Name: Period: 1 2 3 4 5 6

The Constitutional Convention Reading Notes

Section 3 – opening the constitutional convention

As you read about the opening of the convention, answer the questions below.

1. Describe the role of each of these men at the Constitutional Convention.

• George Washington: Washington would play a key role by presiding over the convention
and lending it his prestige.
• James Madison: James Madison proposed by Edmund Randolph, the Virginia Plan called for a strong
national government with three branches, or parts. A legislative branch would make
laws. An executive branch would carry out, or execute, the laws. A judicial branch, or
system of courts, would apply and interpret the laws.
2. Why did the important leaders Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry not attend the convention?

Others who did not attend included Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry. They feared that
a strong national government would endanger the rights of states.

3. Do you agree with the delegates’ rule of secrecy? Why or why not?
yes, so the people don't know what the leaders are talking about and ruin their plan.

4. The delegates had differing views on how powerful the national government should be.
• What did delegates for a strong national government believe?
If the central government is too weak, it cannot do its job of protecting liberty and
property.

• What did delegates for stronger state governments (weaker national government) believe?
They feared that a strong national government would threaten individual liberty.

• List one belief that these two types of delegates shared.

The basic purpose of government, they believed, was to protect the rights to “life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Section 4 - Issue: How Should States Be Represented in the New Government?
5. After reading Section 4, fill in the chart below that lists the ways that the Virginia Plan and New Jersey differed and
how they were similar.
New Jersey BOTH Virginia

• Wanted the legislature (legislative • Wanted the government • Wanted the legislature (legislative
1
branch) to be divided into __________ to be divided into 2
branch) to be divided into __________
3
houses. ________ branches. houses.

• Wanted the number of representatives • These branches will be: • Wanted the number of representatives
to be based on -A legislative branch to be based on
the population -An executive branch the population
_______________________________ ______________________________
-A judicial branch

6. Which states liked the Virginia Plan? (circle one) Small states or Large states
Having the new government represent people, not states,
Why?
would give them more representatives and more power in
both houses of Congress.

7. Which states liked the New Jersey Plan? (circle one) Small states or Large states
This plan, Paterson argued, would keep the small states from being “swallowed up” by their
Why?
more populous neighbors.

Section 5 - Resolution: The Great Compromise

8. The compromise reached said that Congress would be a Two - House Congress.

a. The first house, the House of Representatives would represent the

People
.

b. The second house, the Senate , would represent the States . Each state
would have two senators elected by their state legislature.
Section 6 - Issue: How Should Slaves Be Counted?
well
9. Southerners wanted slaves to be counted as because:

They argued that slaves should be counted the same as any other people in determining
representation.

10. Northerners believed that they should be counted, but not as people as in determining and then
representation in
could be taxed like any other property.
Congress

11. Why wouldn’t the northerners want slaves to be counted as people?

Delegates from the North challenged this idea. Were slaves to be considered people with a right
to be represented in Congress or were they property?

Section 7 - Resolution: The Three-Fifths Compromise

Madison
12. After a bitter debate, proposed a compromise. Count each slave as Three
- Fifth of a person when determining a state’s population. This decision made a mockery of
the Declaration of Independence, but it seemed the only way to keep the convention moving.

Control of Trade

The debate over slavery brought up another dispute over trade.

13. Why did Northerners support giving Congress broad power to control trade between the states and other countries?
They worried that Congress might try to tax southern export crops such as rice and tobacco

14. Why did this proposal make southern delegates nervous? (TWO reasons)

Southerners also worried that Congress would use its power over trade to outlaw the slave
trade
The importing of slaves from Africa.
Ending the Slave Trade

15. By 1787, several states had already outlawed the the slave trade within their states.
However, states like South Carolina and Georgia objected that their economies couldn’t survive without slavery.

16. Again a compromise was reached:

tax
a. Congress could not place any on exports going to other countries.

b. Congress could not interfere with the the slave trade for

20 years, which would be 1808. After that time, the Importation of slaves into the

United States could be forbidden.

Section 8 - How Should the Chief Executive Be Elected?

17. The next major question was who would head the executive branch?
single
a. James Wilson suggested that a person serve as chief executive. However, this
reminded people of The British .

b. Edmund Randolph preferred a

three-member - executive drawn from
different parts of the Country .

18. The framers agreed on a Single executive, to be called the

president . To
keep this leader from being too kinglike, the limited the president’s term to 4 years.

Section 9 - Resolution: The Electoral College

19. After some 60 votes on the issue of how to elect the president, the framers reach a compromise. Neither

Congress nor the people would decide. A special body called the
Electoral College
would elect them.

20. The Electoral College is made up of votes who cast votes to elect the president and vice
president every
4 years.

21. Each state has as many electors in the Electoral College as the number of senators and
Representative it sends to Congress.
22. The delegates left the methods of choosing electors up to the states .

23. Originally, electors voted for two candidates without saying which one they preferred for president or
vice president.

Section 10 - The Convention Ends

24. The first question was how many states would have to ratify , or approve, the Constitution before it
could go into effect.

25. The framers compromised on 9 states .

26. The second question was who should ratify the Constitution—the people , or the
state legislatures ?

27. The Constitution would be ratified at special conventions by delegates who were
elected by the people in each state.

28. The Constitution was considered complete on September 17, 1787 .

29. What was the main reason some people refused to sign the new Constitution?
they believed the new plan did not protect the rights of the people.

Section 11 - The Constitution Goes to the Nation

30. The new government formed a “federal” system of government. What does federal mean?
a strong national government shared power with the states.

31. What were Federalists?

Supporters of the Constitution

32. What did they argue?

The Federalists argued that the Constitution would create a national government that was strong
enough to unite the quarreling states into a single republic.
33. In a series of newspapers, they recalled the weaknesses of the Government
. They showed how the Constitution would remedy those weaknesses by
creating a stronger , more effective union of the states.
34. They also addresses the the fears of many Americans that a strong government
freedom
would threaten their or take away their rights. The power given to the
government, they pointed out, were strictly limited .

35. In addition those powers were divided among 3 branches so that no one branch
could become too powerful .

36. These influential articles were collected and published as The Federalist Papers. .

37. What were Anti-Federalists?

opponents of the Constitution,

38. What THREE things did they find to dislike the plan?

a. -found much to dislike about the new plan. Congress,

b. they feared, would burden the country with taxes.

c.
They also claimed that the president had power enough to rule like a king, and the
judicial branch would overpower state courts.

39. The Anti-Federalists’ main complaint was that something was missing. What was that major complaint?

that the plan listed the powers of the government but not the rights of the people.

40. What was created to ease the fears of the Anti-Federalists and get them to approve the Constitution?
The Federalists paper.