Constitutional Convention

Writing the Constitution

Getting Rid of the Articles, Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Famous Figures, & The Bill of Rights

Something to keep in mind

The U.S. Constitution is not the first Constitution ever. The states in the United States, all 13, had state Constitutions prior to the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is different though, as it is a national Constitution, which is larger, and above state Constitutions.

The Founding Fathers saw Americans were unhappy. They decided they needed to change the government, to fix the issues in the nation.

Government response?

The lack of power in the government, especially the National/Federal government led directly to events like Shays' Rebellion

These weaknesses led to issues

As we know, the Articles were weak

Multiple Choice

What was the meeting to write the new government called?

• The Grand Meeting

• The Constitutional Convention

• Shays' Rebellion

• Continental Congress Pt.3

This was the meeting of the Founding Fathers, in 1787, where they planned to fix the Articles, but ended up writing the Constitution

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​Constitutional Convention

Who went?

55 Men went in total

Many of the people at the convention also were part of the Continental Congress. Some figures who went were Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton

Multiple Choice

Who do you think led the Constitutional Convention?

• George Washington

• Ben Franklin

• James Madison

• Thomas Jefferson

Initially, the plan was to adjust the Articles of Confederation so they would work better, but quickly, the Founding Fathers realized they would need to write a new government from scratch

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​Start of the Convention

The two plans

This plan kept the 1 house Congress of the Articles, kept each state at 1 vote, but still planned to give Congress more power like taxing and trade

The New Jersey Plan

This called for a President, Federal Courts, and a 2 house Congress. This plan even had representation based on population.

The Virginia Plan

The Great Compromise

Meeting in the middle

They eventually came to a decision between the two plans, where they would have a 2 house Congress, where one had representatives based on the population of the state(House of Representatives) and the other would have two members for each state no matter the population(The Senate)

The Founding Fathers still needed to decide how to please everyone with the Constitution. Some worried it would make the Federal Government too powerful

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Federalist Vs. Anti-Federalist

They believed the Constitution would weaken the States. They also thought this new government may only benefit the rich.

They worried the national government would become to powerful and not protect individual rights

Anti-Federalists

They felt we should have a Federal system with Local, State, and Federal Government.

They also felt Federal law should be more powerful than State law.

They wrote the Federalist Papers to gain support

Federalists

What each group thought

Multiple Choice

Who ended up winning?

• Federalists

• Anti-Federalists

• Neither they compromised

The Compromise

What each of them added to the Constitution

The Federalists got their way as far as the structure of the government goes. It did become a Federal system.

The Anti-Federalists got the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution, to ensure individual rights would be protected.
These promises led to both groups agreeing to finalize the Constitution

Open Ended

Why do you think the compromises we learned about today were important for America? What does it say about us and our government?

The Constitution is Confirmed!

With the Compromise, the states ratified the Constitution

With the Constitution officially the Law of the United States, we will look at the actual document tomorrow, to see its' parts and look at it in detail.