The Constitutional Convention debated issues of representation and voting as they worked to agree on a Constitution. Once signed by 39 of the remaining 42 delegates, the Constitution would need to be ratified by the states. The framers designed a republican form of government inspired by British, Greek, Roman, and Enlightenment influences. They sought to define and limit government powers through a system of separation of powers and checks and balances. Key compromises included the Great Compromise on representation and the Three-Fifths Compromise on counting slaves for population.

1. Closing the Convention:
September 17, 1787

2. Framers at the Constitutional Convention debated and
discussed the issues of representation, population
counts and who should get to vote, among other things.
Now that a Constitution has been agreed to and signed
by 39 of the remaining 42 delegates (55 original, 13 went
home and 3 refused to sign, citing that the new
Constitution gave too much power to the national
government), the Constitution must be ratified by each
of the states.

3. Federalism
• A system of govt in which power is divided
between the national (central, federal)
govt and state governments. The federal
govt is SUPREME.

4. 1. The framers designed a republic
(p. 198)
• A form of government where people
(citizens) rule through elected
representatives.

5. 2. The framers were inspired by the
British Government(p. 198-199):
• Magna Carta: Written document limiting power of the
ruler and forcing the ruler to obey the law (≈ U.S.
Constitution)
• Parliament: People elected to make laws (≈ Congress)
• English Bill of Rights: Rights to the people limiting
monarchy and protecting rights of citizens (≈ Bill of
Rights—first 10 amendments of the Constitution)

6. The framers were inspired by the
Greeks and Romans (notes only)
• Greeks in Athens had a direct democracy—citizens
voted directly for their laws.
• Roman Republic had a three-branch government (U.S.
Senate ≈ Roman Senate, U.S. Executive ≈ Roman
Consuls, U.S. Supreme Court ≈ Roman Praetors)

7. 4. The framers were inspired by
American Experiences:
• Virginia House of Burgesses: representative government
established in 1619
• Mayflower Compact: 1620: Compact of self-government with
which the people agreed to “combine themselves together into a
civil body politic” in order to establish “just and equal laws”
• Pre-Revolutionary experiments: Second Continental Congress,
The Articles of Confederation, and their own state governments.

8. 5. The framers were inspired by
Enlightenment thinkers:
• John Locke: Two Treatises on Government
– Natural rights to life, liberty and property.
– Government is to protect these rights. If not,
people must rebel.
• Baron de Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws
– How to organize government to keep anyone
from taking too much power
• Separation of Powers: 3 branches of
government
• Rules of law: government powers should be
clearly defined to ensure that everyone is
doing his/her job and that each branch has
equal power.

9. In summary, the framers set out the
basic laws of the new nation,
defining and limiting government’s
powers.

10. Issue 1—Representation in
Congress (the legislative branch)
• Larger states wanted population-based, or proportional
representation. Smaller states wanted equal
representation for all states, so that they wouldn’t be
overrun by large states.

11. The Virginia Plan, proposed by Edmund Randolph and
James Madison of Virginia, called for three branches of
government, with a legislative branch comprised of 2
houses, both based on population, so that larger states
would have more representatives in Congress than smaller
states.

12. The New Jersey Plan, proposed by William
Paterson of NJ, also called for three
branches of government and for a
legislature with one house and every state
would get one vote, regardless of
population.
NJ PLAN
1 state=1 vote

13. The Great Compromise, approved on July 16,
was made by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, who
called for a 2-house legislature.
The lower house, the House of Representatives,
would be population based.
The upper house, the Senate, would have 2
senators per state, no matter what state.

14. Issue 2—Which People Should Count Towards a
States’ Population Totals?
•Northern states didn’t have as many slaves and were slowly
fazing slavery out.
•Southern states were becoming increasingly dependent on
slaves and were importing more and more slaves in each day.
•Should slaves be counted as part of a state’s population, even
though they couldn’t vote and had no rights?
•If allowed to count, the Southern states would have many more
votes in Congress than the Northern states.

15. Three-Fifths Compromise —3/5 of the
slaves in a state would count toward the
population. For every 5000 slaves, 3000
would count as population.