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Published byKelley Edwards Modified over 9 years ago
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Compromises at the Constitutional Convention
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Ben Franklin “I have often looked at the sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know it is a rising, and not a setting sun.”
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Two Conflicting Parties FederalistsAnti-Federalists Throw out the Articles of Confederation; establish completely new framework for government In favor of a stronger central (FEDERAL) government. Supporters: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams. Articles of Confederation is inherently good; just needs some tweaks and adjustments. In favor of greater amount of states’ rights. Supporters: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Henry Clinton
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Federalists or Anti-Federalist?
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Three Key Philosophies Separation of Powers. ▫Power balance in the NATIONAL government; split between: Executive. Legislative. Judicial. Checks and Balances. ▫Each branch in the CENTRAL government limits the powers of the other branches. Federalism. ▫Each level of government limits the power of the other levels. Federal. State. Local.
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Representation in Congress Two competing ideologies: ▫Equal representation (New Jersey Plan – 138,000). Each state has the same number of representatives in the Legislature. ▫Population representation (Virginia Plan – 300,000). Each state earns their number of representatives in the Legislature based on the state’s population.
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Great Compromise Brokered by Benjamin Franklin and Roger Sherman between supporters of the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. BI-CAMERAL (2 Houses) Legislature: ▫Senate: Equal number of representatives for each state. ▫House of Representatives: Number of representatives based on each state’s population.
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Framework of the Great Compromise SenateHouse of Representatives Upper House. Equal representation for each state. State-elected. 6 year terms. Lower House. Representation based on population of each state. State-elected, according to districts. 2 year terms.
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Slavery Debate Southern States’ PositionNorthern States’ Position Count slaves as part of the state’s population. Advantage to South: slave states will gain a larger population and a greater number of representatives. Count slaves, but count them for both population purposes and tax purposes. Disadvantage to South: slave states will gain more representatives, but will also be forced to pay taxes on each slave, as well. * Not a debate over the existence of slavery, but simply a debate over how to count slaves toward each state’s population. Northern and Southern delegates disagreed over the population per representative. It was settled at 40,000/rep.
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Three-Fifths (3/5) Compromise Every 40,000 people constitutes 1 representative in the House of Representatives. Every 5 slaves count as 3 free citizens, or 1 slave equals 3/5 of a free citizen.
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Constitution is Born.. not just yet James Madison (VA) ends up writing most of it. The delegates signed the Constitution, but it was not law just yet. The last step in the process of confirming the Constitution was ratification from the states.
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