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133-606: The Connecticut Compromise , also known as the Great Compromise of 1787 or Sherman Compromise , was an agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation each state would have under the United States Constitution . It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by Roger Sherman , along with proportional representation of

266-564: A "convenient number" of federal judges would form a Council of Revision with the power to veto any act of Congress. This veto could be overridden by an unspecified number of votes in both houses of Congress. James Wilson feared that the Virginia Plan made the executive too dependent on Congress. He argued that there should be a single, unitary executive . Members of a multiple executive would most likely be chosen from different regions and represent regional interests. In Wilson's view, only

399-483: A chief executive called a president. The president and his cabinet would have veto power over legislation. The plan also included a national judiciary. On May 30, the Convention agreed, at the request of Gouverneur Morris , "that a national government ought to be established consisting of a supreme Legislative, Executive and Judiciary". This was the convention's first move towards going beyond its mandate merely to amend

532-453: A chief executive who would be energetic, independent, and accountable. He believed that the moderate level of class conflict in American society produced a level of sociability and inter-class friendships that could make the presidency the symbolic leader of the entire American people. Wilson did not consider the possibility of bitterly polarized political parties . He saw popular sovereignty as

665-681: A document titled, "Vices of the Political System of the United States," which systematically evaluated the American political system and offered solutions for its weaknesses. Due to his advance preparation, Madison's blueprint for constitutional revision became the starting point for the convention's deliberations. Madison believed the solution to America's problems was to be found in a strong central government. Congress needed compulsory taxation authority as well as power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. To prevent state interference with

798-699: A draft written by the Committee of Detail to gain acceptance. Though more modifications and compromises were made over the following weeks, most of this draft can be found in the finished version of the Constitution. After several more issues were debated and resolved, the Committee of Style produced the final version in early September. It was voted on by the delegates, inscribed on parchment by Jacob Shallus with engraving for printing, and signed by 39 of 55 delegates on September 17, 1787. The completed proposed Constitution

931-732: A federal army that would be able to put down such insurrections. These and other issues greatly worried many of the Founders that the Union as it existed up to that point was in danger of breaking apart. In September 1786, delegates from five states met at the Annapolis Convention and invited all states to a larger convention to be held in Philadelphia in 1787. On February 21, 1787, the Confederation Congress endorsed this convention "for

1064-518: A peculiar one. Let the compromising expedient of the Constitution be mutually adopted, which regards them as inhabitants, but as debased by servitude below the equal level of free inhabitants, which regards the SLAVE as divested of two fifths of the MAN...The federal Constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety on the case of our slaves, when it views them in the mixed character of persons and of property. This

1197-629: A permanent alliance to coordinate American efforts to win the Revolutionary War . This alliance, the United States, was governed according to the Articles of Confederation , which was more of a treaty between independent countries than a national constitution. The Articles were adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1777 but not ratified by all states until 1781. Under the Articles,

1330-453: A prominent American abolitionist best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator of the 1830s) of the Constitution was that it was a pro-slavery document and only completely dividing the Union could satisfy the cause of anti-slavery. Following a bitter series of public debates including one with George Thompson , Frederick Douglass took another view, pointing to the Constitution as an anti-slavery document: But giving

1463-426: A revised version of the Articles of Confederation. Several broad outlines were proposed and debated, most notably Madison's Virginia Plan and William Paterson 's New Jersey Plan . The Virginia Plan was selected as the basis for the new government, and the delegates quickly reached consensus on a general blueprint of a federal government which has three branches ( legislative , executive , and judicial ) along with

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1596-456: A single delegate to cast its vote. New York required all three of its delegates to be present. If too few of a state's delegates were in attendance, the state did not cast a vote. After two of New York's three delegates, John Lansing Jr. and Robert Yates , abandoned the convention on July 10 with no intention of returning, New York was unable to vote on any further proposals, although Alexander Hamilton would continue to occasionally speak during

1729-481: A single executive could represent the entire nation while giving "energy, dispatch, and responsibility" to the government. Wilson used his understanding of civic virtue as defined by the Scottish Enlightenment to help design the presidency. The challenge was to design a properly constituted executive that was fit for a republic and based on civic virtue by the general citizenry. He spoke 56 times calling for

1862-443: A single faction could more easily control the government within a state but would have a more difficult time dominating a national government comprising many different interest groups. The government could be designed to further insulate officeholders from the pressures of a majority faction. To protect both national authority and minority rights, Madison believed Congress should be granted veto power over state laws. While waiting for

1995-477: A single person." This motion was seconded by Charles Pinckney, whose plan called for a single executive and specifically named this official a "president". Edmund Randolph agreed with Wilson that the executive needed "vigor", but he disapproved of a unitary executive, which he feared was "the foetus of monarchy". Randolph and George Mason led the opposition against a unitary executive, but most delegates agreed with Wilson. The prospect that George Washington would be

2128-455: A single vote either for or against a proposal in accordance with the majority opinion of the state's delegates. This rule increased the power of the smaller states. When a state's delegates divided evenly on a motion, the state did not cast a vote. Throughout the convention, delegates would regularly come and go. Only 30 to 40 delegates were present on a typical day, and each state had its own quorum requirements. Maryland and Connecticut allowed

