The Constitution and Ratification
Unit 3
1786-1788
1786-1788
Table of contents
1786 Annapolis Convention
1787 (Throughout the Convention) Delegates Debate the Institution of Slavery
1787 Confederation Congress Endorses the Constitutional Convention
1787 Congress Adopts the Northwest Ordinance
Unit 3
1787 Developing the Virgina Plan
1787 Delegates Compromise on International Slave Trade
1787 The Convention Begins
1787 Committee Recommends Convention support Electoral College
1787 Virgina Plan Amended
1787 Final Push for a bill of rights
1787 The New Jersey Plan
1787 The Constitution is Accepted
1787 The Great Compromise
1788 Congress Accepts Ratification of the Constitution
Timeline Tutorial
Click on each part of the slide to discover more about interacting with the timeline.
1787
The year the event took place, a more specific date if available and the event title will be located here.
Wikimedia Commons contributors. "Norstead - Living History Attraction - 11 September 2023." Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norstead_-_Living_History_Attraction_-_11_September_2023.jpg.
September 17
The Constitution is Accepted
1786
A Front View of the State House, etc., at Annapolis, the Capital of Maryland, 1787. Ink on paper attributed to Charles Willson. https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdstatehouse/html/stairwellrm_revolutionary_state_house.html
September 12
Annapolis Convention
1787
United States Continental Congress, Library Of Congress. Manuscript Division. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1789. Washington, U.S. Govt. https://www.loc.gov/resource/llscdam.lljc032/?sp=81&r=-1.095,-0.083,3.189,1.787,0
February 21
Confederation Congress Endorses the Constitutional Convention
1787
May
The Virginia Plan, as amended, June 13, 1787 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention Official Records of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, 1785 - 1787; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Treasures_of_Congress_-_The_Virgina_Plan.jpg
Developing the Virginia Plan
1787
May 25
Ritchie, A. H. Washington Presiding Over the Convention of 1787. Ca. 1876. Engraving. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/washington-presiding-convention-1787-1981247.
The Convention Begins
1787
June 13
The Virginia Plan Amended
Casimir Gregory Stapko, after Flavius J. Fisher, after the original by an unidentified artist, Portrait of Edmund Randolph, oil on canvas, The Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Randolph#/media/File:EdRand.jpg
1787
June
William Paterson. C. Gregory Stapko, the Collection of the Supreme Court https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Paterson_copy.jpg
The New Jersey Plan
1787
July
James Madison. Notes of Debates in the Federal Constitutional Convention, June 16, 1787. Manuscript. James Madison Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/
The Great Compromise
Throughout the Convention, 1787
May- September
Allen Johnson. Distribution of slaves 1820. Union and Democracy. Cambridge, Massachusettshttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Slavery_US_1820.png.
Delegates Debate the Institution of Slavery
1787
By Bureau of Engraving and Printing - U.S. Post Office; hi-res scan of U.S. postage stamp from personal collection; Image enlarged and rendered for tone and clarity by Gwillhickers, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam#/media/File:The_City_New_Amsterdam_on_Manhattan_(De_Stadt_Nieuw_Amsteram_op_Manhattans)_Drawing_1650-1654.jpg
July 13
The Northwest Ordinance
1787
August 25
Delegates Compromise on International Slave Trade
1787
U.S. Congress/Sen. Jeff Merkley. Mahogany boxes containing the electoral certificates of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, after they had been removed from the Senate floor by staffers on January 6, 2021. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. January 6, 2021. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020_presidential_election_US_electoral_college_certificates.jpg.
September 4
Committee Recommends Convention Support Electoral College
1787
United States Mint. Obverse of the James Madison $5 commemorative coin for the Bill of Rights Bicentennial. Photograph. 1993. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Madison_Bill_of_Rights_$5_commemorative_obverse.jpg
September 12
Final push for a bill of rights
1787
The Signing of the Constitution, painting by Howard Chandler Christy, 1940. Image from the U.S. Capitol Building.
