Constitutional Convention

US convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1787, called to revise the Articles of Confederation but resulting in the drafting of the US Constitution. It was attended by delegates from all the states except Rhode Island, whose refusal to join made it impossible to get the unanimous vote needed to amend the Articles. Instead Virginia proposed a plan calling for a new frame of government. The Constitution was the product of a series of compromises, especially between the large and small states, and between North and South. It was sent to Congress with a resolution that it be submitted to state conventions for ratification. Article VII of the Constitution stated that it would become the law of the land with the approval of nine of the thirteen states.

The framers of the US Constitution deliberated in secret between May and September. Conflicts arose between factions representing large and small states. Large states wanted both houses of the legislature based on population while small states desired equal representation. Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed a compromise establishing a bicameral legislature, with one house based on population and the other with each state having equal representation. The three-fifths compromise settled the dispute over the counting of slaves for the purposes of representation and taxation (three-fifths of the slave population in slave states were to be taken into account). Other issues, such as the method of electing and term of office of the president, and the continuation of the slave trade, were also settled by compromise.

Of the original 55 delegates that opened the convention, 42 were present when the constitution was submitted for approval. Three delegates, George Mason and Edmund Randolph from Virginia and Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts, voted against adoption and refused to sign the document.