, Shays’ Rebellion created a sense of panic and
impending doom among the nation’s elite. Incidents or threats
of violence also took place in Vermont, New Hampshire,
Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. “There
are combustibles in every State, which a spark might set fire
to.” Washington to Henry Knox, 26 December 1786,
Fitzpatrick, XXIX, 122 The British had predicted the United
States would not long exist. Many European nations had
believed likewise. This event seemed to verify these
predictions.
Shays’ Rebellion
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Among the nation’s elite, this also illustrated the natural
tendency of republics. They were said to be turbulent, shortlived, and violent in death. Shays’ rebellion seemed to confirm
this prediction as well. As much as any event, Shays’ rebellion
galvanized the nation’s elite into believing that a stronger
national government was necessary. Shays’ rebellion in
particular led reformers to fuse a series of previously discrete
weaknesses into a diagnosis of pathology.
The Critical Period in American
History?
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Progressive Historians have argued that there was
general prosperity in the United States in the period
from the end of the Revolution to the calling of the
Constitutional Convention. The portrait of impending
doom that is usually given of these years, they
argue, is a fabrication by the Federalists who fear
the loss of property and power by the rising tide of
democracy in the United States.
The Critical Period in American
History?
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Most recent scholarship has suggested that the
critical period was indeed critical. Even if popular
rebellions did not pose that great a threat and
Washington was able to prevent calls for a military
coup, the Federalists were rightly concerned about
with the splintering of the union, civil war between
the states, and foreign influence on American soil.
Washington as King?, Three Separate
Confederations?, or a New National
Government?
On the eve of the Convention, some people wanted
to reestablish a monarchy with Washington as King,
others wanted to create three separate
confederacies, and still others wanted to strengthen
the national government. Few anticipated the bold
move that would come at the Convention.
The Annapolis Convention (1786)
A trade convention was called in 1786 at the request
of Virginia Assembly. Madison had persuaded the
Virginia assembly to call this convention. This
convention was called to "consider how far a uniform
system in their commercial intercourse and regulations
might be necessary to their common interest and
permanent harmony." (Annapolis Convention
Resolution) The Annapolis convention was attended by
12 delegates from five states: New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and Virginia.
See Documentary History of the Ratification of the
Constitution, I, 176-179 for the lead up to the calling
of the Constitutional Convention.
Annapolis Convention (continued)
The meeting was important because before
adjourning, Alexander Hamilton suggested that a
second convention be held to reform the Articles of
Confederation. The delegates then adopted a
resolution suggesting that the second convention have
“enlarged powers” to address additional problems
encountered with the Articles and that it should
“devise such further provisions as shall appear to
them necessary to render the constitution of the
Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of
the Union.” (Annapolis Resolution)
Congressional Authorization for the
Convention
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“That it be recommended to the States composing the Union
that a convention of representatives from the said States
respectively be held at on for the purpose of revising the
Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the
United States of America and reporting to the United States in
Congress assembled and to the States respectively such
alterations and amendments of the said Articles of
Confederation as the representatives met in such convention
shall judge proper and necessary to render them adequate to the
preservation and support of the Union.”
Congressional Authorization (continued)
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The most famous exposition of this resolution came in The Federalist No. 40 where James
Madison argued that the Annapolis resolution and the Congressional resolution justified
abandoning the Articles of Confederation altogether and creating a new constitution.
Together, Madison suggested, the resolutions called for the creation of a national government
that rendered the Articles "adequate to the preservation and support of the union." To be
sure, Madison added, they also suggested that this was to be done by revising the Articles of
Confederation. But, Madison queried, what were the delegates to do when they found out that
it was impossible to meet the goal of preserving the union merely by amending or reforming
the Articles? The proper rule of construction, Madison argued, was to suggest that the end or
goal (preserving the union) was more important than the means of revising the Articles. These
two expressions defining the authority of the Convention, Madison argued, were irreconcilably
at variance with one another and the more important of the two was the end of preserving the
union. If we had to choose between the happiness of the American people and the
preservation of the Articles of Confederation, the happiness of the American people was
clearly more important. Eventually, Madison evoked the language of the Declaration of
Independence - that it is the right of the people to "abolish or alter their governments as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." - to shore up his case that it
was legitimate to abandon the Articles. Madison rested his case on the shear necessity of a
new constitution, not on the any explicit authorization from the Annapolis Convention (which
was itself extra-legal) or Congress.
Washington’s Agrees
to go to Philadelphia
After being wooed by James Madison and
Alexander Hamilton, George Washington agreed
to serve on the Virginia delegation to the
Philadelphia Convention. Washington’s prestige lent
legitimacy to the gathering.
The Constitutional
Convention
A coup d'état?
The Philadelphia gathering of 1787 was certainly an
extra legal convention and perhaps an illegal one.
In the Philadelphia Papers, the delegates were
known as the “conspirators” and Independence Hall
was called “the dark conclave.” The delegates got
over their lack of legal precedent by arguing they
could propose anything, but only the people could
ratify the product of their labors.
The men of Philadelphia
Fifty-five men attended the Convention. They were
an elite unified by wealth, education (mostly
lawyers), and geographic region (most were from
