Philadelphia Convention Totally Explained

==Historical context== Before the Constitution was drafted, those who came to be known as Federalists and Anti-Federalists both agreed about the government's failure to deal with commerce. Virginia and Maryland had made an effective agreement about navigating the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and wanted Delaware and Pennsylvania to join. Such an agreement, however, was illegal without the consent of the Confederation.

Deliberations

The constitutional convention was held in the Pennsylvania State House during the hot summer of 1787. The windows were kept shut and guards posted so that others couldn't hear the discussions. Rhode Island refused to send delegates to the convention.

Virginia plan

The Virginia Plan were the unofficial agenda for the Convention. The Virginia delegation arrived before the other delegations to Philadelphia and began meeting daily to discuss plans for the new government. All but the first resolution was written by James Madison, and was first reported to the Convention by Edmund Randolph.
It included:

A bicameral legislature (Senate and House of Representatives)
Both houses' membership determined proportionately
The lower house was elected by the people of the several states
The upper house was elected by the lower house out of nominations from state legislatures
The legislature was very powerful
An executive was planned, but would exist to ensure the will of the legislature was carried out, and so was chosen by the legislature
Formation of a judiciary, with life-terms of service
A Council of Revision consisted of the executive and some of the national judiciary and would have the power to veto and revise national legislation, subject to override
The national legislature would be able to veto state laws
Mason disagreed greatly with the majority form of government as can be shown.

Dickinson's plan

John Dickinson also formed a plan. He never formally presented it in its entirety, but his notes reveal his general ideas. Because he owned substantial property in a large state and in a small state, he anticipated the debates over representation. Dickinson proposed a resolution that based representation upon financial contribution. Historians speculate that Dickinson was going to present the rest of his plan if his first resolution was generally accepted. He didn't want to follow Hamilton's five hour-long oration, and he fell ill, complaining of a "severe headache," shortly after he planned to present it. Delegates objected to the first resolution on the basis that some states without ports would have no source of revenue and therefore would be taken over in the government by wealthier states. New Jersey was a "cask tapped at both ends" according to Madison, and North Carolina was a "patient bleeding at both arms." His plan wasn't adopted, but Dickinson supported the final Constitution.

Connecticut Compromise

The Connecticut Compromise, forged by the well liked and respected Roger Sherman was proposed earlier on June 11. Sherman proposed: "That the proportion of suffrage in the 1st. branch should be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and no more." This was hugely disregarded as too radical at first. Later when neither side would give into the other, they made a compromise, known as "The Great Compromise" following Sherman's plan of having the United States House of Representatives be based on population and in the Senate each state would get an equal amount of Senators.

Slavery

Many questions remained unresolved. Among the most important were thorny issues surrounding slavery. Slaves accounted for about one-fifth of the population in the American colonies. Most of them lived in the Southern colonies, where slaves made up 40 percent of the population. Whether slavery was to be permitted and continued under the new Constitution was a matter of conflict between the North and South, with several Southern states refusing to join the Union if slavery were disallowed. So there was no serious discussion of abolishing slavery.
   The most contentious slavery-related problem was the question of whether slaves would be counted as part of the population in determining representation in Congress or considered property not entitled to representation. Delegates from states with large population of slaves argued that slaves should be considered persons in determining representation but as property if the new government were to levy taxes on the states on the basis of population. Delegates from states where slavery had disappeared or almost disappeared argued that slaves should be included in taxation but not in determining representation.
   Finally the Three-Fifths Compromise was proposed by delegate James Wilson and eventually adopted by the convention.
   Following the Three-Fifths Compromise, another controversy erupted: What should be done about the slave trade, the importing of new slaves into the United States? Ten states had already outlawed it. Many delegates heatedly denounced it. But the three states, Georgia and the two Carolinas, that allowed it threatened to leave the convention if the trade were banned. In effect they postponed the decision on the slave trade because of its contentious nature. The delegates to the Convention didn't want its ratification to fail because of the conflict over slavery. Therefore, a special committee worked out another compromise: Congress would have the power to ban the slave trade, but not until at least 20 years had passed (so from January 1, 1808).

Drafting and signing

In late July, the convention appointed a committee to draft a document based on the agreements that had been reached. After another month of discussion and refinement, a second committee, the Committee of Style and Arrangement, headed by Gouverneur Morris, and including Hamilton, William Samuel Johnson, Rufus King, and Madison, produced the final version, which was submitted for signing on September 17. Morris is credited now, as then, as the chief draftsman of the final document, including the stirring preamble.
Not all the delegates were pleased with the results; some left before the ceremony, and three of those remaining refused to sign: Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. George Mason demanded a Bill of Rights if he was to support the Constitution. The Bill of Rights was finally added and is considered the final compromise of the Convention. Of the 39 who did sign, probably no one was completely satisfied, but such is the nature of compromise. Their views were ably summed up by Benjamin Franklin, who said, "There are several parts of this Constitution which I don't at present approve, but I'm not sure I'll never approve them. ... I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. ... It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it'll astonish our enemies..."

Delegates who attended

The 55 delegates who drafted the Constitution included most of the outstanding leaders, or Founding Fathers, of the new nation. Thomas Jefferson, who was in France during the convention, said, “It is really an assembly of demi-gods.” They represented a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and stations in life, although the vast majority of them were wealthy landowners, and all were white males. There were thirty-two lawyers, eleven merchants, four politicians, two military men, two doctors, two teacher/educators, one inventor, and one farmer. Most delegates to the Convention were Christian -- including Congregationalists, Dutch Reformed, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Roman Catholics -- while a handful were Deists. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams didn't attend; they were abroad in Europe, but they wrote home to encourage the delegates. Patrick Henry was also absent, he refused to go for he "smelt a rat in Philadelphia, tending toward the monarchy."

Connecticut

Delaware

Georgia

Maryland

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

No Appointment

South Carolina

Virginia

George Washington
George Mason*
Edmund Randolph*
James Madison* (*) Did not sign the final draft of the U.S. Constitution

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