William Paterson presented, Legislature Congress = unicameral (each state would be equally represented, one vote per state), called for a “federal executive” of more than one person, Federal Judiciary = one "supreme tribunal"
windows & doors were locked to avoid eavesdropping, atmosphere was tense, people became angry, threats were given out, made a fireplace to burn any notes taken down in the meeting, soldiers were situated outside, talked about the 3 main issues (slavery, taxes, and powers of the central gov't), discussed building a new gov't that would meet the needs of the nation
half were under 40 years of age, well-educated individuals, 31/55 had a 4 year degree (went to college, mainly taught philosophy), experienced in gov't , 7 had been state governors, 17 served in the Senate, 11 served in the H.O.R, 8 signed the D.O.I
went to Great Britain, London, trying to make alliances (excused absence)
split Congress into 2 Houses (Senate & H.O.R), Senate = allowed States to be equally represented, H.O.R = allowed States to be represented based off of their population, written by Sherman, L = bicameral (Senate & H.O.R), E = veto power, cons. ⅔ overridden, J = single tribunal
unanimously selected the leader of the Constitutional Convention, had a good rep.
largely the work of Madison, presented by Randolph, new gov't had 3 branches (legislative, executive, and judicial), Legislature Congress = bicameral, representation was based off of State population and money, thoroughly revised the Articles, Council of Revision (National Exec. + National Judi.), Executive --> President could veto acts (veto = cancel a law) passed by Congress, veto could be overridden by the 2 houses (⅔ ), Judiciary --> consisted of one or more supreme tribunals (courts), and of inferior tribunals
every 5 slaves counts as 3 people, thereby increasing state population, which increases representation and the House of Representatives, South gets to count their slaves but they have to pay a tax on ⅗’s of all slaves
out in France to work out deals between U.S and Paris (excused absence)
skipped, because he thought that they were doing things they weren’t supposed to do… he was later proven right (they didn’t revise the AOC, they made a new government), unexcused absence
Ben Franklin (81 years old) - didn't go to the Constitutional Convention b/c of gout, went to the tavern and passed around notes instead, was the one who said that the "Constitution is as near perfect as possible."
They weren’t revising the AOC + debated about sensitive issues (slavery, taxes, government power)
Congress writes the rule for all trade; Congress was not allowed to - tax the export of goods from any State and act on the slave trade for at least twenty years, interfere with the migration or importation of slaves until the year 1808 as well; gave in to the South on some things b/c their goal was to unite the States, not divide them
William Blackstone, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke
