Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Chapter 4, Lesson 1: The Constitutional Convention (pp. 106-113)
I. A New Government Debated
B. The new government would have a legislative branch (Congress), an executive branch (the President and his or her assistants) and a judicial branch (a national court system.)
C. The Virginia plan proposed representation in Congress based on population. The New Jersey plan called for equal representation, regardless of size.
D. The Connecticut Compromise created a Senate that equally represents all states no matter what size, and a House of Representatives that is based on each state's population.
II. The Slavery Issue
B. The Three-Fifths Compromise proposed that representation would be in proportion to white and other free citizens and three-fifths of all slaves.
C. Two other compromises about slavery were worked out: slaves would be treated as property, and the slave trade would continue until 1808.
B. Some delegates refused to sign because there was no bill of rights stating the basic rights and liberties of the people.
C. The new Constitution had to be approved by nine of the thirteen states before it could go into affect.
Lesson at a Glance Outline
A. Although the Convention was originally planned to only alter the Articles of Confederation, the Virginia delegation quickly proposed a new government of three branches with built-in checks and balances.
A. Delegates debated long and hard over how to count people held in slavery for representation and taxation.
III. The Constitution Is Signed
A. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the original 55 delegates signed the completed new Constitution.
Copyright © 1997 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.