A New Charter

• Reps from Virginia and Maryland met at Mt Vernon with Washington to discuss trade disputes involving the Potomac River

• Maryland and Virginia called for a convention in Annapolis that would include all 13 states to discuss more trade disputes. Only 5 states sent reps. Hamilton called for another convention; the Confederation Congress ordered the idea of a convention in Philly in May 1787

• The delegates arrived on May 25 for the opening session.

• 55 delegates attended the convention all states except Rhode Island were present

• Hamilton was spitting insane ideas for 6 hours straight like ma boi what is you doing

• he proposed a new form of government as a jr delegate

• The delegates unanimously elected George Washington as President

• May 30th the delegates agreed that they needed a national government with legislative, judiciary, and executive branches

• Soon the ideas were divided and battle lines were drawn between the large states and the small states

• James Madison proposed the Virginia Plan

• The Virginia Plan advocated for a bicameral congress with the number of reps based on state population. The House of Reps would be chosen by popular vote, the Senate would be chosen by the House of Reps from nominees submitted by state legislatures; New congress would be able to enforce laws on states and would be empowered to elect Chief Exec and National Judiciary. The two powers could unite to veto congressional acts, but this veto could be overridden by a vote in the house of reps and senate

• Small states disliked the idea because they had a smaller population ad wouldn’t benefit from the Virginia Plan so they created the New Jersey Plan - Presented by William Paterson

• The New Jersey Plan advocated for for a unicameral congress, just like the CoC, with each state having only one vote regardless of population

• John Sherman presented the Great Compromise - this proposed that House of Reps be based on state population and reps in Senate be equal regardless of population - Hamilton called it a motley measure

• Slaves got only 3/5s of a vote since there was not yet a big debate on slavery

• Most delegate agreed that Congress needed a role in commerce, regional interests kept them from reaching an agreement

• Congress was given power over foreign and interstate commerce, but legislature was prevented from imposing any export taxes on the States

• key principles of the Constitution center on the issue of power

• Republicans came up with the Electoral College

• Theme of the Constitution is LIMITED GOVERNMENT

• Separation of powers - legislative branch ( makes the laws ) ; judicial branch ( disputes laws ) ; executive branch ( enforces laws )

• Checks and Balances - ensures that no branch becomes more powerful than another

• Federalism - division of power between national and state levels of government

• Popular sovereignty - the ultimate source of gov’t power lies in the people