THE CONSTITUTIONAL

CONVENTIONMany of the leaders of the Revolution believed that a stronger national government was need. The first

meeting was held in Annapolis in September of 1786 which was not well attended. Another

meeting was called for the following spring (May 1787) to be held in Philadelphia in which they

would consider ways to fix the Articles of Confederation.

WHY THEY WERE THERE

Many delegates came to the meeting convinced that the Articles were so bad that they needed to create a new plan of government James Madison had already drafted a plan for a new

government before arriving at the Convention. As the Convention started the Virginia delegation,

led by Edmund Randolph, presented to the convention the plan that Madison had drawn up.

Four months later as the convention adjourned they had written a new constitution.

THE VIRGINIA PLAN This plan proposed by Madison called for a strong

national government organized into 3 governmental branches.

This government would have the power to make and enforce its own laws

Collect its own taxes Each citizen would be governed by two

governments which would get their power from the people

The existence of two governments each given a certain amount of authority over the people this is called federalism.

MAKE UP OF THE CONVENTION Congress only gave the delegates of the convention the power to amend

the Articles. 55 delegates attended the convention. May 1787 the delegates elected George Washington president of the

convention. The delegates decided from the start to ignore their instructions to amend

the Articles and instead voted to write a new Constitution Appointed a committee to draw up rules for the meeting

They decided that what was said in the convention would be a secret. They believed the best constitution required a free exchange of ideas they believed that

if delegates were afraid their debate would become public they would not express their real opinions

They believed the new constitution would have a better chance of being accepted if people did not know about the arguments that went on while it was being written.

Each state would only have one vote They agreed that a member could not be absent from the convention without

permission if it deprived a state its vote Made it possible to reconsider issues freely

No decision had to be permanent until the work was all done.

VIRGINIA PLAN CONT. The fist branch of government was the legislative branch

It was to be made up of two houses House of Representatives which would be elected directly by the

people of each state Senate which would be elected by the members of the House of

Reps from a list of nominated people by the state legislatures The number of representatives in both houses of the

legislature would be based on the population of each state. Larger populated states would have more representatives

Powers given to the legislature Make all laws that the states could not make (regulating trade

between states) Supreme power on all matters The power to veto state laws that it considered to be in violation of

the national constitution Call on the armed forces against a state to enforce the laws passed

by congress

EXECUTIVE & JUDICIAL BRANCHES Congress would elect the people to serve

in the executive and judicial branches The executive could veto acts of the

legislature but that veto could be overridden by the legislature

REACTION TO THE VIRGINA PLAN The small states were worried that the

Convention was creating a constitution in which the states would be represented in the legislature based on population. Why? The smaller states believed that they would

always be outvoted by the larger states As a result the smaller states proposed

their own plan for a new constitution led by William Paterson of New Jersey. This plan only amend the Articles

NEW JERSEY PLAN Legislative Branch 1 house congress with equal representation for

each state 1 vote The national government given the power to tax imports and a stamp

tax to raise money for it operation The power to collect money from the states if they refused to pay Congress would be given the power to regulate trade among the states

and other nations The laws and treaties made by congress would be the supreme law of

the land. No state could make laws that were contrary to them Executive Branch

Made up of several people appointed by Congress They would have the power to administer national laws, appoint other

executive officials and direct the military Judicial Branch

A supreme court would be appointed by the executive branch Power to decide cases involving treaties, trade among the states or

other nations, and collection of taxes.

GREAT COMPROMISECONNECTICUT COMPROMISE A special committee was formed to draw up a

plan to solve the problems that divided the delegates.

House of Reps would be elected by the people on the basis of each states population

Senate each state would have equal representation 2

The House of Reps. Would have the power to develop all bills for taxing and government spending

The Senate was limited to either accepting or rejecting these bills but they could not change them this is later changed to allow the senate to amend tax bills and to develop appropriation bills