September 17
The Constitution is Accepted
1788
By Bureau of Engraving and Printing - U.S. Post Office; U.S. Postal Museum. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constitution_Ratification,_3c,_1938_issue.jpg
July 2
Congress Accepts Ratification of the Constitution
Photo Caption
Journal Notes of the Continental Congress Session from the Library of Congress.
Photo Caption
A copy of the Virginia Plan of government.
Photo Caption
William Paterson, delegate from New Jersey. He is best remembered for introducing the New Jersey Plan.
Photo Caption
James Madison's notes on the Great Compromise.
The signature of Roger Ludlowe, one of the writers of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.
Description Paragraph
A Committee of Eleven—known as the Committee on the Slave Trade—met to hammer out a compromise on the issue of international slave trade. The committee proposed that Congress could not interfere with slavery until 1800, only 12 years after expected ratification. After that, Congress would be able to outlaw it should it choose to. The delegates of the Lower South immediately fought back and threatened to walk out of the convention if the international slave trade was not protected indefinitely. The South lost a major point of protecting the international slave trade forever but forced a concession under threat of disunion. They bargained hard to get the convention to approve pushing the date back to 1808. The region, with the help of northern merchants, would tragically import tens of thousands of enslaved Africans during the time between the Convention and 1808. Ultimately, in 1807, President Thomas Jefferson called for, and Congress passed, a law banning the international slave trade, on January 1, 1808—the earliest constitutionally-allowable moment.
Photo Caption
This painting depicts the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where delegates gathered to sign the Constitution, establishing the foundation of American government.
Primary Source
The Northwest Ordinance with notations by Thomas Jefferson.
Description Paragraph
Thirty-nine delegates from twelve states signed the Constitution as written. Three refused to sign because they disagreed too much with it. Some delegates then retired to the City Tavern, where they dined together and, as Washington wrote in his diary, “took a cordial leave of each other." The Framers of the Constitution drafted a document that created a stronger republican government embodying the principles of popular sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and limited government. If ratified, this “new order of the ages” would become the fundamental law of the land. But first, the people’s representatives had to approve it in state ratifying conventions. The people also debated the merits of this new constitution in newspapers, taverns, churches, and public gathering spaces.
Description Paragraph
In his "Notes" made during the debates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, James Madison wrote that the main divisions in the convention were not those between large and small states, but "between the N[orthern] & South[er]n States" regarding the "institution of slavery & its consequences." The discussion of representation in a national Congress sparked the first major argument about slavery. The South wanted to count enslaved people fully for purposes of representation; the northern states argued that enslaved people were treated as property and should therefore be counted for taxes but not representation. Counting enslaved people as part of the population set off one of the most heated debates of the Convention. Ultimately, Congress settled on the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted three-fifths of enslaved people for the purposes of determining representation in the House of Representatives and taxation (although those people were not allowed to vote). The delegates also discussed how to address fugitive slaves and the importation of people for slavery. The final text of the Constitution ratified in 1788 did not end slavery, which continued to grow and spread in the South at the same time it receded in the North.
Photo Caption
This commemorative stamp celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Northwest Ordinance.
Description Paragraph
During the last days of the Constitutional Convention, Virginia delegate George Mason rose and proposed a bill of rights, a list of rights belonging to the people, which the government could not violate. The delegates were wrapping up their business and worried that a prolonged debate on a bill of rights could endanger the success of their project. Roger Sherman of Connecticut also reassured the convention that the states had their own bills of rights and thus had no need for a national bill of rights. The convention unanimously rejected Mason’s idea.
Primary Source
Alexander Hamilton wrote the report from the Annapolis Convention.
Description Paragraph
William Paterson of New Jersey offered an alternative to the Virginia Plan known as the New Jersey Plan. It would allow states to maintain more authority than under the Virginia Plan.Another important difference was in the structure of Congress. The New Jersey Plan proposed to preserve the unicameralism (one-house legislature) of the Articles of Confederation, in which all states would have equal representation. Like the Virginia Plan, it also added an executive branch. The New Jersey Plan also strengthened the national Congress's powers over taxation and trade regulation and to make federal treaties apply to all states universally.
