CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
The United States America wrote its constitution in the year 1787 during the Philadelphia convention. The constitution was ratified in 1789 by eleven states. The Americans declared independence on 4th July 1776 which enabled them to raise army under the command of George Washington. The Philadelphia convention of 1787 is the one under which the Southern and Northern States reached a compromise that the slaves should be counted for representation. This was done to enable distribution of taxes as well as the apportionment of the members of the United States. There were those who opposed slavery and therefore, wanted to count only the free inhabitants.
The New Jersey and Virginia presented their plans in view of the constitution convention. The Virginia plan stated that every state should have representation in the government by having a certain amount of representatives for the population. This plan could have given the Virginia more representation in the congress since it was the most populated state. The New Jersey plan on the other hand proposed that states should be represented by two representatives for each state. However, this called for great compromise to the resolution of this conflict.
The nationalists were soon called the federalists. New Jersey proposed for a purely federal state with equal representation for every state. The controversies that emerged were with regard to the bill of rights and slavery.
Alexander Hamilton led the federalists who were mainly the urban population interests of the Seaports. On the other hand Thomas Jefferson led the antifederalists who spoke for the rural and southern interests. The debate that emerged between these two groups was about the power of the central government and the power of the state. Federalists wanted the central government while the antifederalists favored the states right. Hamilton was for the idea that there should be a strong central government which should act in the interest of commerce and industry. His policies were directed towards improving the public economy as well as to having effective government. He pointed out that America must have credit for development of commercial activity and operations of the government.
Thomas Jefferson on the other hand supported decentralized agrarian republic. He however, recognized the central government but argued that it should not be so powerful in other respects. Jefferson thoughts were more inclined towards freedom while Hamilton thought in terms of order. The United State required both the views of these two great philosophers in order to develop economically. When Jefferson was appointed the secretary of state a new interpretation of the constitution started. Jefferson was more concerned with the state rights while Hamilton leaned so much on the national rights.
It is important to note that the word slave does not appear in the constitution however, slavery received a lot of protection in the constitution. The famous three-fifths clause gave the south extra representation in the house. The federal government was empowered to put down slave insurrections.
A debate with regard to prohibiting the federal government from regulating the Atlantic slave trade broke out in the year 1787. Martin Luther who was a slave holder argued that it was inconsistent with the principles of revolution to have a slavery feature in the constitution. The constitution however, weakened the institution of the slavery. The controversy with regard to the Atlantic slave trade was later on resolved by comprise. A 20 year ban on any restrictions on the Atlantic slave trade was lifted. Southern delegates removed a clause restricting the national governments power to pass laws requiring goods to be shipped on American vessels.
References:
1. The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison: on June 15″. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
2. William Paterson Biography in Soldier Statesmen of the Constitution, a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History. Accessed October 23, 2007. “He was the co-author of the New Jersey (or Paterson) Plan that asserted the rights of the small states by proposing a national legislature that, ignoring differences in size and population, gave equal voice to all the states.
3. Constitutional Convention of 1787, Princeton University. Accessed October 23, 2007. “The Connecticut Compromise, which broke the deadlock, proposed a lower house, elected in proportion to population, and an upper house, in which each state, regardless of size, would have equal representation.”