The last half of the 18th century was very important for the United States. During this era, the nation was founded following the Declaration of Independence and drafting and ratification of the Constitution a decade later. The 1787 constitutional convention and ratification debate was very important in the making of the US Constitution. The dynamics, antagonism, considerations, process and the eventual consensus regarding the Constitution can be explained by discrete theories in political discourses. However, there are theories that fit best within this historical context and help better explain the process of the constitutional convention and ratification. This paper will talk about pluralist theory as a theoretical perspective that best explains the workings of the 1787 constitutional convention and ratification debate, as opposed to power elite theory. This will be achieved by looking at the premises of pluralist theoretical perspective, and the workings of the 1787 constitutional convention and ratification and then show how pluralist theory best captures the workings.
What were the two main compromises of the Constitutional Convention and how did they affect the government?
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was held to address problems in governing the United States which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation since it’s independence from Britain. Fifty-five delegates from the states attended the convention to address these issues. The delegates consisted of federalists who wanted a strong central government to maintain order and were mainly wealthier merchants and plantation owners and anti-federalists who were farmers, tradesmen and local politicians who feared losing their power and believed more power should be given to the states. The Constitutional Convention dealt with the issue of the debate between federalists and anti-federalists. The debates, arguments and compromises
The roots of the Electoral College System can be traced way back to more than 200 years. A controversial debate on the effectiveness of Electoral College continues over years. The founders established it as a resolution between president choice by a vote in congress and choice of the president by qualified citizens’ popular vote. 538 electors constituted the Electoral College and 270 majorities of electoral votes choose the president. The United States got its independence from Great Britain, and its government based on the Articles of Confederation (Burgan 9). According to Burgan, under the article, the states acted almost like separate nations (9). It is well-known that the United States president becomes elected by Electoral College and
The Constitutional Convention is a new plan for the government. It is a government people have to follow. it is important people follow it otherwise something could happen to them. the Constitutional Convention is a new plan in place of the Articles Confederation. James Madison and Alexander Hamilton where to create the Constitutional Convention. George Washington was elected by the delegates to preside over the Constitutional Convention.
In May 1787, the Founding Fathers, who were made up of 55 delegates from one of the 13 states besides Rhode Island, met in Philadelphia for what would come to be called the Constitutional Convention [BRE]. When they met they intended to fix the consitution that was already in place, which was called the Articles of Confederation. This document had many weaknesses which ultimatly led to its downfall: it only had a legislative branch, so it could not hold trials or enforce laws, it could not raise taxes (it was able to raise money, however to do this the legislative branch had to ask the states for funds), it could not draft an army, so the federal government would have to use state militia, it could not control interstate or foreign commmerce,
The Constitutional Convention was held in May 25 1787 in Philadelphia to discuss revising the Article of Confederation. Delegates from the various states met in Philadelphia and George Washington president was elected to preside over Convention. However, the result of convention wasn’t likely what the purpose of convention to revise the Article of Confederation because what it ended up doing could not answer successfully the question of slavery and was creating a new constitution, which was the United States Constitution. There were three plans submitted for government structure which were Virginia, New Jersey, and Connecticut Compromise.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 marked the evolution from the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution. The ratification argument led to disagreements between the Federalists, who wanted to approve the Constitution, and Anti-Federalists, who opposed the document. The latter believed that the new system forced by the Constitution failed to protect the individual rights of citizens and threatened liberties.
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia was a secret meeting that took place between May and September of 1787. The reason of this meeting was to revise the Articles of Confederation. As well the problem from the Revolutionary War debt. The president of this convention was George Washington. Fifty four individuals attended which most of them were wealthy young persons who wanted to protect the economic of the state. The Constitution that arrived from the convention accepted a government with more limited powers, where each brand would check and balance the authority between the Judicial Executive and Legislative
The 1787 Constitutional Convention was paramount in unifying the states after the Revolutionary War. However, in order to do so, the convention had to compromise on many issues instead of addressing them with all due haste. This caused the convention to leave many issues unresolved. Most notably were the issues of slavery, race, secession, and states’ rights. Through the Civil War and the Reconstruction, these issues were resolved, and in the process the powers of the federal government were greatly expanded.
The Constitution was a document that was signed by many of our founding fathers. The constitutional convention took place from May 25 to September 17 of 1787 in the Pennsylvania State House.
The character of the presidency that the constitution established is through Article II. Article II granted all executive power to a singular person for the reason that a single person can make swift decisions in the time of need. During the Constitutional Convention some delegates did prefer a multi-person "executive council" but ultimately this position was overturned. Also, as part of Article II it states how the president will be chosen. The constitution established "electoral college" which was an indirect way of electing the president rather than the electoral system of presidential election. The electoral college made it possible to lose the popular vote but win the electoral vote and attain the position of president. This is because
Our founding fathers wanted to devise a plan to elect the executive branch of the government without it being affected by partisan politics. In the beginning, they instituted and stated in Article 2, Section 1, of the Constitution, the method of selecting electors is delegated to the separate state legislatures, and the voting procedure to be followed by the electors is carefully defined (Encarta, History). Originally in the Constitution, the electors were to vote for the two most qualified persons without specification of presidential or vice-presidential candidates. The candidate with the most votes would be the president and the candidate with the least votes would be the vice-president. After the election of 1800 there was a tie
One side wanted the President to be elected by popular vote. They felt that the President represented the people of the country and hence should be elected by them.