Constitution
Fundamental laws and
principles that
describes the nature,
functions, and limits of
a government or
another institution.
The fundamental law
of the United States,
framed in 1787.
Continental Congress
 A group of delegates from each of the
states who met during and after the
American Revolution; they issued the
Declaration of Independence and
framed Articles of Confederation
• Met from 1774-1789
• Delegates from the thirteen colonies
gathered to govern the United States
during the American Revolution
• Two different Continental Congresses
• Second Continental Congress created
the Articles of Confederation
Delegate
• A person who is authorized
to speak or act for one or
more person at a convention
or a political convention
Articles of Confederation
•
The Articles of Confederation provided
a loose framework of a national
government for the new nation. Each
state had one vote and maintained its
sovereignty.
• First constitution of the United States
• Created to ensure the freedom and the
independence of the United States—
something they lacked when ruled by
Great Britain
Henry Laurens
• South Carolina planter who In 1777
became a member of the Continental
Congress, serving as president in 1777 and
1778.
• Helped to write the Articles of the
Confederation.
• In 1779 Congress appointed him envoy to
negotiate a treaty with the Dutch, but he
was captured at sea by the British and
imprisoned in the Tower of London.
• In 1782 Laurens was a signer of the
preliminary peace treaty ending the
American Revolution.
Philadelphia Convention
 Delegates met in
Philadelphia at the
Constitutional Convention
to revise the Articles
because the Articles of
Confederation failed to give
the government the power to
collect money or conduct
foreign affairs. Instead they
drafted an entirely new
Constitution.
James Madison
• Delegate from Virginia
who wrote the Virginia
Plan.
• He is known as the
Father of the
Constitution.
Virginia Plan
• Edmund Randolph, the
governor of Virginia, presented
the Virginia Plan, which called
for three branches of
government and a system of
checks and balances.
• Favored by the larger states.
• It proposed two houses of
Congress , both elected based
on a state’s population.
William Paterson
 Author of the New
Jersey Plan
New Jersey Plan
• The less populous states were
adamantly opposed to giving
most of the control of the
national government to the
more populous states, and so
proposed an alternative plan
that would have kept the onevote-per-state representation
under one legislative body
from the Articles of the
Confederation.
Roger Sherman
• Delegate from
Connecticut
• Came up with a
compromise plan on
representation of the
small and large states.
• Sherman also proposed a
compromise that solved
the challenge of electing
officials to Congress.
Connecticut Compromise
• Retained the bicameral legislature as
proposed by James Madion, along with
proportional representation in the lower
house, but required the upper house to be
weighted equally between the states.
• Bicameral legislature- a legislature with
two houses (the House of Representatives
and the Senate).
Question of Slave Representation
• Delegates opposed to
slavery generally wished to
count only the free citizens
of each state.
• Delegates supportive of
slavery wanted to count
slaves in their actual
numbers.
3/5 Compromise
Three-fifths of the
enumerated population of
slaves would be counted for
representation purposes
regarding both the
distribution of taxes and the
apportionment of the
members of the United
States of Representatives. It
was proposed by delegates
James Wilson and Roger
Sherman.
Charles Pinckney
• South Carolina representative to the
Philadelphia Convention who
contributed greatly to the writing of the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
• His most significant contributions was in
Article VI which states that there will be
no religious test required to hold office
• And in the first amendment which states
that the government cannot require you
to belong to a certain religion.
• He was a signer of the Constitution.
Pierce Butler
• Representative from South
Carolina.
• He proposed the Fugitive Slave
Clause to the Constitution.
• He was for the rights of the
common man.
• They used his idea of an
Electoral College f or choosing
the President.
• He was a signer of the
Constitution
John Rutledge
• Representative from South
Carolina.
• A governor of South Carolina, he
chaired a committee that wrote
much of what was included in the
final version of the United States
Constitution.
• He also signed the Constitution.
• He served as an Associate Justice
on the United States Supreme
Court, and was the second Chief
Justice of the Court from July to
December 1795.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
• Representative from South
Carolina.
• He was a first cousin to
Charles Pinckney.
• He was a signer of the
Constitution.
• He wanted a strong national
government with checks and
balances.
• He ran unsuccessfully for
President twice.