The Constitutional Convention was initially an effort to amend the Articles of Confederation, and the purpose of the meeting was to create a whole new government (Shultz, 2014). The Convention was secret and was drawn out through the summer of 1787 (Shultz, 2014). There were many divisions in the preliminary plans and the Virginia Plan, and the New Jersey Plan was the largest (Shultz, 2014). James Madison headed the Virginia Plan's agenda, and the plans he laid out were 1) do away with the Articles of Confederation 2) create two houses within Congress 3) create a government which Congress had the power to veto the actions of the states (Shultz, 2014). He also felt that population would determine membership in Congress and this would give an …show more content…
While this may have angered people, without some control over taxes the United States may have collapsed early.
Divisions formed almost immediately before the ratifications of the Constitution (Shultz, 2014). The Federalist were supporters of the Constitution. The Federalist were in support of a stronger government and felt that a stronger government was better than the confederation of semi-sovereign states (Encyclopedia.com, 2016). The Federalist believed that once the Federal Government had more power the problems with the nation's debt would be handled better (Diffen.com, n.d.).
The anti-federalist was against the ratification of the Constitution and did not want the government to have more control over them (Diffen.com, 2016). They were also against having a president out of fear of tyranny and preferred individual states to handle their affairs (Diffen.com, 2016). They did not feel comfortable with ratifying the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was added (Diffen.com).
By 1795, the two political parties were clearly defined (Shultz, 2014). The democratic- republicans (which consisted mostly of anti-federalist) and the Federalists (Shultz,
The anti federalist in the other hand wanted more rights for the states they believed in a strong state and a very minimalist federal government, they focused on the bill of rights whereas the federalist focused on the
For this purpose, a special convention was held in Philadelphia for delegates to “overhaul” the Articles of Confederation and “render the constitution of the Federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union” (161). During what came to be known as the Constitutional Convention, many issues were debated and
During the Constitutional Convention, in the summer of 1787, several divisions arose among the delegates. There were differences between the northern vs. southern states, merchants vs. farmers, free vs. slave states, large vs. small states, and east vs. west. However, the main division of the Constitutional Convention was the Virginia Plan vs. the New Jersey Plan, essentially the large states vs. small states. The primary objective of the meeting was to somehow find a balance of power without leaving any one group or person with absolute control.
Federalists are folks that agreed with the Constitution while anti-federalists disagreed. The federalists wanted a strong natinal government so the nation could be protected. Anti-federalists thought that a strong executive could become a king and similar to a monarchy. Both sides relied on Virginia's vote to raitfy the Constitution, and little states to follow behind, so it could go into effect. New Hampshire was the final state to vote and the Constitution went into effect, so the people celebrated on a day known as the 4th of July today.
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.
The differences between the federalists and the anti-federalists is the federalists like a central government while the anti-federalists like a small weak government. The constitutional convention was held and the federalists wanted to replace the Articles of Confederation while the anti-federalists
The Federalists of the convention were in favor of the ratification of the Constitution. They believed that the national government must be strong in order to function and to control uncooperative states, which could protect the rights of the people. They also believed that the Constitution and state government protected individual freedoms. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists opposed a strong central government, particularly a standing army. They believed it threatened state power along with the rights of the common people.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 brought politicians from different states together in order to create a more complex and centralized form of government. The Virginia Plan was brought forward by James Madison, a representative of Virginia, who wanted to create a more centralized and powerful national government, that would benefit the larger states if it was implemented. The main political dilemma was to construct a central government that would provide the necessary national goods without interfering or endangering the power of the states. Some of the issues discussed at the Convention that were brought forward by the representatives were congressional representation, the appointment of House seats, the national assumption of state debts, the regulation of tariffs and the presidential powers, which were later on incorporated in what is known today as the Constitution.
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.
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.
The Constitutional Convention began on May 25th 1787. In was held in the East Room of the Pennsylvania State House. Fifty-five delegates showed up to the Convention. With the fifty-five people came many disagreements about how the government should be structured. Some wanted a central government with power.
This broke people up into two groups: Anti-Federalists and Federalists. The Anti-Federalists were those in favor of strong states’ rights. They disliked the Constitution because they believed that there was a chance that Constitution would destroy the freedoms the colonies fought for. They were scared of tyranny, especially pertaining to the fact that under the new Constitution, the national government, or Congress, would be able to make decisions without even asking for the states’ permission.
One major difference between both groups was that The Federalists supported the creation of a strong federal government, but the Antifederalists wanted more power for the states (Debate over Ratification of the United States Constitution). Moreover, the Antifederalists believed that the Constitution would limit the power of the people and give more power to the government. A second important difference between the two groups was that the Antifederalists demanded the inclusion of a bill of rights but the Federalists opposed the idea. The bill of rights was called for in order to protect the individual liberties of American citizens, which was not already included in the Constitution (The Constitution Webquest). Before being able to ratify the document, the writing of a bill of rights was
Following the Revolutionary War, America had just gained independance from Great Britain and needed to form a new government. The Articles of Confederation were established as an attempt to create a government that was unlike Britain’s. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had several weaknesses. When in the process of repairing those weaknesses, the Federalists and the Anti-federalists formed. The Articles of Confederation were very weak as well as useless to America and because of this, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists could not agree on a new type of government.
Federalists and Anti-Federalists had opposing views in the Constitution because of their differences; but they also had many similarities that ended up leading to the ratification of the Constitution. Anti-Federalists and Federalist had many similarities. Both were supportive of this new country and knew that they needed a government. They both wanted the congress to have power to create war and to create treaties.