The U.S. Constitution
America’s 2nd Try at Setting Up a Government
After several years of using it,
people began to realize that the
Articles of Confederation did not
work!
 The AOC had a very weak ……
central, or national government.
 And very strong……
state governments.
 You researched the problems that
resulted from this arrangement
Call for a Convention
 In 1786, the VA legislature called for a
conference to discuss changing the AOC.
 In February 1787 all the states were
invited to send delegates to Philadelphia
to discuss improving the AOC.
 Twelve states sent delegates. They
gathered in May at Independence Hall.
 Only Rhode Island did not participate.
 James Madison played an important role
at the Convention.
Compromise was Needed
 There were many disagreements among
the delegates.
 The conflicts included:
Should the AOC be totally rewritten, or
only changed a little bit?
What should be done about slavery?
Should large states and small states have
equal representation?
Different ideas and plans were proposed.
The Virginia Plan
 This plan was also called the large
state plan.
 This plan called for a strong central
government.
 It also called for 3 branches.
 There would be a 2 house legislature.
 The small states did not like this plan.
The New Jersey Plan
 Also known as the small state plan.
 This plan kept a one house
legislature, like the AOC had.
 Each state had equal votes, no
matter how big or small.
 The big states did not like this plan
because it gave more power to the
small states ~~~ they all argued!
The Great Compromise
 After much debate, a committee was
created to develop a compromise.
 In the compromise there would be
two houses in the legislature:
 One house would have equal
representatives for each state
 The other house would have
representatives based on the
population of the states
Two House Legislature = Congress!
 The Great Compromise set up the
system we use today for the legislative
branch.
 The house with equal representatives
for reach state is the Senate
 The house with representation
according to the population of the
states is the House of Representatives
The Three Fifths Compromise
 The Southern states wanted to count
their slaves in their population numbers
so they would have more representatives
 But they did not really want the slaves to
be counted as equal citizens
 As a compromise, each slave would be
counted as three fifths of a person
 It was also agreed that the importing of
slaves in the slave trade would be
stopped in 20 years, but slavery inside
the US would be continued.
The Constitution has been in effect
for 222 years!!!
 By dealing with all these issues at the
Constitutional Convention, an amazing document
was created.
 The US Constitution is the oldest continuously
working constitution in history!
 It is based on some powerful ideas!
Big Ideas in the Constitution
 People wanted to have a stronger
central government, but they wanted
to protect popular sovereignty = the
idea that political power belongs to
the people. Power to the People!
 So, they used the idea of federalism
– where power is shared between
the central government and the
states in a county.
How is power balanced by
the US Constitution?
 Power is shared by the federal or national
government and the states (federalism)
 Power is shared by big population states
and small population states because of the
two house legislature (representative
democracy)
 Power is shared and balanced in the
government by the three branches!
(legislative, judicial, executive)