CHAPTER FIVE – FORMING A GOVERNMENT SECTION THREE – CREATING THE CONSTITUTION. BUILDING BACKGROUND: Many people began to look at the Articles of Confederation by mid-1780s and believed that they needed to be changed. So they tried to get the most experienced people in the idea of government to meet. I.CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION -The purpose of the Confederation Congress choosing to invite each state to send delegates to a May 1787 meeting in Philadelphia was to improve the Articles of Confederation. -The reason that this meeting was needed was because the Annapolis Convention in September 1786, had been a failure with some states not sending representatives and others arriving late. A.Meeting in Philadelphia

-The Constitutional Convention would be held at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and instead of improving the Articles – they created a brand new U. S. Constitution. -The Convention lasted through the hottest summer months until September 17, Rhode Island was the only state that did not send representatives, because they did not want a change. -There were 55 delegates – most who were well- educated - 26 of them having college degrees. -Their professions were planters, merchants, lawyers, physicians, generals, governors and a college president.

-They ranged in age from Jonathan Dayton who was 26 and the oldest was Benjamin Franklin at 81 years of age. -Other top representatives included Alexander Hamilton of New York; Edmund Randolph, James Madison, George Mason, and George Wythe of Virginia; Roger Sherman and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts; Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson of Pennsylvania. -The president of the convention was war- hero General George Washington of Virginia. -Small and large states had differing ideas about representation, economic concerns, slavery and how strong the national or central government should be. -Many important leaders of the time period were absent from the convention.

-John Adams was not there because he was an ambassador to England and Thomas Jefferson was serving as an ambassador to France. -Patrick Henry refused to attend because he was against a stronger central government. -Samuel Adams and John Jay were not chosen by their state delegations. -There were also three groups that were not represented at the Constitutional Convention and they were women, African Americans and Native Americans. II.GREAT COMPROMISE -Some members wanted to make minor changes to the Articles while others wanted to rewrite them completely.

A.Virginia Plan -Four days after the convention began, Edmund Randolph presented the Virginia Plan. -His plan proposed a government plan that would provide most power to the national government. -His plan was going to have a bicameral (two- house) legislature and members chosen based upon state population. -This plan would give much more representation and power to large states like Virginia instead of small states like Delaware. -It would also provide for a chief executive chosen by the legislature and also a courts system. -Small states did not like this plan. B.New Jersey Plan -To combat the Virginia Plan, the smaller states came up with their own plan that would keep large states from getting too much power.

-This New Jersey Plan was proposed by William Patterson of New Jersey. -It called for a one-house or a unicameral house in which each state would get one vote on the issues. -This would mean each state was equal in making decisions regardless of their size. -It would also give the federal government the power to tax citizens in all states and to regulate commerce. C.Compromise is Reached -After one month of debating and not being able to come to a decision, they were deadlocked on representation. -A compromise plan was reached by Connecticut’s Roger Sherman.

-He proposed the following: a) A legislative branch that would have two houses. 1) In the Senate (upper house), representation would be equal regardless of the states population - this pleased the smaller states. 2) In the House of Representatives (lower house), representation would be based upon each states population – this pleased the larger states -The plan was called the Great Compromise. III.Three-Fifths Compromise -Another major debate came about in deciding how to count enslaved Africans. -Southerners felt that the slaves should be counted as part each states population giving them a larger population leading to more representatives in the House.

-Northerners felt like the slaves shouldn’t count for population, but that they should count toward deciding the amount of taxes each state owed. -A proposal was put on the table that would count each enslaved African as three-fifths of a free person for both taxation and representation. -After debating this issue, the Three-Fifths Compromise was reached. -More debate came about over foreign slave trade and tariffs. -Many delegates felt slavery was wrong and wanted a federal ban placed on slave trade, while others felt that the South’s economy depended upon slave trade. -Southerners said that if anyone tried to ban slavery immediately - they would leave the Union. -The Commerce Compromise was reached following more debate.

-This allowed Congress to levy tariffs on imports and not exports and at the same time allowed the importation of slaves until 1807 came to an end. IV.The Living Constitution -A strong national government was desired by most of the Convention delegates. -At the same time they wanted to protect the idea that political authority to rule belonged to the people called (popular sovereignty) – it come about during the Declaration of Independence. A. Federalist Government -Another idea was to balance the power of the national government with that of the states. -This was called Federalism. -Federalism is the sharing of power between a central government and the states that make up a country.

-States had more power under the Articles. -Under this idea, states had to obey the authority of the federal, or national government. -States would have the powers not specifically given to them in the Constitution. -State powers included that of local government, education, the chartering of corporations and supervision of religious bodies. -They also were able to create and oversee civil and criminal law, while protecting the welfare of their citizens. B. Checks and Balances -Their were also balances put in place to be sure no branch of the government would get too strong. -The Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch would each have their own responsibilities and duties.

-The Legislative Branch is also called Congress. -It has two houses (bi-cameral) as provided for in the Great Compromise. -Congress is responsible for passing our nation’s laws. -The House of Representatives is the lower house and the amount of members for each state is based upon the states population. -The Senate is the upper house and it has equal representation or two members for each state. -The Executive Branch consists of the President, his cabinet which heads the departments that help run our government. -The main job of the Executive Branch is to make sure (enforce) that the nation’s laws are carried out. -The final branch is the Judicial Branch. -Their responsibility is to interpret the laws, punish criminals and settle disputes between the states.

-The system of making sure that each of these branches did not become too powerful was called Checks and Balances. -The final draft of the Constitution was completed in September Only Elbridge Gerry, George Mason and Edmund Randolph refused to sign it, because they disagreed in part with it.(The other 39 members that remained signed it) -The Constitution would first go to Congress and then to the states to be ratified. -James Madison is considered to be the Father of the Constitution, because he took very careful notes at the Convention and that he was the author of the basic plan of government that was adopted by the Convention. -The actual writer of the Constitution who took all the ideas together and wrote the final draft was Gouverneur Morris.

COMPARING THE WEAKNESSES OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION TO THE STRENGTHS OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION! a) Under the Articles most power was with the states – while under the Constitution most power was held by the national government. b) Under the Articles there was only one branch of government – while under the Constitution there would be three branches of government. c) Under the Articles the legislative branch had very few powers – while under the Constitution the legislative branch had many powers. d) Under the Articles there was no executive branch – while under the Constitution there was an executive branch led by the president. e) Under the Articles there was no judicial system – while under the Constitution there would be a judicial branch to review laws. f) Under the Articles there was no system of checks and balances – while under the Constitution there was a firm system of checks and balances.