2261-687: A strong chief executive. Under the Articles of Confederation, the closest thing to an executive was the Committee of the States , which was empowered to transact government business while Congress was in recess. However, this body was largely inactive. The revolutionary state constitutions made the governors subordinate to the legislatures, denying them executive veto power over legislation. Without veto power, governors were unable to block legislation that threatened minority rights. States chose governors in different ways. Many state constitutions empowered legislatures to select them, but several allowed direct election by

2394-526: A way to continue with their vision of an elite, independent Senate. Just before most of the convention's work was referred to the Committee of Detail , Morris and King moved that states' members in the Senate be given individual votes, rather than voting en bloc, as they had in the Confederation Congress. Then Oliver Ellsworth , a leading proponent of the Connecticut Compromise, supported their motion, and

2527-600: Is a persistent and sometimes contentious debate among historians, legal scholars, and political scientists over whether the Three-Fifths Compromise should be construed to support the notion that slaves were conceived of not only demographically , but also ontologically , three-fifths of a person or whether the three-fifths was purely a statistical designation used to determine how many representatives Southern states would have in Congress. A frequent claim made in favor of

2660-428: Is in fact their true character. It is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which they live; and it will not be denied, that these are the proper criterion; because it is only under the pretext that the laws have transformed the negroes into subjects of property, that a place is disputed them in the computation of numbers; and it is admitted, that if the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away,

2793-601: The Articles of Confederation on April 18, 1783. The amendment was to have changed the basis for determining the wealth of each state, and hence its tax obligations, from real estate to population, as a measure of ability to produce wealth. The proposal by a committee of the Congress had suggested that taxes "shall be supplied by the several colonies in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every age, sex, and quality, except Indians not paying taxes". The South immediately objected to this formula since it would include slaves, who were viewed primarily as property, in calculating

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2926-546: The New Jersey Plan , the Confederation Congress would remain unicameral with each state having one vote. Congress would be allowed to levy tariffs and other taxes as well as regulate trade and commerce. Congress would elect a plural "federal executive" whose members would serve a single term and could be removed by Congress at the request of a majority of state governors. There would also be a federal judiciary to apply US law. Federal judges would serve for life and be appointed by

3059-604: The Three-Fifths Compromise on June 11. This resolution apportioned seats in the House of Representatives based on a state's free population plus three-fifths of its slave population. Nine states voted in favor, with only New Jersey and Delaware against. This compromise would give the South at least a dozen additional congressmen and electoral college votes. That same day, the large-state/slave-state alliance also succeeded in applying

3192-424: The electoral college —the states would be divided into districts in which voters would choose electors who would then elect the president. This would preserve the separation of powers and keep the state legislatures out of the selection process. Initially, however, this scheme received little support. The issue of the executive was one of the last major issues to be resolved. Resolution was achieved by adjustment to

3325-642: The 105 seats, but would have had 33 had seats been assigned based on free populations. In 1812, slave states had 76 seats out of 143 instead of the 59 they would have had; in 1833, 98 seats out of 240, instead of 73. As a result, Southern states had additional influence on the presidency , the speakership of the House , and the Supreme Court until the American Civil War . In addition, the Southern states' insistence on equal numbers of slave and free states, which

3458-625: The 1787 Constitutional Convention was whether slaves would be counted as part of the population or would instead be considered property and, as such, not be considered in determining representation of the states in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College . The Southern states wanted each slave to count as a full person, whereas the Northern states did not want them to count at all. Elbridge Gerry asked, why should "blacks, who were property in

3591-430: The 1960s. Their representatives, re-elected repeatedly by one-party states, controlled numerous chairmanships of important committees in both houses on the basis of seniority, giving them control over rules, budgets and important patronage projects, among other issues. Their power allowed them to defeat federal legislation against racial violence and abuses in the South, until overcome by the civil rights movement . There

3724-469: The Articles of Confederation and instead produce an entirely new government. Once it had agreed to the idea of a supreme national government, the convention began debating specific parts of the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan called for the unicameral Confederation Congress to be replaced with a bicameral Congress. This would be a truly national legislature with power to make laws "in all cases to which

3857-481: The Confederation Congress and veto power over state laws. There was some opposition to the popular election of the lower house or House of Representatives . Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut feared the people were too easily misled by demagogues and that popular election could lead to mob rule and anarchy. Pierce Butler of South Carolina believed that only wealthy men of property could be trusted with political power. The majority of

3990-464: The Confederation government lacked effective means to enforce its own laws and treaties against state non-compliance. It soon became evident to nearly all that the Confederation government, as originally organized, was inadequate for managing the various problems confronting the United States. Once the crucial task of winning the war had passed, states began to look to their own interests rather than

4123-487: The Constitution encourages freedom by giving an increase of “two-fifths” of political power to free over slave States. So much for the three-fifths clause; taking it at is worst, it still leans to freedom, not slavery; for, be it remembered that the Constitution nowhere forbids a coloured man to vote. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed

Connecticut Compromise - Misplaced Pages Continue

4256-540: The Constitutional Convention, the compromise was proposed by delegate James Wilson and seconded by Charles Pinckney . When he presented his plan for the frame of government to the Convention on its first day, Charles Pinckney of South Carolina proposed that for the purposes of apportionment, a "House of Delegates" be determined through the apportionment of "one Member for every thousand Inhabitants 3/5 of Blacks included." The Convention unanimously accepted

