The Conventions Conclusions

The Constitutional Convention

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The convention featured some great thinkers who intended to build a Republic made by the people and for the people. The power was not to reside in the hands of the rich or powerful but in the hands of the common citizens. No government anywhere had been built quite like this

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The Good

Should the power be shared and equal or should the states with more people have more say in the government?
This was one of the more pressing issues being argued during the convention.

The Virginia Plan: James Maddison was doing more than just secretly taking notes, he was also an active member of the committee. When it came time to decide on how the legislature should be divided, he argued that there should be two houses and that each house should be filled based on the state population. So a large state like Virginia would had more political power that Rhode Island.

The New Jersey Plan: There should be one house of the legislature and that each state have equal representation in it. This law making body would also be where the executive would come from. The States representatives having equal say, would be the ones to pick the President.

So what was the solution? What Structure did they roll with?

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The Great Compromise

​Divided into a Bicameral or two-house system, they are responsible for creating the laws. The members of the lower house (of representatives) are based on population, The Upper house (senate) Everyone has 2 people

Legislative

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The chief executive, or the president, is in charge of the military, and enforcing the laws of the land.​ Selected through the electoral college.

Executive

Originally established to be the highest court in the land to resolve disputes when issues arise with federal laws. They would later add the ability of Judicial Review to their powers. They are appointed by the executive and verified by the legislature.

Judiciary

​The Three Branches

Multiple Choice

What does the Legislative Branch do?

• Makes Laws

• Enforces the laws

• Holds all potential Power

• Only creates laws that the PResidnet tells them to create

Multiple Choice

How many chambers are there to Congress, our Legislative Branch?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 100

Multiple Choice

Who is in charge of the office of the Executive?

• Vice President

• Chief Justice

• Speaker of the House

• The President

The idea was to create a representative republic that was the voice of the people. Yet only 55 people participated in its debate and most of them were lawyers. Beyond that several had a direct economic stake in the document. ​The 55 people were all wealthy, white men. So is the voice of the people of the country really reflected?

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The Ugly

The Ugly Continued

When the constitution was later ratified the number of people voting on the document was less than 30% of all Americans.

The founders were so afraid of larger state control and control by the "Mob" they created a lumbering beast that has never been replicated in other copycats of our government, in fact the U.S. has advised against it.

The Electoral College - It was put into place to mitigate the effects of the "Mob Mentality" and it had a shifting effect on politics, a president would not just need to win votes from the people, but instead votes from the state. A cumulation of votes ​would decide who the State as a whole would vote for. So in fact it is not the vote of the people but a chosen set of electors who can, as they so choose, vote any way they want. This is called "going against the recommendation"

Examples of presidents who lost the popular vote but still became the president

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Multiple Choice

How many Americans voted to ratify the Constitution?

• 10%

• 80%

• 30%

• 100%

Multiple Choice

Evaluate if the statement is true or false: "Under the Electoral College it is possible for a person to become president without receiving a majority of the votes from the citizens."

• TRUE

• FALSE

Multiple Choice

Under the Electoral College who actually picks the president?

• The Common people

• The State Legislature

• The State Electors

• A subcommittee of congress

Perhaps the biggest failure of the convention was the ignoring of human rights issues. Women and Slaves were going to be left in the hands of the Sates. It would be decades before the basic Civil Rights everyone should have as an American were granted. In the case of slavery, it took an entire war and another 80 years of legislation to award African Americans full rights as protected by the Federal government.

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The Bad

The Baddest Bad

The 3/5ths Compromise

That is not to say that the issue of slavery went undebated, it did. There were several activists who outright proclaimed it should be banned in the Americas and denounced it as an evil practice. Others like South Carolina representative Charles Pinkney argued that economic benefits outweighed any moral objects that others may have. The South had become dependent on Slave labor. Of course when it came time to count slaves as people the Southern States would only go as far as saying they should aid in their representation numbers. You can smell the Irony from space. Then written into the government is the 3/5ths compromise. "Other Persons" (African Americans) Only counted as 3/5 of a person.

The Language of the Text

Article 1 Section 2​

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons

Open Ended

Explain the 3/5ths compromise.

Multiple Choice

Why was that in the constitution?

• The Southern Staes wouldn't sign without it, it was a political decision.

• Everyone agreed slavery was okay

• It helped protect the interests of northern businesses

• We do not know