Main Idea: The states sent delegates to a convention to solve the problems of the Articles



of Confederation.


In September 1786, delegates from five states met in Annapolis, Maryland. They wanted

to create national trade laws, which first required amending the Articles of Confederation.

The following May, 12 states sent delegates to Philadelphia.


Fifty-five delegates came to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. About threefourths

had been representatives to the Continental Congress. America’s most famous

men were there—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison. Madison

had studied thoroughly to prepare for the meeting. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

were not at the meeting because they were overseas. Patrick Henry refused to go because

he opposed the Convention. No women, African Americans, or Native Americans were

invited to participate in the Convention.


The first order of business at the Convention was to elect a president. Every single delegate

voted for George Washington. Next, the delegates had to decide on the rules for the

Convention. The delegates decided that in order for everyone to speak freely and not be

pressured by the politics of the time, the discussions would remain secret.


The first speaker at the Convention, Virginia’s Edmund Randolph, proposed the Virginia

Plan. It called for three branches of government. The legislature would be made up of two

houses. The number of representatives from each state would be based on the state’s

population. The larger states supported the plan. The smaller states opposed it, because

they believed that the larger states would have more power.


New Jersey delegate William Paterson presented an alternative plan. The New Jersey Plan

called for a one-house legislature in which each state would have one vote. After some

debate, the Virginia Plan won. The Great Compromise solved the problem of

representation. According to the compromise, the House of Representatives would be

based on state populations. In the Senate, each state would have an equal number of votes.

Next the Convention had to decide who would be counted in the population of each state.


After some debate, the delegates reached the Three-Fifths Compromise. It said that threefifths

of the slave population would be counted to determine representation in the

legislature and to determine taxation. The Convention also agreed that Congress could not

ban the slave trade until 1808.



The delegates gave the national government the power to regulate trade. The national

government could pass laws on how goods could be exported.


On September 15, 1787, all but three of the delegates voted to support the revised

Constitution. Washington sent it to the Confederation Congress and Congress sent it to the

states to be ratified.


Ratifying the Constitution


Main Idea: Americans across the nations debated whether the Constitution would


produce the best government.


The framers of the Constitution knew that the Constitution would cause controversy. They

began to campaign for its ratification. They explained that the new Constitution was based

on federalism, a system in which the national government and state governments share

power.


The people who supported ratification were known as Federalists. Those who opposed the

Constitution were known as Anti-federalists.


The Federalists wrote and published essays in support of the Constitution. The best known

essays are The Federalist papers, later published as a book called The Federalist. The

authors of The Federalist papers were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.


Most of the newspapers supported the Constitution. As a result, they gave more publicity

to the Federalists than to the Anti-federalists. Even so, opposition to ratification was strong

in many areas.


By late June 1788, nine states had ratified the Constitution. At Virginia’s convention,

Patrick Henry and George Mason refused to sign the final document without a bill of

rights. James Madison was also at Virginia’s convention. He suggested that Virginia ratify

the Constitution and recommended that a bill of rights be added.



New York followed Virginia’s example by ratifying the Constitution while calling for a

bill of rights. Rhode Island became the last state to ratify the Constitution in 1790. By then,

the new Congress had already written a bill of rights and submitted it to the states.

James Madison, a member of the new Congress, proposed a set of amendments to the

Constitution. Congress first edited, and then accepted, the amendments. As with the

Constitution, three-fourths of the states had to ratify the amendments for them to take

effect. In 1791, ten amendments were ratified and became law. They became known as the

Bill of Rights.