William Davie - Consitutional Convention
In the summer of 1787, delegates representing the thirteen colonies with the exception of Rhode Island, convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania forming the Constitutional Convention, for the purpose of instituting a stronger form of government for the newly acknowledged United States of America (Constitutional Convention). Under the original government, outlined in the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen colonies were separating and becoming independent states rather than unifying to become a strong and internationally respected nation. In an attempt to create a grander scope of government, several American leaders called for a meeting of delegates representing each of the colonies (i.e. Constitutional Convention). North Carolina, the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain, sent five delegates on its behalf to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. One of the delegates was federalist William Richardson Davie. Davie passionately supported the idea of a strong, central government where representation was proportional and with the idea that slaves were to be counted for determining population, only for the purposes of representation. Together the fifty-five delegates met, compromised and constructed the Constitut
William Davie believed counting slaves for representation but not taxation because in a state like North Carolina, counting its slaves would double the state's representation in the lower house, seeing as half the population consisted of slaves. Just like a compromise was established between equal and proportional representation, a compromise was achieved about counting slaves. The three-fifths compromise was established, in which five "unfree persons" (slaves) were to be counted as three "free people" in determining the number of congressional representatives. One issue that was highly debated at the convention was whether representation in Congress should be proportional or equal. Two strong arguments were formed known as the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was constructed by the Virginia delegation, otherwise known as the larger states. The larger states believed that the government should have three branches: executive, judicial and legislature, where legislature is composed of two houses, with the upper house being selected by the lower house. The executive would be elected by the legislature, however population would determine representation in the legislature. On the contrary, the New Jersey Plan, supported by the smaller states, argued that a single executive should not be given such great amounts of power because it resembled British royalty too much and instead they ousted for multiple executives with less authority and a legislature in which each state had an equal vote. Overall William Ri
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Approximate Word count = 1039
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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