Learning From
Previous Mistakes
A “BUNDLE OF COMPROMISES”
Who are these people?
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/christy/christy/
A “Bundle of Compromises”
The Virginia Plan:
The New Jersey
Plan:
The source of the problem:
The Connecticut Compromise
(a.k.a The Great Compromise)
The three points of debate at the Constitutional Convention were:
(1)
;
(2)
;
(3)
.
The Great Compromise resulted in a
legislature where each state had the
of representatives in the upper house. The number of representatives in the
lower house was based on
. This is reflected in considering Alabama’s
current representation in the U.S. Congress:
Alabama
Senator
Jeff Sessions
Alabama
Senator
Richard
Shelby
United States House of Representatives for Alabama: Martha Roby, Gary Palmer, Bradley
Byrne, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Terri A. Sewell
Three-fifths Compromise and the
Commerce and Slave Trade
Compromise
The issue of slavery resulted in the Three-Fifths Compromise wherein
every “free person” was counted but “three fifths of all other persons”
was counted for purposes of determining the number of
representatives in the lower house, as well as the amount of money to
be raised in each direct tax by Congress.
Congress was also prohibited from taxing the export of goods from
any State, and it was prohibited from acting on the slave trade for a
period of twenty years (until 1808 when Congress promptly banned
the importation of slaves).
3/5
Ratification debates:
Federalists v. Anti-Federalists
Federalists:
Anti-Federalists:
How did each side present its
argument?
Federalists
Anti-Federalists

Essays, speeches, letters and other
commentaries

Essays speeches, letters and other
commentaries

85 essays were published in various
newspapers in New York and
signed under the name Publius
(Latin word for “Publlic Man”) and
which
the
Constitution. These essays were
soon published in book form and
as The Federalist: A Commentary
on the Constitution of the United
States.

Essays which appeared in the New
York Journal and signed under the
name “Brutus”

Pamphlets and letters were also
authored by Richard Henry Lee (a
delegate from Virginia) who used
the penname “The Federal
Farmer”.
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“These lawyers, and men of learning, and monied
men, that talk so finely and gloss over matters so
smoothly, to make us poor illiterate people, swallow
down the pill, expect to get into Congress themselves;
they expect to…get all the power and all the money
into their own hands, and then they will swallow up all
us little folks…just as the whale swallowed up Jonah.”
-Amos Singleterry
S.B. Harding. “The Contest Over the Ratification of the Federal
Constitution in the State of Massachussetts”, 1896, as quoted in Carl
Van Doren, The Great Rehearsal, 1948. (p.61)
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“But what is government itself but the greatest of all
reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no
government would be necessary. If angels were to govern
men, neither external nor internal controls on government
would be necessary. In framing a government which is to
be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies
in this: You must first enable the government to control
governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary
control on the government; but experience has taught
mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“If the end be clearly comprehended within
any of the specified powers, and if the
measure have an obvious relation to that
end, and is not forbidden by any particular
provision of the Constitution, it may safely
be deemed to come within the compass of
the national authority.”
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“In a government possessed of enumerated powers,
such a measure would be not only unnecessary, but
preposterous and dangerous…The state of New Jersey
has no bill of rights. The state of New York has no bill of
rights. The states of Connecticut and Rhode Island have
no bill of rights. I know not whether I have exactly
enumerated the states who have not thought it
necessary to add a bill of rights to their constitution; but
this enumeration, sir, will serve to show by experience, as
well as principle, that even in single governments, a bill
of rights is not an essential or necessary measure.”
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“This government will commence in a moderate
aristocracy: it is at present impossible to foresee
whether it will, in its operation, produce a
monarchy or a corrupt oppressive aristocracy; it
will most probably vibrate some years between
the two, and then terminate in the one or the
other.”
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“it was painful for me, on a subject of such national
importance, to differ from the respectable
members who signed the constitution. But
conceiving as I did that the liberties of America
were not secured by the system, it was my duty to
oppose it”…I think it has great merit, and by proper
amendments, may be adapted to the ‘exigencies
of Government’ and preservation of liberty.”
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“Another reason weighed particularly, with
members from this state, against the insertion of
a bill of rights. Such bills generally begin with
declaring that all men are by nature born free.
Now, we should make that declaration in very
bad grace, when a large part of our property
consists in men who are actually born slaves.”
Federalist or Anti-Federalist?
“…I will tell you what I do not like. First, the omission of
a bill of rights, providing clearly…for freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, protection from standing
armies…[and] the eternal and unremitting force of the
habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury…Let me add
that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to
against every government on earth…and what no just
government should refuse or rest on inference.”
Which side prevailed?
The ratification process for the Constitution was completed in 1788
when Virginia and New York were the last two states required for
ratification.
New York City was named the first capital and George Washington
was named the President in 1789 when Congress met to count
electoral votes.
The Federalists therefore prevailed but not without compromise. This is
evident when considering the title commonly used to refer to the first
ten amendments of the Constitution in 1791…the Bill of Rights.