4389-448: The Constitutional Convention, the more important issue was representation in Congress, so the South wanted slaves to count for more than the North did. Much has been said of the impropriety of representing men who have no will of their own.... They are men, though degraded to the condition of slavery. They are persons known to the municipal laws of the states which they inhabit, as well as to

4522-709: The Convention among the most significant events in American history . The convention took place in the old Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall , in Philadelphia . At the time, the convention was not referred to as a constitutional convention . It was contemporarily known as the Federal Convention , the Philadelphia Convention , or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia . Nor did most of

4655-402: The Convention if proportional representation replaced equal representation, so debate on apportionment was postponed. On June 9, William Paterson of New Jersey reminded the delegates that they were sent to Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, not to establish a national government. While he agreed that the Confederation Congress needed new powers, including the power to coerce

4788-482: The Convention reached the enduring compromise. After six weeks of turmoil, on July 16, 1787, North Carolina switched its vote to equal representation per state, Massachusetts ' delegation was divided, and a compromise was reached on a 5–4 vote of the states. Every state was given equal representation, previously known as the New Jersey Plan, in one house of Congress, and proportional representation, known before as

4921-423: The Convention was deadlocked over giving each state an equal vote in the upper house, with five states in the affirmative, five in the negative, and one divided. The problem was referred to a committee consisting of one delegate from each state to reach a compromise. On July 5, 1787, the committee submitted its report, which became the basis for the "Great Compromise" of the Convention. The report recommended that in

5054-445: The House. Constitutional Convention (United States) The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation , the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York,

5187-763: The Kansas-Nebraska bill would have failed." While the Three-fifths Compromise could be seen to favor Southern states because of their large slave populations, for example, the Connecticut Compromise tended to favor the Northern states (which were generally smaller). Support for the new Constitution rested on the balance of these sectional interests. Before the Civil War aspects of the Constitution were subject for significant debate by abolitionists. The Garrisonian view (William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879),

5320-408: The North more than the South; therefore, the taxation provision was irrelevant, and the compromise would only increase the number of pro-slavery legislators. Northern delegates argued only voters should be accounted for. Southern delegates countered, claiming slaves counted just as much as voters, despite Northerners questioning why slaves should be held by Southerners. After a contentious debate,

5453-428: The Senate from becoming a strong safeguard of federalism . State governments lost their direct say in Congress's decisions to make national laws. As the personally influential senators received terms much longer than the state legislators who elected them, they became substantially independent. The compromise continued to serve the self-interests of small-state political leaders, who were assured of access to more seats in

Connecticut Compromise - Misplaced Pages Continue

5586-594: The Senate than they might otherwise have obtained. Senate representation was explicitly protected in Article Five of the United States Constitution : ...no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. This agreement allowed deliberations to continue and thus led to the Three-fifths Compromise , which further complicated the issue of popular representation in

5719-414: The Senate would appoint them. The small state delegates were alarmed at the plan taking shape: a supreme national government that could override state laws and proportional representation in both houses of Congress. William Paterson and other delegates from New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and New York created an alternative plan that consisted of several amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Under

5852-529: The South", count toward representation "any more than the Cattle & horses of the North"? Although slave states argued that slaves should be considered persons in determining representation, they wanted them considered property if the new government were to levy taxes on the states on the basis of population. Delegates from states where slavery had become rare argued that slaves should be included in taxation, but not in determining representation. The proposed ratio

5985-538: The United States was essentially a federation of independent republics, with the Articles guaranteeing state sovereignty and independence. The Confederation was governed by the Congress of the Confederation , a unicameral legislature whose members were chosen by their state legislatures and where each state was entitled to one vote. Congress's powers were limited to waging war and directing foreign affairs. It could not levy taxes or tariffs, and it could only request money from

6118-412: The Virginia Plan by making it seem moderate by comparison. The plan was so out of step with political reality that it was not even debated, and Hamilton would be troubled for years by accusations that he was a monarchist . On June 19, the delegates voted on the New Jersey Plan. With the support of the slave states and Connecticut, the large states defeated the plan by a 7–3 margin. Maryland's delegation

6251-517: The Virginia Plan, but proposed "That the proportion of suffrage in the 1st. Branch [house] should be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants; and that in the second branch or Senate, each State should have one vote and no more." What was ultimately included in the constitution was a modified form of this plan, partly because the larger states disliked it. In committee, Benjamin Franklin modified Sherman's proposal to make it more acceptable to

6384-496: The Virginia Plan, in the other. Because it was considered more responsive to majority sentiment, the House of Representatives was given the power to originate all legislation dealing with the federal budget and revenues/taxation, per the Origination Clause . Since the Convention had earlier accepted the Virginia Plan's proposal that senators have long terms, restoring that plan's vision of individually powerful senators stopped

6517-472: The amount of taxes to be paid. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in his notes on the debates, the Southern states would be taxed "according to their numbers and their wealth conjunctly, while the northern would be taxed on numbers only". After proposed compromises of one-half by Benjamin Harrison of Virginia and three-fourths by several New Englanders failed to gain sufficient support, Congress finally settled on

6650-406: The application of this distinction to the case of our slaves. But we must deny the fact, that slaves are considered merely as property, and in no respect whatever as persons. The true state of the case is, that they partake of both these qualities: being considered by our laws, in some respects, as persons, and in other respects as property...Let the case of the slaves be considered, as it is in truth,

