US History

U.S. History Study Guide

©2018 of 194 suggestion the Virginia legislature issued a call for a convention of all the states to meet the following summer in Annapolis, Maryland. The Annapolis Convention met in September 1786, but only five states were represented. Among those present were men who favored a strong federal government, like Alexander Hamilton, John Dickinson, and James Madison. With so few states represented it was decided instead to call for a convention of all the states to meet the following summer in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation but more would be done than that. 7.7 The Constitutional Convention The men who attended the Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 were highly educated and extremely accomplished. For the most part they were lawyers, merchants, and planters. Most famous among themwere GeorgeWashington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Governor Morris, Robert Morris, John Dickinson and Benjamin Franklin. GeorgeWashington was unanimously elected to be in charge of the delegations, he became the symbol of the Revolution and the respect that the states had for him helped hold the convention together through difficult times, like it had with the Continental Army. The convention was originally supposed to be a revision of the Articles of Confederation, but soon the delegates pushed for a new government structure which would become the U.S. Constitution. The delegates agreed they needed to prevent tyranny and abuse of power from ambitious men who might abuse power for personal gains. Many were familiar with Montisques writings of the Enlightenment and insisted on many checks and balances; this was designed to prevent the government, or any one branch of the government, from gaining too much power. Many of the ideas for the Constitution would be influenced by ideas of government from the Enlightenment in conjunction with the liberties they felt the British denied to them as citizens; with various acts such as quartering troops, search and seizures, and other actions they felt encroached on their individual liberties. 7.8 The Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan Madison, who has been called the “Father of the Constitution,” devised a plan of national government and persuaded fellow Virginian Edmund Randolph, who was more skilled at public speaking, to introduce it. Known as the “Virginia Plan” it called for an executive branch and two houses of congress, each based on population. Smaller states, which would thus have seen their influence decrease, objected and countered with William Patterson’s “New Jersey Plan,” calling for the continuation of a legislature with equal representation for the states as well as greatly increased powers for the national government. Achieve Page 83