The
Philadelphia Convention (now also known as the
Constitutional Convention, the
Constitutional Congress , the
Federal Convention, or the "Grand
Convention at Philadelphia") took place from May 25 to
September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania
, to address problems in governing the United States
of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation
following independence from Great Britain
. Although the Convention was purportedly
intended only to revise the Articles of Confederation, the
intention of many of its proponents, chief among them
James Madison and
Alexander Hamilton, was from the outset
to create a new government rather than "fix" the existing one. The
delegates elected
George
Washington to preside over the convention. The result of the
Convention was the
United
States Constitution. The Convention is one of the central
events in the
history of
the United States.
Historical Context
Before the Constitution was drafted, the thirteen colonies operated
under the
Articles of
Confederation, created by the
Second Continental Congress
which eventually caused deep divides between the states that the
national government could not resolve. These divides included a
dispute between Maryland and Virginia over the Potomac River and
Rhode Island's imposing taxes on all traffic passing through it on
the
Post road that linked all the
states. As the Articles of Confederation could only be amended by
unanimous vote of the states, any state had effective veto power
over any proposed change. In addition, the Articles gave the weak
federal government no taxing power: it was wholly dependent on the
states for its money, and had no power to force delinquent states
to pay.
On January
21, 1786, the Virginia Legislature, following James Madison's recommendation, invited all
the states to send delegates to Annapolis
, Maryland
to discuss
ways to reduce these interstate conflicts. At what came to be
known as the Annapolis
Convention, the few state delegates in attendance endorsed a
motion that called for all states to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787 to discuss ways to improve the
Articles of Confederation in a "Grand Convention." Rhode
Island, fearing that the Convention would work to its disadvantage,
boycotted the Convention entirely in hopes of preventing any change
to the Articles, and when the Constitution was presented to the
states, refused to ratify it.
Delegates
The 55
delegates who drafted the
Constitution included most of the
Founding Fathers of
the new nation.
Thomas Jefferson,
who was
Minister to
France during the convention, characterized the delegates as an
assembly of "demi-gods."
John Adams also
did not attend, being abroad in Europe as
Minister to Great
Britain, but he wrote home to encourage the delegates.
Patrick Henry was also absent; he refused to
go because he "smelt a rat in Philadelphia, tending toward the
monarchy." Rhode Island refused to send delegates to the
convention.
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Virginia
Rhode Island
- Rhode Island did not send delegates to the
convention.
(*) Did not sign the final draft of the U.S.
Constitution.
The Convention
Due to the difficulty of travel in the late 1700s, very few of the
selected delegates were present on the designated day of May 14,
1787, and it was not until May 25 that a quorum of seven states was
secured.
The convention convened in the Pennsylvania
State House
, and George Washington was unanimously elected as
president of the convention. Although
William Jackson was elected as
secretary, Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of
1787 remain the most complete record of the convention.
Deliberations
Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan
Prior to the start of the convention, the Virginian delegates met,
and using
Madison's thoughts, work,
and notes; came up with what came to be known as the Virginia Plan,
also known as the "Large State" Plan. For this reason, James
Madison is sometimes called the Father of the Constitution.
Presented by Virginia governor
Edmund
Randolph on May 29, 1787, the Virginia Plan proposed a very
powerful bicameral legislature. Both houses of the legislature
would be determined proportionately. The lower house would be
elected by the people, and the upper house would be elected by the
lower house. The executive would exist solely to ensure that the
will of the legislature was carried out and would therefore be
selected by the legislature. The Virginia Plan also created a
judiciary, and gave both the executive and some of the judiciary
the power to veto, subject to override.
Plan of Charles Pinckney
The Pinckney Plan
Immediately after Randolph finished laying out the Virginia Plan,
Charles Pinckney of
South Carolina presented his own plan to the Convention. As
Pinckney did not supply a hard copy, the only evidence we have are
Madison's notes, so the details are somewhat sketchy. It was a
confederation, or treaty, among the 13 states. There was to be a
bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and a House of Delegates.
The House would have one member for every one thousand inhabitants.
The House would elect Senators who would serve by rotation for four
years and represent one of four regions. Congress would meet in a
joint session to elect a President, and would also appoint members
of the cabinet. Congress, in joint session, would serve as the
court of appeal of
dernier resort in disputes between
states. Pinckney did also provide for a supreme Federal Judicial
Court. The Pinckney plan was not debated, but it may have been
referred to by the
Committee of
Detail.
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan
After the Virginia Plan was introduced, New Jersey delegate
William Paterson, asked for
an adjournment to contemplate the Plan. Under the
Articles of Confederation, each
state was perfectly equal — each had one vote in Congress. The
Virginia Plan threatened to limit the smaller states' power by
making both houses of the legislature proportionate to population.
On 14/15 June, 1787, a small-state caucus met to create a response
to the Virginia Plan. The result was the New Jersey Plan, otherwise
known as the "Small State Plan."
