U S History to 1865 09 05 2013Class Notes History 1311 012 Dr Pinkney Constitutional Convention and Ratification I Constitutional Convention A Founding Fathers B Importance of Compromise C Gov t Under the constitution II Ratification A Federalists B Antifederalists C Federalist Papers Rough Lecture Notes First day of Lecture As delegate began to arrive in philidelphia at least one state did not send a delegate Rhode Island sends a message that they did not want to change the AoC Alternatevly some see that the AoC are not worth saving or ammending James Madison Alexander Hamilton they believe that a new framework needs to be established gradually madison and hamilton and others that come on board begin to change the focus on the meeting in philidelphia these are the men known as the founding fathers 55 people George Washington attended James Madison Benjamin Franklin attended Thomas Jefferson did not attend he was in Paris as an ambassador John adams was the amabassador to england the father of the constitution is james madison he came to that convention with a plan and an agenda he took control of directing the meeting one those responsible for convincing to change the framework of government average age of the 55 men was 42 These are young men men who participated in the revolution these are men who are politically experienced most were well off some were wealthy these are the plantation owners of the south lawers bankers the basic problem facing these men was the question of balance how do you balance power they didnt want power in a single person or a national group also knew that they couldnt have a weak central government a central government that could protect but not cripple or crush liberty what is the proper balance between state government and federal government in order to answer those questions the founding fathers were going to have to rely on compromise this convention would have fallen apart if they were not able to compromise the issue of slavery is an example if they had not been able to compromise the southern colonies would have left the convention the two most important issues involve representation in congress some delegates that wanted representation solely based on population two plans are presented one is the virginia plan representation is bases on population new jersey presented a different plan called equality among the states the arguing and the haggling went back and forth what they decided is known as the great compromise going to create a two house legislature upper house known as senate every state has equal representation 2 votes in the lower house known as the house of representatives based on population senate represents equality house of rep represents power based on population solves one part on representation southern states want to count slave population as the representation north is opposed to this not on moral reasons reason is representation Slaves were considered property if they were not considered citizens then why should they be counted as representation northerners point of view also believe that if they get that representation they should be taxed for the slave property the compromise is known as the three fifths compromise delegates agree to southern states would be able to count 3 5 of their slave population as representation and taxation importance shows concept of compromise that it allows for the country to move forward shows devisivness of the issue of slavery by the time this compromise had happened a lot of northern states had made slavery illegal gradual imancipation any child born to a slave would become a free man or woman by the age of 28 at the conclusion of all this argument what kind of government did they create they created divided government broken up into 3 parts Executive Branch Legislative Branch Federal Judiciary each has separate responsibilities divided powers the goal was to prevent one branch from dominating the other two they created a system of checks and balances the president is the commander and chief of the american military when it comes to supporting the troops power lies in congress the president has the responsibility of foreign relations negotiates treaties with foreign governments no treaty is accepted until it is accepted by the senate many of the weaknesses of the AoC were directed in the constitution congress given the power to tax and the power to regulate trade has the power to maintain a stnading army and navy the question of ammending the constitution was changes does not require everyone to get on board the first step is that any proposed ammendment to the constitution has to be approved by 2 3rds of the senate and the house then 3 quarters 75 of the states had to ratify having the delegates approved the constitution it now had to be approved by 9 of the 13 states to ratify the constitution now what they hope is that they have created a central government that is powerful enough to fix the AoC but does not crush liberty Second Day of Lecture ratify approve When the delegates get back to the states they become known as Federalists Federalists are those who support the constitution Antifederalists are opponents to the constitution In general federalists and their point of view tend to be stronger in the north east in general the antifed opposite south and west biggest fear of the antifed is that this new frame of government has created too strong of a central government and fear that with that power the central gov will abuse the power and abuse the states Sam Adams antifed federalists got out of the gate quickly and go home to get support as fast as they can between 1787 to spring of 1788 by june of 1788 9 states have ratified the constitution according to the constitution once 9 states have ratified government can go into action elections can be held 9 is a critical number but for all practical purposes the remaining four needed to become ratified as well federalists continue their efforts part of the efforts feds put forth was the publication of a series of some 85 essays written and published in all states by federalists these essays become known to be the federalist papers Written by John Jay James Madison Alexander Madison the purpose of these essays was to 1 explain why the AoC needed to be replaced They point out the weaknesses about the AoC 2 explaining why the constitution addresses many of the failures of the AoC Reason for this is because New York Virginia North Carolina and