6783-401: The attention of Congress, and, in 1900, some members proposed stripping the South of seats, related to the number of people who were barred from voting. In the end, Congress did not act to change apportionment, largely because of the power of the Southern bloc. The Southern bloc comprised Southern Democrats voted into office by white voters and constituted a powerful voting bloc in Congress until

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6916-545: The authority to completely scrap the Articles of Confederation , as the Virginia Plan would have done. In response, on June 15, 1787, William Paterson of the New Jersey delegation proposed a legislature consisting of a single house. Each state was to have equal representation in this body, regardless of population. The New Jersey Plan , as it was called, would have left the Articles of Confederation in place but would have amended them to somewhat increase Congress's powers. At

7049-494: The average voter would be too ignorant about the candidates to make an informed decision. Sherman proposed an arrangement similar to a parliamentary system in which the executive should be appointed by and directly accountable to the legislature. A majority of delegates favored the president's election by Congress for a seven-year term, though there was concern that this would give the legislature too much power. Southern delegates supported selection by state legislatures, but this

7182-453: The basic role of each branch. However, disagreement over the specific design and powers of the branches delayed progress for weeks and threatened the success of the convention. The most contentious disputes involved the legislature, specifically the composition and election procedures for the Senate as the upper legislative house of a bicameral Congress , and whether proportional representation

7315-511: The benefit of apportionment of representatives on the basis of the total populations. These measures effectively gave white Southerners even greater voting power than they had in the antebellum era, inflating the number of Southern Democrats in the House of Representatives as well as the number of votes they could exercise in the Electoral College in the election of the president. The disenfranchisement of black citizens eventually attracted

7448-498: The cement that held America together linking the interests of the people and of the presidential administration. Wilson envisioned a president who would be a man of the people and who embodied the national responsibility for the public good and provided transparency and accountability by being a highly visible national leader, as opposed to numerous largely anonymous congressmen. On June 1, Wilson proposed that "the Executive consist of

7581-485: The census is to be renewed, and augmentations may continue to be made under the above limitation. It will not be thought an extravagant conjecture that the first census will, at the rate of one for every thirty thousand, raise the number of representatives to at least one hundred. Estimating the negroes in the proportion of three fifths, it can scarcely be doubted that the population of the United States will by that time, if it does not already, amount to three millions. During

7714-494: The compromise that was finally agreed upon—of counting "all other persons" as only three-fifths of their actual numbers—reduced the representation of the slave states relative to the original proposals, but improved it over the Northern position. An inducement for slave states to accept the Compromise was its tie to taxation in the same ratio, so that the burden of taxation on the slave states was also reduced. A contentious issue at

7847-560: The compromise. In the U.S. Constitution , the Three-fifths Compromise is part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 : Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [italics added]. The three-fifths ratio originated with an amendment proposed to

7980-497: The compromise. It provides that "representatives shall be apportioned ... counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed." A later provision of the same clause reduced the Congressional representation of states who denied the right to vote to adult male citizens, but this provision was never effectively enforced. (The Thirteenth Amendment , passed in 1865, had already eliminated almost all persons from

8113-473: The convention had to be postponed when very few of the selected delegates were present on that day due to the difficulty of travel in the late 18th century. On May 14, only delegates from Virginia and Pennsylvania were present. It was not until May 25 that a quorum of seven states was secured and the convention could begin inside the Pennsylvania State House . New Hampshire delegates would not join

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8246-448: The convention to formally begin, Madison sketched out his initial proposal, which became known as the Virginia Plan and reflected his views as a strong nationalist . The Virginia and Pennsylvania delegates agreed with Madison's plan and formed what came to be the predominant coalition within the convention. The plan was modeled on the state governments and was written in the form of fifteen resolutions outlining basic principles. It lacked

8379-420: The convention until July 23, more than halfway through the proceedings. Among the first things that the Convention did were to choose a presiding officer, unanimously electing George Washington to be the president of the convention. The convention then adopted rules drafted by a committee whose members were George Wythe (chairman), Charles Pinckney , and Alexander Hamilton . Each state delegation received

8512-430: The convention, however, supported popular election. George Mason of Virginia said the lower house was "to be the grand depository of the democratic principle of the government." There was general agreement that the upper house or Senate should be smaller and more selective than the lower house. Its members should be gentlemen drawn from the most intelligent and virtuous among the citizenry. Experience had convinced

8645-561: The country's. By the mid-1780s, states were refusing to provide Congress with funding, which meant the government could not meet the interest on its foreign debt, pay the soldiers stationed along the Ohio River, or defend American navigation rights on the Mississippi River against Spanish interference. In 1782, Rhode Island vetoed an amendment that would have allowed Congress to levy taxes on imports to pay off federal debts. A second attempt

8778-410: The debates. The rules allowed delegates to demand reconsideration of any decision previously voted on. This enabled the delegates to take straw votes to measure the strength of controversial proposals and to change their minds as they worked for consensus. It was also agreed that the discussions and votes would be kept secret until the conclusion of the meeting. Despite the sweltering summer heat,

