Origins US Const.

• Articles of Confederation 1781

  No president or judicial branch

  Congress handled foreign affairs but no authority or power to enforce requests to states for money or troops
• Hamilton's Constitutional Convention

  55 delegates attended representing the 13 states except Rhode Island which did not support a strong central government. Washington was unanimously voted as President.

  They were supposed to review and amend the Articles of Confederation but soon began proposing a new form of government
• Debating the Constitution

  The new constitution was written with checks and balances so no single branch would hold too much power but there was still the issue of representing smaller states.

  The Connecticut Promise proposed a bicameral legislature with the House and Senate

  Slavery was also an issue in forming the constitution so it was left to the states
• Ratifying the Constitution

  39 of the 55 delegates signed the constitution, some had already left Philadelphia and 3 refused to approve the document. It then had to be ratified by 9 of 13 states

  Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers to convince people to ratify the constitution by detailing how the government would work

  Some states quickly ratified it while others opposed as it failed to protect basic political rights