Paterson's New Jersey Plan was ultimately a rebuttal to the
Virginia Plan, and was much closer to the initial call for the
Convention - drafting amendments to the Articles of Confederation
to fix the problems in it. Under the New Jersey Plan, the then
current Congress would remain, but it would be granted new powers,
such as the power to levy taxes and force their collection. An
executive branch was created, to be elected by Congress (the plan
allowed for a multi-person executive). The executives would serve a
single term and were subject to recall on the request of state
governors. The plan also created a judiciary that would serve for
life, to be appointed by the executives. Lastly, any laws set by
Congress would take precedence over state laws. When Paterson
reported the plan to the convention on June 15, 1787, it was
ultimately rejected, but it gave the smaller states a rallying
point for their beliefs.
Hamilton's Plan
The Hamilton Plan
Unsatisfied with the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan,
Alexander Hamilton proposed his
own plan. It also was known as the British Plan, because of its
resemblance to the British system of strong centralized government.
In his plan, Hamilton advocated eliminating state sovereignty and
consolidating the states into a single nation. The plan featured a
bicameral legislature, the lower house elected by the people for
three years. The upper house would be elected by electors chosen by
the people and would serve for life. The plan also gave the
Governor, an executive elected by electors for a life-term of
service, an absolute veto over bills. State governors would be
appointed by the national legislature, and the national legislature
had veto power over any state legislation.
Hamilton presented his plan to the Convention on June 18, 1787. The
plan was well received as a well-thought-out plan, but it was given
very little consideration because it resembled the British system
too closely. It also contemplated the loss of all state authority,
which the states were unwilling to allow.
Connecticut Compromise
The
Connecticut Compromise,
forged by
Roger Sherman from
Connecticut, was proposed on June 11. It blended the Virginia
(large-state) and New Jersey (small-state) proposals. Sherman
suggested a two-house national legislature, but proposed "That the
proportion of suffrage in the 1st. branch [house] should be
according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that
in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and
no more." Although Sherman was well liked and respected among the
delegates, his plan failed at first. It was not until July 23 that
representation was finally settled.
Slavery
Many questions remained unresolved. Among the most important were
the controversial issues surrounding slavery.
Slaves accounted for about one-fifth of the
population in the
American
colonies. Most of them lived in the Southern colonies, where
slaves made up 40 percent of the population.
Whether slavery was
to be permitted and continued under the new Constitution was a matter of
conflict between the North and South, with several Southern states
refusing to join the Union
if slavery
was not allowed.
One of the most contentious slavery-related issue was the question
of whether slaves would be counted as part of the population in
determining representation in
Congress or
considered
property not entitled to
representation. Delegates from states with a large population of
slaves argued that slaves should be considered persons in
determining representation but as property if the new government
were to
levy taxes on the
states on the basis of population. Delegates from states where
slavery had disappeared or almost disappeared argued that slaves
should be included in taxation but not in determining
representation.
Finally, delegate
James Wilson proposed
the
Three-Fifths Compromise.
This was eventually adopted by the convention.
Another issue at the Convention was what should be done about the
slave trade. Ten states had already
outlawed it. Many delegates heatedly denounced it, but the three
states, Georgia and the two
Carolinas,
that allowed it threatened to leave the convention if the trade
were banned. In effect they postponed the decision on the slave
trade because of its contentious nature. The delegates to the
Convention did not want its
ratification to fail because of the conflict
over slavery. Therefore, a special committee worked out another
compromise: Congress would have the power to ban the slave trade
(as far as importing slaves), but not until at least 20 years had
passed, in 1808.
Drafting and signing
In late July, the convention appointed a
Committee of Detail to draft a document
based on the agreements that had been reached. After another month
of discussion and refinement, a second committee, the Committee of
Style and Arrangement, headed by
Gouverneur Morris, and including Hamilton,
William Samuel Johnson, Rufus King, and Madison, produced the final
version, which was submitted for signing on September 17. Morris is
credited now, as then, as the chief draftsman of the final
document, including the stirring preamble.
Not all
the delegates were pleased with the results; some left before the
ceremony, and three of those remaining refused to sign: Edmund Randolph, George Mason of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry
of Massachusetts. George Mason demanded a Bill of Rights if
he was to support the Constitution. The
Bill of Rights was finally
added and is considered the final compromise of the Convention -
several states asked specifically for these amendments when
ratifying the Constitution, and others ratified the Constitution
with the understanding that a bill of rights would soon follow. Of
the 39 delegates who did sign, probably no one was completely
satisfied. Their views were ably summed up by
Benjamin Franklin, who said,
"There are several parts of this Constitution which I
do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve
them.
...
I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain,
may be able to make a better Constitution.
...
It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system
approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will
astonish our enemies..."
The Constitution was then submitted to the states for ratification,
pursuant to its own
Article
VII.
See also
References
- Articles of Confederation, Art. 13.
- Art. 8.
-
{{citeweb|url=http://www.jmu.edu/madison/gpos225-madison2/adopt.htm}|author=Bent,
Devin|title="Constitutional Convention Overview"|accessdate=October
6, 2007|language=English}}
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