1. The student will analyze the challenges faced by the new nation.
SS4H5
The student will analyze the challenges faced by the new nation.

2. Review: Articles Of Confederation Created a weak National government
Gave Congress
the power to
declare war and
make peace
Articles Of
Confederation
Could not
make the states
work together
Congress could
print and
borrow money
Congress could
not set up an
army, control
trade, or
create taxes
Congress could
organize new
territories

3. Why was the Constitutional Convention needed?
Essential Question:
Why was the Constitutional Convention needed?

4. Vocabulary:
federal
-a system of government in which the states share power with a central government
republic
- a government in which citizens elect leaders to represent them
Compromise
-both sides give up something they want to settle a disagreement
Ratify
- to officially accept

5. Constitutional Convention
The American people began to see that the Articles of Confederation needed to be changed.
Delegates from all the states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia for the Constitutional
Convention of 1787.

6. Who was there?
Only white, male, landowners could be a delegate at the Constitutional Convention.
No women, African Americans, American
Indians, or any man that did not own land, took part in the convention.

7. Leaders of the Constitutional Convention:
James Madison was
a lawyer from Virginia
that called the meeting
together.
He arrived 2
weeks early so that he
could start planning
what needed to be
done.
He was known as the
Father of the Constitution
because he was a leading
member and he kept a very
detailed record of all the debates.

8. Benjamin Franklin He was the oldest delegate at the convention.
He urged others to be willing
to listen and convinced
them that the compromise
was important to a free
society.
He supported the ratification
of the Constitution.

9. George Washington He was the hero of the Revolutionary War.
People rang bells and
cheered when they saw
him at the Convention.

10. Changes needed: The Articles did not give the Congress enough power.
Some delegates wanted a republic. They thought it would protect citizen’s rights because the citizens would elect the leaders to represent them.
Other delegates, like James Madison and Washington, wanted a federal system where the states would share power with the central government, but the central government would have more power.

11. The delegates agreed to create a Federal System where states would share power with the national (federal) government.
State National
Government Government

12. Creating a New Government
James Madison suggested that the government should have three branches (parts). His plan was called the Virginia Plan.
One branch-Congress- would make laws.
The second branch would carry out the laws.
The third branch would settle legal
arguments.

13. Representation:
The delegates accepted most of Madison’s Virginia Plan except for the part that gives states representation according to its population.
Delegates from smaller
states thought that this
would give bigger states
more power. They came up
with the New Jersey Plan
which would give each
state one vote.
Delegates argued about
the two plans.

14. The Great Compromise Virginia Plan Congress based On population
New Jersey
Plan gave each
State one vote

15. The Great Compromise
The state delegates combined the two plans and created the Great Compromise.
The compromise said that Congress would have two parts- The Senate and the House of Representatives.

16. The Great Compromise Virginia Plan Congress would Congress based
have two parts
Virginia Plan
Congress based On
population
The Great
Compromise
The Senate
gave each state
one vote
New Jersey
Plan gave each
State one vote
The House of
Representative
was based on
population

17. The Great Compromise said Congress would be split into two houses:
The Senate- each state would have equal representation
The House of Representatives – each state would be represented according to the population.

18. Another issue:
Southern delegates wanted to count enslaved people as part of their population.
Northern delegates said they should not be counted.
The states came up with another compromise called the Three Fifths Rule.
It said that every five slaves would be counted as three free people.