1. BR: T3D1
What caused Shays’ Rebellion? What were the results / effects?

2. U.S. History Ch. 7.2, Part II Convention & Compromise
The U.S. created a new Constitution to resolve the weaknesses of government under the old Articles.

3. Constitutional Convention
Most of the social elite in the U.S. could see now (thanks to Shays’ Rebellion, etc.) that a more powerful central government was necessary. Two of the biggest proponents of this were James Madison, a Virginia planter, and Alexander Hamilton, a lawyer from New York. Before Shays’ Rebellion, Washington didn’t really want to get involved in further politics. That had changed, and his attendance gave legitimacy to the meeting, which occurred in Independence Hall, Phil., where the Decl. of Independence was signed. Summer, 1787: 55 delegates met to discuss the issue, of all ages, from under 30, to over 80 years of age. At a time when 1 out of 1000 men went to college, 26 of these men had college degrees. Truly they were some of the best and brightest America had to offer. VID to 5:45

4. Organization
To keep things organized, some rules were adopted, including:
George Washington presided
Each state got one vote on each issue
Meetings had to have at least 7/13 of the states represented
The meetings were held in secret, and not to be discussed outside
Most people were thinking of simply reforming the Articles, but Edmund Randolph, from Virginia, proposed a new government (aka the Virginia Plan, which was mostly the work of James Madison), including:
A chief federal executive, chosen by the legislature
A federal court system
A bicameral federal legislature (two houses)
The Upper house (Senate) would be chosen by the Lower house (HoR)
The HoR (House of Representatives) would be elected by the people.
In both cases, the # each state had of these would depend on their population. How is this fair? Why might some states object?

5. The New Jersey Plan
The delegates from the less populated states, like New Jersey, Delaware, etc., were not happy. This gave Virginia a lot more influence than previously, where each state got a single vote.
William Patterson of New Jersey proposed a new plan, which was:
The Legislature would be one house, with one vote per state.
Congress would have more power, to set taxes, regulate trade, etc.
A new Executive Branch would be created, but it would be weak, with several leaders (not just one)
Basically, this was just a reformed version of the Articles of Confederation.

6. Big Decisions
On June 19th, 1787 the delegates decided they wanted a national government that leaned more towards the Virginia Plan format. Lots of questions remained though;
How would these members of Congress be elected?
Were slaves to count towards the population count? If so, how? Etc.
This led to many different compromises, or agreements where everyone gave a bit and got a bit too. Vid to 3:44
The first was the Great Compromise, by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, which was this:
There would be two houses in the Congress
The Lower house representative #s would be based on population (big states happy)
The Upper house representatives #s would be the same per state (small states happy)

7. The Three-Fifths Compromise
Not cool, guys…
The biggest sticky issue was how and if to count slaves. They couldn’t vote, and that wasn’t at issue here.
However, the Southern states wanted them to be included for representation purposes, and the Northern states did not, since they couldn’t vote anyway. This led to what is infamously known as the Three- Fifths Compromise. VID to 5:22
The Slave Trade was also at issue. Many northerners wanted to abolish it completely, but to keep the Southerners happy, the Congress promised to not vote on the issue for another 20 years…oh boy.
$&%

8. A New Government
George Mason wanted to include a Bill of Rights, but that idea got shot down… finally, the time came to sign the final Constitution (Sept. 17th, 1787).
Three people however refused to sign it: George Mason, of Virginia, Elbridge Randolph of Mass., and Edmund Randolph of Virginia. Eventually though a Bill of Rights would be added later however.
The last step was to get the states to go along with this new plan, or ratify the Constitution. This time, to avoid too many issues, they required that just 9/13 states had to approve it before it became the law of the land. Eventually it did pass several years later, but only after much debate. VID

9. HW:
Reminder for HW: Do some research, and then create a poster concerning one of the following:
The issue of Freedom vs. Order (pick one side or the other, or somewhere in the middle and defend your position)
Alt: The issue of slavery in the Colonial era of the U.S.
You can work in pairs on this if you wish.