Omar Bennett
The United States Constitution, which has been a notable model for governance worldwide, was formed to address the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, which established a weak central government and gave states the power to make rules and request funds without any enforcement mechanisms. The Constitutional Convention, led by George Washington, met in Philadelphia in 1787, and its delegates crafted a new constitution with a powerful central government, navigating controversies over slavery and a Bill of Rights. The Constitution was ratified by 11 states by July 1788, and the First Congress convened in 1789, marking the beginning of federal operations under the new framework.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Reason for the Constitution | A few years after the Revolutionary War, the country was on the brink of collapse due to the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution. |
| Authors of the Constitution | The Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention |
| Location of the Convention | Philadelphia |
| Date of the Convention | May 1787 to September 1787 |
| Participants in the Convention | Delegates from twelve of the thirteen states |
| Notable Participants | James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Robert Morris, Edmund Randolph, Nathaniel Gorham, John Rutledge, James Wilson, Oliver Ellsworth, Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay |
| Number of Signatures | 39 |
| Date of Signing | September 17, 1787 |
| Ratification Process | Eleven states had ratified the Constitution by the end of July 1788. The Congress of the Confederation certified the ratification in September 1788. |
| Influences | Magna Carta, common law, eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophers such as Montesquieu, Locke, Edward Coke, Hume, and Blackstone |
| Compromises | Connecticut Compromise, protection of the slave trade, three-fifths compromise, fugitive slave clause |
| Amendments | The Bill of Rights, the Twentieth Amendment, the Twenty-second Amendment |
| Impact | One of the longest-lived and most emulated constitutions in the world, influencing other constitutions and the principles of governance worldwide |
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What You'll Learn
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles were drafted by a committee composed of one representative from each of the 13 colonies. John Dickinson, a delegate from Delaware, was the principal writer. The document established a unicameral legislature with limited powers. Each state retained "every Power... which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States". The Articles outlined a Congress with representation not based on population – each state held one vote and ratification by all 13 states was necessary.
In the years leading up to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, several prominent political thinkers began calling for changes to strengthen the central government. The convention was convened to revise the Articles of Confederation, but the delegates went beyond their mandate and authored a new constitution. The new constitution gave much more power to the central government, establishing a federal form of government.
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The Grand Convention
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and George Washington, among others, feared their young country was on the brink of collapse and helped convince Congress to organize the Grand Convention of state delegates to work on revising the Articles of Confederation. The delegates to the convention, representing wildly different interests and views, created a model of government that relied on a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches.
The convention witnessed heated debates, with delegates debating and proposing various outlines for a new government. Notable among these were Madison's Virginia Plan, which proposed a highly centralized government with three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—each structured to check the other, and William Paterson's New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was eventually selected as the basis for the new government, with delegates agreeing on a general blueprint of a federal government with three branches.
To address the prickly question of how to apportion representatives in the national legislature, a "Grand Committee" was formed, comprising one delegate from each of the eleven states present at the convention. The committee, which included Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, proposed a compromise similar to the Connecticut plan, which was eventually adopted as the Connecticut Compromise or the Great Compromise. It stipulated that membership in the House would be apportioned by population, with members elected from districts of forty thousand people, and that each state would have an equal vote in the Senate.
The final document was a mixture of Madison's original "national" constitution and the desired "federal" Constitution that many of the delegates sought. The delegates to the Grand Convention crafted a powerful central government, creating one of the longest-lived and most emulated constitutions in the world.
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The Virginia Plan
The United States Constitution has had a significant influence on governance worldwide, particularly in the 1970s. Its principles, including the rule of law, separation of powers, and recognition of individual rights, have been emulated in other constitutions. The Constitution's creation was motivated by concerns that America's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, gave the Confederation Congress no enforcement powers and could not regulate commerce or print money, leading to disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade that threatened to tear the young country apart.
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The Connecticut Compromise
The United States Constitution, one of the most emulated constitutions in the world, came together in 1787 in Philadelphia. The Constitutional Convention assembled in May of that year, with George Washington elected unanimously as president. The convention was convened to address the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation, which had served as the country's first constitution. The Articles gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers and the ability to regulate commerce or print money. This led to disputes between the states over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade, threatening to tear the young nation apart.
The compromise was offered by Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth to resolve the dispute between small and large states over representation in the federal government. Small states favoured the New Jersey Plan, which proposed equal representation in Congress, while large states advocated for the Virginia Plan, which suggested representation based on population or wealth. The Connecticut Compromise struck a balance between these two positions, ensuring that small states had equal representation in the upper house while giving greater weight to populous states in the lower house.
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Ratification
The ratification of the US Constitution was a long and arduous process. The Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers, the ability to regulate commerce, and the ability to print money. The disputes between the states over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart.
Alexander Hamilton led the call for a constitutional convention to reevaluate the nation’s governing document, and on May 25, 1787, representatives from all 13 states convened in Philadelphia. The convention was initially intended to amend the Articles of Confederation, but the outcome was the proposal and creation of a completely new form of government. The delegates appointed a Committee of Detail to put its decisions in writing, and a Committee of Style and Arrangement condensed 23 articles into seven in less than four days. On September 17, 1787, 38 delegates signed the Constitution, with George Reed signing on behalf of the absent John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total to 39 signatures.
Under Article VII, the new Constitution would not be binding until ratified by nine of the 13 existing states. Hamilton and James Madison led the lobbying efforts, producing the 85 essays known as "The Federalist Papers," which explained and defended the proposed new government. Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787, followed by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut. The Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution due to its creation of a powerful central government and its lack of a bill of rights.
The tide turned in Massachusetts, where the "vote now, amend later" compromise helped secure victory. The Connecticut Compromise, which proposed proportional representation in the lower house and equal representation in the Senate, also aided ratification. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify, making the Constitution the official framework of the US government. The Constitution was not ratified by all states until May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island approved it, and the Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791.
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Frequently asked questions
A few years after the Revolutionary War, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington feared that their young country was on the brink of collapse. The Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, or print money. The states' disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the country apart.
The Constitutional Convention was a gathering of state delegates in Philadelphia in 1787 to work on revising the Articles of Confederation. The convention was convened due to the efforts of Madison and Alexander Hamilton, who issued a report calling upon Congress to summon delegates of all the states to meet and revise the Articles.
The delegates at the convention debated for three months and then appointed a Committee of Detail to put its decisions in writing. A Committee of Style and Arrangement condensed 23 articles into seven in less than four days. On September 17, 1787, 38 delegates signed the Constitution, with George Reed signing on behalf of John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total to 39 signatures. The Constitution was ratified by eleven states by the end of July 1788 and came into effect in March 1789.