Photo Caption
A map showing the journeys of various groups to America, including enslaved Africans.
Photo Caption
Mahogany boxes containing the electoral certificates of the 2020 US Presidential election, after they had been removed from the Senate floor by staffers on Jan 6, 2021. These ceremonial mahogany ballot boxes have been used since 1877.
Description Paragraph
Edmund Randolph introduced the fifteen resolutions of the Virginia Plan. This plan proposed an independent executive, a national judiciary, and a bicameral, or two house, Congress. Representation would be based on the population in both houses. The plan also included a national veto over state laws to prevent injustice in the states. Finally, it proposed to send the work of the convention to popular ratifying conventions in the states rather than to state legislatures. James Madison knew the Virginia Plan went beyond Congress’s instructions merely to revise the Articles, so he wanted the people to approve it. Madison wanted to avoid the state legislatures, suspecting they would oppose the plan to strengthen the national government at the expense of their own governments. The Virginia Plan immediately sparked heated debate over the consolidation of power in the national government and the shape of Congress. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina asked whether the plan “meant to abolish the state [governments] altogether.” Madison responded that a stronger national government was necessary to “provide for the safety, liberty, and happiness” of the people.
Description Paragraph
During the hot summer of 1787, while the delegates of the Philadelphia Convention debated the framework of a new government, the Confederation Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. This legislation created the Northwest Territory, established a government for the territory, and outlined the process by which it would be divided into new states and how those states would be admitted into the Union on an equal basis. The Northwest Territory covered the area occupied by the modern-day states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. It protected certain rights and liberties including freedom of conscience and a trial by jury. The ordinance banned slavery in the territories. It also provided for the creation of schools to support a knowledgeable and virtuous citizenry in a republic. The Northwest Ordinance is generally seen as one of the most important acts of the Confederation Congress.
Description Paragraph
The Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise, was an agreement to define the legislative structure and state representation that settled weeks of heated debate. The supporters of the Virginia and New Jersey plans compromised with a bicameral (two house) legislature. The large states wanted both houses of Congress to be based on population size. In contrast, the states with smaller populations wanted equal representation and one vote per state. The “Great Compromise,” suggested by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, created a bicameral legislature where the states would be represented equally in one chamber and by population in the other. Two U.S. Senators, selected by state legislatures, would represent each state; the states would also send a number of representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives based on their state’s population. Each state was guaranteed at least one U.S. Representative regardless of its size.
Description Paragraph
The Constitutional Convention was supposed to begin on May 14, 1787, but not enough delegates had arrived in Philadelphia by that date. The convention began on May 25, 1787. The delegates assembled in the Pennsylvania State House. All agreed that the Articles of Confederation had weaknesses that needed to be addressed. But they disagreed on the appropriate solutions. As their first action, the delegates unanimously selected Washington to be president of the convention. Washington was a war hero and respected by Americans from all the states. His selection was important for giving the convention validity in the eyes of the public. The delegates then decided to allow each state delegation one vote and to conduct the proceedings secretly to allow freer debate.
Description Paragraph
Members of the Virginia delegation, including George Washington and James Madison, arrived in Philadelphia early. Believing the states were too powerful compared to the central government, they met with the Pennsylvania delegation. They drafted a plan of government, mainly of Madison’s design. This Virginia Plan was guided by the goal of creating a stronger, more effective national government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The plan called for a bicameral legislature, or a legislature divided into two bodies (the Senate and the House of Representatives) with representation in the House of Representatives based on population. The House would vote to choose members of the Senate from a list of candidates provided by the state legislatures. The plan became the basis for the debates and deliberations for the convention throughout the summer of 1787.
Photo Caption
This stamp commemorates the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution and features the Old Courthouse in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Description Paragraph
The Confederation Congress endorsed the idea of a Constitutional Convention to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. It provided a mandate for the convention to “revise the Articles” to strengthen the national government under Congress.
