Unit 3: Birth of a Nation Page 4 Drafting the Constitution—Conflict leads to Compromise Nationalists Strengthen the Government Shays’ Rebellion caused panic and dismay throughout the nation. Every state had debt-ridden farmers. Would rebellion spread from Massachusetts elsewhere? It was clearly time to talk about a stronger national government. In order to prevent abuse of power, the states had placed such severe limits on the federal government and as a result, the federal government had become too weak. ture with membership based on each state’s population. The voters would elect the members of the lower house, who would then elect members of the upper house. Delegates from the small states objected the Virginia Plan because it gave more power to states with larger populations. Small states supCall For Convention In May 1787, delegates from all the states ported William Paterson’s New Jersey Plan, which proposed a single-house conexcept Rhode Island gathered at the gress in which each state had an equal Philadelphia State House—in the same vote. The debate between the states room in which the Declaraover representation was at a deadtion of Independence had lock. been signed 11 years earlier. Delegates attending the conFinally, Roger Sherman, a political vention included leaders leader from Connecticut, suggested such as James Madison, Alexthe Great Compromise, which ofander Hamilton, Ben Frankfered a two-house Congress to satisfy lin, and George Washington. James both small and big states. Each state In spite of the sweltering Madison The “Father” of would have equal representation in heat, the windows were the Senate, or upper house. The size tightly closed to prevent out- our American Constitution of population of each state would siders from eavesdropping determine its representation in the on the discussions. House of Representatives, or lower house. Most delegates recognized the need to Sherman’s plan pleased the interests of strengthen the central government. both big and small states and the plan is Within the first five days fo the meeting, still in effect today. they gave up the idea of revising the Articles of Confederation and decided to Slavery-Related Issues form a new government. Representation based on population raised Big States vs. Small States One big issue the delegates faced was giving fair representation to both large and small states. James Madison’s Virginia Plan proposed a bicameral legisla- tives in the House. Northern delegates, whose states had few slaves, disagreed. Not counting Southern slaves would give the Northern states more representatives than the Southern states in the House of Representatives. The delegates eventually agreed to the Three-Fifths Compromise, which basically meant that for every 5 slaves counted in the population only 3 would be counted in the census (official count of state’s population). The Three-Fifths Compromise settled the political issue but not the economic issue of slavery. Slaveholders, especially in the South, worried that if Congress were given power to regulate foreign trade, it might do away with the slave trade. To resolve this issue, the convention gave Congress the power to control trade but prevented it from interfering with the slave trade for at least 20 years. As a result, the institution of slavery was firmly recognized and protected in the U.S. Constitution, thereby giving slave the question of whether slaves should be owners legal rights to own slaves. This counted as people. Southern delegates compromise would set the stage for a fuwhose states had many slaves, wanted ture conflict known as the Civil War that slaves included in the population count that determined the number of representa- would focus on the issues of states’ rights and slavery. Source: Civics In Practice: Principles of Government and Economics Gregory I. Masing: Holt, Rinehart and Winston 2007
© Copyright 2024 Paperzz