Democratic and Undemocratic Aspects of the Constitutional Convention

In this essay, the author

• Explains that the articles of confederation was the first government of the united states. they created a weak national government, but the conflicts became frequent and malicious.
• Explains that a group of men with political power and status, an elite by definition, decided the solution to the problem of government was to have men evaluate the articles and make the proper changes.
• Explains that the first step of the constitution was undemocratic. no popular vote was taken either directly or indirectly on the proposition to approve a convention.
• Explains that the next step of the convention was more democratic, in that there were delegates sent to philadelphia by the state legislatures.
• Explains that james madison drew up the virginia plan before the convention in philadelphia began. since this idea was the exact opposite of what congress had planned for them to do, the framers kept the proceedings a secret.
• Explains that the virginia plan had to be modified since it gave more representation and power to the larger states. the smaller states would not be willing to ratify a constitution that gave them little representation.
• Explains that the new jersey plan was proposed to give the large and small states equal representation in the legislature. the constitution decided this matter in a democratic way.
• Explains that madison and virginia were strong proponents of equal representation of large and smaller states in the second chamber. the voting of the delegates resulted in a tie.
• Explains that the framers were tired of being in the debates and conflicts over what would go into the new constitution. some issues in it were left flexible to interpretation and some matters were just completely overlooked.
• Analyzes how charles beard wrote that the first object of government was to protect the men’s right of property. the framers wanted the constitution to be ratified because it would directly benefit them and their wealth.
• Analyzes how the delegates made their plan more likely to be ratified by agreeing to a second convention to make the bill of rights (roche 26), which was not part of their original plan.
• Analyzes how the framers' in philadelphia were more democratic than undemocratic, since the fate of the constitution was ultimately in the hands of states that were influenced by public opinion.
• Describes the works of charles a. beard, alan j. cigler, and burdett a loomis in american politics.