8911-412: The delegates arrive intending to draft a new constitution. Many assumed that the purpose of the convention was to discuss and draft improvements to the existing Articles of Confederation , and would not have agreed to participate otherwise. Once the convention began, however, most of the delegates – though not all – came to agree in general terms that the goal would be a new system of government, not simply

9044-478: The delegates that such an upper house was necessary to tame the excesses of the democratically elected lower house. The Virginia Plan's method of selecting the Senate was more controversial. Members concerned with preserving state power wanted state legislatures to select senators, while James Wilson of Pennsylvania proposed direct election by the people. It was not until June 7 that the delegates unanimously decided that state legislatures would choose senators. On

9177-405: The electoral college proposal. At the time, before the formation of modern political parties, there was widespread concern that candidates would routinely fail to secure a majority of electors in the electoral college. The method of resolving this problem, therefore, was a contested issue. Most thought that the House of Representatives should then choose the president since it most closely reflected

9310-532: The exception) supported an equal representation per state, as part of their desire to see maximum autonomy for the states. James Madison and Hamilton were two of the leaders of the proportional representation group. Madison argued that a conspiracy of large states against the small states was unrealistic as the large states were so different from each other. Hamilton argued that the states were artificial entities made up of individuals and accused small state representatives of wanting power, not liberty. For their part,

9443-425: The executive. On June 2, John Dickinson of Delaware proposed that the president be removed from office by Congress at the request of a majority of state legislatures. Madison and Wilson opposed this state interference in the national executive branch. Sherman argued that Congress should be able to remove the president for any reason in what was essentially a vote of no-confidence . George Mason worried that would make

9576-556: The executives. Laws enacted by Congress would take precedence over state laws. This plan was introduced on June 15. On June 18, Alexander Hamilton of New York presented his own plan that was at odds with both the Virginia and New Jersey plans. It called for the constitution to be modeled on the British government . The bicameral legislature included a lower house called the Assembly elected by

9709-417: The federal government's authority, Madison believed there needed to be a way to enforce the federal supremacy, such as an explicit right of Congress to use force against non-compliant states and the creation of a federal court system. Madison also believed the method of representation in Congress had to change. Since under Madison's plan, Congress would exercise authority over citizens directly—not simply through

9842-439: The first president may have allowed the proponents of a unitary executive to accumulate a large coalition. Wilson's motion for a single executive passed on June 4. Initially, the convention set the executive's term of office to seven years, but this would be revisited. Wilson also argued that the executive should be directly elected by the people. Only through direct election could the executive be independent of both Congress and

9975-412: The former argument is that previous electoral precedent held that one man was equivalent to one vote, and the fact that the compromise explicitly tied personhood to votes provides a basis for an ontological reading of the compromise as implying that enslaved people lacked full personhood. Supporters of the statistical argument dispute that ontological considerations were present in the mind of Congress at

10108-444: The free states. Viewed the opposite way, by including three-fifths of slaves in the legislative apportionment (even though they had no voting rights), the Three-fifths Compromise provided additional representation in the House of Representatives of slave states compared to the free states, if representation had been considered based on the non-slave population. Based on the latter view, in 1793, for example, Southern slave states had 47 of

10241-467: The larger states. He added the requirement that revenue bills originate in the House. James Madison of Virginia, Rufus King of Massachusetts, and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania each vigorously opposed the compromise since it left the Senate looking like the Confederation Congress . For the nationalists, the Convention's vote for the compromise was a setback. However, on July 23, they found

10374-402: The laws of nature. But representation and taxation go together .... Would it be just to impose a singular burden, without conferring some adequate advantage? By excluding two-fifths of slaves in the legislative apportionment based on population (as provided in the constitution), the Three-fifths Compromise provided reduced representation in the House of Representatives of slave states compared to

10507-414: The legislature into an upper and lower house was familiar and had wide support. The British Parliament had an elected House of Commons and a hereditary House of Lords . All the states had bicameral legislatures except for Pennsylvania. The delegates quickly agreed that each house of Congress should be able to originate bills. They also agreed that the new Congress would have all the legislative powers of

10640-456: The legislature or the executive. Finally, slavery was also a contentious issue, with the delegates debating the insertion of a fugitive slave clause; whether to allow the abolition of the slave trade; and whether slaves were to be counted in proportional representation. Most of the time during the convention was spent on deciding these issues. Progress was slow until mid-July, when the Connecticut Compromise resolved enough lingering arguments for

10773-470: The legislature, which was viewed as most representative of the people, including power traditionally considered as belonging to the executive and judicial branches. State governors lacked significant authority, and state courts and judges were under the control of the legislative branch at the time. The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the 13 states created

10906-443: The link had to be severed between the two, thus creating the "third branch" of the judiciary which had been without any direct precedent before this point. On June 4, delegates unanimously agreed to a national judiciary "of one supreme tribunal and one or more inferior tribunals". The delegates disagreed on how federal judges should be chosen. The Virginia Plan called for the national legislature to appoint judges. James Wilson wanted

11039-410: The lower house from candidates nominated by state legislatures. Immediately after agreeing to form a supreme national government, the delegates turned to the Virginia Plan's proposal for proportional representation in Congress. Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the most populous states, were unhappy with the one-vote-per-state rule in the Confederation Congress because they could be outvoted by

