By
1786, Americans recognized that the Articles of
Confederation, the foundation document for the new
United States adopted in 1777, had to be
substantially modified. The Articles gave
Congress virtually no power to regulate domestic
affairs--no power to tax, no power to regulate
commerce. Without coercive power, Congress
had to depend on financial contributions from the
states, and they often time turned down
requests. Congress had neither the money to
pay soldiers for their service in the
Revolutionary War or to repay foreign loans
granted to support the war effort. In 1786,
the United States was bankrupt. Moreover,
the young nation faced many other challenges and
threats. States engaged in an endless war of
economic discrimination against commerce from
other states. Southern states battled
northern states for economic advantage. The
country was ill-equipped to fight a war--and other
nations wondered whether treaties with the United
States were worth the paper they were written
on. On top of all else, Americans suffered
from injured pride, as European nations dismissed
the United States as "a third-rate republic." America's
creditor
class had other worries. In Rhode Island
(called by elites "Rogue Island"), a state
legislature dominated by the debtor class passed
legislation essentially forgiving all debts as it
considered a measure that would redistribute
property every thirteen years. The final
straw for many came in western Massachusetts where
angry farmers, led by Daniel Shays, took up arms
and engaged in active rebellion in an effort to
gain debt relief. Troubles
with the existing Confederation of States finally
convinced the Continental Congress, in February
1787, to call for a convention of delegates to
meet in May in Philadelphia "to devise such
further provisions as shall appear to them
necessary to render the constitution of the
Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of
the Union." Across
the country, the cry "Liberty!" filled the
air. But what
liberty? Few people claim to be anti-liberty, but
the word "liberty" has many meanings. Should
the delegates be most concerned with protected
liberty of conscience, liberty of contract
(meaning, for many at the time, the right of
creditors to collect debts owed under their
contracts), or the liberty to hold property
(debtors complained that this liberty was being
taken by banks and other creditors)?
Moreover, the cry for liberty could mean two very
different things with respect to the slave
issue--for some, the liberty to own slaves needed
protection, while for others (those more
able to see through black eyes), liberty meant
ending the slavery. Convention
in Philadelphia On May
25, 1787, a week later than scheduled, delegates
from the various states met in the Pennsylvania
State House in Philadelphia. Among the first
orders of business was electing George Washington
president of the Convention and establishing the
rules--including complete secrecy concerning its
deliberations--that would guide the
proceedings. (Several delegates, most
notably James Madison, took extensive notes, but
these were not published until decades later.) The
main business of the Convention began four days
later when Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia
presented and defended a plan for new structure of
government (called the "Virginia Plan") that had
been chiefly drafted by fellow Virginia delegate,
James Madison. The Virginia Plan called for
a strong national government with both branches of
the legislative branch apportioned by
population. The plan gave the national
government the power to legislate "in all cases in
which the separate States are incompetent" and
even gave a proposed national Council of Revision
a veto power over state legislatures. Delegates
from smaller states, and states less sympathetic
to broad federal powers, opposed many of the
provisions in the Virginia Plan. Charles
Pinckney of South Carolina asked whether
proponents of the plan "meant to abolish the State
Governments altogether." On June 14, a
competing plan, called the "New Jersey Plan," was
presented by delegate William Paterson of New
Jersey. The New Jersey Plan kept federal
powers rather limited and created no new
Congress. Instead, the plan enlarged some of
the powers then held by the Continental
Congress. Paterson made plain the
adamant opposition of delegates from many of the
smaller states to any new plan that would deprive
them of equal voting power ("equal suffrage") in
the legislative branch. Over
the course of the next three months, delegates
worked out a series of compromises between the
competing plans. New powers were granted to
Congress to regulate the economy, currency, and
the national defense, but provisions which would
give the national government a veto power
over new state laws was rejected. At the
insistence of delegates from southern states,
Congress was denied the power to limit the slave
trade for a minimum of twenty years and
slaves--although denied the vote and not
recognized as citizens by those states--were
allowed to be counted as 3/5 persons for the
purpose of apportioning representatives and
determining electoral votes. Most
importantly, perhaps, delegates compromised on the
thorny issue of apportioning members of Congress,
an issue that had bitterly divided the larger and
smaller states. Under a plan put forward by
delegate Roger Sherman of Connecticut ("the
Connecticut Compromise"), representation in the
House of Representatives would be based on
population while each state would be guaranteed an
equal two senators in the new Senate. By
September, the final compromises were made, the
final clauses polished, and it came time to
vote. In the Convention, each
state--regardless of its number of delegates-- had
one vote, so a state evenly split could not
register a vote for adoption. In the end,
thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates supported
adoption of the new Constitution, barely enough to
win support from each of the twelve attending
state delegations. (Rhode Island, which had
opposed the Convention, sent no delegation.)
Following a signing ceremony on September 17, most
of the delegates repaired to the City Tavern on
Second Street near Walnut where, according to
George Washington, they "dined together and took
cordial leave of each other." DEBATES OF THE CONVENTION (FROM NOTES)
The U. S. Constitution Online: The Constitutional Convention Library of Congress: To Form a More Perfect Union The Constitutional Convention: Teaching American History IMAGES Voting Record of the Constitutional Convention The Constitution (page 1) New York City celebrates ratification of Constitution
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George Washington presides over the Constitutional Convention
Questions for Class Discussion 2. If the Convention did exceed its authority, should it have anyway? Does it matter whether the Convention acted beyond the powers given to it? 3. Would the United States have been better off if the Virginia Plan had been adopted as presented? If the New Jersey Plan had been adopted? 4. Has our constitutional system worked more or less as Madison hoped it would? In what respects, if any, do you think Madison would be disappointed? 5. What was the greatest failing of the Constitutional Convention? Why? Signing of the Constitution, September 17, 1787
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