By 1786 it became clear that the Articles of Confederation would not suffice as a working document in the infant America. Inflation was becoming a huge problem as rioting broke out in New England. A farmer rebellion, led by war veteran Daniel Shays in Western Massachusetts added to the woes.
Shays' Rebellion - an early revolt that helped highlight the weaknesess of the Articles of Confederation. It was eventually put down. source: history.com
To address the issues, the Conventional Convention met in May 1787 in Philadelphia (in what is now called Independence Hall). All states other than Rhode Island were represented but it took until the end of the month before a quorum was achieved.
Independence Hall - Philadelphia source: visitphilly.com
Two options were initially submitted – the Virginia Plan (which called for greater representation in the central government by the large population states) and the New Jersey Plan (which called for equal representation from all 13 states). At one point a proposal for a strong executive with a life term Presidency was suggested (by Alexander Hamilton) and rejected, This result in the expected infighting that was only resolved on July 5th by the Connecticut Compromise. The new plan called for proportional representation by population in a lower chamber (The House) and two representatives from each states in an Upper Chamber (The Senate).
Source: patch.com
On July 16th 1787 the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise was adopted in a narrow vote. The three-fifths compromise was used to evaluate slave populations for representation purposes ie. A slave was counted as 3/5th of a regular citizen. A vote to allow congress to veto state laws failed to win approval.
The concept of the Presidency came out of a motion by George Mason of Virginia. The process of choosing the presidency when through a few iterations after it was decided that the choice will be given to the House of Representatives.
George Mason source: biography.com
On September 15, 1787 the convention adopted the Constitution. Two days later it was signed by all but three of the delegates and then submitted to the states for ratification. Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution on December 7th. However it was rejected in May 1788 by Rhode Island (they would eventually ratify in 1790). By July 1788 New Hampshire had become the ninth state to ratify with Virginia (after much debate and opposition by Patrick Henry) following shortly. On the 26th of July New York became the 12th state to ratify.
The great debate with respect to the Constitution was over the power of the Federal government and its role with respect to state’s rights. The Federalist Papers published in 1788 and written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (collectively known as Publius) made the case for a strong Federal government in a series of 85 articles and essays.
The Federalist Papers source: historynet.com
The counter-argument was offered by a series of writers that included George Clinton, Melancton Smith, Samuel Bryan, Robert Yates, and Patrick Henry amongst others. The full case here is known as the Anti-Federalist Papers and played a vital part in framing the Bill of Rights and the subsequent debate around it.
The Anti-Federalist Papers source: intellectualtakeout.org
April 1st, 1789 marked the date that the Convention opened under the Constitution for the First time. Five days later George Washington was elected as the First President with John Adams serving as his vice President.
On the 25th of September the Bill of Rights were proposed. These were the first ten of twelve amendments to the constitution. These were finally enacted on May 1st, 1792. They guaranteed freedom of speech, religion, press, defense (right to arms), speedy trial, fairness of law and states rights and protection against quartering, search and seizure and self-incrimination.
Source of Cartoon below: The Atlantic
The Supreme Court came into effect on February 2nd 1790 as per the 1789 Judiciary Act.
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