The Constitution of the United States of America

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1781 Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation

The colonies were already wary of the power of a centralized government(think England)

Under the AOC Congress could:Declare warProvide mail serviceEnter into Treaties with other countriesCoin/Print money

The Articles of Confederation

The AOC could not:Collect taxesRegulate TradeBecause the AOC Was so weak, it wasLikely that anotherCountry would takeOver the country.

Shays Rebellion States began taxing other states goods

and also began to heavily tax the citizens of their state.

Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel Shays, lead a group of farmers and attempted to seize guns at the Springfield Armory.

This act made the weakness of the current government obvious.

Constitutional Convention Continental Congress calls for a

convention to take place in Philadelphia. First meeting takes place on May 25,

1787. Every state but Rhode Island sent a delegate.

Discussions were kept secret so that there would be a free exchange of ideas. George Washington led the debates.

The Ideas Virginia Plan

James Madison proposes a federal govt. where the power is SHARED between the national and state governments

3 BRANCHES / 1 Legislative 2 Executive 3 Judicial Central Idea of the Plan. Checks and Balances which

means no one branch has more power than the other For example: the President can Veto a law passed by

the Congress or the Supreme Court can declare it UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

The Ideas PROBLEM: the Va. Plan proposed

representation based on population. So the smaller states would have less power.

Virginia

Connecticut

The Ideas The New Jersey Plan: an alternative to

Madison’s plan that gave each state the same number of Representatives

The larger states rejected this plan and it looked as if there would be no document.

The Ideas The Great Compromise Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposes

a BICAMERAL system: a Legislature a TWO parts.

There would be a Senate

and a House of Representatives

Compromise accepted and the work contined.

The Ideas The 3/5’s compromise Slaves would be counted as three fifths of

a person as far as representation goes.

The Ideas Federalist vs Anti-Federalist The Federalists believed that the “folks”

could not handle the responsibility of voting directly for the President

Anti-Federalists believed each citizen should vote directly for the President

THE COMPROMISE is “The Electoral College”

Ratification The States had to “Ratify” or vote for the

Constitution by a two-thirds margin or nine states.

North Carolina was number 12.