Topic 3.8: The Constitutional Convention and Debates Over Ratification

Mount Vernon

• George Washington’s home in Virginia, where he hosted a conference to review what could be done about the country’s inability to overcome critical problems

Annapolis Convention (1786)

• a meeting of 5 delegates, discussing ways to improve commercial relations among the states

the delegates

• 55 delegates went to Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation in the summer of 1787, all of whom were White, male, and most college-educated

issues at the convention

• some delegates wanted to simply revise the Articles; strong nationalists like Madison and Hamilton wanted to draft an entirely new document & they quickly took control of the convention

federalism

• a system with a strong but limited central government — a system that James Madison and Alexander Hamilton supported, as they believed the confederate model of government in which the states were loosely united under a weak central government was unworkable

separation of powers

• the division of power among different branches of government to avoid abuse of power

checks and balances

• the power of each branch would be limited by the powers of the others

representation within congress

• the representation within congress was discussed, wondering if larger states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania should have proportionally more representatives in Congress than smaller states such as New Jersey and Delaware

Virginia Plan

• Madison’s proposal favoring the larger states; countered by the new Jersey Plan

New Jersey Plan

• favored the smaller states

Connecticut Plan (Great Compromise)

• proposed by Roger Sherman, in which it provided for a bicameral (two-house) Congress — in the Senate, states would have equal representation, but in the House of Representatives, each state would be represented according to the size of its population

Three-Fifths Compromise

• proposed after concerns whether enslaved people should be counted in state populations: southerners argued they should, while northerners argued since they did not have the rights of citizens they should not

• counted each enslaved individual as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of determining a state’s level of taxation and representation

trade

• northern states wanted the central government to regulate interstate commerce and foreign trade

• south was afraid that export taxes would be placed on its agricultural products such as tobacco and rice

Commercial Compromise

• allowed Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including placing tariffs on foreign imports, but it prohibited placing taxes on any exports

Electoral College system

• instituted because the delegates feared too much democracy might lead to mob rule

• a system where states are assigned a number of electors equal to the total of that state’s representatives and senators

presidency

• delegates limited the president’s term to four years with no limit on the number of terms

• president was granted considerable power, including the power to veto acts of Congress

federalists

• supporters of the Constitution and its strong federal government — most common along the Atlantic Coast and in large cities

anti-federalists

• opponents of the federalists who feared that the new government would be too strong — tended to be small farmers and settlers on the western frontier

The Federalist Papers

• a series of highly persuasive essays (85 in total) written for a NY newspaper by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay

• presented cogent reasons for believing in the practicality of each major provision of the Constitution

debate on a Bill of Rights

• anti-federalists expressed objections regarding the lack of specific rights that the federal government could not violate within the proposed Constitution

• federalists believed since members of Congress would be elected by the people they did not need to protected against themselves, and also argued that people should assume all rights were protected rather than create a limited list of rights

  • Federalists promised to add a bill of rights later to win support