convention and compromise
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Convention and Compromise. Chapter 3, Section 2. Unpacking the Standards. Describe the weaknesses of government under the Articles of Confederation. Explain how national leaders met to produce a new Constitution. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
CHAPTER 3, SECTION 2
Convention and Compromise
Unpacking the Standards
Describe the weaknesses of government under the Articles of Confederation.
Explain how national leaders met to produce a new Constitution.
Discuss how the Constitutional Convention worked to create a new government for the country.
After reading the section, you will be able to:
Troubles Under the Articles
The new nation faced difficult problems and many Americans believed the Confederation government was too weak to deal with these challenges.
After the Revolutionary War ended, the U.S. went through a depression.
When economic activity slowed and
unemployment increased
Farmers Suffered•could not sell their goods•could not pay their taxes•many jailed•property seized
Murmurs of protest soon grew into revolt . . . .
Shays’s Rebellion
Daniel Shays
Shays, a former Army captain, and other angry farmers, forced courts in western Pennsylvania to close so judges could not confiscate farmers’ lands.
January 1787Shays leads 1000 farmers towards the federal arsenal in Springfield, Illinois.
The state militia ordered the farmers to halt and then shot over the heads.
Militia fired again, killing 4 rebels. Shays and his followers scatter, and the uprising is over.
Shoulder partner What do you
think an “arsenal” is?
Many National Leaders Frightened
They worried that the government could not control unrest and prevent violence.
“mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government”
George Washington
“A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing.”
Thomas Jefferson
Shoulder Partner #1 – Tell your
partner what Washington means
#2 – Tell you partner what
Jefferson means
The Issue of Slavery
Can the principles of the Declaration of Independence and slavery be reconciled?
(can they coexist in harmony?)
The Revolutionary War brought attention to the contradiction between the
American battle for liberty and the practice of slavery.
The North takes steps to end the institution of slavery:
•Quakers organize the 1st antislavery society•PA passed a law providing for the gradual freeing of slaves•Some slaveholders encouraged manumission (the freeing of enslaved people)
A Call for Change
James Madison Alexander Hamilton
Some national leaders called for revision of
the Articles of Confederation
At first, Washington was not enthusiastic about the movement to revise the Articles of Confederation, but
changed his mind after hearing about Shays’s Rebellion.
The Constitutional Convention
Convention Facts
Who?55 delegates (representatives) - planters, merchants, lawyers, physicians, generals, governors and a college president
What ?met to revise the Articles of Confederation but realized it was not fixable and drafted a new plan of government
Where ? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
When ? May 1787
Why ?many national leaders were frightened by Shays’s Rebellion and wanted a stronger federal government
Convention Leaders
George WashingtonPresiding Officer
Gouverneur Morris
Final Draft
Edmund RandolphVirginia
James Madison“Father” of the
Constitution
Roger ShermanThe Great Compromise
James Madison’s Virginia Plan
Presented
byEdmund
Randolph
William Patterson’s New Jersey Plan
The Great Compromise
small stateshappy
Proposedby
Roger
Sherman
large stateshappy
Check for Understanding
1. What does “bicameral” mean?
2. What does the legislative branch do?
3. What does the United States call its legislative branch?
2 house
make laws
Congress
Another Debate Count Enslaved People?
Southern States:wanted slaves counted as population to determine representation in the House of Reps.Opposed counting slaves for the purpose of determining taxation
Northern States:Opposed counting slaves as population to determine representation in the House of Reps.Favored counting slaves for the purpose of determining taxation
The ⅗ Compromise:⅗ of slaves counted as population in determining representation in the House of Reps.⅗ of slaves would be counted for the purpose of determining taxation
V.
⅗ Compromise
Every 5 slaves would count as 3 white males.
Slave Trade
Northern States wanted to slow the spread of slavery
and stop their importation
Southern States considered slavery and the slave trade essential to their
economies
Congress would not interfere with the
slave trade
until 1808
Approving the Constitution
Some delegates worried that without the protection of a bill of rights, the new national government might abuse its power.
However, most delegates believed that the Constitution, with its carefully defined listing of government powers, provided adequate protection of individual rights.
The Constitution is finished on September 17, 1787
Shoulder partner What do you
think “adequate”
means?
Ratifying the Constitution
The delegates (representatives) at the convention agreed that the Constitution will go into effect when 9 out 13 states ratify it.
ratify =
approve
Summary – Review the Main Ideas
• The Government under the Articles of Confederation faced many problems.
• National leaders worked to produce a new constitution for the United States.
• The Constitutional Convention broke the deadlock over the form the new government would take.