11172-426: The lower house would be nominated and elected by the people of each state, while candidates for the upper house would be nominated by the state legislatures and then elected by the members of the lower house. Less populous states like Delaware were afraid that such an arrangement would result in their voices and interests being drowned out by the larger states. Many delegates also felt that the Convention did not have

11305-405: The measure of our power. [T]hey denoted also the sentiments of the States on the subject of our deliberation. The idea of a national [Government] as contradistinguished from a federal one, never entered into the mind of any of them, and to the public mind we must accommodate ourselves. We have no power to go beyond the federal scheme, and if we had the people are not ripe for any other. We must follow

11438-558: The negroes could no longer be refused an equal share of representation with the other inhabitants. Madison later expanded further in Federalist No. 55 "The Total Number of the House of Representatives" (February 15, 1788) as explaining that the 3/5 had to do with estimating the population size of slaves at the time as well: Within three years a census is to be taken, when the number may be augmented to one for every thirty thousand inhabitants; and within every successive period of ten years

11571-451: The next century, it rarely did), he noted, representatives could not be assigned. Calculating such quotas would also be difficult due to lack of reliable data. Basing representation on the number of "free inhabitants" was unpopular with delegates from the South, where forty percent of the population was enslaved. In addition, the small states were opposed to any change that decreased their own influence. Delaware's delegation threatened to leave

11704-477: The original clause's jurisdiction by banning slavery; the only remaining persons subject to it were those sentenced for a crime to penal servitude, which the amendment excluded from the ban.) After the Reconstruction Era came to an end in 1877, the former slave states subverted the objective of these changes by using terrorism and other illegal tactics to disenfranchise their black citizens , while obtaining

11837-419: The other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The Senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability. —James Madison, as recorded by Robert Yates, Tuesday June 26, 1787 On May 31, the delegates discussed the structure of Congress and how its members would be selected. The division of

11970-570: The people for three year terms. The people would choose electors who would elect the members of a Senate who served for life. Electors would also choose a single executive called the governor who would also serve for life. The governor would have an absolute veto over bills. There would also be a national judiciary whose members would serve for life. Hamilton called for the abolition of the states (or at least their reduction to sub-jurisdictions with limited powers). Some scholars have suggested that Hamilton presented this radical plan to help secure passage of

12103-428: The people. In Pennsylvania, the people elected an executive council and the legislature appointed one of its members to be chief executive. The Virginia Plan proposed a national executive chosen by Congress. It would have power to execute national laws and be vested with the power to make war and treaties. Whether the executive would be a single person or a group of people was not defined. The executive together with

12236-448: The people; the people will not follow us. In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check

12369-540: The power of the national government; however, the supporters of the Virginia Plan ensured that it, rather than Pinckney's plan, received the most consideration. Many of Pinckney's ideas did appear in the final draft of the Constitution. His plan called for a bicameral legislature made up of a House of Delegates and a Senate. The popularly elected House would elect senators who would serve for four-year terms and represent one of four regions. The national legislature would have veto power over state laws. The legislature would elect

12502-471: The president a "mere creature of the legislature" and violate the separation of powers. Dickinson's motion was rejected, but in the aftermath of the vote there was still no consensus over how an unfit president should be removed from office. On June 4, the delegates debated the Council of Revision. Wilson and Alexander Hamilton of New York disagreed with the mixing of executive and judicial branches. They wanted

12635-457: The president to appoint judges to increase the power of that office. On June 13, the revised report on the Virginia Plan was issued. This report summarized the decisions made by the delegates in the first two weeks of the convention. It was agreed that a "national judiciary be established, to consist of one supreme tribunal". Congress would have the power to create and appoint inferior courts. Judges were to hold office "during good behavior" , and

12768-402: The president to have an absolute veto to guarantee his independence from the legislative branch. Remembering how colonial governors used their veto to "extort money" from the legislature, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania opposed giving the president an absolute veto. Gerry proposed that a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress be able to overrule any veto of the Council of Revision. This

12901-409: The principle that representation in the House of Representatives would be in proportion to the relative state populations, but it initially rejected his proposal regarding apportionment of the black population along with the rest of his plan. Delegates opposed to slavery proposed that only free inhabitants of each state be counted for apportionment purposes, while delegates supportive of slavery opposed

13034-508: The proposal, wanting slaves to count in their actual numbers. The proposal to count slaves by a three-fifths ratio was first presented on June 11, and agreed to by nine states to two with only a brief debate. It was debated at length between July 9 and 13 (inclusive) when it was initially voted down by the members present at the Convention six to four. A few Southern delegates, seeing an opportunity, then proposed full representation for their slave population; most states voted no. Seeing that

13167-418: The provisions the very worse construction, what does it amount to? I answer—It is a downright disability laid upon the slaveholding States; one which deprives those States of two-fifths of their natural basis of representation. A black man in a free State is worth just two-fifths more than a black man in a slave State, as a basis of political power under the Constitution. Therefore, instead of encouraging slavery,

13300-570: The question of proportional representation, the three large states still faced opposition from the eight small states. James Wilson realized that the large states needed the support of the Deep South states of Georgia and the Carolinas. For these southern delegates, the main priority was protection of slavery . Working with John Rutledge of South Carolina, Wilson, along with Charles Pinckney of South Carolina and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, proposed

