7.4 - The Constitutional Convention and Federal Constitution

What was the original purpose of the Constitutional Convention in 1787?

• To draft the Declaration of Independence

• To amend the Articles of Confederation

• To elect the first President of the United States

• To establish the Bill of Rights

What was the Virginia Plan's proposal regarding representation?

• Representation based on land area

• Proportional representation based on population

• Representation based on wealth

• Equal representation for all states

What was the main issue addressed by the Connecticut Compromise?

Answer explanation

The Virginia Plan’s call for proportional representation alarmed the representatives of the smaller states. William Paterson introduced a New Jersey Plan to counter Madison’s scheme, proposing that all states have equal votes in a unicameral national legislature. He also addressed the economic problems of the day by calling for the Congress to have the power to regulate commerce, to raise revenue though taxes on imports and through postage, and to enforce Congressional requisitions from the states.

Roger Sherman from Connecticut offered a compromise to break the deadlock over the thorny question of representation. His Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise, outlined a different bicameral legislature in which the upper house, the Senate, would have equal representation for all states; each state would be represented by two senators chosen by the state legislatures.

Only the lower house, the House of Representatives, would have proportional representation.

What was the three-fifths compromise about?

• Counting enslaved people for representation and taxation

• The number of senators each state would have

• The method of electing the President

• The regulation of interstate commerce

From the inception of the Constitution, the public has directly elected the President of the United States.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

To avoid giving the people too much direct power, the delegates made certain that senators were chosen by the state legislatures, not elected directly by the people (direct elections of senators came with the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1913).

As an additional safeguard, the delegates created the Electoral College, the mechanism for choosing the president. Under this plan, each state has a certain number of electors, which is its number of senators (two) plus its number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Critics, then as now, argue that this process prevents the direct election of the president.

What was a key argument of the Anti-Federalists against the Constitution?

• It favored small states over large states

• It was too similar to the Articles of Confederation

• It lacked a bill of rights

• It provided too much power to the states

Answer explanation

Anti-Federalists, argued that the Constitution would consolidate all power in a national government, robbing the states of the power to make their own decisions.

To them, the Constitution appeared to mimic the old corrupt and centralized British regime, under which a far-off government made the laws.

Please categorize the political positions into their correct categories.

Groups:

(a) Federalist Positions

,

(b) Anti-Federalist Positions

• Centralized Government is Easily Corruptible

• Pure Democracy Results in Policy Based on the Whims of the People

• Constitution Must Protect Individual Rights

• Elites Will Not Represent the People

• A Centralized Republic is Best

• Direct Democracy is Dangerous

What was a major concern of the delegates regarding democracy?

• It would strengthen the monarchy

• It would increase taxes

• It would lead to anarchy

• It would reduce state power

The Three-Fifths Compromise resulted in further debate regarding the future of the Atlantic slave trade and the United States economy.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

The states of South Carolina and Georgia, their delegates contended, depended on the Atlantic slave trade to regularly replenish their supply of enslaved persons. They wanted to ensure that the trade continued unregulated in perpetuity.

Nor were the delegates from South Carolina satisfied with the draft constitution’s language regarding the return of escaped slaves. They wanted the constitution to make it clear that any “fugitive slaves and servants . . . be delivered up like criminals” and returned to their respective states.

They wrote into the constitution that the Atlantic slave trade “shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight.” With this issue largely resolved, the delegates from South Carolina dropped their proposal for a stronger fugitive slave clause.

Please place the events below into proper chronological order, left to right.

• The Constitutional Convention of 1787

• The Ratification of the Bill of Rights

• The Ratification of the Constitution

• Shays' Rebellion

• The Publication of the Federalist Papers