THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION The Birth of the United

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION The Birth of the United States Government

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787 v The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation.

CONSTITUTIONAL COMPROMISES v Compromise: an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. v The Constitution is the result of many compromises

VIRGINIA PLAN v The Virginia Plan favored the states with a large population v Written by James Madison and proposed by Edmund Randolph, both Virginians v Bicameral legislature: the lawmaking branch of the government would consist of two separate bodies v States would have representation in each legislative house based on its population

NEW JERSEY PLAN v Introduced by Edward Paterson of New Jersey v Kept the one-vote-perstate representation in one legislative body like it was under the Articles of Confederation v Small states favored it

CONNECTICUT PLAN OR THE GREAT COMPROMISE v It provided for a bicameral legislature v House of Representatives: each state is represented according to population (VA plan) v Senate: each state has two senators (NJ plan) v Both houses must pass every law

THE 3/5 COMPROMISE v Southern states wanted to include slaves in their population count for representation even though their slaves could not vote v Northern states wanted to include only the voting population in the count v Compromise: 3/5 of the slave population in each state would be counted for population purposes

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE COMPROMISE v Some delegates wanted the president to be elected directly through the people v Others feared the people weren’t informed enough to make a wise decision. They wanted the state legislatures to elect the President v It was finally agreed that the people would elect special electors from each state (electoral college) that would elect the president