Bellwork

• Write down at least three (3) weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

• Be prepared to discuss the weaknesses at the beginning of class.

American History

Section 7, Unit 2The Constitution

Objectives• Compare a “founder” to a “framer”• Discuss and evaluate the meetings of the

Constitutional convention• Identify the issues and solutions regarding

state and federal powers• Examine the 7 Articles of the Constitution

Quick Review

• In the last lesson, we discussed the Articles of Confederation and Shays’ Rebellion.

• What was the effect of Shays’ Rebellion on the American ideal of national unity?

The call to Philadelphia

• The striking disunity among the Confederation became fully realized after two major issues:– A trade agreement failed between the states because

only 5 states chose to send delegates, 4 fewer than the required amount to even pass legislation

– Shays’ Rebellion made Congress realize that they could not handle a real issue plaguing a state.

• Congressional leaders issued a call for a Constitutional Convention to strengthen the government and held it in Philadelphia, 1787.

The Convention

The Convention

• By May 25 of 1787, enough delegates arrived in Philadelphia to proceed with the meetings.

• The convention met in Pennsylvania State House (now called Independence Hall), in the same room where the American Revolutionaries had signed the Declaration of Independence.

Secrecy

• The delegates agreed to keep the proceedings secret, believing that it would be easier to debate and resolve their issues behind closed doors.

• Despite the sweltering summer heat, the doors and windows were kept tightly shut.

Secrecy (cont.)• The delegates took their vow to secrecy very

seriously. When someone dropped their notes on the floor, it was said that George Washington would respond:“Gentlemen, I am sorry to find that some member of the body has been so neglectful to the secrets of the Convention as to drop in the State House a copy of their proceedings… I know not whose paper it is, but here it is, let him who owns it take it.”

Question: From this passage, what do you think George Washington’s attitude was towards incompetence?

From this alone, we can definitely tell that the delegates knew the secrecy was extremely important.

The Delegates

• George Washington and the 54 other convention delegates were a remarkable collection of politicians. Most had helped to write their state constitutions and all had held public office of some sort and all were delegates of the Continental Congress.

How many delegates were there at the convention?

The Delegates

• Many of the delegates were very young, averaging around their mid-to-late 30’s.

• Benjamin Franklin was the eldest of the group at the time, being 81 years old.

The Delegates

• A few prominent Americans– such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams– were not in attendance at the Convention.

• Others refused to attend fearing that the delegates were planning to undermine state rights and that the convention would be no different from the tyranny of George III.

Wealth Status

• Most of the delegates were generally wealthy and well educated. Many held some of the more privileged ranks of society.

• Although the delegates were not your “average” citizens of the time, there was no outcry at their being representative of the states at the convention.

• Few Americans at the time questioned the belief that the wealthy were best qualified to govern.

“Founder” v. “Framer”Question: What is the difference between a Founder and a Framer in context of American history?

A “founder” or “founding father” in American history are those who signed the Declaration of Independence that lead up to the American Revolution.

A “framer” is someone who participated in the Constitutional Convention. Not all the founding fathers were Framers, but all the Framers were Founding Fathers.

Please be sure to know the different between these two historically.

Federal v. State Rights

• The Articles of Confederation gave a lot of power to the states, which meant that the central government (called the “Federal” government) was too weak to be able to handle national affairs.

• Some delegates believed it was time to replace the Articles with a new plan of government, but the issues grew about whether or not the states or the national government should have more power.

Virginia Plan

• James Madison, a delegate of Virginia, and Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph sparked a heated debate when they presented Madison’s Virginia Plan.

• His proposal was a restructure of the government and was a bold departure from the Articles.

Described by his contemporaries as “gloomy” Madison became known as the “father of the Constitution” due to his leadership at the convention.

Virginia Plan

• The Virginia Plan shifted political power away from the states and to the central government.

• The central government would coordinate the states activities for the benefits of the whole nation.

• The plan expressed Madison’s deeply held belief in federalism– the division of powers between a strong central government and the state governments.

Virginia Plan

• The Virginia Plan gave powers to Congress such as the rights to overturn states laws, tax the states, and bring any force against the state if necessary.

• Such a drastic plan made some delegates fear that the powerful federal government could (and would) simply do away with state governments.

Three Branches of Government

• The Virginia Plan also called for the federal government to be broken into three branches of government:– Executive– Judicial– Legislative

• The legislature also would be bicameral– made of up two houses in which voters would elect representatives for the lower house, who would then choose members of the upper house.

• State populations would decide the number of representatives.

What are the three branches of Government?