13433-408: The separate states are incompetent." It would also be able to veto state laws. Representation in both houses of Congress would be apportioned according either to quotas of contribution (a state's wealth as reflected in the taxes it paid) or the size of each state's non-slave population. The lower house of Congress would be directly elected by the people, while the upper house would be elected by

13566-412: The small state representatives argued that the states were, in fact, of a legally equal status and that proportional representation would be unfair to their states. Gunning Bedford Jr. of Delaware notoriously threatened on behalf of the small states, "the small ones w[ould] find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice". Elbridge Gerry ridiculed

13699-490: The small states' claim of sovereignty, saying "that we never were independent States, were not such now, & never could be even on the principles of the Confederation. The States & the advocates for them were intoxicated with the idea of their sovereignty." On June 19, 1787, the delegates rejected the New Jersey Plan and voted to proceed with a discussion of the Virginia Plan. The small states became increasingly discontented, and some threatened to withdraw. On July 2, 1787,

13832-425: The smaller states despite representing more than half of the nation's population. Nevertheless, the delegates were divided over the best way to apportion representatives. Quotas of contribution appealed to southern delegates because they would include slave property, but Rufus King of Massachusetts highlighted the impractical side of such a scheme. If the national government did not impose direct taxes (which, for

13965-453: The sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation". The Congress only endorsed the convention on the grounds it would produce a report upon which necessary changes to the Articles could be introduced and ratified. Rhode Island was the only state that refused to send delegates, and it was the last state to ratify the Constitution in May 1790. Originally planned to begin on May 14,

14098-436: The states and could not force delinquent states to pay. Since the Articles could only be amended by a unanimous vote of the states, each state had effective veto power over any proposed change. A super majority (nine of thirteen state delegations) was required for Congress to pass major legislation such as declaring war, making treaties, or borrowing money. The Confederation had no executive or judicial branches, which meant

14231-535: The states could not remain united about counting the slaves as five-fifths without some sort of compromise measure, the ratio of three-fifths was brought back to the table and agreed to by eight states to two. Gouverneur Morris from New York doubted that a direct tax , whose burden on Southern states would be increased by the Three-fifths Compromise, could be effectively leveled on the vast United States. The primary ways of generating federal revenue, he said, would be excise taxes and import duties , which would tax

14364-532: The states in the lower house or House of Representatives , and it required the upper house or Senate to be weighted equally among the states; each state would have two members in the Senate. On May 29, 1787, Edmund Randolph of the Virginia delegation proposed the creation of a bicameral legislature. Under his proposal, known as the Virginia or Randolph Plan , membership in both houses would be allocated to each state proportional to its population. Candidates for

14497-510: The states, he was adamant that a confederation required equal representation for states. James Madison records his words as follows: [The Articles of the Confederation] were therefore the proper basis of all the proceedings of the Convention. We ought to keep within its limits, or we should be charged by our constituents with usurpation . . . the Commissions under which we acted were not only

14630-442: The states. This view was unpopular. A few delegates such as Roger Sherman, Elbridge Gerry, and Pierce Butler opposed the direct election of the executive because they considered the people too easily manipulated. However, most delegates were not questioning the intelligence of the voters; rather, what concerned them was the slowness by which information spread in the late 18th century. Due to a lack of information, delegates feared that

14763-404: The states—representation ought to be apportioned by population, with more populous states having more votes in Congress. Madison was also concerned with preventing a tyranny of the majority . The government needed to be neutral between the various factions or interest groups that divided society—creditors and debtors, rich and poor, or farmers, merchants and manufacturers. Madison believed that

14896-515: The summer of 1787. At the time, few nations had nonhereditary executives that could serve as models. The Dutch Republic was led by a stadtholder , but this office was usually inherited by members of the House of Orange . The Swiss Confederacy had no single leader, and the elective monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were viewed as corrupt. As a result of their colonial experience, Americans distrusted

15029-462: The system of checks and balances that would become central to the US Constitution. It called for a supreme national government and was a radical departure from the Articles of Confederation. On May 29, Edmund Randolph , the governor of Virginia, presented the Virginia Plan to the convention. The same day, Charles Pinckney of South Carolina introduced his own plan that also greatly increased

15162-571: The three-fifths ratio proposed by James Madison . But this amendment ultimately failed, falling two states short of the unanimous approval required to amend the Articles of Confederation ( New Hampshire and New York opposed it). Madison explained the reasoning for the 3/5 in Federalist No. 54 "The Apportionment of Members Among the States" (February 12, 1788) as: "We subscribe to the doctrine," might one of our Southern brethren observe, "that representation relates more immediately to persons, and taxation more immediately to property, and we join in

15295-476: The three-fifths ratio to Senate seats (though this was later overturned). As English law had typically recognized government as having two separate functions—law making embodied in the legislature and law executing embodied in the king and his courts—the division of the legislature from the executive and judiciary was a natural and uncontested point. Even so, the form the executive should take, its powers and its selection would be sources of constant dispute through

15428-404: The time of the convention, the South was growing more quickly than the North, and southern states had the most extensive Western claims . South Carolina , North Carolina , and Georgia were small in the 1780s, but they expected growth and thus favored proportional representation. New York was one of the largest states at the time, but two of its three representatives ( Alexander Hamilton being

