Creating A Lasting Government

1. Creating A Lasting Government The Constitutional Convention- A Great Debate

2. Key Concepts • Discuss the debate among delegates over the kind of national government that was needed. • Understand the compromises made as the national government was created. • Describe the powers granted to the executive and judicial branches.

3. Key terms bicameral unicameral James Madison The Virginia Plan The New Jersey Plan abolish compromise The Great Compromise Three-Fifths Compromise

4. The Constitutional Convention – A Great Debate • Agreement and Disagreement • Getting Organized • Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan • The Great Compromise • Sharing Power • The Slave Trade • Reaching Compromise • Executive and Judicial Branches • The Signing of the Constitution

5. A Great Debate-Agreement and Disagreement • As with any debate there are agreements and disagreements. • What most delegates agreed on: • A need for a national government, not just an alliance of states. • A need to guard against abuse of power (Montesquieu’s principle of separation of powers) • A need for divided power between the states and the national government • What delegates sharply disagreed on: • How much power the national government should be given • The number of representatives each state should have in a national government • Slavery – How would slaves be counted? Would the slave trade continue?

6. A Great Debate-Getting Organized • The Setting: • Who-Delegates • What-Constitutional Convention • Where-Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, PA • When-1787 • Why-”…for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”

7. A Great Debate-Getting Organized • On Friday, May 25, 1787, the convention began with the unanimous selection of George Washington as the presiding officer. • Along with a presiding officer, clear rules were needed to avoid confusion. • Several rules were adapted to keep the discussions secret. • No one was allowed to remove notes from meeting room. • Conversations about the proceedings could only took place in the State House. • Doors and windows were to be kept shut.

8. George Washington (standing to the right) presiding over the delegates

9. A Great Debate-Getting Organized • Other rules for voting and behavior: • Each state had one vote regardless of its number of delegates. • Debate rules allowed for each person’s opinion to be heard. • No one was to whisper, pass notes, or read while another delegate was speaking. • The delegates met six days a week from 10:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M., without stopping for a meal. • Even though there were 55 delegates, an average of 40 delegates were present on any given day.

10. Checkpoint Questions • On what issues did most delegates to the convention agree? • A need for a national government, not just an alliance of states. • A need to guard against abuse of power (Montesquieu’s principle of separation of powers) • A need for divided power between the states and the national government • What decisions did the delegates make about secrecy at the convention? • No one was allowed to remove notes from meeting room. • Conversations about the proceedings could only took place in the State House. • Doors and windows were to be kept shut.

11. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • As one of their first acts, the delegates voted not to revise the Articles of Confederation. • Most of the delegates believed that government under the Articles was so weak that a new plan was needed. • Few delegates, believe it or not, had specific ideas about how to organize the new government. • One person who did have some definite ideas was James Madison of Virginia.

12. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • The Virginia Plan-Proposed by James Madison of Virginia (called for a strong national government to replace the alliance of states) • Three branches of government • Two house legislature • Representation based on each state’s population

13. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • The New Jersey Plan-Proposed by William Patterson of New Jersey • Three branches of government • One house legislature • Representation equal for all states

14. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • The Great Compromise-Proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut • Three branches of government • Like the Virginia Plan, it called for a bicameral, or two-house legislature. • The House of Representatives would be elected based on state population. • In the Senate, each state would have two senators regardless of population. • This plan gave larger states more power in the House of Representatives but equal power in the Senate. • This plan became known as the Great Compromise because each side gave up part of what it wanted in order to benefit all. • If both sides would have been unwilling to give and take, the convention probably would have failed.

15. What’s the Plan? The Great Compromise of 1787

16. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • Sharing Power • Many Delegates feared that a strong government might abuse its power, treating the states much like England treated the colonies. • Eventually, the delegates would decide which powers would be given to the national government, which would be kept by the states, and which the national and state government would share.

17. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • Slave Trade • One issue was whether each state would have the power to either protect or abolish slave trade. • Several northern states wanted the national government to regulate all trade and to outlaw slavery. • The southern states opposed this idea because their plantations depended upon slave labor. • Because of the urgent need to form a new government, the delegates compromised. • The agreement was that the national government could regulate trade in general but it could not interfere with the slave trade until 1808.

18. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • The Question of How to count the state populations when determining representation in the House • Although slaves were treated as property, the southern states wanted t count each slave as a person when figuring state population. • Of course, the northern states objected that this would give the southern states more members in the House. • What did the delegates do? They compromised.

19. This compromise counted each slave as three-fifths of a person when a state’s population was calculated.

20. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • The Executive and Judicial Branches • The delegates felt that the executive branch and judicial branch were needed to provide for separation of powers. • One president should be given executive power and a supreme court would have authority to interpret the laws and settle conflicts between states. • The delegates generally agreed on the functions of each branch of government. • They argued, however, about who should elect the President and the Congress.

21. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • The Question: Should all the citizens vote in a direct election or just the members of the state legislatures? • Some delegates argued for direct elections because it would take into account the pinions of a wide variety of people. • Others distrusted the people’s judgment. • Roger Sherman stated that the average citizens “will never be sufficiently informed.”

22. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan? • Voting and Elections • As part of the Great Compromise, the delegates decided that all eligible citizens-that is, white men with property-would elect members of the House. • State legislatures would select senators. • A group of electors know as the Electoral College would select the President. • Each state legislature could determine how that state’s electors would be chosen.

23. A Great Debate-What’s the Plan?The U.S. Constitution • The Signing • Throughout the summer of 1787, the delegates took up resolution after resolution. • Finally, a committee put the Constitution into its final form. • September 17, 1787, the convention drew to a close with 39 delegates signing the Constitution. • The delegates to the Constitutional Convention are often called “the Framers” because they framed, or shaped, our form of government. • Over the years, changes have been made in the Constitution. • If “the Framers” could see their work today, they would still recognize the basic plan of government they created during that hot summer in 1787.

24. Questions