Debates at the Constitutional Convention

What were the key debates?

- representation
- democracy
- power of the states vs the federal government
- slavery
- the Executive

Power of the states

- between federalists (majority) and anti-federalists
- all agreed on need for a stronger national government but disagreed over the extent
- Madison's VI Plan: power to veto acts of state legislation
- Patterson's NJ Plan: state sovereignty retained
- Key federalists: Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Madison
- Key anti-federalists: Pinckney

Hamilton on the need for a powerful state government

- 6 hour long speech
- reduce states to 'administrative subdivisions'
- said his proposals were not "a thing attainable by us, but ... a model which we ought to approach as near as possible" (speech so radical it made federalist alternatives seem attractive and less radical)
- "the local interests of the states ought to in every case give way to the interests of the union"

Gouverneur Morris came solely as a...

"Representative of America"
unusual because the vast majority of delegates came first for the welfare of their state, not the country

Pinckney on state control over slavery

"no such authority is granted" to the federal govt to abolish slavery

Result of debates over the power of the states

- The Articles, which relied on the voluntary compliance of the states, were replaced with the Constitution, which set out a govt that could enforce its laws through coercive means if necessary.
- Anti-federalists compromised more - national law was to be the "supreme law of the law" (in its specific areas)
- BUT states still had power over elections

Who refused to sign the constitution?

- Randolph refused to sign as it was not sent to the states for approval first.
- Elbridge Gerry + George Mason both refused to sign it after their proposal for a Bill of Rights (which included the fact that the remaining powers would be reserved to the states) was defeated 10-0

Significance of debate

- constant background noise throughout the convention
- fed into most issues

Representation

- interstate issue (biggest, most dividing issue - longest running + most acute)
- large states (VI Plan: size of delegation proportional to population) vs small states (NJ plan: 1 vote per state and set number of delegates per state)

David Beasley (NJ) on representation

representation based on population was unfair and unjust: "The large states will carry everything before them," and the small states "will be obliged to throw themselves constantly into the scale of some large one in order to have any weight at all."

James Wilson (PA) on representation

- only representation based on population would be fair
- on NJ plan "I say no! It is unjust"
- PA 3x the population of NJ

Result of debates over representation

- The Great Compromise - did not stop fierce debate, some delegates began to leave in protest, but finally agreed upon on July 16
- Lower House representation reflective of population (+3/5s compromise), Upper House 2 members per state
- Smaller states won the debate!! (were overrepresented)

Intensity of debate over Representation

"It seems we have got to a point that we cannot move one way or another" - Sherman (CT)
W wrote to Hamilton that the crisis was so bad that he almost despaired of seeing a favourable outcome

Slavery

- issue in terms of representation, economics and morality
- Interstate (largely N v S - slavery the lifeblood of the S)
- Southern states insisted on banning Congress from taxing exports (would take away 1/2 government's regulation of trade) and to forbid Congress from banning the importation of slaves

Gouverneur Morris on slavery

"Upon what principle is it that the saves shall be computed in the representation? Are they men? Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property? Why, then, is no other property included?"
"nefarious institution"

Luther Martin on slavery

"inconsistent with the principles of the revolution"

Result of debates over slavery

- South were entirely unwilling to compromise (GA unwilling to ratify a Constitution that does not protect slavery)
- 3/5s compromise, Congress not allowed to ban the slave trade until 1808, Fugitive Slave Clause
- FFs put the safety of the union before the issue of slavery (swept it to the side, e.g. constitution does not include the word 'slaves')

The Executive

- debates over power to veto?, how to elect?, length of term?, how many people?
- over 60 votes on the Executive within 2 weeks
- sheer presence of Washington helped encourage a 1 person Executive (showed the sort of person who could be President without being tyrannical)
- NOT A STATE ISSUE

Sherman on the Executive

(veto) did not agree with "one man being able to stop the will of the whole"

Hamilton on the Executive

- pro very strong Executive
- wanted a President elected to a life term
- 'elective monarch'

Randolph on a 1 person Executive

a "foetus of monarchy"

Result of debate over the Executive

- 1 person with power to veto acts of Congress BUT Congress could override with a 2/3s majority
- 4 year term via the EC (No limit to the number of terms)
- independent from legislature

Democracy

- fear of excess democracy / tyranny of the mob (Shay's) BUT values of republicanism and the revolution
- issue: who chooses the govt and how"

Sherman on democracy

- people should have "as little to do as may be about govt"
- people are "constantly liable to be misled"

Hamilton on democracy

the national govt should act as a "shield against the imprudence of democracy"

Elbridge Gerry on democracy

- "evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy"

Mason on democracy

members of the lower house "ought to know and sympathise with every part of the community"

Result of the debate on democracy

- Congress (lower house: directly elected, upper house: chosen by state legislatures) Executive elected by the EC
- Madison's "republican remedy" - system of checks and balances and elections would make it unlikely any one faction would gain control and would "refine and enlarge the public views" resulting in national policies "more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves"

Extent of unity/compromise?

- nobody is overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the constitution --> suggests a degree of compromise
- moments of compromise BUT overwhelmingly agreed on basic principles
- fundamental aims: united (people who didn't want a stringer national govt were not there), beyond that: details led to disunity
- not uniform in ideas BUT uniform in ideals
- South's fundamental aim was not the same as the North's fundamental aim (slavery a priority in the S, secondary to the security of the union in the North)