CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Constitutional Convention Met in Philadelphia in the summer of

1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation

-55 Delegates (planters, lawyers, generals)

-Also known as the Philadelphia Convention

James Madison

He was known as the Father of the Constitution because he wrote the basic plan

George Washington

- Unanimously chosen to preside over the meetings

-President of the Constitutional Convention

Virginia Plan (Large States) -Mostly written by

James Madison -called for 2 house

legislature, a chief executive chosen by the legislature and a court system

-representatives would be proportional to population

New Jersey Plan (Small States)

-kept the Confederation’s one-house legislature with one vote for each state

-Congress could set taxes and regulate trade – Powers the AOC did not have before

-Congress would elect a weak executive branch consisting Of more than one person

The Great Compromise

- Roger Sherman suggested a compromise to resolve the Disagreements

Three-Fifth Compromise

- Count each enslaved person as 3/5 of a free person for both taxation and representation

Slave Trade

- The slave trade was banned within the North’s borders and wanted to ban it throughout the nation

Bill of Rights

George Mason proposed adding a bill of rights to protect individual liberties, but it was defeated and not added until later

September 17, 1787

Constitution was signed (without a Bill of Rights)

Liberty Kids: We the People Part One