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Crafting of the United States Constitution
- Delegates gathered to correct the various problems that had arisen while the newly-independent nation was operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. The historic result of the Convention was the crafting of the United States Constitution.
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Constitutional Convention, convention that drew up the U.S. Constitution. Stimulated by severe economic troubles, which produced radical political movements such as Shays’s Rebellion, the convention met in Philadelphia (May 25–September 17, 1787), ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation.
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- Overview
- Creating a new government
- Drafting the Constitution
- Ratifying the Constitution
- What do you think?
Shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, American leaders realized that the nation needed a new, stronger Constitution. But what would the new system of government look like?
From May 25 to September 17, 1787, 55 delegates from 12 states convened in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. Rhode Island was the only state that refused to send representatives to the convention, which assumed as its primary task the revision or replacement of the Articles of Confederation.
Though the Articles of Confederation had provided the framework for governance since the declaration of the American Revolution against Britain, many of the fledgling nation’s political leaders agreed that the creation of a stronger central government was essential to the development of the power and potential of the United States. Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government lacked the power of taxation, had no authority to regulate commerce, and was impotent to resolve conflicts arising between states.
Seeking to bolster the authority of the federal government, the delegates gathered at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and elected George Washington to preside over the convention.
One of the most spirited debates at the convention regarded the composition of the legislative branch of government. Should the legislature be unicameral—consisting of one house—or bicameral—consisting of two houses? Perhaps more importantly, how should representation in the legislature be apportioned?
The delegates ultimately combined elements of both plans in what became known as the Connecticut Compromise. The legislative branch would be bicameral, consisting of an upper house—the Senate—and a lower house—the House of Representatives. Representation in the House would be based on population, and each state was allotted two seats in the Senate. The office of the president would constitute the executive authority and was to be chosen by the electoral college.
The structure of government would be federalist in nature, consisting of three independent branches: the legislature, Congress; the executive, the president: and the judicial, the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would adjudicate disputes between states, and Congress was authorized to levy taxes, declare war, raise an army, regulate interstate commerce, and draft laws consistent with the purpose of exercising these powers.
The compromise also addressed another major point of contention between northern and southern states over the issue of slavery. Should enslaved people be counted for the purpose of a state’s representation in Congress? And if so, how? The northern states did not think enslaved people should be counted at all, while the southern slaveholding states thought they should. The Three-Fifths Compromise established that enslaved men and women would be represented in the House at a ratio of 3 to 5 of their actual numbers. Thus, every five individuals would count as three for the purposes of both legislative representation and taxation.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was one of the most notorious provisions of the Constitution. For delegates from the northern states, many of whom were morally opposed to the institution of slavery, the compromise was viewed as a necessary evil in order to secure the ratification of the Constitution since the southern states had threatened to refuse to ratify the document if the interests of southern slaveholders were not protected therein.
Before the Constitution could take effect, it had to be ratified—formally approved by the assemblies of at least nine of the 12 states that had sent delegates to the convention.
Ironically enough, after the acrimonious debates over legislative representation, the small states were the first to ratify the Constitution. The most serious opposition to ratifying the document came from the larger states of Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. These states were home to large rural populations that sympathized with the plight of farmers like Daniel Shays, who had spearheaded a rebellion against what he perceived as the unjust economic policies and political corruption of the Massachusetts state legislature.
If you had been a delegate at the Constitutional Convention, would you have supported the New Jersey Plan or the Virginia Plan?
Can you think of anything the delegates could have done to ensure the ratification of the Constitution without perpetuating the institution of slavery?
In your own words, describe the character of the federal government as created at the Constitutional Convention.
[Notes and attributions]
Five months of debate, compromise, and creative strategies produced a new constitution creating a federal republic with a strong central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. Ten months of public and private debate were required to secure ratification by the minimum nine states.
- Representation. Large and small states fought over representation in Congress. Large states favored representation by population, while small states argued for equal representation by State.
- State vs. Federal Powers. A central issue at the Convention was whether the federal government or the states would have more power. Many delegates believed that the federal government should be able to overrule state laws, but others feared that a strong federal government would oppress their citizens.
- Executive Power. Having fought a war against tyranny, Americans were suspicious of executive power. The Convention held no fewer than 60 votes before the delegates agreed upon the Electoral College as the method of selecting the president.
- Slavery. Though the word "slavery" does not appear in the Constitution, the issue was central to the debates over commerce and representation. The "Three-Fifths Compromise" provided that three-fifths (60%) of enslaved people in each state would count toward congressional representation, which greatly increased the number of congressional seats in several states, particularly in the South.
In 1787, George Washington was persuaded to attend the Constitutional Convention and subsequently was unanimously elected its president. The Convention (also known as the Philadelphia Convention, the Federal Convention, or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia) met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from May 14 to September 17.
United States - Constitution, Framers, Ratification: The Philadelphia Convention, which met in May 1787, was officially called for by the old Congress solely to remedy defects in the Articles of Confederation.
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States. It superseded the Articles of Confederation , the nation's first constitution , on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitution delineates the national frame and constrains the powers of the federal government .
