1. CHAPTER FIVE – FORMING A GOVERNMENT SECTION THREE – CREATING THE CONSTITUTION.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
-The purpose of the Confederation Congress inviting 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 possible was because the Annapolis Convention in September 1786 had been a failure with states not sending representatives others arriving late.
A. Meeting in Philadelphia
-The Constitutional Convention would begin at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on May 25, 1787 where they had written the Declaration of Independence 11 years earlier.
-But instead of improving the Articles like they were supposed to do – they would leave with a brand new U. S. Constitution.
-The Convention would last through the hottest summer months until September 17, 1787 with many days in the 90s.

2. -Rhode Island was the only state that did not send representatives, because they did not want a change. -There were 55 delegates who were well-educated with 26 of them having college degrees and 2/3 of them were lawyers. -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. -The average age of the group assembled was 42. -A modern historian said the delegates were, “the well- bred, the well fed, the well-read, and the well-wed.” -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. -Many important leaders of this time were absent from the convention.

3. -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, John Jay and John Hancock were not there as they feared a strong national government would endanger the rights of the states. -There were also three groups that were not represented at the Constitutional Convention and they were women, African Americans and Native Americans. -The first thing they did was to elect the war-hero General George Washington of Virginia as the president of the convention because he was so well respected. -After electing Washington they voted on the rules of the Convention which the most important was “The Rule of Secrecy!” -They wanted to be able to speak their minds without causing alarm or opposition among the public. -They did this well, because during the 4 months they met not one single word about the debates were in the papers.

4. GREAT COMPROMISE
-Some members wanted to make minor changes to the Articles while others wanted to rewrite them completely.
-Small and large states had different ideas about representation, economic concerns, slavery and how strong the national or central government should be.
-Again when the Convention began the delegates were supposed to make changes to improve the Articles of Confederation.
-After debating, the delegates chose to throw out the Articles of Confederation and write a new constitution.
-They decided to design a new Framework of government, but divided upon where the governments power to rule should come from?
-Should it come from the states?
-Should it come from the people?
-With the Articles of Confederation it had been with the states.
-James Madison’s answer was that the government’s power should come directly from the people.

5. Virginia Plan
-Four days after the convention began, Edmund Randolph proposed the Virginia Plan, which had been written by James Madison.
-His plan called for a strong national government with three separate branches of government.
a) Legislative Branch to make the laws.
b) Executive Branch to execute or carry out the laws.
c) Judicial Branch (Court system) to apply and interpret the laws.
-The Legislative Branch (Congress) would have a bicameral (two-house) legislature with the amount of representatives based upon population.
-This plan would give much more representation to large states like Virginia instead of small states like Delaware.
-Large, well-populated states liked this plan, because they would have more power in both houses of Congress.
-Small, less-populated states hated this plan, because they would have so much less power in Congress.

6. 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.
-The New Jersey Plan also called for three branches of government like the Virginia Plan.
-But it called for a one-house or a unicameral legislative branch 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.
-Patterson argued, small states would be at a disadvantage and said “She would be swallowed up!” by the more populated states under the Virginia Plan.
-It would also give the federal government the power to tax citizens in all states and to regulate commerce.
-The smaller states loved this plan, but the larger states hated the plan.
-Most delegates believed the New Jersey Plan offered little improvement over the Articles of Confederation.

7. Compromise is Reached
-After one month of heavy debating and not being able to come to a decision, they were deadlocked on representation.
-Tempers flared on a daily basis between delegates from the smaller and larger states with each believing they were right.
-A compromise plan was proposed by Connecticut’s Roger Sherman.
-The 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 vote was very close, but Sherman’s compromise plan passed and saved the convention.
-This compromise plan was called the Great Compromise.
Three-Fifths Compromise
-Another major debate came about in deciding how to count enslaved Africans.
-At the time of the Convention nine-tenths of all slaves lived in the South.
-Southerners argued that slaves should be counted in the states population giving them a larger population toward the amount of representatives in the House of Representatives.

8. -Northerners felt like the slaves shouldn’t count for population, but that they should count toward deciding the amount of taxes each state owed. -Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts said, “Blacks are property and are used to the southward as horses and cattle to the northward.” -Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania said if slaves are going to be counted as population, “then make them citizens and let them vote.” -James Madison put a proposal 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. -This kept the convention moving forward. -More debate came about over foreign slave trade and tariffs and who should control trade. -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 put a ban on slavery at this time they would leave the Union. -The Commerce Compromise was reached with three provisions. a) Congress could levy tariffs on imports, but not exports b) Congress could not interfere with the importation of slaves for 20 years or until the end of c) A fugitive slave clause was put in that stated an escaped slave had to be returned to their owner if captured in a free state.

9. 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 came 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 in dealing with federal issues.
-States would have the powers not specifically given to the national government in the Constitution.
-State powers included that of local government, education, the chartering of corporations and supervision of religious bodies.

10. -They also were able to create and oversee civil and criminal law, while protecting the welfare of their citizens. B. Checks and Balances -There 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. (We’ll cover this when we do the Constitution) -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 39 of the original 55 delegates signed the Constitution, because 13 had returned home before the end of the Convention. -Elbridge Gerry, George Mason and Edmund Randolph refused to sign it, because they disagreed in part with it. -The Constitution would first go to Congress and then to the states to get ratified.

11. -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 put all the ideas together and wrote the final draft was Gouverneur Morris.

12. 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 was 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.