A little over a decade after having declared their independence from Great Britain and working together to agree on a rudimentary constitution, the thirteen American colonies found themselves divided on a new issue. Governed by the Articles of Confederation, it soon became evident to all the sovereign states that this doctrine was inadequate, thus the provinces of the east coast convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was the stage for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where James Madison, William Paterson, and Roger Sherman all argued three of the most crucial proposals that served as aggregates to the United States Constitution. These proposals were known as The Virginia Plan, The New Jersey Plan, and the resulting Connecticut Compromise. Although the convention was originally intended to amend parts of the Articles of
In May 25, 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to express the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, the intention from many delegates was to draft a new constitution; create a new government rather than fix the existing one. Rhode Island was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention, the first issues they had to address was the representation in Congress.
• A president needed to be elected • Many Americans thought that the government was the main threat to their rights • James Madison wrote that the government had to be powerful enough to protect people’s rights, but not so strong that it could control rights of people • By May 25th, the convention was officially underway • George Washington was very admired by most Americans • Delegates decided on the rules for the next convention
The result of this victory enabled the following event to transpire: the Constitutional Convention. In 1787, four years after the American Revolution ended, George Washington and fellow influential people met in Philadelphia. The before them was imperative to the newly independent nation’s success. The newly formed Government needed to replace the Articles of Confederation, which had been hastily put together after the American Revolution. There needed to be a permanent and binding document that would unify the states as opposed to individual state power.
Constitutional Convention In 1787, Washington was persuaded to attend the Constitutional Convention and was popularly chosen as president. The Convention met in Philadelphia from May 14 to September 17. Delegates gathered to correct the various problems that had come up.
The Constitution was believed to be a conservative document. The Constitution will be one of the reasons why radical changes take place and will take huge shifts politically to a large extent. The Constitution took power away from the state and gave it to the federal state. This was something Hamilton believed in because he wanted a large and strong government and weak federal state. The Federalists believed in the Federalist paper which was written by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.
The motivations and goal of the Constitutional convention of 1787 was to reform the Articles of Confederation to allow a stronger centralized government, and hopefully to solve issues not yet agreed upon within the government. There was a significant lack of representation for smaller states. Shay’s rebellion showcased an economic class disparity. There was also a lack of balance in the powers and a weak national government made for the states to have conflicting rules with each other as well as too much power. Shay’s Rebellion was the main perpetrator of the revision.
From the failure of the Articles, should the new government, the Constitution, be approved? In 1788, the Constitution was created as the Articles of Confederation wasn’t successful and strong enough for their new government. During that time, a debate went throughout America about the Constitution whether to ratify it or not. Yes, the Constitution should be ratified because a Bill of Rights was promised, no one overpowered (in the government; checks and balances), and it is fair to both citizens and officials. Starting off, a bill of rights was promised which would ensure many things for the citizens.
Constitutional Convention: Summarization of the Plans The initial purpose of the Constitutional Convention of 1786 in Philadelphia was to discuss and reform The Articles of Confederation; however, many forward-thinking politicians and citizens felt that the Articles fell short in many areas and proved to be a weak agreement that did not encourage unity among the now states, original 13 colonies, and failed to provide security against foreign enemies because funds were not raised or directed to fund military forces (Schmidt et al. 29-31). There were three plans that were presented and considered: The Virgina Plan, The New Jersey Plan, and The Connecticut/Compromise Plan. The Virginia Plan (Leffler 2016, The Virginia 2005, Schmidt et al.
to make the Articles of Confederation work. George Washington didn’t like this idea of revising the Articles at first, but the news of the rebellion made him change his mind. After he agreed to attend the convention, it took on greater significance. The meeting took place in Philadelphia in May 1787, with fifty-five delegates that had occupation such as planters, merchants, lawyers, physicians, generals, governors, and a college president. Taking Thomas Jefferson’s place from Virginia were Edmund Randolph and James Madison.
One of the compromises made in the Constitutional Convention is the three-fifths compromise. In this compromise, the southerners wanted to add slaves to the population of the state they lived in. If slaves were included in their state’s population, that state would be able to add more representatives in the House of Representatives. Northerners did not agree with that statement because slaves did not have the right to vote. After the delegates compromised, they agreed that only three-fifths of the slave’s population would be counted into the state’s population.
The early modern world period was from the 15th century to the 18th century. The majority of the population lived in rural cities. Life expectancy was not very long, and the lifespan was twenty-five years old. Diseases, famine, lack of medication, and improper sanitation contributed to the low life expectancy. Diet of the wealthy class consisted of bread, meat, and wine however the lower class’s diet consisted of fruits and vegetable.
In February of 1787, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to revise or replace the Articles of Confederation. This revision was necessary to fix the problems the newly independent states were having. Fifty five delegates attended the convention such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Roger Sherman. These delegates included the two schools of jurisdiction compare and contract, into the Constitution to help make it one of the most important documents ever written.
All of the representatives from each of the colonies came together during the Constitutional Convention. During this convention they then rewrote seven Articles. Each Article explained certain powers and how each of the three branches worked. The framers wrote detailed explanations for each Article for a certain reason. The Articles were very detailed because the leaders reading the Constitution, and the citizens of the United States, needed to be able to understand the conditions clearly.
Madeline Murga Professor Manny Ontiveros Political Science 180 13 April 2017 The Constitutional Convention In May 14, 1787 The Philadelphia Convention took place in the State House which is now the Independence Hall today. Several meetings took place during the summer to discuss ways they could improve the Articles of Confederation. One of the main arguments they had was they wanted to build a new government that would meet their expectations.
