Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Constitutional Convention (Post 2)

The Constitutional Convention, meeting from May, 1787 through the following September, was assembled after Shays' Rebellion in order to revise the Articles of Confederation. Some delegates, especially Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, proposed that the meeting turn into an opportunity to create the foundations for a new American government. Major issues discussed by the delegates - which included representatives from all states but Rhode Island - included three major compromises. Keep these compromises in mind, as they outline some of the most important concepts discussed at the meeting:
  1. Great Compromise - the creation of a bicameral legislature; compromise between the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan;
  2. Three-fifths Compromise - declared African-Americans as "three-fifths" of a person for voting purposes;
  3. Slave Trade Compromise - declared that Congress could not make the international slave trade illegal for Americans to participate in for the next twenty years (1788 - 1808).