Constitution of the United States

I

Introduction

Constitution of the United States, system of fundamental laws of the United States of America. The Constitution was drawn up by 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788. The Constitution defines distinct powers for the Congress of the United States, the president, and the federal courts. This division of authority is known as a system of checks and balances, and it ensures that none of the branches of government can dominate the others. The Constitution also establishes and limits the authority of the federal government over the states and spells out freedoms and liberties for U.S. citizens.

II

Forces That Shaped the Constitution

In 1774 the Parliament of Great Britain capped a series of abuses against the American colonies by imposing a tax on tea imports to the colonies. The colonies quickly agreed to convene a Continental Congress, which in 1776 appointed two committees—one to draft the Declaration of Independence and the other to prepare a “form of confederation” among the colonies. In 1778 this second committee produced the Articles of Confederation. They took effect in 1781 when Maryland, the last holdout state, ratified them.

The Articles of Confederation established a league of friendship among the states, but not a political union. Each state remained separate and sovereign (under self-rule). The central government consisted of a one-chamber Congress, in which each state had a single vote. Congress had few powers, lacking even the authority to impose taxes. Any congressional action required the approval of 9 of the 13 states. The government had no president and no central court.

As a result, Congress in the 1780s could not deal with serious national problems, such as the repayment of about $40 million in domestic debt and $12 million in foreign debts incurred during the American Revolution (1775-1783). States also incurred about $25 million in debt during the war. Small creditors, including soldiers who had lent money to the revolutionary cause, were starved for cash because the states were slow to repay. Many of these creditors were forced to sell their repayment notes to speculators at greatly reduced values, and the states feared mob violence. A depression in the mid-1780s threatened farmers in many states with foreclosures of their properties and jail.

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In May 1786, delegates from each state were called to a trade convention in Annapolis, Maryland, to find common ground on waterway navigation rights and other issues. Only fives states sent delegates, and they decided to postpone any action. Before adjourning, the delegates in attendance asked their state legislatures to call a national convention to meet in Philadelphia the following May to investigate “important [government] defects … of a nature so serious as … to render the situation of the United States delicate and critical.”

Later in 1786 and in 1787, poor farmers led by Daniel Shays stormed several courthouses and tried to seize a federal arsenal. Local militias suppressed the uprising, known as Shays’ Rebellion, but it sent tremors through the 13 states. Some legislatures began to enact laws relieving debtors of their debts, which angered many wealthy creditors. States with good seaports took advantage of merchants in other states by imposing large import and export taxes. These and other problems required national solutions that neither the states nor the Confederation Congress had the political will to confront. The continuing crisis and the threat of further rebellions spurred the states to call a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.

III

The Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention began on May 25, 1787, when a quorum of delegates arrived at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, then known as the Pennsylvania State House. The distinguished gathering brought together nearly all of the nation’s most prominent men, including George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the ailing Benjamin Franklin. As Thomas Jefferson wrote John Adams when he heard who had been appointed: “It is really an assembly of demi-gods.” Conspicuously absent were Jefferson, then in Paris as ambassador to France, and Adams, then in London as ambassador to Great Britain.

At least one delegate came from each state except Rhode Island. Of the 74 delegates who had been appointed, 55 attended. Patrick Henry refused to attend, fearing that the convention would concentrate too much power in the central government. Another 18 delegates either declined to come or could not attend.

The delegates settled most of the scores of issues quickly. Four questions proved far more difficult to resolve: conflicts over how the people were to be represented in Congress; what to do about slavery; the powers of the president and the procedures for election to the office; and the powers and functions of the federal courts.

A

Congressional Representation

On the key question of congressional representation, the convention eventually agreed on a compromise between Edmund Randolph’s Virginia Plan and William Patterson’s New Jersey Plan. Randolph proposed that members of both houses of Congress be apportioned (divided) according to the population of each state. Because the population in three states alone—Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts—made up nearly half the country, Randolph’s plan would have given these populous states control of the nation. Patterson’s New Jersey Plan favored small states, giving all states equal representation in a one-chamber Congress regardless of population. Under the New Jersey Plan, the more numerous small states could unify against the larger ones. Not until mid-July did the delegates adopt a compromise originally put forth by Roger Sherman of Connecticut: Let the states have it both ways. Give the states an equal voice in the upper house, the Senate, and representation apportioned by population in the lower house, the House of Representatives. This bargain became known as the Great Compromise.

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