3.8

• Fifty five delegates from the states met in 1787 for the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
• The purpose of the gathering was to shore up the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
• The delegates decided to create a new Constitution that afforded the federal government more power than it had under the Articles
• Virginia Plan


  • Called for a strong centralized state
  • Bicameral legislature with representatives based on population
• New Jersey Plan


  • Called for a unicameral legislature with equal representatives for each state
• Great Compromise


  1. Bicameral legislature

  2. House of Representatives represents states by population

  3. Senate represents each state equally with two votes
• Slave states wanted enslaved population to be counted for purposes of representation


  Free states argued enslaved people were not citizens
• Three-Fifths Compromise


  Three fifths of the enslaved population could be added to the population for purposes of representation
• Slavery ban was taken off the table until 1808
• House of Representatives


  • Members voted in directly by the people for two year terms
• Senate


  • Members elected by state legislatures for six year terms
• Election of the president


  • Occurred through the electoral college, with each state choosing electors based on population
• Delegates agreed that nine out of thirteen states had to ratify the Constitution for it to become the governing document
• Opposing sides on ratification

  • Federalists
  • Anti-Federalists
• Federalists


  Mostly urban and commercial type folks who tried to persuade states to ratify the Constitution
• Anti-Federalists


  Tried to persuade states not to ratify the Constitution because it invested too much power in the central government
• The Federalists won the battle for ratification, partly through persuasion and partly by agreeing to add a Bill of Rights
• By mid-year 1788 the requisite nine states had ratified the Constitution and it was now the governing document of the land