Lesson 8: The Constitutional Convention
In this lesson, we will learn about the convening of the Constitutional
Congress, the factions that existed among the delegates, and the two main plans
that were proposed for the new system of government – the Virginia Plan and the
New Jersey Plan. We will then see how differences between the factions were
reconciled through the Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise. We
will also look at the Madisonian Model of government which involved separation
of powers and a system of checks and balances, and the way the Chief Executive,
the President, is elected.
On September 11th, 1786,
the Virginia legislature requested a meeting among the states to talk business.
It was not long before it became clear that
the national government needed some serious tweaking if America was going to
function as a country.
So on May 25th, 1787,
the Constitutional Convention convened "to consider the exigencies of the union."
Out of 74 delegates chosen,
only 55 attended the Constitutional Convention. There were two main factions at
the Convention.
The Nationalists were men such as George Washington and
Benjamin Franklin who wanted a national government with some actual power.
The Republican Nationalists were those such as James Madison and
James Wilson who wanted a national government that was supported by the people.
There were also delegates who were still against giving any real power to
a national government.
In a masterful stroke, James Madison and
his Virginia delegates came out strong when George Washington opened up the
debate.
They proposed a Bicameral Legislature, which is a legislature made up of two
parts, called chambers. That is the House of Representatives and the Senate
that we have today.
The Virginia delegates further proposed a national executive that
the legislature would elect, as well as a national judiciary – also elected by
the legislature.
Smaller states realized that
they had to
start submitting proposals themselves or they would be dominated by the larger
states.
New Jersey started with an alternative when they offered that each state would
have one vote in a Congress that would make the laws that govern the land, one
main responsibility being to tax the people.
But the most important part of New Jersey's Plan was the Supremacy Doctrine,
which asserted the priority of national law over state laws. This principle is
stated in Article VI of our Constitution.
The New Jersey Plan was a no-go for the Nationalists and
the Virginia Plan was not happening for the smaller states.
A compromise had to
be struck. It was called the Great Compromise, which is the compromise between
the New Jersey and Virginia plans that resulted in one chamber of Congress
based on population, and another chamber representing each state equally. The
Great Compromise was also called the Connecticut Compromise.
Having a Senate and
a House of Representatives settled the controversy between the states.
An issue came up concerning slaves since slavery was still legal. The North did
not have many, but it was a big trade in the South.
As far as population was concerned, how were the slaves going to be counted?
The South wanted to count slaves as an equal part of their population,
but the North objected.
The resulting Three-Fifths Compromise meant that
each slave was counted as three-fifths of a person when it came to
calculating population.
The slavery issue was not completely settled. There were delegates who opposed
the idea of owning another person.
However, they feared that
the union would split if they did not find a compromise. "Great as the evil is,
a dismemberment of the Union would be even worse,“ said James Madison.
So,
the Southern states were allowed to
continue trading slaves even though there were many delegates against it.
The Southern delegates further stipulated that
export taxes would not be imposed since the Southern states relied heavily on
agricultural exports.
Another agreement that was made was that
the president would select Supreme Court justices and the Senate would confirm
them.
James Madison played a major role in the whole process and
his proposals for government have often been called the Madisonian Model.
The Madisonian Model is a structure of government in
which the powers of the government are
separated into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
The Madisonian Model includes a way to protect the people from
any branch dominating the others. It does this through a system of checks and
balances.
Checks and
Balances is a major principle of the American system of government whereby the
powers of each branch of the government act as a check on the actions of the
others.
The president of the United States is the Executive who is elected by the
Electoral College.
The Electoral College is a group of persons, called electors,
that officially elects the president and the vice president of the United
States. The electors are chosen by each state and in the District of Columbia.
In this way, the framers of the Constitution ensured that
the people would choose the president, but through a system where each state
has as many electors as it does representatives in both the Senate and the House.
A five-man team known as the Committee of Detail put the finishing touches on
the Constitution.
By signing time, only 42 of the delegates were still present and
3 refused to sign. As a result,
the new Constitution was approved by 39 delegates of the 55 that
came to the Constitutional Convention.