Constitutional Convention Essay Outline

The constitutional convention began in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. The thirteen colonies involved at the time we ruled under the Articles of Confederation. The articles however became weak had flaws that the founding fathers noticed quickly with the states appearing to have individual power. On September 14, 1786 a meeting was established that gave out a call for the upcoming grand convention. Attendance was a huge issue in congress. The delegates from those states believed that is they didn’t show up then nothing can happen, but everything happens anyways. After the Annapolis meeting, selected delegates from the colonies met in Pennsylvania. They had to create and make new laws for the constitution; such as, establishing a unified currency.

New Jersey’s plan was nicknamed the Paterson Plan. Paterson was the first committee of representation at the convention. He arrived at the convention on May 25 and left on August 6. His role was very important at the convention as the primary author of the New Jersey Plan. Paterson left the convention after the big issue of representation within the senate was resolved. After he left the convention, he only came back to sign the constitution on September 17. Paterson’s main argument was that other delegates had gone too far with their authority. It was once said that, “Mr. Paterson is one of those kind of men whose powers break in upon you, and create wonder and astonishment” (William Pierce). After the new government was established, he served in the U.S. Senate for New Jersey and also served in the Associate Justice in the Supreme

The smaller states wanted to have the same number of representatives as large states. Larger states however, wanted to have more power considering their states contained more land and population. The fathers of the constitution decided to combine the Virginia and New Jersey Plans. This is known as a bicameral legislature. The senate has two representatives no matter the size of the state, and the House of Representatives is determined by its population. The constitutional leaders then had to think of how to count slaves. Remaining states with slaves wanted to count them as whole people. The two sides came to an agreement of counting three-fifths of the slave population. The United States however, no longer has slaves but this is the government that we live in