Writing the Constitution PDF

Writing the Constitution Objective In this lesson, you will recall the process of creating the Constitution and identify the role of the Great Compromise in this process. Replacing the Articles of Confederation Although most Americans in 1787 understood that the existing sy...

Writing the Constitution Objective In this lesson, you will recall the process of creating the Constitution and identify the role of the Great Compromise in this process. Replacing the Articles of Confederation Although most Americans in 1787 understood that the existing system of government was inadequate, many leaders felt unsure of how to fix the Articles of Confederation. Balancing Liberty, Order, and Democracy national The Founders had drafted the Articles of Confederation to prevent a _____________ government from states interfering with the __________, but cracks began to form in the loose confederation created under the first attempt to structure a US government. Shays's Rebellion, a farmers' revolt in western Massachusetts in 1786, prompted US political leaders to debate reforming different methods for _______________ the government. The challenge remained to find the right balance liberty between _______________, order ____________, and democracy. Debating the Role of Government Hamilton Alexander __________________ strongly favored order over liberty. He argued that only a strong ____________ central government could solve the new country's economic problems. Newburgh In 1783, Hamilton helped plan the dangerous _______________ Conspiracy, which used army officers to threaten a coup d'état unless the US treasury gained the necessary soldiers authority to collect taxes and pay _______________. James Madison believed that the inability of the states to solve national problems risked dissolving _______________ fountain the country. Madison argued that the people were "the _______________ will of all power" and the national government should represent the people's __________ and not simply the states' needs. Adams Prominent patriots such as Patrick Henry and Samuel ___________ opposed proposals to central grant more power to the ______________ government. Henry and Adams both feared the consequences ____________________ of putting too much power in the hands of the national government. derail These extreme differences in opinion threatened to ___________ reform the attempt to ___________ the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention 55 delegates from 12 States (Rhode Island did not participate) convened in Philadelphia. In May 1787, _____ replaced Although almost everyone agreed that the Articles of Confederation needed to be _____________, the delegates disagreed on several crucial and highly charged issues. The key arguments focused on how the represnted states should be equally __________________ congress in a national ______________. The Virginia and New Jersey Plans The Virginia Plan argued for proportional, or The New Jersey Plan was offered as a population __________________-based, representation in the counterproposal. Similar to the Articles of large legislature. In this scheme, states with __________ unicameral Confederation, the plan called for a _____________, populations would have more representatives, and or single-chamber, legislature in which all states bicameral the legislature would be _______________, or have one equal vote, which benefited would have ______ two houses. smaller states with _______________ populations. To the dismay of some delegates, both the Virginia and the New Jersey Plans would grant new, sweeping ______________ commerce and collecting taxes. powers to the national government, such as regulating _____________ The Great Compromise resolved Delegates _________________ the representation issue with a compromise. The so-called Great Compromise created a bicameral legislature, composed of a lower house, later called the House ___________ Senate of Representatives, with proportional representation and an upper house, the _____________, where states had equal votes. chief The delegates also decided that the __________ executive would be elected independently of the legislature. The Three-Fifths Compromise slaves Over the course of two centuries, ______________ had become a huge economic engine for plantations in the South where plantation owners used enslaved people as a cheap source of labor to harvest cash crops. Slavery abolishing was less common in the North, with much of New England _________________ slavery in the 1780s. The northern states argued that because southern states did not consider enslaved people to be worthy of basic rights __________, enslaved people should not be ______________ counted for purposes of representation. solved The delegates eventually ____________ the disagreement with the Three-Fifths Compromise, which enslaved _____________be stated that each _________ person counted as three-fifths of a person. Ratifying the Constitution Before the new governmental structure could go into effect, the legislatures of nine ________ of the thirteen states had to ratify the Constitution. convention Even though a majority of the ________________ at the convention approved the easy new Constitution, gaining the approval of the states was not _________. A large opposed percentage of people in the country __________________ the changes. Federalists and Anti-Federalists Those who were for ratifying the Constitution and supported the proposed federal system that divided powers Federalists between a central and state governments became __________________. opposed The Anti-Federalists _______________ the new Constitution, believing that it sacrificed states' rights. essays The 85 ___________, known collectively as The Federalist Papers, addressed the arguments made by Anti- Federalists. The Bill of Rights and Ratification political In the end, the Federalists used their financial and _______________ power from men such as George Franklin Washington and Benjamin ________________ to win public approval of the Constitution. erase Because the Anti-Federalists feared that a stronger central government would ___________ individual Rights liberties, the group successfully argued for the Bill of ____________ to be added to the Constitution. The First Elections Congress In the fall of 1788, Americans voted to elect members to the new national bicameral ______________, Senate composed of the _____________ and the House of Representatives. Federalist candidates were the 18 of 20 Senate seats and _____ overwhelming victors, claiming _____ 54 of 59 House seats. independent` Although all the states were __________________ of one another during the election process, every state president selected George Washington as _______________. Summary List some of the differences between the confederation political system under the Articles of Confederation and the federation political system under the US Constitution. The main difference was that the Articles of Confederation had a weak central government and unicameral legislature. Thye also had no judicial branch. But the U.S. Constitution had a strong central government with a bicameral legislature and separate judicial branch.