Drafting the Constitution

Drafting the Constitution

The Articles of Confederation was not working!! Many Americans felt something had to be done.

This lesson starts us on a path to understand how our

U.S. Constitution came into being.

Drafting the Constitution

The Constitutional Convention opened on May 25, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its goal was to revise the the Articles of Confederation.

Revise: to look over again in order to correct or improve; to study again; review.

Drafting the Constitution

Thirteen colonies were now the United States of America. How were they going to govern themselves?

Drafting the Constitution

The Convention would prove historic because it did not revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it produced a new United States Constitution.

Drafting the Constitution

The Convention's delegates was a remarkable group.

55 delegates came. Only Rhode Island did not send delegates.

8 of them had signed the Declaration of Independence

Drafting the Constitution

Benjamin Franklin was 81 , and wise in the ways of government and human nature.

George Washington was so well respected that the delegates immediately elected him president of the Convention.

Drafting the Constitution

Most of the delegates represented a new generation of American leaders. Nearly half were young men in their thirties.

Drafting the Constitution

One of these young delegates was Alexander Hamilton of New York.

Hamilton had served for a time as Washington's personal secretary.

Drafting the Constitution

Hamilton despised the Articles of Confederation. He wrote:

"The nation is sick and wants powerful remedies."

The powerful remedy he prescribed was a strong central government.

Drafting the Constitution

The best prepared delegate was 36 year old James Madison of Virginia. For months he read books on history, politics and commerce. He arrived in Philadelphia with a case bulging with volumes of research.

Drafting the Constitution

Madison was quiet and rather shy. Still his keen intelligence and his ideas strongly influenced the other delegates. Today, Madison is often called the "Father of the Constitution".

Drafting the Constitution

When the convention began, the delegates decided to keep their talks secret. They wanted to be able to speak their minds freely.

The closed windows helped keep the debates secret, but this made the room very hot.

Drafting the Constitution

New Englanders in their woolen suits suffered terribly in the summer heat.

Southerners, with clothing more suited to warm weather were less bothered.

Drafting the Constitution

Soon after the meeting began, the delegates realized they would have to do more than simply revise the Articles of Confederation. They chose instead to write an entirely new constitution for the nation.