15561-603: The time or that the Three-Fifths Compromise had any regard for such notions in its purpose and function. However, it is generally agreed upon and historiographically reflected that enslaved people had no legal recourse or standing to challenge or participate in any kind of electoral legislation or activities of their own accord, which was confirmed 70 years later by the Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford . This inequality in electoral rights did not substantively change until after

15694-412: The trade of neighboring states. In 1784, Congress proposed an amendment to give it powers over foreign trade; however, it failed to receive unanimous approval by the states. Many upper-class Americans complained that state constitutions were too democratic and, as a result, legislators were more concerned with maintaining popular approval than doing what was best for the nation. The most pressing example

15827-412: The upper house each state should have an equal vote, and in the lower house, each state should have one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, counting three-fifths of each state's enslaved population toward that state's total population, and that money bills should originate in the lower house (not subject to amendment by the upper chamber). Sherman sided with the two-house national legislature of

15960-418: The will of the people. This caused dissension among delegates from smaller states, who realized that this would put their states at a disadvantage. To resolve this dispute, the Convention agreed that the House would elect the president if no candidate had an electoral college majority, but that each state delegation would vote as a bloc, rather than individually. The Virginia Plan made no provision for removing

16093-484: The windows of the meeting hall were nailed shut to keep the proceedings a secret from the public. Although William Jackson was elected as secretary, his records were brief and included very little detail. Madison's Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 remain the most complete record of the convention, along with notes kept by Yates through mid-July. Due to the pledge to secrecy, Madison's account

16226-410: Was a ready solution to the impasse that arose during the Constitutional Convention. In that situation, the alignment of the contending forces was the reverse of what had been obtained under the Articles of Confederation in 1783. In amending the Articles, the North wanted slaves to count for more than the South did because the objective was to determine taxes paid by the states to the federal government. In

16359-500: Was amended to replace the council with the president alone, but Madison insisted on retaining a Council of Revision and consideration of the veto power was postponed. In the English tradition, judges were seen as agents of the king and his court who represented him throughout his realm. Madison believed that in the American states, this direct link between state executives and judges was a source of corruption through patronage , and thought

16492-404: Was divided, so it did not vote. This did not end the debate over representation. Rather, the delegates found themselves in a stalemate that lasted into July. Three-fifths Compromise In the United States Constitution , the Three-fifths Compromise is part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 . Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded this clause and explicitly repealed

16625-585: Was made to approve a federal impost in 1785; however, this time it was New York which disapproved. The Confederation Congress also lacked the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. Britain, France and Spain imposed restrictions on American ships and products, while the U.S. was unable to coordinate retaliatory trade policies. When Massachusetts and Pennsylvania placed reciprocal duties on British trade, neighboring states such as Connecticut and Delaware established free ports to gain an economic advantage. Some states even began applying customs duties against

16758-566: Was maintained until 1850, safeguarded the Southern bloc in the Senate as well as Electoral College votes. Historian Garry Wills has speculated that without the additional slave state votes, Jefferson would have lost the presidential election of 1800 . Also, "slavery would have been excluded from Missouri ... Jackson's Indian removal policy would have failed ... the Wilmot Proviso would have banned slavery in territories won from Mexico ...

16891-418: Was not published until after his death in 1836, while Yates's notes on the convention's first two months were published in 1821. James Madison of Virginia arrived in Philadelphia eleven days early and determined to set the convention's agenda. Before the convention, Madison studied republics and confederacies throughout history, such as ancient Greece and contemporary Switzerland. In April 1787, he drafted

17024-447: Was opposed by nationalists such as Madison who feared that such a president would become a power broker between different states' interests rather than a symbol of national unity. Eventually however, on June 2 the convention proposed and agreed to the national legislature choosing the executive for a single 7-year term, a proposal which of course later changed. Realizing that direct election was impossible, Wilson proposed what would become

17157-572: Was printed in several copies for review which began the debates and ratification process . Soon after it was also printed in newspapers for public review. During the American Revolution , the 13 American states replaced their colonial governments with republican constitutions based on the principle of separation of powers , organizing government into legislative , executive , and judicial branches. These revolutionary constitutions endorsed legislative supremacy by placing most power in

17290-591: Was proposed that Congress be given power to prevent such populist laws. When the government of Massachusetts refused to enact similar relief legislation, rural farmers resorted to violence in Shays' Rebellion (1786–1787). This rebellion was led by a former Revolutionary War captain, Daniel Shays , a small farmer with tax debts, who had never received payment for his service in the Continental Army . The rebellion took months for Massachusetts to put down, and some desired

17423-421: Was the way state legislatures responded to calls for economic relief. Many people were unable to pay taxes and debts due to a post-war economic depression that was exacerbated by a scarcity of gold and silver coins. States responded by issuing paper currency , which often depreciated in value, and by making it easier to defer tax and debt payments. These policies favored debtors at the expense of creditors, and it

17556-504: Was to be defined by a state's geography or by its population. The role of the executive was also hotly debated, including the key issues of whether to divide the executive power among three people or vest the power in a single chief executive to be called the President; how a president would be elected; the length of a presidential term and the number of allowable terms; what offenses should be impeachable; and whether judges should be chosen by

17689-473: Was to create a new frame of government rather than fix the existing one. The delegates elected George Washington of Virginia, former commanding general of the Continental Army in the late American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and proponent of a stronger national government, to become President of the convention. The result of the convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States , placing

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