Concern about the Articles of ConfederationJust a few years after the Revolutionary War, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington feared their young country was on the brink of collapse. America’s first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn’t regulate commerce, or print money. The states’ disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart. Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize a Grand Convention of state delegates to work on revising the Articles of Confederation. Show The Constitutional ConventionThe Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May of 1787. The delegates shuttered the windows of the State House and swore secrecy so they could speak freely. Although they had gathered to revise the Articles of Confederation, by mid-June they had decided to completely redesign the government. There was little agreement about what form it would take. One of the fiercest arguments was over congressional representation—should it be based on population or divided equally among the states? The framers compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate. They agreed to count enslaved Africans as three-fifths of a person. Slavery itself was a thorny question that threatened to derail the Union. It was temporarily resolved when the delegates agreed that the slave trade could continue until 1808. Writing the ConstitutionAfter three hot summer months of equally heated debate, the delegates appointed a Committee of Detail to put its decisions in writing. Near the end of the convention, a Committee of Style and Arrangement kneaded it into its final form, condensing 23 articles into seven in less than four days. On September 17, 1787, 38 delegates signed the Constitution. George Reed signed for John Dickinson of Delware, who was absent, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. It was an extraordinary achievement. Tasked with revising the existing government, the delegates came up with a completely new one. Wary about centralized power and loyal to their states, they created a powerful central government. Representing wildly different interests and views, they crafted compromises. It stands today as one of the longest-lived and most emulated constitutions in the world. RatificationThe founders set the terms for ratifying the Constitution. They bypassed the state legislatures, reasoning that their members would be reluctant to give up power to a national government. Instead, they called for special ratifying conventions in each state. Ratification by 9 of the 13 states enacted the new government. But at the time, only 6 of 13 states reported a pro-Constitution majority. The Federalists, who believed that a strong central government was necessary to face the nation’s challenges, needed to convert at least three states. The Anti-Federalists fought hard against the Constitution because it created a powerful central government that reminded them of the one they had just overthrown, and it lacked a bill of rights. The ratification campaign was a nail-biter. The tide turned in Massachusetts, where the “vote now, amend later” compromise helped secure victory in that state and eventually in the final holdouts. What Does it Say? How Was it Made? A convention of delegates from all the states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May of 1787. Known as the Constitutional Convention, at this meeting it was decided that the best solution to the young country's problems was to set aside the Articles of Confederation and write a new constitution. George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention. The delegates, or representatives for the states, debated for months over what would be included in the Constitution. Some states were in favor of a strong central government, while other states were opposed. Large states felt that they should have more representation in Congress, while small states wanted equal representation with larger ones. Roger Sherman, a delegate from Connecticut, proposed a legislature with two parts; states would have equal representation in the Senate, and the population of states would determine representation in the House of Representatives. This created a bicameral legislative branch, which gave equal representation to each State in the Senate, and representation based on population in the House. Small states feared they would be ignored if representation was based on population while large states believed that their larger populations deserved more of a voice. Under the bicameral system, each party would be represented in a balance of power. Each state would be equally represented in the Senate, with two delegates, while representation in the House of Representatives would be based upon population. The delegates finally agreed to this "Great Compromise," which is also known as the Connecticut Compromise. The Constitution also created an executive branch and a judicial branch, which set up a system of checks and balances. All three branches would have a distribution of power so that no one branch could become more powerful than another. Early on, Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented the Virginia Plan, which provided for a national government with three branches. The legislative branch would make laws, the executive branch would provide leadership and enforce laws, and the judicial branch would explain and interpret laws. Like the issue of political representation, commerce and slavery were two issues that divided the Northern and Southern states. Southern states exported goods and raw materials and feared that the Northern states would take unfair advantage. The South finally agreed not to require two-thirds passage in both houses to regulate commerce. The North agreed that the slave trade could continue until 1808. In addition, slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person for representation in the House of Representatives; this was known as the “Three-Fifths Compromise.” Nationality requirements and ways to amend and ratify the Constitution were also addressed. Senators would have to be citizens for nine years and Representatives for seven years, and the President must be native-born to be eligible to hold office. In order to make changes or amendments to the Constitution, nine of the 13 states would have to vote to ratify before an amendment could become law. What was the Constitutional Convention of 1787 about?The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation.
What happened at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 quizlet?The meeting of state delegates in 1787 in Philadelphia called to revise the Articles of Confederation. It instead designed a new plan of government, the US Constitution.
What happened on the last day of the Constitutional Convention?On September 17, 1787, members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution.
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Which of the following occurred at the final meeting of the constitutional convention in 1787?
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