The Articles of
Confederation and the
Constitutional Convention
The First Laws of the United States
• Immediately following the Declaration of Independence,
several states started chartering their own new laws and
documents
• Chiefly among these were two documents:
1. The Virginia Declaration of Rights (written by George
Mason), which reiterated that basic human rights should
not be violated by government
2. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (written by
Thomas Jefferson), which said that the government
could not support one specific church or Christian sect
Background
• Provided for a weak national government
• Gave Congress no power to tax or regulate
commerce among the states
• Provided for no common currency
• Gave each state one vote regardless of size
• Provided for no executive or judicial branch
Why would American leaders agree on this limited
government?
Outline of the Articles
• After the Revolution, the economy of the newly formed
United States struggled
• Poor farmers in Massachusetts eventually formed a
rebellion to overthrow the national government
• The rebellion was quickly put down, but it drew national
attention to the fact that something needed to be done to
fix the problems of the Articles of Confederation
• Representatives from every state met in Philadelphia for
the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in order to make
changes
Problems
• The Virginia Plan – drafted by James Madison
• This plan called for a bicameral legislative (two houses)
branch
• Representation in both houses would be determined by the size
of the state – favored larger states
• Also called for a national government with three branches
• The New Jersey Plan – drafted by William Paterson
• Opposed the Virginia Plan
• Called for a unicameral legislative (one house) branch
• Representation in the house would be equal, one vote per state
– favored smaller states
Plans to fix the Articles
• Essentially combined both the Virginia and New Jersey
Plans
• Created two legislative houses: The House of
Representatives would be based on population (favored
large states) and the Senate would have two
representatives from each state (favored small states)
• The Three-Fifths Compromise addressed the population
of slaves in the states, stating that each slave would
count as 3/5 of a person in regards to population
The Great Compromise