the coastal regions and cities). There was no true
radical at the Convention, no Thomas Paine or
Daniel Shays.
“An Assembly of Demi-Gods?”
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The meeting included George Washington who had been
courted to attend the Convention by James Madison.
Washington served with characteristic gravitas as the President
of the Convention.
The meeting also included an elderly Benjamin Franklin.
The most important and active delegates were James Madison
and James Wilson. Most scholars believe that the Constitution
embodies their vision of the role of the national government.
Note who was not at the Convention: Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Thomas Paine,
and John Hancock.
On a Less Lofty Note
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“The physical conditions – an average of close to
forty men, most of them obese, crowded into a
modest sized and not well ventilated room for five
to seven hours a day during an intensely hot and
muggy summer – ensured that those compromises
would not always be accepted with good grace.”
Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum, 225.
What Happens at Independence
Hall Stays at Independence Hall
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Delegates choose to close the doors. The dark closet
and the conspirators.
Story of Washington finding someone’s notes.
Voting by States with Each State
Getting One Vote
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This virtually insures that equal representation of
the states will take place one branch
Independence Hall
James Madison
On Madison
“Every person seems to acknowledge his greatness. He blends
together the profound politician with the scholar. In the
management of every great question he evidently took the
lead in the convention .... He always comes forward the best
informed man on any point in debate. The affairs of the United
States he perhaps has the most correct knowledge of any man
in the Union.”
– William Pierce, Georgia Delegate to the Convention, Max
Farrand ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1937, 4 vols.) 3:94.
Another Description of Madison
“He derives from nature an excellent understanding...but I think he excels in
the quality of judgment. He is possessed of a sound judgment, which
perceives truth with great clearness, and can trace it through the mazes of
debate, without losing it....As a reasoner, he is remarkably perspicuous and
methodical. He is a studious man, devoted to public business, and a
thorough master of almost every public question that can arise, or he will
spare no pains to become so, if he happens to be in want of information.
What a man understands clearly, and has viewed in every different point
of light, he will explain to the admiration of others, who have not thought of
it at all, or but little, and who will pay in praise for the pains he saves
them.” Fisher Ames to George Minot, 31 May 1789, Works of Fisher Ames,
I, 35.
And…
“Maddison among the rest,
Pouring from his narrow chest,
More than Greek and Roman sense,
Boundless tides of eloquence.”
Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Vol.8, p. 1684.
James Madison (continued)
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Shy to the point of being inaudible to stenographers. Very frail
and unhealthy.
Shortest President of the United States. He was probably 5’3”
tall or so. Described by Garry Wills as a gnome.
Researched the history of ancient confederations on the
assumptions of the Scottish Enlightenment.
Quintessential Parliamentarian – Sized up the opposition
before entering debates. Entered debates (including those at
the Constitutional Convention) as the best prepared man on
every point.
Did he drink a pint of whiskey a day? (David Okrent, Last Call:
The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.)
But was Madison the Father of the
Convention?
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Considered the “Father of the Constitution” but, according to
one calculation, "of seventy-one specific proposals that
Madison moved, seconded, or spoke unequivocally in regard
to he was on the losing side forty times." Forrest McDonald,
Novus Ordo Seclorum.
Three major loses at the Convention: universal negative of all
state laws, revisionary council (joint executive- judicial body to
review laws), proportional representation in both branches of
the government.
But set the agenda for the Convention in the Virginia plan, took
notes of the speeches at the Convention, wrote the most
important Federalist Papers, lead the fight for ratification in
Virginia, and secured passage of the Bill of Rights.
James Wilson
James Wilson
(Madison’s Ally at the Convention)
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Fought with Madison for a universal negative of state
laws, proportional representation in both branches,
and a revisionary council.
Considered the most democratic of the Federalists.
Favored direct election of the President, Senate, and
House.
Foresaw the day when the President would be
recognized by Americans as their spokesmen.
Later became a Supreme Court judge
George Washington’s Reputation and the
Constitution
George Washington and the Constitution
Washington had promised to retire at the end of the
Revolution, but Madison convinced him to preside over
the Convention. (Did Madison really have to persuade
him?) Washington served as the presiding President
of the Convention and rarely spoke in debate. After
the proceedings were over, he wrote a letter
transmitting the Constitution to the Confederation
Congress and the states for their consideration. This
letter was often evoked during ratification.
Washington did not actively participate in the
ratification debate, but affirmed his support for the
Constitution in his private correspondence. This private
correspondence ended up getting published and used
by Federalists. See DHRC, V, 788-790.
The Venerable Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Franklin was very old at the Convention (81), but lived
another three years. He participated occasionally,
having speeches he had written read for him by
James Wilson. He made the famous observation that
the sun on the wall is a rising sun, not a setting sun.
Legend has it that he was also asked immediately
after the Convention by a woman outside of
Independence Hall what form of government had
been created. He is said to have replied, “a republic,
Madame, if you can keep it?”
A Reform Caucus In Action
The positions of delegates changed as the
Convention progressed. Delegates learned from
each other. Concessions in one areas led to
rethinking in other areas. The convention was thus a
“reform caucus in action” governed by a
combination of interest (delegates advocating
especially the interests of their states) and principle
(delegates committed to different understandings of
republicanism).
The Virginia Plan




