Creating the Constitution

Chapter 8, Section 2

A Constitutional Convention is Called

O What events encouraged leaders to call a Constitutional Convention?

O Delegates from 5 states met in Annapolis, MDO Alexander Hamilton

O The changes they wanted required amending the Articles of Confederation

O Most people didn’t think the government needed to be changed…what changed their minds?

O Trade, trade lawsO Strengthen national governmentO Taxes

The Convention’s Delegates

O Who were some of the key delegates?O There were 55, known as the Founding

FathersO Which state did not participate?

O What groups of Americans were not represented at the Convention? Why?O Native AmericansO African AmericansO Women

The Delegates Assemble

O Pre-war, people saw government as a threat to citizen’s rights. O Now how do they feel?

O What challenges faced the delegates at the Convention?O How to set up a strong but limited federal

government.

The Convention BeginsO Why did the delegates select George

Washington as president of the Convention?O Respected leader

O Why did the delegates vote to make discussions at the Convention secret?O To be able to consider all options

freely, without outside influences

The Virginia PlanO Edmund Randolph presented a plan

(it was developed before the Convention began), that became known as the Virginia Plan

O Two-house legislatureO Based on a state’s population or wealth

O Three branches of governmentO Legislature – made the lawsO Executive – enforce the lawsO Judicial – interpret the laws

The New Jersey PlanO Presented by William PatersonO One-house legislature

O One state, one voteO What was this similar to?O Gave power to regulate trade and tax imports

O How did the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan differ?

O Why did the issue of representation in Congress divide the large states from the smaller states?

The Great CompromiseO Delegates could not come to an

agreementO A special committee was chosen to

work out a compromise

O How did the Great (Connecticut/Sherman) Compromise satisfy the concerns of the large and the smaller states?

Slavery and the ConstitutionO Representation is to be based on

population for the House of Representatives…but how, then, to determine population? O Southern states wanted slaves counted for

representation but not for taxation

The Three-Fifths Compromise

O How did the states resolve the debate over representation for enslaved Americans?O Three-fifths of the slave population would be

counted for taxes and to determine representation

O How did the states compromise over the issue of slave trade?O Congress could not ban the

slave trade until 1808

Regulating TradeO What did Southern states give up in

debates over trade issues?O Agreed to a tax on the slave tradeO Agreed to export laws by national

government

The ConstitutionO Constitutional Convention approves

the Constitution on Saturday, September 15, 1787.

Key TermsO Constitutional Convention – a meeting held in 1787 to consider

changes to the Articles of Confederation; resulted in the drafting of the Constitution

O James Madison – delegate to the Constitutional Convention; known as the “Father of the Constitution;” took detailed notes

O Virginia Plan – a plan proposed by Edmund Randolph, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, that proposed a government with three branches and a two-house legislature in which representation would be based on a state’s population or wealth

O New Jersey Plan – a plan of government proposed at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that called for a one-house legislature in which each state would have one vote

O Great Compromise – the Constitutional Convention’s agreement to establish a two-house national legislature, with all states having equal representation in one house and each state having representation based on its population in the other house

O Three-Fifths Compromise – the Constitutional Convention’s agreement to count three-fifths of a state’s slaves as population for purposes of representation and taxation