REER - The Constitutional Convention (Lesson)

The Constitutional Convention

The convention began in May 1787 and worked until September of that year in Philadelphia. In total, fifty-five delegates attended the convention but only thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution.

A number of important actors who had been in attendance at the Second Continental Congress that approved the Declaration of Independence were noticeably absent at the Constitutional Convention. Men like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee were not in attendance by choice or because of other responsibilities—for example, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were in France and England respectively fulfilling their diplomatic duties for the new nation.

It has been said that the convention was just a “bundle of compromises” and that’s a pretty accurate statement.

Between the small and large state plans and slavery, there were plenty of issues to debate and negotiate compromises.

 

The Great Compromise

One major issue facing the delegates to the Constitutional Convention was how different sized states (large and small) could have equal representation in the new government. States with large populations supported a plan to create a legislative branch in which representatives were assigned based on each state's population. States with smaller populations supported a plan to create a legislative branch in which all states were equally represented. (Remember that under the Articles of Confederation, there was a one house (unicameral) legislature, so the two-house (bicameral) legislature was a result of the Great Compromise.)

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention settled the issue of representation in Congress by approving the Great Compromise. This compromise helped save the Constitution by settling the dispute between states with large populations and states with small populations.

 The compromise combined components of the two plans by establishing a national legislature with two houses (bicameral.) The Senate addressed the small states’ concerns--each state was allotted two representatives regardless of the size of the population.

 The House of Representatives was created to address the large states’ concerns and representatives were elected based on a state's population—the larger the population, the more representatives were allotted to a state.

Summary:  The compromise called for the creation of a legislature with two chambers, a House of Representatives with representation based on population, and a Senate with equal representation for all states.

 

Slavery

Slavery was another divisive, controversial issue that confronted delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Though slavery existed in all the states at the time (1787) ) southern states depended on slave labor because their economies were based on large-scale cultivation and production of cash crops. When it became clear that states with large populations might have more representatives in the new national government, states with large slave populations demanded to be allowed to count their slaves as a part of their population. Northern states resisted. Both sides compromised by allowing the states to count three-fifths of their slaves when calculating their entire population. Also, to protect the practice of slavery, states with large numbers of slaves demanded that the new government allow for the continuation of the slave trade for 20 years (1808) and that Northern states return runaway slaves to their owners (Fugitive Slave Clause.) Northern delegates to the Constitutional Convention agreed to these demands in the interest of forming a stronger, functioning central government. They left issues like slavery for future generations to debate and settle---they hoped that slavery would disappear or future generations would resolve the issue in the future.

 

Separation of Powers

Despite the fact that most delegates to the Constitutional Convention believed the government under the Articles of Confederation had to be replaced, many still feared strong central governments. To reassure people that the new government would not be too powerful, the framers of the Constitution created a limited government with divided powers. The rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the Constitution limited the power of the government.

Powers were divided in two ways within the new government. First, power was divided between national and state governments. Second, the power of the executive branch was weakened because it was shared with the legislative and judicial branches. For example, the legislature can override a presidential veto of a bill, and the Supreme Court can rule that a bill signed by the president is unconstitutional. To further safeguard against abuse of power, the Constitution gave each branch of government a way to check and balance the power of the other branches. An example of these checks and balances would be the president's power to veto laws passed by Congress.

 

Federalists and Anti-Federalists

Writing the Constitution was just the first step in creating the new government. Before the Constitution could take effect, the states had to accept or ratify it. As soon as the contents of the Constitution were published, a group of influential people spoke out against it. These people came to be known as the Anti-Federalists. They believed the government created by the Constitution would be too powerful and would eliminate the power of the states. They also argued that the Constitution did not explicitly describe the rights guaranteed to the states and to each citizen.

To counter these claims, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote a series of articles that supported the ratification of the Constitution and explained the intent behind its major provisions. These essays were known as The Federalist Papers, so supporters of the Constitution were known as Federalists. To overcome the Anti-Federalists' argument that the Constitution failed to include a statement of states' rights and individuals’ rights, James Madison promised to create a list of rights that would be added to the Constitution after it was ratified. (The primary goal was to ratify the Constitution and then add the amendments after the government was underway. Note: The first ten amendments were not labeled the “Bill of Rights” at the time. The label was created later.)

The Federalist Papers, the promise of the ten amendments (the Bill of Rights,) and the efforts of Federalists convinced a majority of voters to support the Constitution. It was eventually ratified and became the basis for all laws, rights, and governmental power in the United States.

 

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