CHAPTER 2
Constitutional Convention and Ratification
TODAY:
•
Current events
•
Lecture
•
Formative Worksheet
•
Exit
Objective:
You will be able to
describe the time
period leading up to
creating our new
government
WHAT WAS THE CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION
• 12 states sent delegates to Philadelphia (all but Rhode Island)\
• They are known as the Framers
• Many of the most famous names of the revolution were not there
• Patrick Henry, John Hancock
• Decided to make a NEW constitution (Government)
• The hard part was figuring out how to compromise
• There were a number of big issues needing to be fixed
• Representation
• Slavery
VIRGINIA PLAN
 Written mostly James Madison
 A major overhaul to the current system
 Proposed a new government
o 3 branches and a bicameral Congress
o Representation based on state population. More people
more representatives in congress
o Congress chooses a National Executive and Judiciary
NEW JERSEY PLAN
 Not as many changes proposed as the Virginia plan
o Unicameral Congress
o States are all represented equally in congress
o The federal executive should be more than one
person
 Chosen by congress
GREAT COMPROMISE
 Also known as the Connecticut Compromise
o Because Connecticut delegate proposed it
 Used parts of both the New Jersey and Virginia Plans
o Bicameral Congress
 House of Representatives based on states population
 Senate based on every state has the same number
 Three Branches of government
3/5 COMPROMISE
 This dealt with how slaves should be counted in order to figure
out representation
 The Southern States were afraid the Northern States would get
the most representation because they had a larger population of
non-slaves.
 It was decided that every 5 slaves would count as 3 white
citizens
COMMERCE AND SLAVE TRADE ACT
 Congress was given the power to regulate trade
o The Southern States were worried the Northern States would
try to regulate or stop slavery
 It was decided that
o Congress was forbidden to tax the export of goods from any
state
o Congress was forbidden to act on the slave trade for
20 years
DEBATE
• Which version of the Constitution we were going to have
• Two sides
• Federalist: liked the constitution as is
• Anti-Federalist: wanted the constitution to include more
individual rights
WHO WERE THE FEDERALISTS?
• Most of these were men from the
Constitutional Convention
• Madison and Hamilton
• They were really concerned with the
weakness of the Articles of
Confederation
• A whole new government was the
only way to fix the problems
WHO WERE THE ANTI-FEDERALIST?
• Many of these men were not at the
Constitutional Convention
• Hancock and Patrick Henry
• Found many problems with the version
of the constitution
• Most important problems
• The amount of power given to the
Central Government
• The absents of the Bill of Rights
RATIFICATION
• 9 states had to ratify the Constitution
for it to be accepted
• NOT all of the states
• Delaware was the first
• Rhode Island was the last