Debates Of The Constitutional Convention

The Constitution wasn’t fair and was poorly made so they had to create a new one. The Congress started off by adding improvements but it needed too many improvements they had to start over. If they hadn't started over the Constitution Would not have been as good, and there would still be poorly written parts. The new constitution was called the Constitutional Convention. People complained that their Liberty was being taken away and they wanted it back the Congress thought about the complaints and decide to consider revising the Constitution. The revising turned into the Constitutional Convention.

The Constitutional Convention was held in May 25 1787 in Philadelphia to discuss revising the Article of Confederation. Delegates from the various states met in Philadelphia and George Washington president was elected to preside over Convention. However, the result of convention wasn’t likely what the purpose of convention to revise the Article of Confederation because what it ended up doing could not answer successfully the question of slavery and was creating a new constitution, which was the United States Constitution. There were three plans submitted for government structure which were Virginia, New Jersey, and Connecticut Compromise.

Driven by Shay's Rebellion, many delegates realized that the Articles of Confederation were not strong enough to keep the population under control. This resulted in the Philadelphia Convention, also known as the Constitutional Convention, and its attendees to propose various plans and ideas with the original intention of strengthening the government. During discussions, the motive changed to developing a whole new government and discarding of the Articles of Confederation. The two plans that emerged from the convention were the "Virginia Plan," which was the more popular plan, and the "New Jersey Plan." The Virginia Plan was drafted before the meeting and came first, inspiring the New Jersey Plan. These two plans, with their similarities and differences, lead to significant milestones in what has shaped today's government.

The Virginia Plan is a document created by James Madison, presented on May 8, 1787, to the Constitutional Convention by Edmund Randolph (Munson). It entailed a proposal for a bicameral legislature, a plan to separate the legislative branch into two chambers, “the National Legislature ought to consist of two branches” (Madison). The Virginia Plan also suggested that the powers of the government be separated into branches, executive, legislative, and judicial. The significance of the Virginia plan was its call for a proportional representation of the states, which would result in a strong national government. This planned upstaged the smaller states, such as New Jersey, since they feared that the states would no longer have a voice in their society, creating the New Jersey Plan.

On September 28, 1787, after three days of bitter debate, the Confederation Congress sent the Constitution to the states with neither an endorsement nor a condemnation. This action, a compromise engineered by Federalist members, disposed of the argument that the convention had exceeded its mandate; in the tacit opinion of Congress, the Constitution was validly before the people. The state legislatures' decisions to hold ratifying conventions confirmed the Constitution's legitimacy.

The 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention involved an extensive amount of compromise among the delegates in order to finalize the U.S. Constitution into the structure that it is known for today. On one end of the spectrum were states' righters, or Antifederalists, who were often delegates from smaller states such as Connecticut, and who sought to scale back the power of the federal government. On the other end of the spectrum were the Federalists, who wanted a strong national government to unite the nation. Additionally, there were other delegates who could not be put into such clear-cut categories. What followed at the convention was the process of compromise: a group of men with different ideas about how government should be structured,

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention chose to write an entirely new constitution rather than fix the Articles because they needed a stronger central government and the current one was created with weak intentions. The Articles of Confederation was originally created to have a weak central government because the United States did not want to be like Britain. After fighting a harsh war with them, Americans did not want an overpowering government like their past ruler. Additionally, the government the Articles made was only unicameral legislature, so there was no separation of powers. No judicial nor an executive branch was there for checks and balances and to balance power. In addition, congress could not levy taxes and maintain a national

During the late 1700’s, it occurred to Americans that the Articles of Confederation needed to be revised. The weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, which included the lack of power to conduct domestic responsibilities such as taxation and regulation of commerce, caused the United States to become bankrupt. Eventually, the new country was faced with the daunting task to greatly alter the Articles of Confederation. In February 1787, America finally persuaded the Continental Congress to convene at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from May 15, 1776 to September 17, 1787, which would eventually lead to the various debates concerning the problems that faced the weak central government under the Articles of Confederation. During the events that occurred at the Constitutional Convention, various plans were introduced. These plans included James Madison and Edmund Randolph’s Virginia Plan, which introduced a radical government structure to allocate the legislative branches by population and the separation of powers, and William Patterson’s New Jersey Plan, a response to the Virginia Plan, which conceived the idea of equal representation for all states. After heated debates, the introduction of Roger Sherman’s Connecticut Compromise helped to merge both the ideas of Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan into the definitive compromise. In this compromise, the legislature would be bicameral with each state guaranteed two equal senators in the Senate and

Under the Articles, Congress had no way to avert war or to provide for national security against foreign intrusion. The government could not resolve the fight between states, manage interstate exchange, collect taxes, or uphold laws. These shortcomings of the confederation distressed political leaders. Accordingly, they requested an assemblage in order to revise the Articles and restore the fledgling country. The Virginia Plan, composed by James Madison and proposed by Edmund Randolph presented a government separated into three branches of

This meeting is referred to as the Constitutional Convention. George Washington was chosen to preside over the meeting. After much debate, The Virginia Plan was drafted. Virginia delegates wanted a bicameral legislative branch. They argued that a strong national government would collect taxes and enforce laws.

The first plan is Virginia Plan, which was drafted on May 29, 1787, by James Madison and his fellow Edmund Randolph in the form of 15 resolutions. It was proposed to the Constitutional Convention by James Madison, who was a political theorist, American statesman, and the well-known fourth President of the United States. He was also the father of checks and balances, which helps to prevent the abuse of power between the branches. The Virginia Plan suggested that we should have a bicameral legislature in which contains two chambers. Besides, each state would have representatives based on the population – according to the Plan. This proposal is clearly an advantage for the large states because of their high population. More than that, they are going to have more representatives which means more power.

Articles of Confederation and the Constitution The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution had many differences. At the end of the American Revolution, the Free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. A number of issues arose which included how power would be divided between local and national Governments, how laws were made and by whom. The Articles of Confederation was the first attempt at solving these issues which later own was seen as a failure for the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the Articles, the state tried to revise the articles but instead, constructed the constitution.

The Virginia Plan was written by James Madison which was a proposed plan presented by Edmund Randolph. It was more known as the Randolph Plan, which was the plans sponsor. This plan was supported by many of the large states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. This plan was required to have a very strong congress of two houses based on proportional representation. One of the houses would be elected by the people and the other would be elected by the first one.

The last half of the 18th century was very important for the United States. During this era, the nation was founded following the Declaration of Independence and drafting and ratification of the Constitution a decade later. The 1787 constitutional convention and ratification debate was very important in the making of the US Constitution. The dynamics, antagonism, considerations, process and the eventual consensus regarding the Constitution can be explained by discrete theories in political discourses. However, there are theories that fit best within this historical context and help better explain the process of the constitutional convention and ratification. This paper will talk about pluralist theory as a theoretical perspective that best explains the workings of the 1787 constitutional convention and ratification debate, as opposed to power elite theory. This will be achieved by looking at the premises of pluralist theoretical perspective, and the workings of the 1787 constitutional convention and ratification and then show how pluralist theory best captures the workings.

The Constitution of the United States of America was ratified in 1789. It begins with, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The constitution was to serve basic rights to citizens, such as establishing fairness between each and every individual, insure that all men are treated equally, and insure that the Federal Government, along with the executive branch, maintains the law and peace inside the country. This means that it tries to prevent altercations and rebellion inside and outside of the country. It was ratified in Philadelphia on September 17.1787 by delegates to the Constitutional Convention.