What were some of the deep debates of the Constitutional Convention?
Asked by: Rory Halvorson | Last update: March 20, 2025Score: 4.3/5 (74 votes)
When the 55 delegates gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, there were several major issues on the agenda to discuss including representation, state versus federal powers, executive power, slavery, and commerce.
What were the major debates at the Constitutional Convention?
How the Articles of Confederation failed and delegates met to create a new constitution. The major debates were over representation in Congress, the powers of the president, how to elect the president (Electoral College), slave trade, and a bill of rights. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Washington.
What was the most serious disagreement at the Constitutional Convention?
Explanation: The biggest disagreement at the Constitutional Convention was the issue of representation. The delegates were divided on how states should be represented in the new government.
What were the three major debates and compromises of the convention?
The three major compromises were the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Electoral College. The Great Compromise settled matters of representation in the federal government.
What were the 3 5 compromise debates?
The Continental Congress debated the ratio of slaves to free persons at great length. Northerners favored a 4-to-3 ratio, while southerners favored a 2-to-1 or 4-to-1 ratio. Finally, James Madison suggested a compromise: a 5-to-3 ratio. All but two states--New Hampshire and Rhode Island--approved this recommendation.
What were some of the key debates over the presidency at the Constitutional Convention?
What debates were the Great Compromise?
Connecticut (or Great) Compromise
Disputes between small states and large states spurred intense debates over how the states were to be represented in the new government. Two key delegates—James Madison and James Wilson—were central to these debates, although they lost on many key issues.
Are black people still considered 3-5?
It's out of date. Slaves (black people) in the US *were* counted as 3/5 of a free (white) person before and during the Civil War. When slavery was abolished at the end of the Civil War, each free male citizen of the US counted as one person (for establishing the number of representatives a state had in Congress).
What were the 3 big fights of the Constitutional Convention?
- Representation. Large and small states fought over representation in Congress. ...
- State vs. Federal Powers. ...
- Executive Power. Having fought a war against tyranny, Americans were suspicious of executive power. ...
- Slavery. ...
- Commerce.
What were the big three disagreements at the Constitutional Convention?
Debates erupted over representation in Congress, over slavery, and over the new executive branch. The debates continued through four hot and muggy months.
What are the 4 compromises of the Constitution?
There were four main compromises that were necessary in order to adopt and ratify the Constitution. These compromises were the Great (Connecticut) Compromise, Electoral College, Three-Fifths Compromise, and Compromise on the importation of slaves.
What was the biggest problem the Constitutional Convention needed to solve?
The delegates arrived at the convention with instructions to revise the Articles of Confederation. The biggest problem the convention needed to solve was the federal government's inability to levy taxes. That weakness meant that the burden of paying back debt from the Revolutionary War fell on the states.
Which of these was one of the largest debates at the Constitutional Convention of 1787?
The largest debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 revolved around the contentious issue of slavery, which prompted significant compromises and decisions among the delegates.
What were the arguments against the Constitution?
Anti-Federalists argued that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government, while taking too much power away from state and local governments. Many felt that the federal government would be too far removed to represent the average citizen.
What were the major issues and solutions reached at the Constitutional Convention?
The major issues at the Constitutional Convention included representation, federalism, and slavery. Solutions reached included the Great Compromise for legislative representation, the establishment of federalism, and the Three-Fifths Compromise for counting slaves.
What was the debate at the Constitutional Convention about slavery?
The North did not want to count enslaved people at all for purposes of representation, whereas the South wanted to count them as fully human. The convention settled on a Three-Fifths Compromise: three enslaved persons would count for every five free persons for the purpose of representation.
What were the problems with the Constitution of 1787?
It is no secret that the Constitution signed on that fateful day of September 17, 1787 was highly flawed. It denied women and minorities, especially black individuals, their basic human rights for decades to come. It protected slavery. It denied civil liberties that should have been guaranteed to all.
What were the three major equality issues at the Constitutional Convention?
What were the three major equality issues at the Constitutional Convention? How were they resolved? The three major equality issues were equality and representation, slavery, and political equality.
Why was there no bill of rights in the Constitution?
James Madison and other supporters of the Constitution argued that a bill of rights wasn't necessary because - “the government can only exert the powers specified by the Constitution.” But they agreed to consider adding amendments when ratification was in danger in the key state of Massachusetts.
What were the three major challenges of the Constitutional Convention?
Three of the major challenges faced by the Constitutional Convention delegates were the issues of large vs small states, representation, and the question of slavery. Each was eventually resolved.
What was the great debate of the Constitution?
There were two sides to the Great Debate: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists wanted to ratify the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists did not. One of the major issues these two parties debated concerned the inclusion of the Bill of Rights.
What were the arguments that divided the Constitutional Convention?
The most divisive of those issues—those involving the apportionment of representation in the national legislature, the powers and mode of election of the chief executive, and the place of the institution of slavery in the new continental body politic—would change in fundamental ways the shape of the document that would ...
Were there white slaves in America?
Many people know Britain was involved with the slave trade, but did you know that some white Europeans were taken to America as slaves, as well? The slavery of Europeans was a prelude to the mass slavery of Africans in the Americas says our next guest, Michael Walsh.
What is the 3 fifth of a man?
Although the Constitution did not refer directly to slaves, it did not ignore them entirely. Article one, section two of the Constitution of the United States declared that any person who was not free would be counted as three-fifths of a free individual for the purposes of determining congressional representation.