The Road to the Constitution

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The American Revolution is overbut now the
colonists have to decide how they want to frame
their government. Take the first 5 minutes of
class and imagine that you were a colonist that
just fought against the British. Take out a sheet
of paper and write a letter (using full
sentences!) to George Washington telling him what
you want him to remember when the delegates are
making our Constitution.

Hints taxes,
voting, your region, religion, etc. (I will be
choosing people to share their answers!)
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The Road to the Constitution
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Quick Review

• Declaration of Independence
• Second Continental Congress
• Approved July 4, 1776
• The Articles of Confederation
• 1777, our first constitution
• Weak federal government
• Shays Rebellion, 1786-1787

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Strengthening the National Government

• 1787
• Problems with the Articles of Confederation
• States sent delegates to Philadelphia to fix the
  A.O.C.
• Rhode Island did not gothey did not want a
  stronger central government

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The Constitutional Convention

• May 25, 1787
• Independence Hall, Philadelphia
• An extraordinary group of men
• 55 men
• Well-educated
• Lawyers, merchants, college presidents, doctors,
  generals, governors, and planters with
  considerable political experience

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Who was there? Who missed it?

• Benjamin Franklin
• 81, oldest delegate
• George Washington James Madison
• Both would become president
• Thomas Jefferson John
• Both were in Europe
• Patrick Henry
• Prominent Virginian
• He was invited but did not attend he was against
  the convention

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The Boss

• Who was chosen to preside over the convention?
• George Washington
• Respected for his leadership during the Rev. War

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Procedures of the Convention

• Each state was only allowed one vote
• Majority votes from all states made decisions
• All discussions were a secret! Why?
• This way, delegates could speak freely, without
  worry about how the public would react

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Importance of the Constitutional Convention

• I would bury my bones in this city rather than
  leave the Convention without anything being
  done.
• -George Mason at the Constitutional Convention

Everyone knew that failure could mean disaster
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What happened to the

• Articles of Confederation???
• The throw it away, decided to write a new
  constitution

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Two Opposing Plans

• VS.

Virginia vs. New Jersey
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Two Opposing Plans

• The Virginia Plan
• James Madison
• 3 branches of government
• Bicameral legislature (2 houses), determined by
  population
• Favored big states

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Two Opposing Plans

• The New Jersey Plan
• William Patterson
• 3 branches of government
• Unicameral legislature (1 house) with equal
  representation
• Favored smaller states

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Two Opposing Plans

• What was the big issue?
• How representation in Congress would be decided
• Larger states wanted more power, smaller states
  wanted equal power

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The Great Compromise

• Roger Sherman of Connecticut comes up with the
  answera compromise
• Lower House
• House of Representatives
• Determined by population
• 2 year terms
• Favored larger states
• Upper House
• Senate
• Equal representation
• 6 year terms
• Favored smaller states
• Also known as The Connecticut Compromise

• What is a compromise???
• A way of resolving disagreements in which each
  side gives up something but gains something else

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More arguing? What now?

• Controversy over counting slaves as a part of the
  population
• At this time, there were 550,000 enslaved African
  Americans, mostly in the South

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More arguing? What now?

• Southern states said part of the population
  more representatives for southern states
• Northern states said slaves cannot vote or
  participate in government, they should not give
  the south more representatives

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The Three-Fifths Compromise

• The conflict was finally resolved
• Three-Fifths Compromise
• Every 5 enslaved persons would count as 3 free
  people
• Used for representation in Congress figuring
  taxes

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Another compromise

• How to elect a president?
• Some say Let Congress pick!
• Others say Let the people choose!
• The compromise

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Electoral College

• A group of people would be chosen by each state
  to choose the President
• Each state given a certain number of votes,
  determined by their representation in Congress

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One last compromise

• Conflicts over commerce the slave trade
• Congress could regulate (control) trade between
  states other countries
• However, they could NOT tax exports or interfere
  with the slave trade for 20 years

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Finishedfinally!

• September 17, 1787, finished up the Constitution
• Delegates signed it, said the Constitution would
  become the law of the land when
• 9 out of 13 states ratified (approved) it

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• So everyone in the entire United States of
  America loved the Constitution and every state
  ratified it immediately and we all had a big
  party and we all lived happily ever after, right?

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Wrong!
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A Divided Public

• Some people liked the Constitution, others did
  not
• Federalists supporters of the new constitution
  a strong federal government
• Federalism A form of government in which power
  is divided between the federal (national)
  government and the states

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A Divided Public

• Some Federalists wrote papers to rally support
  for the Constitution
• They were called the Federalist Papers (duh)
• Who wrote em?
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

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A Divided Public

• What about those who didnt like the
  Constitution?
• Anti-Federalists People opposed to the
  constitution a strong federal government
• Dont forget individual rights!

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Reaching an Agreement

• Anti-Federalists wanted to add
• The Bill of Rights
• The Federalists promised to do so, and did
• New Hampshire, 9th state to ratify
• June 21, 1788
• The Constitution went into effect
• The last state to ratify?
• Rhode Island, 1790

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The Federalist Papers
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The importance of the media
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Federalist Number 51

• If men were angels, no government would be
  necessary.
• -James Madison

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Federalist Number 51 continued

• In framing a government which is to be
  administered by men over men, the great
  difficulty lies in this you must first enable
  the government to control the governed and in
  the next place oblige it to control itself.
• -James Madison

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Federalist
Antifederalist
Issue
Who Hamilton, Madison, Jay Patrick Henry
Central Government Strongprovide protection Weak focus on states
Interpretation Loose Strict
Bill of Rights Eventually Without a doubt!!!!
Supporters Wealth/industrial common/farmers
Power of President Lots Little - no Kings!
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Lesson questions

• What does interpretation mean?
• What does strict interpretation of the
  constitution mean?
• What does loose interpretation of the
  constitution mean?

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Founding Fathers

• The Framers of the Constitution wrote a very
  generalized document.
• Purpose?
• To allow future Americans flexibility.
• Look at Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the
  U.S. Constitution on page 99 on the textbook.
  Read it carefully.
• The nick name of this passage is the Elastic
  Clause.
• Can you tell why?

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Competing interpretations

• Who interprets?
• The Supreme Court!
• How?
• Strict or literalist
• Which Means?
• The Constitution means exactly what it says!
• Framers had an exact plan

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Competing interpretations

• The counterpart of strict interpretation is?
• Loose interpretation
• Which means?
• Meaning of certain portions of the Constitution
  can stretched to the users needs

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Ticket out the door
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• 1. What is a form of government in which power is
  divided between the federal (national) government
  and the states?

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• 2. What did the Anti-Federalists want to add to
  the Constitution?

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• 3. Who was the father of the Constitution?

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• 4. The Anti-Federalists thought that the
  supremacy gives too much power to who?

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• 5. Were the Anti-Federalists or the Federalists
  mostly made up of older, Southern men?

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• 6. Who wrote the Federalist Papers?

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• 7. What was one argument against the Constitution
  by the Anti-Federalists?

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• 8. What was one argument for the Constitution by
  the Federalists?