Proportional Representation in both branches of the
legislature. Number of delegates from each state would no
longer be equal, but instead determined by their “quotas of
contribution” or “number of free inhabitants.”[4]
Lower House elected by the people and the Upper House by
the lower House from nominations submitted by state
legislatures.
Independent Executive elected by the Legislature.
Veto given to the National Government over state laws in
areas where they were held to be incompatible with the
articles of union.
The New Jersey or Patterson Plan



Unicameral legislature based upon equal
representation for all states.
Congress was given power to levy taxes and force
their collection.
Multi-person Executive was elected by the
legislature.
The Small States’ Case
For Equal Representation


Small states will be overpowered and outvoted by
the large states without at least one branch in which
they can protect their interests.
The Confederation was based upon equal
representation and this precedent should be
followed.
The Large States’ Case Against Equal
Representation



It violated the principles of equity and majority
rule.
It was not necessary to protect the small state
interests. The small states had nothing to fear from
a coalition of the large states because the large
states had very dissimilar interests.
States as states did not merit representation in the
national government. The real and objective
interests in the states were economic interests such
as manufacturing, agricultural, and trading.
Bradley Stevens’ Mural of the Great
Compromise

This mural by an American artist – Bradley Stevens
– resulted from a resolution set forth by Christopher
Dodd of Connecticut. It depicts Roger Sherman and
Oliver Ellsworth who negotiated the “Connecticut” or
“Great” Compromise. Since 2006, it has hung in the
Capitol in the opulent Senate Reception room,
celebrating this compromise as a victory for liberty.
“The Great Extortion?”

Was what is celebrated in our textbooks
as “the Great Compromise” really an act
of extortion? Small states refused to join
the union without equal representation in
one branch of the legislature. This was the
Sine quo non (“without which, nothing”)
presented by the small states as a
condition of union.
Slavery and the Constitution

Southern states secure three favorable provisions
for slavery: the three-fifths clause, the 1808 slave
trade provision, and the fugitive slave clause. (More
on this later).
Core Principles of the Constitution



Popular Sovereignty – Popular ratification of the Constitution and the
“Federal Pyramid” based on successive filtrations of the public will. People
directly elect the House of Representatives; people elect the state
legislatures who elect the Senate. People or the state legislatures elect the
Electors who elect the President; people indirectly elect the Senate and the
Executive and together they appoint judges.
Federalism – Division between the national and the state governments and
state representation in the operations of the national government (Equal
Representation in the Senate, the Electoral College, and the Amendment
Process).
National Supremacy – Over enumerated powers and those that can be
implied from them.
Signing the Constitution
Forty one of the 55 delegates who attended at
some time were present at the signing of the
Constitution. Three refused to sign: Edmund
Randolph, George Mason, and Elbridge Gerry.
Thus, there were 38 delegates who signed the
Constitution but 39 signatures. John Dickinson
authorized fellow Pennsylvania delegate George
Read to sign the Constitution for him.
Benjamin Franklin’s
Conciliatory Address

"There are several parts of this Constitution which I
do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall
never approve them. ... I doubt to whether any
other Convention we can obtain, may be able to
make a better Constitution. ... It therefore astonishes
me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to
perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our
enemies..."
Howard Chandler Christy’s Portrait of the Convention