may 25, 1787 - Constitutional Convention

Description:

caused by: shays rebellion
orginally to ratify the Articles of Confederation but they ended up just making a whole new constitution
Major disagreements:
1) How much power should the central Goverment have?
For central power: the economy will be good and there will be no chaos
Against central power: forced dictatorship (British like rule)
Agreement: split powers, bill of rights, checks and balances, federalism (shared power between states and central government)
2) How much democracy should we have?
For a lot of democracy: wanted people to have the ultimate power
Against a lot of democracy: feared mob rule
Agreement: electoral college
3) How much representation should each state have?
For bigger states getting more representation: bigger states agreed that representation should be based on population since they would have a lot of say because they were bigger states
Against bigger states getting more representation: smaller states, feared they’d have no say in the government
Agreement: the Great Compromise, power shifted in Senate and HOR
4) What should we do about slavery?
For slavery: southern plantation owners
Against slavery: northern people who thought since we all fought for our freedom, slaves should have freedom too
Agreement: nobody really took a stand but slavery was protected in the constitution, just not explicitly

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