The Constitutional Convention

A detailed Summary of The Constitutional Convention


The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 faced many conflicts that eventually resulted in compromise. The Convention was called after Shays' Rebellion showed the failure of the Articles of Confederation. Although the delegates agreed to form a new government, they disagreed on many issues.

The first conflict facing the delegates concerned representation. The large states believed representation should be based on the population and proposed the Virginia Plan. James Madison and Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph suggested a bicameral legislature with membership based on each state's population. The lower house would be elected by the people who are eligible to vote and the upper house would be chosen by the lower house. The legislature would vote for the country's president for an undefined term and ineligible for reelection. Both houses would set up a national court system. The delegates from the less populous states energetically objected to the Virginia Plan, because the m


Although the Great Compromise settled one major issue. it led to discord over another. The Southern and the Northern states were not in agreement on whether slaves should be counted as part of the population when determining a state's representation in the House of Representatives. The Southern states, which contained many slaves, proposed that slaves be counted as part of the population for purposes of representation, but not for direct taxation. The Northern states, which had few slaves, supported the opposite positions. The issue was settled by the Three-Fifths Compromise, which suggested that three out of five slaves were to be counted as part of the population for purposes of both representation and direct taxation. By another compromise on slavery, the Slave Trade Compromise, Congress was forbidden for twenty years to pass a law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the country. After 1808 the slave trade became illegal. In order to appease the Southern states, the Fugitive Slave

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Approximate Word count = 673
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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