CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

• May 1787, Philadelphia• Sole purpose is to REVISE the Articles

of Confederation• Only state that didn’t send delegates?• Franklin is oldest delegate (81)• What was a “typical delegate”• Washington is President of Convention• Meetings in private -- public not

invited• View of human nature: people are

self-interested in acquiring wealth & power

CONFLICTS & COMPROMISES# 1 - CONFLICT OVER REPRESENTATION:

• LARGE STATE PLAN:– a/k/a Virginia Plan– author: JAMES

MADISON Known as “Father of the Constitution”

– Number of representatives each state is to have in Congress determined by population of the state

• SMALL STATE PLAN:– a/k/a New

Jersey Plan– Number of

representatives each state is to have in Congress should be equal

THE COMPROMISE:

• Congress is BICAMERAL (two houses:• Lower House (House of Representatives) -

membership is determined on the basis of population of the states (VA Plan)

• Upper House (Senate) - equal representation with two members from each state (NJ Plan)

• National gov’t supreme over state gov’ts and has 3 separate branches

• Known as The Connecticut Compromise, a/k/a The Great Compromise – authored by Roger Sherman

HOUSE SENATE

# 2 - CONFLICT OVER POPULATIONCOUNT FOR HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES (SLAVES)

• THE NORTH’S PLAN:

• Slaves should be counted as people only for purposes of taxation (determining how much tax a state owes to Congress)

• THE SOUTH’S PLAN:

• Slaves should be counted as people only for purposes of representation in Congress (how many reps each State gets to send to Congress)

THE COMPROMISE:•KNOWN AS THE THREE-

FIFTHS COMPROMISE•Every 5 slaves would

equal 3 people for both purposes–Taxation &–Representation

THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE:• Does NOT mean that a slave = 3/5 of a

human being… it’s a formula• Actual Formula:

– Total number of inhabitants of a state (including women & children & men without property) PLUS 60% (3/5) of the state’s slave population DIVIDED by the total population of the U.S. = percentage of representatives that state gets in the U.S. House

– For example, if a state’s total population of free inhabitants plus 60% of its slaves was equal to 10% of the country’s total population, then that state would get 10% of the representatives in the House.

• This formula was applied for determining both the representation percentage and taxation percentage for each state.

# 3 - CONFLICT OVER SLAVE TRADE:

• THE NORTH’S PLAN:– preferred

Congress to do away with slave trade entirely

• THE SOUTH’S PLAN:– wanted

Congress to agree not to interfere with slave trade at all

THE COMPROMISE:-Congress agrees not to interfere with the slave trade for 20 years-Agreed to in exchange for Southern support of “Commerce Compromise”

- No taxing of exports; states can’t tax imports

# 4 -EXECUTIVEBRANCH CONFLICT:

• A committee of executives elected by Congress

• vs.• A single

executive elected for life (proposed by Alexander Hamilton)

• THE COMPROMISE:

• a single executive

• elected for 4 year terms

• elected indirectly by the electoral college method

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH:

• Convention established ONLY the Supreme Court

• Authorized Congress to set up all other federal courts

RATIFICATION• Constitution completed by

September 1787• Needs to be ratified by only 9

states before it is effective• Will be ratified by special

conventions called in each of the states– Why only 9 states instead of 13?– Which state ratifies first?– Which is 9th?– But, didn’t start until after 10th

& 11th – WHY?– Which states are the last 2

holdouts?

THE FEDERALISTS

• Supported Constitution

• Led by Hamilton, Madison, Jay– The Federalist

Papers– 85 essays– Seeking NY

approval• Support idea of

strong central government

• Believed a Bill of Rights not necessary since the states already have Bill of Rights in their state constitutions

• Constitution IS a bill of rights– it carefully limits

the government’s powers; if a specific power was not listed, then the government simply did not have it

THEANTI-FEDERALISTS

• Opposed to Constitution and the amount of power give n to the central government

• Led by Patrick Henry, George Mason

• Believe STATES should retain more power than the one central government

• Strongly object to the lack of individual freedoms – a Bill of Rights

• Feared federal government tyranny

Patrick Henry

George Mason

ADVANTAGES OF THE FEDERALISTS:

• Problems created by Articles of Confederation– Which rebellion pointed these out?

• Anti-Federalists had nothing better to offer!

• Better organized than Anti-Federalists– Controlled many newspapers

• Had “support” of national hero: George Washington• Promised to add a Bill of Rights with individual freedoms• Finally ratified in 1788

CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES:

The difference between Federalism & Separation of

Powers:

POWER OF GOVERNMENT

FEDERALISM: division of power between national &

state levels

POWER OF GOVERNMENT

POWER OF GOVERNMENT

-NATIONAL

-STATE

POWER OF GOVERNMENT

SEPARATION OF POWERS:among 3 separate branches – done

at national & state levels

-NATIONAL

-STATE

Legislative Executive Judicial

Legislative Executive Judicial

EXCLUSIVE POWERS(Expressed, Enumerated)

• Of the federal government• Include power to:Include power to:• Coin Money• Regulate Interstate commerce• Declare War; Establish

Army/Navy• Establish Post Office• Grant Copyrights & Patents• Admit states• Set laws of citizenship

RESERVED POWERS

• Of state governments• Include power to:• Regulate intrastate commerce• Conduct elections• Establish local governments• Provide for the public safety• Reserved by the 10th Amendment

CONCURRENT POWERS

•POWERS HELD BY BOTH NATIONAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS

• Include power to:•Tax•Borrow Money•Create Banks•Establish courts

Are the activities below powers of the federal gov’t, state governments, or both?

• Issue driver’s licenses• Determining length of the

school year• Maintaining a navy• Cleaning up water pollution in

rivers & lakes• Taxing individual & corporate

income• Setting up the process for

administering elections