Constitutional Convention Essay Outline

1041 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Compare and contrast articles of the constitution and confederation

The constitutional convention began in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. The thirteen colonies involved at the time we ruled under the Articles of Confederation. The articles however became weak had flaws that the founding fathers noticed quickly with the states appearing to have individual power. On September 14, 1786 a meeting was established that gave out a call for the upcoming grand convention. Attendance was a huge issue in congress. The delegates from those states believed that is they didn’t show up then nothing can happen, but everything happens anyways. After the Annapolis meeting, selected delegates from the colonies met in Pennsylvania. They had to create and make new laws for the constitution; such as, establishing a unified currency. …show more content…

New Jersey’s plan was nicknamed the Paterson Plan. Paterson was the first committee of representation at the convention. He arrived at the convention on May 25 and left on August 6. His role was very important at the convention as the primary author of the New Jersey Plan. Paterson left the convention after the big issue of representation within the senate was resolved. After he left the convention, he only came back to sign the constitution on September 17. Paterson’s main argument was that other delegates had gone too far with their authority. It was once said that, “Mr. Paterson is one of those kind of men whose powers break in upon you, and create wonder and astonishment” (William Pierce). After the new government was established, he served in the U.S. Senate for New Jersey and also served in the Associate Justice in the Supreme …show more content…

The smaller states wanted to have the same number of representatives as large states. Larger states however, wanted to have more power considering their states contained more land and population. The fathers of the constitution decided to combine the Virginia and New Jersey Plans. This is known as a bicameral legislature. The senate has two representatives no matter the size of the state, and the House of Representatives is determined by its population. The constitutional leaders then had to think of how to count slaves. Remaining states with slaves wanted to count them as whole people. The two sides came to an agreement of counting three-fifths of the slave population. The United States however, no longer has slaves but this is the government that we live in

Show More
Related

  • Pros And Cons Of The Great Compromise

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is sometimes wrongly said that the compromise meant the founders considered slaves as only partial human beings. In fact, the compromise had nothing to do with the human worth of the individual slave. States with slaves wanted to count all of their slaves in the state�s population because that would yield more representatives in Congress. The opponents of slavery, noting that slaves had no rights of citizenship including the vote, argued that slaves should not be counted at all for purposes of representation. In the end, the compromise was to count three-fifths of the state�s slaves in the total population. In another words, for every five slaves, three of would be added to the population count used to determine representation in the House of

    Read More

  • The New Jersey Plan

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    In response to the Virginia Plan, William Patterson created the New Jersey Plan (sometimes called the Patterson Plan) in order to give an even amount of vote throughout the colonies. It was also based on the Articles of Confederation, or “it was a proposal to ‘revise’ the Articles of Confederation”. This was the original constitution for the government that was supposed to follow after the Revolutionary War. The document generally stated that the Congress should be able to create taxes. The Congress should also be allowed to “regulate and interstate commerce”. The executive and judicial branch would be created under the New Jersey Plan. The executive branch was able to choose the members of the judicial branch, who then would serve for life. The New Jersey Plan also stated that there should be equal vote throughout the states, or each state should have the same amount of the vote as all the other states. The document also stated that ...

    Read More

  • The Articles Of Confederation And The Constitution: An In-Depth Analysis

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    As I stated earlier each state wanted to be represented according to different factors. The states with bigger populations wanted representation to be based solely off of population. The states with smaller populations wanted there to be a fixed number of representatives per state, regardless of size or population. The Connecticut Compromise resolved this issue by forming the two houses that we have today.

    Read More

  • Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    The delegates who had made their way to Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention had dealt with several issues prior to their coming to Pennsylvania in 1787. Just four years prior to the Convention, The Paris Peace Treaty with Britain was agreed upon and signed with the assistance of Benjamin Franklin as America’s first ambassador. Only months, before the convention was underway in February of 1787, Shays rebellion had started and would cause for issues. This conflict however, would be one of the major reason why the convention would come together to look at the Articles of...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Founding Brothers

    1408 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ellis also talks about the Constitutional Convention that took place from May 25th to September 17, 1787. The Constitutional Convention was criticized for having secret sessions, and for the fact that the fifty-five delegates were chosen from the landowning best rather than a demonstration of the entire population.

