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| | Notice the condition that George Washington included at the end: "so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the People." The Founders knew that the Constitution would not last unless the people continued to be moral and virtuous. John Adams, another Founder and the second President after Washington, said that "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."<ref>John Adams, October 11, 1798.</ref> | | Notice the condition that George Washington included at the end: "so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the People." The Founders knew that the Constitution would not last unless the people continued to be moral and virtuous. John Adams, another Founder and the second President after Washington, said that "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."<ref>John Adams, October 11, 1798.</ref> |
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| | + | == The Committees that Wrote the Constitution == |
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| | + | The delegates divided up the work of writing the Constitution by establishing several committees:<ref>http://www.usconstitution.net/constcmte.html</ref> |
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| | + | : Rules Committee, appointed May 25 in order to set rules for the convention, including Alexander Hamilton and Charles Pinkney |
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| | + | : First Committee of Eleven (delegates), appointed July 2 in order to resolve the issue of equal representation in the Senate, including George Mason and William Paterson |
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| | + | : Committee of Detail, appointed July 24 in order to draft the Constitution on terms agreed to by the Convention, including Edmund Randolph and James Wilson |
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| | + | : Second Committee of Eleven, appointed August 25 in order to consider issues of uniform duties and fees, including George Mason and Roger Sherman |
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| | + | : Third Committee of Eleven, appointed August 31 in order to address "tabled" and unresolved issues, including James Madison and Roger Sherman |
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| | + | : Committee of Style and Arrangement, appointed September 8 in order to revise the style and arrangement of the Constitution, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison |
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| | + | == The Compromises == |
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| | + | The first was submitted by [[Edmund Randolph]] and was called the [[Virginia Plan]], or the "Large States Plan," because it was favored by the larger states. Our three branches of government -- legislative, executive, and judicial -- originated in the Virginia Plan. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, this plan gave government the power to directly enforce laws. The Virginia Plan assigned delegates to both houses of Congress (a "bicameral" legislature) based on a state's population, and the legislature selected the chief executive (president) and the judges under this Plan. The Virginia Plan contributed much to the finished Constitution, although Edmund Randolph himself refused to sign it in the end. |
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| | + | In June 1787, William Paterson next proposed the [[New Jersey Plan]], which was more favorable to the small states and which departed less from the Articles of Confederation. This plan was favored by small states because each state was represented equally in Congress. This allowed small states to have an equal amount of power. The Virginia plan, in contrast, would have allowed large states much more power than small ones because representation in Congress was based on population. |
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| | + | This conflict between the big and small states may have been the most difficult to resolve in the entire Convention. For weeks there was no progress. Then Benjamin Franklin proposed that each day be opened by prayer. He said, "In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. - Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered.... And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probably that an empire can rise without His aid?" But the delegates felt a minister was needed for that, and they could not afford to hire one! |
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| | + | After many weeks of arguments, a compromise was reached. In July 1787, Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman proposed the Connecticut Plan, in which representation in the House would be proportional to population, and representation in the Senate would be 1 vote per state. '''''This became the Great Compromise or the [[Connecticut Compromise]], and it resolved that Congress would have one house with equal representation and one house with representation based on population'''''. This compromise became part of the Constitution (with the change that there would be two votes per state), and today we have both the House of Representatives and the Senate. |
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| | + | This compromise also reflected the spirit of the Constitutional Convention. Disagreements arose on a myriad of issues. Again and again, the delegates compromised, gradually formulating the Constitution that we still use today. |
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| | + | A dispute arose between the North and the South over whether slaves should be counted in determining how many congressmen a State could have in the House of Representatives. Representation was in proportion to population, but the North opposed counting slaves because that would give the South more power than if slaves were not counted. The "Three-Fifths Compromise" counted slaves as three-fifths of a free man for the purpose of determining how many representatives a State would have in the House of Representatives (Art. I, Section 2, Paragraph 3): |
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| | + | :"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." |
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| | + | And there was one additional compromise required for slavery: the new Congress could not ban the importation of slavery for 20 years, until 1808. |
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| | + | == The Articles == |
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| | + | There are seven Articles in the Constitution: |
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| | + | :Article I: Congress (the legislative branch) holds certain powers as listed. |
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| | + | :Article II: the Executive Branch (led by the President) carries out the laws. |
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| | + | :Article III: the Judicial Branch (including the Supreme Court) interprets the laws. |
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| | + | :Article IV of the Constitution outlines the relationship between the federal (national) government and the states. |
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| | + | :Article V outlines the procedures for amending the Constitution. Contrary to the Articles of Confederation, unanimous consent of the states is not required to amend the Constitution. |
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| | + | :Article VI declares the Constitution to be the supreme Law of the Land. |
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| | + | :Article VII establishes the procedure for ratifying the Constitution. |
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| | == The Preamble == | | == The Preamble == |