Persuasive Speech At The Constitutional Convention 1787

It is 1787, a little over ten years have passed since our nation gained its independence. We desperately needed a Constitution, even with James Madison’s efforts to organize something to get us started, nothing worked until the plan for the Constitutional Convention came into action. The Constitutional Convention, also known as the Philadelphia Convention, was set to begin on May 13th, 1787. It took longer than expected for all the invited delegates to arrive, so the date was pushed back. On May 25th, 1787 there were twenty-nine delegates present. Some wanted to wait for the others to show up, but Madison urged them to begin the meeting. Over the course of the four month long convention, fifty-five delegates had made an appearance for at least

one of the days. Every state from all of the thirteen colonies had sent no less than one member to attend except for Rhode Island, who refused the invitation. Rhode Island was not in attendance because they believed due to their size, no one would listen to what they had to say.

"The fifty-five delegates who came to the Philadelphia Convention between May 25th and September 17th, 1787 represented a political elite with years of experience in the affairs of their states and nation." Over this course of time, our nation’s Constitution was drafted, the men in attendance had many important orders of business to discuss, the first thing they did was issue a “gag order.” This decreed that nothing spoken at the convention would be published or discussed outside of the House. Madison later justified the order saying, “No Constitution would ever have been adopted by the Convention if the debates had been made public.” At the Convention, members in attendance were able to freely express their views, listen to one another’s arguments, and even change their minds without fear of immediate public scrutiny of their work. They started off with less pressing issues, but everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before they would need to discuss some incredibly important things. For instance, how the process for electing a president would

go. Many ideas arose about this topic, perhaps the president should be elected by congress, there should be a direct popular vote, we should allow each state’s governor to decide, and so many others. Some ideas raised interest, like Madison’s original idea for the popular vote. However, many knew that this idea would not work because small states would have no influence in it. “Delegates realized that direct election, even if physically possible, meant disregarding geographical and political boundaries, which identified Americans as citizens of states with distinctive problems and interests.” Other ideas were shot down almost immediately, but every proposal in the end had too many flaws to ever be seen as successful.

Amidst all the discussions, delegates began to listen to the idea of creating presidential electors. Some were still hung up on the popular vote, many worried that the position of an elector was not very significant, and no respectable man would want the job. When someone suggested that the electors be appointed by the members of congress, it passed with substantial support. Although this idea did not escape without lots of criticism, once everyone realized it was the only option they had that would not only work, but still allow the people to have a say in the election, the framers began working out all the details. On July 19th, Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut proposed that electors be appointed based on the population of a state. Any population with less than one hundred thousand people would only receive one elector. If the state had between one hundred thousand and three hundred thousand, they would be awarded two

electors. Finally, if the population exceeded three hundred thousand, the state would be allowed three electors. The process for having the electors vote proved to be a little tricky. At first, it was thought that all of the electors would meet in one location, but the framers decided that if the electors were to meet in their respective state capitals, it would be far more convenient. This option would also eliminate intrigue, combination, corruption, and allow a “free and pure election of the President of the United States made perpetual.” On September 17th, 1787 the Constitution was signed by the remaining thirty-nine delegates. After this, there wasn’t any turning back. The Electoral College would be the way the United States would elect our president. “Ultimately, the decision to vest the selection of the new president in an Electoral College was embraced by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 not because it was the best way, but because it was better than the two alternatives: direct election, or appointment by congress.”