The Constitutional ConventionAMERICAN GOVERNMENT

Major Players

James Madison (Virginia) At this time, Madison was the protégé of Thomas Jefferson. He was quiet,

educated, short (about 5’2”), and master of oration. (The Father of the Constitution)

George Washington (Virginia) Washington gained national acclaim as the leader of the Continental Army.

Had it not been for Washington, many would not have attended the convention

William Patterson (New Jersey) Patterson was a major opponent of Constitutional overhaul. Patterson helped

to create a plan that opposed Madison’s new vision for Government

The Convention

The Constitutional Convention kicked off on May 25th and ended on September 17th of 1787

The Convention was setup under the guise of revising the Articles of Confederation Despite the conventions stated intentions, the framers quickly went to work on a new

constitution Edmund Randolph proposed what became known as the Virginia plan. (Written by

Madison) This plan proposed a new constitution in which there would be:

A strong executive A bi-cameral legislature (Congress split into two houses) Representation based upon population A Supreme Court

Support for an Executive

In order to drum up support for a stronger executive branch Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay began to write the Federalist Papers These were a series of essays written under pseudonyms that talked up the

benefits of having a stronger executive branch They also tried to justify that a move toward a stronger central government

was not a turn back towards monarchial power Because of these papers, those who supported a stronger federal

government became known as Federalists By default, those who were against a strong federal government became

known as Anti-Federalists

Counter

To counter the Virginia Plan, William Patterson and others devised a plan of their own known as the New Jersey Plan The New Jersey Plan called for:

A weak central government (harkening back to the Confederacy) A unicameral legislature where each state would receive one vote A Supreme Court

Compromise

After much debate, the Virginia Plan and New Jersey plan were combined to create what was termed the Great Compromise or the Connecticut Compromise

This established a government that had: A Supreme Court A bi-cameral legislature

A Senate with 2 representatives from each state and a House of Representatives with representatives determined by population

Originally the members of the Senate were chosen by State Legislators An executive with loosely defined powers

Slavery was another hot issue It was determined that slaves would be counted as 3/5ths of a person when determining

representation for a state. This was hence known as the 3/5ths compromise.

Ratification

The U.S. Constitution was ratified on September 17th, 1787. Though the document had made it through the rigors of the convention,

very few were completely satisfied with the document During the ratification, there was a cry for a separate bill of rights

Many only agreed to support the ratification of the Constitution if it was agreed that later a bill of rights would be added

Thomas Jefferson

While the Constitution had passed, Thomas Jefferson argued for a more limited government Jefferson believed that government power is derived the consent of the

governed. In his pursuit of limited government, Jefferson created and lead a new

political party with the name Democratic-Republicans The Democratic-Republicans believed in a more limited role in central

government