    Read More

  • Philosophers Of The Federalist Papers

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    More and more states became interested in these changes and decided to meet in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. On this date the Constitutional Convention was held and the U.S Constitution was presented as a new plan of government that would completely replace the old system. This new plan called for a strong central government that would have highest authority on legislation and implementing laws. The federalist papers supported the choice to replace the Articles of Confederation and advocated for a strong central government. They persuaded citizens that this new form of government would build a stronger national unity and it would provide greater protection overall.

    Read More

  • The Growing Opposition to Slavery

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Three Fifths compromise states that a slave be counted as three-fifths of a person. Therefore, the population of the southern states equaled the population of the northern states. Now that the populations were balanced, the south and the north sent the same amount of representatives to the House of Representatives. Pro-slavery southerners felt as if the north still had an advantage, but it was actually the south that had the advantage in the Senate and the House of Representatives.... ...

    Read More

  • The 1787 Constitutional Convention

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    These compromises are found in four main places within the Constitution. The first is the three-fifths compromise, which detailed how slaves would influence the population of each state for the purpose of determining representation and taxation. Located in Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution the compromise states that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for enumeration purposes (Dolbeare, 71). This compromise was important for the Southern states, whose populations consisted of large numbers of slaves, because without it they would have a significant smaller number of representatives in the House. Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibit...

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Fourteenth Amendment

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. The Antifederalists were extremely concerned that the national government would trample their rights. Rhode Island and North Carolina refused to ratify until the framers added the Bill of Rights. These first ten amendments outlined things that the government could not do to its people. They are as such:

    Read More

  • Essay On Ratification Of The Constitution

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Constitution is the foundation of our county it represents liberty and justice for all. We are able to live freely and do, as we desire because of the constitution. The constitution was, signed September 17, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It took time and many debates were held before an agreement was achieved in both the drafting and ratification of the constitution. These disagreements came with several compromises before the constitution was fully ratified on May 29, 1790, with Rhode Island being the last and the thirteenth. The First, challenge was the Articles of Confederation; it was a sort of a draft of the Constitution but was weak and inadequate. Second, obstacle was the Anti-Federalists fight for more

    Read More

  • Drafting the Constitution

    2555 Words  | 6 Pages

    The idea of a National Executive was first proposed on Tuesday, May 29th, 1787, by Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia, during his opening speech of the convention. His proposal, which became known as the Virginia Plan, set out a blueprint for the convention to fol...

    Read More

  • The Creation Of The Constitution

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    Furthermore, the creation of The Constitution caused much debate between the elite and democratic states because they thought that if the Government got all of the power, they would lose their rights. The conflict between the North and South played a major role in the development of this document. The North felt that representation in Congress should be based on the number of total people and South felt that it should be based on number of whites. However, The Three Fifths Compromise settled this when it was said a slave will count as 3/5 of a free person of representatives and taxation. Article one section two of the Constitution defines how the population will be counted, obviously there was a strong opposition to this by Southern states like Virginia because their economy was based on slave labor and they had a bigger population because of it.

    Read More

  • Has the U.S. Lived up to its Founding Principles?

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of this, the Constitution was written....

    Read More

  • Importance of the Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise) in the Creation of the American Constit

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    The new government was tested by its own strengths and weaknesses before a Constitution was ever written at the Convention. The young country could have been torn apart over issues such as representation and slavery during the summer of 1787 in the city limits of Philadelphia. Instead, the delegates were able to work together to form a government that would appeal to the people of our past, and the people of our future. For over 225 years, this has worked, with only few minor details needing rearranging.

    Read More

  • Democratic and Undemocratic Aspects of the Constitutional Convention

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Madison, a delegate and one of the main supporters of a stronger national authority, had thought ahead and drew up the Virginia Plan before the convention in Philadelphia began. Thus, it became the first discussion of the committee (Roche 19).

    Read More

More about Constitutional Convention Essay Outline

Open Document