Photo Caption
The Annapolis Convention occurred at a tavern just down the street from the Maryland State House. This is a front view of the State House.
Photo Caption
Washington presiding in the Convention.
Description Paragraph
A Committee proposed an electoral college in which both the people and the states would be represented in presidential elections. This was the resolution of one of the biggest challenges the Convention faced—the difficult question of the presidential election. The convention then resolved the remaining contentious points. The executive branch would have a single president, who: served a four-year term, was eligible for re-election, could veto laws passed by Congress, and would have broad powers over foreign policy and war-making. The president would be elected by an electoral college to which each state would choose, in whatever manner its legislature decided, electors equal in number to the sum of its members of the Senate and House of Representatives. In addition, the convention participants agreed on the national judiciary. A Supreme Court was established, though Congress would later establish the specific courts. On September 8, the Convention appointed a Committee of Style to draft the Constitution.
Photo Caption
Edmund Randolph was a delegate from Virginia at the Constitutional Convention. He helped to create the national constitution while serving on its Committee of Detail.
Description Paragraph
A dozen delegates from five states gathered. Their task was to discuss ways for the Confederation Congress to control interstate and foreign trade and business. Instead, this meeting, later called the Annapolis Convention, issued a report written by Alexander Hamilton, citing “important defects in the system of the federal government” under the Articles of Confederation. Members proposed a convention in Philadelphia the following May to discuss possible improvements to the Articles. This proposed convention would become the Constitutional Convention.
Photo Caption
James Madison and the Bill of Rights are featured on this $5 coin.
Photo Caption
The Founders knew that slavery violated the “self-evident truth” of the Declaration and the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence. They were aware of the immorality of slavery and the need for action, yet were—sometimes by their own admission—not active enough.
Description Paragraph
Individual states met to discuss the ratification of the proposed constitution. As with the Constitutional Convention, representatives in state conventions debated the proposed constitution. Nine of thirteen states were needed to ratify the new government. On July 2, Congress declared the Constitution ratified after New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve it.
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Transcript
The Constitution and Ratification
Unit 3
1786-1788
1786-1788
Table of contents
1786 Annapolis Convention
1787 (Throughout the Convention) Delegates Debate the Institution of Slavery
1787 Confederation Congress Endorses the Constitutional Convention
1787 Congress Adopts the Northwest Ordinance
Unit 3
1787 Developing the Virgina Plan
1787 Delegates Compromise on International Slave Trade
1787 The Convention Begins
1787 Committee Recommends Convention support Electoral College
1787 Virgina Plan Amended
1787 Final Push for a bill of rights
1787 The New Jersey Plan
1787 The Constitution is Accepted
1787 The Great Compromise
1788 Congress Accepts Ratification of the Constitution
Timeline Tutorial
Click on each part of the slide to discover more about interacting with the timeline.
1787
The year the event took place, a more specific date if available and the event title will be located here.
Wikimedia Commons contributors. "Norstead - Living History Attraction - 11 September 2023." Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norstead_-_Living_History_Attraction_-_11_September_2023.jpg.
September 17
The Constitution is Accepted
1786
A Front View of the State House, etc., at Annapolis, the Capital of Maryland, 1787. Ink on paper attributed to Charles Willson. https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdstatehouse/html/stairwellrm_revolutionary_state_house.html
September 12
Annapolis Convention
1787
United States Continental Congress, Library Of Congress. Manuscript Division. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1789. Washington, U.S. Govt. https://www.loc.gov/resource/llscdam.lljc032/?sp=81&r=-1.095,-0.083,3.189,1.787,0
February 21
Confederation Congress Endorses the Constitutional Convention
1787
May
The Virginia Plan, as amended, June 13, 1787 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention Official Records of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, 1785 - 1787; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Treasures_of_Congress_-_The_Virgina_Plan.jpg
Developing the Virginia Plan
1787
May 25
Ritchie, A. H. Washington Presiding Over the Convention of 1787. Ca. 1876. Engraving. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/washington-presiding-convention-1787-1981247.
