Philadelphia convention essays

Philadelphia convention essays In the 1780s, the wealthiest and most powerful groups in the population of America began to demand for a new and stronger national government. By 1786, the demand grew stronger and finally in 1787, Fifty-five delegates from twelve states met in the State House in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787 to take part on the debate to reform the Articles of Confederation. The delegates argued for weeks and many issues remained unresolved. Among the most important issue was the question of State representation. Would slave be counted as population in determining how many representation a state should have in congress? Or would they be counted as property, not titled to representation? States with large slave population wanted it both way. They wanted slave to be counted as population when determining number of representation, but as property when new government adopted taxes base on population. Finally, As the arguments reached new height and delegates refused to give up, the convention created a grand committee. They will be responsible for producing a suggestion that became the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise consist of two-house legislature, the Senate and the House Of Representatives. The Senate (upper house) would have equal representation equaling 2 members each and be elected by the House Of Representatives. The lower house (House Of Representatives) would be represented on the basic of population. Every five slaves will be counted as three and this same method will also be used in calculation of taxation. Weeks later the convention run into another disagreement. The southern state delegates fear that the new government system will interfere with slavery. To solve the southern worries, the convention agreed to another important compromises. They will set a bar to the new government system saying it will not interfere with slave trade for twenty years. ...