7.2

A New Charter

  • Reps from VirginiaandMarylandVirginia and Maryland met at Mt Vernon with Washington todiscusstradedisputesinvolvingthePotomacRiverto discuss trade disputes involving the Potomac River
  • MarylandandVirginiacalledforaconventioninAnnapolisMaryland and Virginia called for a convention in Annapolis that would include all 13 states to discuss more trade disputes. Only5statessentrepsOnly 5 states sent reps. HamiltoncalledforanotherconventionHamilton called for another convention; the Confederation Congress ordered the idea of a conventioninPhillyinMay1787convention in Philly in May 1787
  • The delegates arrivedonMay25arrived on May 25 for the opening session.
  • 55delegatesattendedtheconvention55 delegates attended the convention all states exceptRhodeIslandexcept 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
  • May30thMay 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 betweenthelargestatesandthesmallstatesbetween the large states and the small states
  • JamesMadisonproposedtheVirginiaPlanJames Madison proposed the Virginia Plan
  • The Virginia Plan advocated for a bicameralcongressbicameral congress with the number of reps based on statepopulationstate population. The House of Reps would be chosen by popularvotepopular vote, the Senate would be chosen by the House of Reps from nomineessubmittedbystatelegislaturesnominees submitted by state legislatures; New congress would be able to enforcelawsonstatesandwouldbeempoweredtoelectChiefExecandNationalJudiciaryenforce 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
  • TheNewJerseyPlanThe New Jersey Plan advocated for for a unicameralcongress,unicameral congress, just like the CoC, with each state having only one vote regardless of population
  • JohnShermanpresentedtheGreatCompromiseJohn Sherman presented the Great Compromise - this proposed that HouseofRepsbebasedonstatepopulationandrepsinSenatebeequalregardlessofpopulationHouse of Reps be based on state population and reps in Senate be equal regardless of population - Hamilton called it a motley measure
  • Slavesgotonly3/5sofavoteSlaves 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
  • RepublicanscameupwiththeElectoralCollegeRepublicans came up with the Electoral College
  • Theme of the Constitution is LIMITEDGOVERNMENTLIMITED GOVERNMENT
  • SeparationofpowersSeparation of powers - legislative branch ( makes the laws ) ; judicial branch ( disputes laws ) ; executive branch ( enforces laws )
  • ChecksandBalancesChecks and Balances - ensures that no branch becomes more powerful than another
  • FederalismFederalism - division of power between national and state levels of government
  • PopularsovereigntyPopular sovereignty - the ultimate source of gov’t power lies in the people