The Convention Begins
1787
June 13
The Virginia Plan Amended
Casimir Gregory Stapko, after Flavius J. Fisher, after the original by an unidentified artist, Portrait of Edmund Randolph, oil on canvas, The Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Randolph#/media/File:EdRand.jpg
1787
June
William Paterson. C. Gregory Stapko, the Collection of the Supreme Court https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Paterson_copy.jpg
The New Jersey Plan
1787
July
James Madison. Notes of Debates in the Federal Constitutional Convention, June 16, 1787. Manuscript. James Madison Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/
The Great Compromise
Throughout the Convention, 1787
May- September
Allen Johnson. Distribution of slaves 1820. Union and Democracy. Cambridge, Massachusettshttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Slavery_US_1820.png.
Delegates Debate the Institution of Slavery
1787
By Bureau of Engraving and Printing - U.S. Post Office; hi-res scan of U.S. postage stamp from personal collection; Image enlarged and rendered for tone and clarity by Gwillhickers, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam#/media/File:The_City_New_Amsterdam_on_Manhattan_(De_Stadt_Nieuw_Amsteram_op_Manhattans)_Drawing_1650-1654.jpg
July 13
The Northwest Ordinance
1787
August 25
Delegates Compromise on International Slave Trade
1787
U.S. Congress/Sen. Jeff Merkley. Mahogany boxes containing the electoral certificates of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, after they had been removed from the Senate floor by staffers on January 6, 2021. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. January 6, 2021. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020_presidential_election_US_electoral_college_certificates.jpg.
September 4
Committee Recommends Convention Support Electoral College
1787
United States Mint. Obverse of the James Madison $5 commemorative coin for the Bill of Rights Bicentennial. Photograph. 1993. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Madison_Bill_of_Rights_$5_commemorative_obverse.jpg
September 12
Final push for a bill of rights
1787
The Signing of the Constitution, painting by Howard Chandler Christy, 1940. Image from the U.S. Capitol Building.
September 17
The Constitution is Accepted
1788
By Bureau of Engraving and Printing - U.S. Post Office; U.S. Postal Museum. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constitution_Ratification,_3c,_1938_issue.jpg
July 2
Congress Accepts Ratification of the Constitution
Photo Caption
Journal Notes of the Continental Congress Session from the Library of Congress.
Photo Caption
A copy of the Virginia Plan of government.
Photo Caption
William Paterson, delegate from New Jersey. He is best remembered for introducing the New Jersey Plan.
Photo Caption
James Madison's notes on the Great Compromise.
The signature of Roger Ludlowe, one of the writers of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.
Description Paragraph
A Committee of Eleven—known as the Committee on the Slave Trade—met to hammer out a compromise on the issue of international slave trade. The committee proposed that Congress could not interfere with slavery until 1800, only 12 years after expected ratification. After that, Congress would be able to outlaw it should it choose to. The delegates of the Lower South immediately fought back and threatened to walk out of the convention if the international slave trade was not protected indefinitely. The South lost a major point of protecting the international slave trade forever but forced a concession under threat of disunion. They bargained hard to get the convention to approve pushing the date back to 1808. The region, with the help of northern merchants, would tragically import tens of thousands of enslaved Africans during the time between the Convention and 1808. Ultimately, in 1807, President Thomas Jefferson called for, and Congress passed, a law banning the international slave trade, on January 1, 1808—the earliest constitutionally-allowable moment.
Photo Caption
This painting depicts the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where delegates gathered to sign the Constitution, establishing the foundation of American government.
Primary Source
The Northwest Ordinance with notations by Thomas Jefferson.
Description Paragraph
Thirty-nine delegates from twelve states signed the Constitution as written. Three refused to sign because they disagreed too much with it. Some delegates then retired to the City Tavern, where they dined together and, as Washington wrote in his diary, “took a cordial leave of each other." The Framers of the Constitution drafted a document that created a stronger republican government embodying the principles of popular sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and limited government. If ratified, this “new order of the ages” would become the fundamental law of the land. But first, the people’s representatives had to approve it in state ratifying conventions. The people also debated the merits of this new constitution in newspapers, taverns, churches, and public gathering spaces.
