Constitution

The U.S. Constitution is the document written in 1787 that established the frame of government for the United States of America. It was written by a group of delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Their goal was to create a stronger federal government than the Articles of Confederation had provided.

Calling for a convention

When America's original thirteen colonies declared independence in 1776, they wrote the Articles of Confederation to create a central government for the new United States of America. The nation functioned informally under the articles until they were adopted officially in 1781. The articles created a government run by Congress without a separate president or judicial system.

By 1786, government under the Articles of Confederation was proving to be insufficient to some Americans. Congress's inability to enforce taxes, regulate commerce between states, and compel state cooperation was causing many problems. Efforts to amend the articles seemed doomed to failure because approval of all states was required for amendments. As criticism grew, it became evident to many that the desired changes might best be accomplished by writing an entirely new constitution.

The call for a Constitutional Convention grew out of two other meetings, the Alexandria and Annapolis Conventions. In November 1785, delegates from Virginia and Maryland met in Alexandria, Virginia, to reconcile some boundary and commercial disputes along the Potomac River. The success of their meeting motivated Virginia to call for another meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, the following year. Nine states were invited to discuss additional common problems, but only five sent delegates.

The delegates in Annapolis made plans for another convention to assemble in Philadelphia in May 1787. All states were requested to send delegates so that problems with the government under the articles could be addressed.

Opposing forces

The Constitutional Convention first met in Philadelphia on May 25. Of the seventy-four men who had been appointed as delegates by their states, fifty-five attended at one time or another, and thirty-nine signed the final document. Many political leaders of the time attended, including Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), and James Madison (1751–1836). George Washington (1732–1799) was the presiding officer. Each of the original thirteen states except Rhode Island sent delegates.

From the beginning, there were two political focuses at the convention. One group of delegates was intent on creating an entirely new constitution to set up a new government. Their aim was to create a national government with powers adequate to promote the security, financial stability, commercial prosperity, and general well-being of all of the states.

Another small, but significant, group of delegates sought to preserve states' rights and were firmly opposed to creating a strong national government. They recognized the need for constitutional reform but believed that government under the articles could be improved simply by granting Congress additional powers.

There were no women at the convention, and nobody represented the interests of African Americans, Native Americans, and people without property who lacked voting rights.

When debates between delegates began, two plans gathered most attention. One was a series of resolutions put forth by the Virginia delegation. The Virginia Plan called for a wholly new constitution that would establish a strong national government. In opposition, a proposal called the New Jersey Plan called for a continuation of the Confederation Congress (the governing body of the United States, with representatives from each of the thirteen colonies, that was in place from 1781 until the ratification of the U.S. Constitution). Eventually the proposal to pursue a whole new constitution gained more support, and the delegates began the long debates to write the details of it.

Designing and writing the Constitution

The decision to write a new constitution required the delegates to design a new government. It was the first time in history that people set their minds to crafting a permanent government on the principles of democracy without a monarchical (a government with a ruling king or queen) component. The articles had created just a loose confederation of the states in 1776, when the permanence of independence from Great Britain was far from decided. In 1787, the United States had been independent for eleven years, so it needed a durable constitution.

Among those who wanted a strong central government, there was general agreement that it should contain three parts: a legislative branch for making the laws, an executive branch for enforcing the laws, and a judicial branch for deciding cases under the laws. Dispute and debate centered on the construction and powers of each branch and how they would interact.

Some delegates, primarily from the larger states, wanted the legislative branch to be filled with members based on a state's population. Delegates from smaller states wanted each state to have an equal vote in the legislature. The Congress they designed included both aspects: a House of Representatives with membership based on population, and a Senate with equal membership of two senators per state.

One of the most infamous parts of the Constitution is the “Three-Fifths Clause.” The delegates had to decide how slaves would count toward determining how many members a state was allowed to have in the House of Representatives. Delegates from slavery states wanted slaves to count fully, and delegates from free states wanted slaves not to count at all. The compromise they reached to induce both northern and southern support for the Constitution was to count each slave as just three-fifths of a person in determining population for calculating House membership. Native Americans, called Indians, who did not pay taxes were not to count at all. Also to ensure southern support, the delegates wrote a clause to prevent Congress from outlawing the migration of slaves before 1808.

The delegates also disagreed on construction of the executive branch. Some, including Alexander Hamilton, wanted a president to serve for life upon election. Others wanted to limit presidential terms. There also was disagreement over how much power the president should have to veto, or reject, laws passed by Congress. The presidency the convention created allowed a president to be elected to an unlimited number of four-year terms. (In practice, two terms was generally regarded as the norm. Franklin D. Roosevelt [1882–1945; served 1933–45] is the only president to serve more than two terms. The Twenty-second Amendment, ratified in 1951, stated that a person could be elected to no more than two terms and could also serve not more than two additional years if that person is finishing out a predecessor's term.) The president may veto laws passed by Congress, but Congress may override a veto if two-thirds of each chamber vote to do so.

Constructing the judicial branch was the least controversial job the delegates faced. They wrote the Constitution to allow the judiciary to decide cases and controversies under the laws. A Supreme Court would sit on top of the federal judicial system. The Constitution left it up to Congress whether to create other federal courts.

Ratification

In mid-September 1787, the convention put its various decisions into a finished draft and submitted the Constitution to the states for approval. In a bold change, the provision for ratification was altered from the unanimous vote demanded by the Articles of Confederation. Instead, a majority of nine states was needed for approval.

State conventions were held, and over the next ten months all but two states, Rhode Island and North Carolina , ratified the Constitution. The new government as defined by the Constitution of the United States convened for the first time in April 1789. The last two of the original thirteen states ratified the Constitution after the new government had begun: North Carolina in November 1789, and Rhode Island in May 1790.