Transcript General Daniel Shays, Colonel Job Shattuck, artist unknown

Drafting the Constitution
Chapter 5, Section 2
Under the Articles of Confederation,
Congress
A. Was specifically designed to be
weak
B. Had no control over public land
policy
C. Had no power to regulate
commerce
D. Had no tax-collecting authority
What was the “biggest”
problem facing the nation
under the Articles of
Confederation?
Answer:
Commerce between the
states.
(Close 2nd: Civil DisorderShays Rebellion)
General Daniel Shays, Colonel Job Shattuck, artist unknown
General Daniel Shays, Colonel Job Shattuck, artist unknown
An anti-Shays cartoonist depicts Shays and a key supporter as bogus military officers
who sought power and threatened the people's liberty. (National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution/Art Resource, New York)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
National government
• Shay’s rebellion, the farmers protest,
caused panic throughout the nation.
• Debt ridden Farmers
• Massachusetts
• Every state was in debt, it was just a
matter of time until another rebellion
arose somewhere else.
• Since the state governments had all
the power, a new national government
was needed to set things right in the
United States
Call for convention
• It was clear that a new form of
government was needed.
• Trade was one of the biggest
concerns. Interstate trade was a
major problem, states often argued
with each other about taxes.
• Annapolis
• September, 1786
• Trade meeting
• Also discussed at that meeting were
plans for a new government.
• May, 1787
• Delegates gathered in Philadelphia to
discuss a new form of national
government
Constitutional Convention
New Generation of Leaders:
Madison and Jefferson, et al.
Absent: John and Sam Adams, Patrick
Henry, and Thomas Henry, other
revolutionaries
Goal – Strengthen the Republic
(Against enemies foreign and domestic)
James Madison by Charles Willson Peale, 1783
James Madison by Charles Willson
Peale, 1783
James Madison described himself as
"feeble" and "sickly" and suffered all his
life from dizzy spells and stomach
disorders. But this small, shy Virginia
planter and lawyer won the respect of his
colleagues as a brilliant political theorist
during the drafting of the Constitution,
and later as a genius for organizing the
machinery of party politics. (Library of
Congress)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Conflict
• State rights:
• Delegates were still
worried about a
strong national
government.
• They knew however
the country needed
a efficient national
government
• Representation:
• Everyone in the
country had to
representation in
the government.
• Not just the right
land owners.
• Two
fundamental
questions
faced the
delegation:
• 1. How to have a
strong national
government, but still
have state rights.
• 2. Balance interests
of all people.
First draft of the Constitution with wide margins for notes, August 6, 1787, folios 1 and
5
First draft of the Constitution with wide margins for notes, August 6, 1787, folios 1 and 5
In August of 1787 a first draft of the Constitution was secretly printed in Philadelphia for the
use of convention members. Wide margins left room for additions and amendments, such as
those made on this copy by Pierce Butler, the South Carolina delegate. Note that in this early
version the preamble does not yet read "We the people of the United States," but instead begins
by listing the individual states. (The Gilder Lehman Collection, on deposit at the Pierpont
Morgan Library/Art Resource, New York)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
CONSTITUTION
=COMPROMISE
“Great Compromise” – proposed by Roger Sherman
House of Reps for Populous States
Senate for Small States
Power of govt. divided into 3 branches
“3/5ths Compromise” Compromise on counting slaves as part
of population
Democratic power limited by powerful federal judges and the
Electoral College, only Representatives directly elected
Limited Government achieved through Checks and Balances
Rule based on consent of the governed, but my means of
representative, not direct, democracy
LIBERTY WAS BALANCED WITH ORDER
Big States vs. Small
States
• How could there be fair representation for larger
states and smaller states.
• Unlike the Articles of Confederation, there had to
be fair representation of a state’s size.
• Delegates came up with two plans to solve this
problem
• New Jersey Plan
• William Paterson
• Small States
• Virginia Plan
• James Madison
• Larger States
The Great Compromise
• Debate on the two plans became
heated, and then deadlocked.
• Finally a compromise was reached
• Two House Legislature
• Upper House (Senate)
• Each state would have equal
representation
• Smaller states
• Lower House (House of
Representatives)
• Representation would be based on the
size of the state.
• Larger states.
Slavery and
Representation
• The Great Compromise failed to deal
with one particular issue, that of
slavery and representation.
• The southern states, hypocritically, wanted
slave to be counted in the population of the
state.
• Why would this be bad for northern
states?
• 3/5ths Compromise
• Slaves would be counted as 3/5ths of the
states population.
• For every 5 slaves, 3 of them would be
counted in the population.
Division of Powers =
Checks and Balances
EXECUTIVE
JUDICIAL
LEGISLATIVE
WHAT IS YOUR OPINON:
DO WE STILL NEED AN
ELECTORAL COLLEGE
TODAY?