Description Paragraph
In his "Notes" made during the debates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, James Madison wrote that the main divisions in the convention were not those between large and small states, but "between the N[orthern] & South[er]n States" regarding the "institution of slavery & its consequences." The discussion of representation in a national Congress sparked the first major argument about slavery. The South wanted to count enslaved people fully for purposes of representation; the northern states argued that enslaved people were treated as property and should therefore be counted for taxes but not representation. Counting enslaved people as part of the population set off one of the most heated debates of the Convention. Ultimately, Congress settled on the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted three-fifths of enslaved people for the purposes of determining representation in the House of Representatives and taxation (although those people were not allowed to vote). The delegates also discussed how to address fugitive slaves and the importation of people for slavery. The final text of the Constitution ratified in 1788 did not end slavery, which continued to grow and spread in the South at the same time it receded in the North.
Photo Caption
This commemorative stamp celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Northwest Ordinance.
Description Paragraph
During the last days of the Constitutional Convention, Virginia delegate George Mason rose and proposed a bill of rights, a list of rights belonging to the people, which the government could not violate. The delegates were wrapping up their business and worried that a prolonged debate on a bill of rights could endanger the success of their project. Roger Sherman of Connecticut also reassured the convention that the states had their own bills of rights and thus had no need for a national bill of rights. The convention unanimously rejected Mason’s idea.
Primary Source
Alexander Hamilton wrote the report from the Annapolis Convention.
Description Paragraph
William Paterson of New Jersey offered an alternative to the Virginia Plan known as the New Jersey Plan. It would allow states to maintain more authority than under the Virginia Plan.Another important difference was in the structure of Congress. The New Jersey Plan proposed to preserve the unicameralism (one-house legislature) of the Articles of Confederation, in which all states would have equal representation. Like the Virginia Plan, it also added an executive branch. The New Jersey Plan also strengthened the national Congress's powers over taxation and trade regulation and to make federal treaties apply to all states universally.
Photo Caption
A map showing the journeys of various groups to America, including enslaved Africans.
Photo Caption
Mahogany boxes containing the electoral certificates of the 2020 US Presidential election, after they had been removed from the Senate floor by staffers on Jan 6, 2021. These ceremonial mahogany ballot boxes have been used since 1877.
Description Paragraph
Edmund Randolph introduced the fifteen resolutions of the Virginia Plan. This plan proposed an independent executive, a national judiciary, and a bicameral, or two house, Congress. Representation would be based on the population in both houses. The plan also included a national veto over state laws to prevent injustice in the states. Finally, it proposed to send the work of the convention to popular ratifying conventions in the states rather than to state legislatures. James Madison knew the Virginia Plan went beyond Congress’s instructions merely to revise the Articles, so he wanted the people to approve it. Madison wanted to avoid the state legislatures, suspecting they would oppose the plan to strengthen the national government at the expense of their own governments. The Virginia Plan immediately sparked heated debate over the consolidation of power in the national government and the shape of Congress. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina asked whether the plan “meant to abolish the state [governments] altogether.” Madison responded that a stronger national government was necessary to “provide for the safety, liberty, and happiness” of the people.
Description Paragraph
During the hot summer of 1787, while the delegates of the Philadelphia Convention debated the framework of a new government, the Confederation Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance. This legislation created the Northwest Territory, established a government for the territory, and outlined the process by which it would be divided into new states and how those states would be admitted into the Union on an equal basis. The Northwest Territory covered the area occupied by the modern-day states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. It protected certain rights and liberties including freedom of conscience and a trial by jury. The ordinance banned slavery in the territories. It also provided for the creation of schools to support a knowledgeable and virtuous citizenry in a republic. The Northwest Ordinance is generally seen as one of the most important acts of the Confederation Congress.
