Constitutional+Convention

=The Constitutional Convention = toc

The Constitutional Convention was a convention that the Founding Fathers decendents went to. By 1787, Americans recognized that the Articles of Confederation had to be modified. The Articles gave Congress virtually no power to regulate domestic disputes. This came with no power to tax, no power to regulate commerce, and all that jazz. Without coercive power, Congress had to depend on financial contributions from the states. They often time turned down requests. This was were they met to write the constitution.

The Begining[[image:http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/PHIL99.jpg width="148" height="104" align="right"]]
The convention considered three major proposals. The Virginia Plan, The New Jersey Plan, and the Connecticut Compromise. The Virginia Plan was generally Favored by the large states and those laying claim to western land. It sought a strong national government with two ldgislative house electes on the basis of the population. The New Jersey Plan, favored principally by the small states. It called for equal representation of the states in a single legislative body. The Connecticut Compromise, which broke the deadlock, proposed a lower house, elected in proportion to population, and an upper house regardless of size, would have equal representaition.

__May in 1787__
It was May 25, 1787, a week later than scheduled, that the delegates from the various states met in the Phensylvania State House in Philadelphia. The first order of business was eleting George Washington president of the Convention. The second order was establishing the rules. The rules included complete secrecy concerning its deliberations. The rules would guide the proceedings. James Madison took excelent notes. These weren't published until years, no decades, later.

__The Virgina Plan__
The convention mainly begain four days later when Governor Edmund Randoph of Virginia at the time presented a plan for all new structure of government. This brand new structure was named The Virginia Plan. The Virgina Plan had been drafted by James Madison, a fellow Virginia delegate. This plan called for a very strong national government. The plan gave a national government the power to legislate and even gave a national Council of Revision a veto power over state legislatures.

__The New Jersey Plan__
The delegates from smaller states opposed many of the provisions in the Virgina Plan. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina asked whether sections of the plan ment to abolish the States Governments altogether, or what. June 14 a plan that was going againts the Virginia Plan made a plan called the New Jersey Plan. This was presented by delegate William Paterson of New Jersey. This plan kept federal powers rather limited. This also created no new Congress. Instead of federal powers and no new Congress, the plan enlarged some of the powers then held by the Continental Congress. Paterson made clear that the more opposition of delegates from many of the smaller states to any new plan that would eliminate them of equal suffrage in the legislative branch.

The Signing of the Constitution[[image:http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/WebQuests/WQ-ConstitutionalConvention/ConstituitonalConventionPtg.jpg width="301" height="198" align="right"]]
By September all the finial compromises were made, and it has come time to vote. Each state had one vote in the Convetion regardless of the sates size. In the end 39 of 55 delegates supported adoption of the new Constitution. This was just barely enough to win support from each of the twelve attending state elegations. Rhode Island had sent no delegation because they had opposed the Convention in the first place. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Following the signing cermony, most of the delegates went to the City Tavern on Second Street where they, according to Washington, "they dined together and took cordial leave of each other."

References:

Constitutional Convention of 1787-http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/constitutional_convention.html Constitutional Topic: The Constitutional Convention-http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_ccon.html Exploring Constitutional Conflicts-http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/convention1787.html