A central question of the Convention was whether the federal government or the Länder would have more power. Many delegates believed that the federal government should be able to override state laws, but others feared that a strong federal government would oppress its citizens. Debate and compromise on representation and slavery. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 faced challenges regarding representation in the Legislative Assembly, the issue of slavery, and the selection and powers of the chief executive (president), which they resolved by compromise. Delegates had been meeting for nearly four months when the Style Committee presented a final draft constitution on September 12. The draft included a new provision requiring a jury trial in criminal cases that were tried before the new federal court system. The jury trial was considered one of many fundamental rights, and George Mason stood up and proposed to include a comprehensive bill of rights that lists fundamental individual rights that the government could not violate. He believed that a bill of rights would “give the people great peace” and could be drafted in just a few hours. Eldridge Gerry agreed and asked a committee to prepare a bill of rights. Mason supported his motion, but was defeated by 10 votes to 0. (Each state had one vote, and only 10 states were represented for that vote.) On Monday, September 17, when delegates gathered to sign the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin had prepared a speech.
The Constitution may not be perfect, he said, but “I cannot help but express the wish that any member of the Convention who still has objections to it […] to express our unanimity, to put his name on this instrument. And all but three of the delegates who were present signed, including Eldridge Gerry of Massachusetts, who said he feared a “civil war” in his home state and wished the plan had been “developed in a more mediating form to reduce party heat and opposition.” The work was completed at 4 a.m. in the .m when, according to George Washington`s diary, the members adjourned to the City Tavern, dined together and said goodbye. The intense debates lasted another two weeks. Eventually, delegates met and agreed on the Connecticut compromise on July 16. However, the delegates did not talk about knowing that George Washington would become the first president, and they believed that he would define the office. On the 30th. In June, Delegates from Connecticut proposed a compromise. According to Madison`s notes, they suggested that “the proportion of voting rights in the 1st branch should be based on the number of free residents; and that in the second branch or the senate, each state should have one vote, no more. The proposal did not put an end to the fierce resistance and fierce debate. Some delegates began to leave in protest and a sense of gloom settled on the State House. “It seems,” Sherman said, “that we`ve reached a point where we can`t move in one direction or another.” Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton (who had left) that the crisis was so severe that he almost despaired of seeing a favorable outcome.
A deep disagreement arose about slavery. The economies of many southern states depended almost entirely on agricultural products produced by slaves. To protect their economies, the States of the South have insisted on two proposals. One of them was to prohibit Congress from taxing exports (to protect their agricultural exports). The second proposal was to prohibit Congress from banning the importation of slaves. (In fact, the word “slave” was never used in the Constitution. The proposal was drafted to prohibit Congress from interfering in the importation of “such persons” because states “will deem it fair to authorize them.”) The debate lasted for weeks and delegates met on July 16 and accepted the Connecticut compromise, which stipulated that representatives of the House of Commons would be elected by the people and that the number of representatives from each state would be based on the sum of the white population. And the Senate would have two members for each state. As the 55 delegates met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, several important issues were on the agenda, including representation, state and federal powers, executive power, slavery, and trade. Delegates made compromises by assigning certain responsibilities to the federal government while delegating all other functions to the states.
A gathering of delegates from all states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1787. At this meeting, known as the Constitutional Convention, it was decided that the best solution to the problems of the young country is to set aside the articles of Confederation and write a new constitution. Delegates proposed many different methods for electing the Chair. An alternative was direct election by the people, but this led to controversy. Some delegates did not trust the judgment of the ordinary man. Others thought it was simply unachievable in a country where many rural communities are spread over a large area. George Mason of Virginia said, “On May 25, Congress went into session at the Philadelphia Statehouse. George Washington was elected president. The delegates quickly decided that their discussions should not be published and that “nothing that has been said in the House will be printed, published or otherwise communicated”. Because of the secrecy rule, the public knew little about what was going on at the Philadelphia Statehouse.
And without the careful notes of James Madison, who attended every session and carefully transcribed the procedure, we would know little today about how the Constitution came into being. In the end, delegates who strongly opposed slavery realized that pressure against it would make it impossible for states to come together. They found a compromise with the southern states. They agreed that Congress could not tax exports and that no legislation could be passed by 1808 to prohibit the slave trade. And in a final concession in the South, delegates agreed to a clause on fugitive slaves. It required that any person “detained in one State for the service of labour” who flees to another State “be extradited at the request of the party to whom such service or work may be due”. (The obligation to return fugitive slaves was eliminated when the 13th Amendment abolished slavery.) Delegates generally agreed on the need for an executive independent of the legislature. (The executive would be called the “president.”) And they also agreed to give the president the power to veto laws, but only if his veto was overturned.
As Madison noted, the most difficult question, however, was how states should be represented in Congress. Should all states have the same number of votes (as they did under the Articles of Confederation, where each state had one vote)? Or should each state`s vote count depend on the size of its population (or wealth), as proposed in the Virginia plan? This problem blocked the procedure for many weeks. Representatives of small states believed that representation based on population would destroy the rights of their state. .