Description Paragraph
The Connecticut Compromise, or the Great Compromise, was an agreement to define the legislative structure and state representation that settled weeks of heated debate. The supporters of the Virginia and New Jersey plans compromised with a bicameral (two house) legislature. The large states wanted both houses of Congress to be based on population size. In contrast, the states with smaller populations wanted equal representation and one vote per state. The “Great Compromise,” suggested by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, created a bicameral legislature where the states would be represented equally in one chamber and by population in the other. Two U.S. Senators, selected by state legislatures, would represent each state; the states would also send a number of representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives based on their state’s population. Each state was guaranteed at least one U.S. Representative regardless of its size.
Description Paragraph
The Constitutional Convention was supposed to begin on May 14, 1787, but not enough delegates had arrived in Philadelphia by that date. The convention began on May 25, 1787. The delegates assembled in the Pennsylvania State House. All agreed that the Articles of Confederation had weaknesses that needed to be addressed. But they disagreed on the appropriate solutions. As their first action, the delegates unanimously selected Washington to be president of the convention. Washington was a war hero and respected by Americans from all the states. His selection was important for giving the convention validity in the eyes of the public. The delegates then decided to allow each state delegation one vote and to conduct the proceedings secretly to allow freer debate.
Description Paragraph
Members of the Virginia delegation, including George Washington and James Madison, arrived in Philadelphia early. Believing the states were too powerful compared to the central government, they met with the Pennsylvania delegation. They drafted a plan of government, mainly of Madison’s design. This Virginia Plan was guided by the goal of creating a stronger, more effective national government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The plan called for a bicameral legislature, or a legislature divided into two bodies (the Senate and the House of Representatives) with representation in the House of Representatives based on population. The House would vote to choose members of the Senate from a list of candidates provided by the state legislatures. The plan became the basis for the debates and deliberations for the convention throughout the summer of 1787.
Photo Caption
This stamp commemorates the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution and features the Old Courthouse in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Description Paragraph
The Confederation Congress endorsed the idea of a Constitutional Convention to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. It provided a mandate for the convention to “revise the Articles” to strengthen the national government under Congress.
Photo Caption
The Annapolis Convention occurred at a tavern just down the street from the Maryland State House. This is a front view of the State House.
Photo Caption
Washington presiding in the Convention.
Description Paragraph
A Committee proposed an electoral college in which both the people and the states would be represented in presidential elections. This was the resolution of one of the biggest challenges the Convention faced—the difficult question of the presidential election. The convention then resolved the remaining contentious points. The executive branch would have a single president, who: served a four-year term, was eligible for re-election, could veto laws passed by Congress, and would have broad powers over foreign policy and war-making. The president would be elected by an electoral college to which each state would choose, in whatever manner its legislature decided, electors equal in number to the sum of its members of the Senate and House of Representatives. In addition, the convention participants agreed on the national judiciary. A Supreme Court was established, though Congress would later establish the specific courts. On September 8, the Convention appointed a Committee of Style to draft the Constitution.
Photo Caption
Edmund Randolph was a delegate from Virginia at the Constitutional Convention. He helped to create the national constitution while serving on its Committee of Detail.
Description Paragraph
A dozen delegates from five states gathered. Their task was to discuss ways for the Confederation Congress to control interstate and foreign trade and business. Instead, this meeting, later called the Annapolis Convention, issued a report written by Alexander Hamilton, citing “important defects in the system of the federal government” under the Articles of Confederation. Members proposed a convention in Philadelphia the following May to discuss possible improvements to the Articles. This proposed convention would become the Constitutional Convention.
Photo Caption
James Madison and the Bill of Rights are featured on this $5 coin.
Photo Caption
The Founders knew that slavery violated the “self-evident truth” of the Declaration and the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence. They were aware of the immorality of slavery and the need for action, yet were—sometimes by their own admission—not active enough.
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Individual states met to discuss the ratification of the proposed constitution. As with the Constitutional Convention, representatives in state conventions debated the proposed constitution. Nine of thirteen states were needed to ratify the new government. On July 2, Congress declared the Constitution ratified after New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve it.