The Constitutional Convention held during May 25 1787 to March 4 1789. This convention purpose is aimed at creating a fully empowered national government to replace the state-based system under the Articles of Confederation. The three major problems with the Articles were no control of taxation, no executive and unicameral congress. To resolve problems, the Great Compromise was reached a consensus. The 13 colonies created the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan to protect their rights again, but these two Plans had not been assembly into the
During the early years of America, agricultural demands drove most of the economy allowing the South to demanded political protection. One of the protective measures was the Three-Fifths Compromise in 1787. The South wanted to count the slaves toward its population allowing for more representation. At the Constitutional Convention, the delegates decided to count a slave as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of determining the population for how many seats each State would have in the House. This solidified Southern control over Politics for several years to come. During the ante-bellum period, the demand for cotton grew continuously forcing yet another successful compromise for the South, the Compromise of 1850. A five bill document, but one very important bill, which was The Fugitive Slave
The original constitution of the United States was drafted for multiple reasons. Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government was extremely weak. The individual states had more power than the federal government, and each of the states acted more like independent countries. Additionally, the Articles of Confederation did not distribute power well. The revised Constitution allowed for 3 branches of government, which divided federal power so that one branch could not become more powerful than another.
The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
Following the American Revolution, colonists faced the issue of creating a new form of government and order for their newly created country. Delegates from each state, excluding Rhode Island, met in Philidelphia in 1787 to draft the document that would come to be known as the Constitution. Representatives made it their purpose to create a government that would be fair for everyone; the North and South, the educated and uneducated, the rich and poor. After a closer examination of the Articles of Confederation, delegates disregarded the Articles, following the failure of their original form of government. The Articles of Confederation was thought of as a failure after Shay’s Rebellion; an act of dissent by Daniel Shay in which farmers lost their
The Federalist main argument was stated based off the opinion that the government would never have complete power over the citizens, but the citizens would also have a little more power and a say in the things that involve them. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists believed in limited powers specifically stated, they wanted strong state governments, and wanted a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution to protect the people from the government (Document 4). This was their point of view due to the fact that they believed that the individual states know and can act more based on their people that on federal government can. They focused their argument on the rights of the citizens. For the Federalists and Anti-Federalists to agree on a new government, they created a compromise that combined each of their ideas.
To resolve these differences The Great Compromise happened. The Great Compromise was a system of federalism—power is shared between the state government and the
The Articles of Confederation were the first set of guidelines for the government in America that was ratified in 1781. The Articles of Confederation limited the powers of the government, gave most of the control to each individual state, did not require a president, and was quickly found to be ineffective. It left America at risk to be invaded by other countries or to suffer from economic problems. If another country wanted to conduct business in America, they had to deal with each state individually. Any amendment required unanimous approval (Evans & Michaud, 2015).
The main reason why the Framers didn’t succeed in their final compromise is because it was too difficult to make all the delegates (who were basically competing) agree with each other, so numerous issues were ignored and most plans were severely compromised. An example of this is the debate between larger and smaller states over their representation in the newly proposed Senate. Two solutions were significantly favored: the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan. The smaller states were in favor of the New Jersey Plan, which would enforce each state to send the same number of representatives to Congress. The larger states supported the Virginia Plan, which called for each state to have a different number of representatives based on the state’s population.
Following the American victory against Britain in the American Revolution, the Americans found themselves in need of a new government that would not repeat the mistakes of their oppressors, and their answer could only be found in a compromise between two brilliant but conflicting ideas. Fifty-Five men all gathered to represent each of the states except Rhode Island, with one goal in mind; to make a new, functional government that would not oppress or burden the people of their nation in any way. Two main ideas were proposed, The Virginia plan and a plan created by William Paterson. These two plans conflicted in many ways and caused heated debates among the state representatives.
From the articles of 55 to 66, they explained the structure of the outcome that came from the Connecticut Compromise, the House of Representatives and the Senate(Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, 1788 Federalist Paper). It further discussed the election methods, terms of re-election, and their duties. In this section of the articles, the Federalist Papers was mainly add on more details and restrictions onto the conclusion that draw from the Connecticut Compromise, with the legislative structure of the House of Representative and the Senate. The New Jersey Plan along with the Virginia Plan made out the Connecticut Compromise, which had perfected the US Constitution with justice and rights to
The Great Compromise which was founded at the Constitutional Convention wasn't formed without trouble. Many of the delegates that participated in the convention were wealthy landowners and lawyers, who owned many slaves. They failed to notice the diversity that excited within the nation. As they talked how to repair the Articles of Confederation, issues would arise that would create continuous debates amongst each other. One of the issues that would arise would be the nature of the new government. The plan proposed by Virginia otherwise known as the “large-state plan.” Which proposed “a bicameral legislature, in which the lower house would be elected proportionately and the upper house would be selected from a list of nominees sent from the state legislatures on the basis of equal representation for the states.”(add footnote) As the smaller states feared that this plan would lose a voice in the federal government if they continued with the Virginia plan, they opposed this plan and came up with one for themselves which would be known as the “small-state plan.” The small-state plan would propose “a unicameral Congress, with equal representation for each state, with all the powers of the Confederation Congress.”(add footnote)
Henry was one of the firsts to come out and publicly oppose the Constitution. He argued that the strong national government proposed by the Federalists was a threat to the rights of individuals and that the President would become a king. That taxes would be enforced again, and nothing would change from the separation of the British other then than a new face under a crown. In Rhode Island resistance against the Constitution was so strong that civil war almost broke out on July 4, 1788 on because of the issue of federalism to vs. Anti-Federalism (otherwise known as the battle between the yankees to and the loyalists). At the bitter convention of in Massachusetts, letters essays, debates, and conflict arose to product the devise a solution of 5 and assure that five more states ratifying would ratify the Constitution, and work on solutions They also worked to amend the Bill of Rights.
What are the Historical Influences of United States Constitution? It is known that people all over the world have come to the United States, to create a better life for their families and themselves. The United States is known for having the best form of government for people to be included and have a say in their beliefs. What many people do not know is, what influenced the United States Constitution and the founding fathers in writing.
Compromise was a huge part of America 's history and was extremely useful when it came to the “Articles of Confederation.” The government was starting to realize the articles weren 't strong enough any more and weren 't helping control the citizens. The government said they needed to be revised so Virginia and New Jersey both made an attempt at fixing them. The Virginia Plan was written May 29,1787 and the New Jersey Plan was written shortly after on June 15, 1787. Both plans were preposals for forms of government and both had many flaws.