CH. 2-4 CREATING THE CONSTITUTION

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

THE FRAMERS

• All states but RI send delegates• 74 delegates but only 55 attend• Many Outstanding Individuals

RECORD OF THE DELEGATES IMPRESSIVE

• Many fought in the Revolution• 39—Members of the Continental Congress or Congress of the

Confederation or both• 8 attended state constitutional conventions• 8 signed the Declaration of Independence• 31 attended college• 2 future US Presidents• 1 future US Vice-President• 17 future senators• 11 future representatives• Average age – 42 (nearly half were in their 30’s)• Oldest – Ben Franklin – age 81

People who refused to attend

• Patrick Henry— ’He smelt a rat’• John Hancock• Richard Henry Lee• Thomas Paine – in Paris• Thomas Jefferson – American Minister to

France• John Adams – Envoy to England and Holland

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ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURE• Met in Independence Hall—Philadelphia• May 25, 1787—George Washington elected

convention president• A majority of states needed to do business• Each state delegation would have 1 vote/majority rules• Most work was done in secrecy• A secretary, William Jackson, and other minor officers

were appointed• Official records were sketchy and not too detailed• Main accounts came from James Madison

• Madison became the convention’s floor leader

• Framers met 89 of 116 days• May 25-September 17, 1787• Most work done on the floor but some

committee work

A MOMENTOUS DECISION

• Original Plan was to amend Articles of Confed.

• May 30, 1787—Edmund Randolph (VA) proposes national government with supreme legislative, executive, and judiciary

• Two main plans – Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan

THE VIRGINIA PLAN

• May 29, 1787

• Work done by Madison & presented by Randolph

• 3 separate branches—legislative, executive, judicial

• LEGISLATIVE BRANCH• Bicameral• Representation based on state population or amount of $$ given to central government• Lower—House of Representatives—popularly elected• Upper—The Senate—chosen by members of the House from list submitted by state legislatures• Congress would have all powers from Articles in addition to all

powers to which the states were incompetent• Congress could veto any state law that conflicted with national

law• Use of force necessary to make states obey

• Congress would choose a “National Executive” and a “National Judiciary”

• called Council of Revision

• Council could veto acts passed by Congress, veto overridden--both houses

• Executive would have “general authority” to execute national laws.

• Judiciary—one or more supreme tribunals

• All state officials would take an oath to support the union

• Congress would have exclusiv e power to admit a new state.

THE NEW JERSEY PLAN

• June 1, 1787—Proposed by William Paterson (NJ)• Retain unicameral Congress of Confederation, with

states equally represented• Limited Congressional powers—taxation, regulate

trade• “Federal Executive”– more than 1 person• Chosen by Congress• Could be removed by majority of state governors• Federal Judiciary--single “Supreme Tribunal”

appointed by the executive

MAJOR DIFFERENCE

• How should states be represented in Congress??

• Population or monetary contribution—Virginia Plan

• State Equality—New Jersey Plan & The Articles

COMPROMISES• THE CONNECTICUT COMPROMISE• Congress would have 2 houses• Senate—states represented equally• House—states represented by population• Often called “The Great Compromise”

• THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE• All free persons counted as 1 while all slaves counted as 3/5.

• COMMERCE AND SLAVE TRADE COMPROMISE• Congress could regulate foreign trade• Congress forbidden the power to tax state goods• Congress forbidden to act on the slave trade for at least 20 years.

• A Bundle of Compromises

SOURCES OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

• Framers were well educated• They studied government from Rome and Greece• Written works studied• Framers used their own experiences

THE CONVENTION COMPLETES ITS WORK

• September 8, 1787—Committee appointed to revise style and arrangement of document

• September 17, 1787—The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by 39 delegates.