Three Branches of GovernmentFederal Government

Executive Branch

President and Vice President

President’s Cabinet

Legislative Branch

Upper House

Lower House

Judicial Branch

Supreme Court

Lower Federal Courts

Question

• What issues could arise if state representation was based on population only?

----------------------------------------------------------• A dispute quickly arose over the number of

representatives each state could have. The larger states, such as Virginia and Pennsylvania, favored representation based on population.

• Smaller states, such as Delaware, believed it to be unfair and that the large states would dominate the government.

New Jersey Plan

• William Paterson of New Jersey offered an alternative to the Virginia Plan. His New Jersey Plan called for a unicameral– one house– legislature where each state would have one vote.

• Madison, among others, objected because they believed it did not solve the issues of the Articles.

Compromise

• Arguments raged over the Virginia and New Jersey Plan. By the end of June, the convention was in danger of collapsing.

• To balance interests, Roger Sherman of Connecticut created a compromise– a two-house legislature that would allow for both equal representation and representation based on population.

• His compromise has been referred to as the Great Compromise.

The Great Compromise

• The Great Compromise granted each state, regardless of size, a equal voice in the upper house and in the lower house, representation would be based on population.

• The delegates narrowly approved of his proposal.

The Upper House– Senate– would have 2 Senators per state who were elected by the Lower House– House of Representatives. The House was proportional to the population. The compromise gave both groups an equal voice. `

Slavery

• The delegates had to solve another issue plaguing the convention. They now debated whether or not slaves should be counted as part of a states population to determine representation.

• Delegates from the South– ironically– insisted the slaves be included. The northern delegates strongly objected to this demand. Not only were many opposed to slavery, but they also disagreed with using slaves for political purposes while not actually giving them any real rights.

Three-Fifths Compromise

• In the end, the northern and southern delegates accepted a compromise.

• The final agreement was known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted each slave as only three-fifths of a person to determine the overall slave population.

Commerce

• Arguments rose about who should regulate trade with foreign nations and among the states. Northern delegates believed the federal government should do so, while the southern delegates opposed such broad powers.

• The southern economy depended on exports and the southerners feared that if the government imposed tariffs– taxes– on exported goods, the buyers would have to pay more for southern goods.– If they have to pay more, they might refuse to buy and sales

would be hurt.

Compromise

• The convention compromised over commerce again, as the delegates agreed that the Congress could levy tariffs on imports, but not exports.

• However, this lead to another issue– can the federal government use it’s power over foreign/interstate trade to abolish the slave trade.

Slave Trade

• The convention, fearing that the south would withdraw from the union if their rights or property were threatened, bowed to southern pressure to allow the slave trade to continue until 1807 and that slaveholders could pursue runaway slaves across state lines.

• The northern states were not happy with the solution, but knew that for the time, it was the only choice.

Drafting the Constitution

• On July 26, 1787, five delegates began to draft the Constitution, which they presented it in full on August 6th.

• Between August 6th and September 10th, the delegates debated the draft and hammered out specifics such as terms of office for the President and who could be a member of both houses.

• Another five delegate committee then prepared a finished document after the draft was edited.

The Constitution• On September 17, 1787

(11 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence), the committee presented the final version of the Constitution, written neatly by Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania.

The Constitution

• Some of the 55 delegates had left Philadelphia, but the remaining 39 signed the document.

• With the convention over, the next step would be getting the states to ratify the document.

The Constitution

• The original Constitution was made up of 7 Articles, which specifically cover:– Article 1- Legislative Branch– Article 2- Executive Branch– Article 3- Judicial Branch– Article 4- Relations among the states– Article 5- Amending the Constitution– Article 6- Role of the National Government– Article 7-Ratification by the Convention

Reading the Constitution

• In the future lesson, we are going to read through the first 7 Articles, but for now, I want you guys to grab a Constitution Handbook from the back and read the preamble. Please answer the following questions:

What is the purpose of the Preamble? How are they trying to form a more perfect Union? What is “welfare”?

The Preamble

• Before we continue, we are going to watch a short video about the Preamble by School House Rock.

Questions

• If you have any questions, please ask now.

Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to discuss the struggle for ratification.

Review1. Why did the northern states give into the South's

demands? 2. Why did some delegates refuse to attend the

convention?3. What did the three-fifths compromise do? Why did the

north oppose slaves being represented?4. What was the compromise between the Virginia and

New Jersey Plan? What did it do?5. What is a bicameral legislature? 6. How did the delegates compromise on the issue of the

slave trade? 7. Why do you think the delegates wanted to keep the

convention secret?