Assignment for the Constitutional Debate:

1. Read Chapters VI and VII in Wood, The American Revolution: A History

Problem: We are going to stage a debate about the framing of the Constitution. At issue will be two questions: should the Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1781, be replaced by an entirely new form of government? What type of legislature should be created for the new form of government?

Under the Articles each state had an equal vote in Congress, and there was only one legislative body (not two, as today). Everyone agreed that this legislature had to have more power, but not everyone wanted the government radically altered. In the debates of June15-21^st, delegates argued about two plans, one from New Jersey (Paterson Plan) that would retain the equality of State representation, and one from Virginia (Randolph Plan, but drafted by James Madison), that would create two branches of the legislature and base representation in both on population, taxes, or some other measure of the size and strength of the state. In a second phase of the debates, July 5-11, delegates debated the specific features of the legislature proposed in the Virginia plan.

Smaller states, which feared being overwhelmed politically by Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York, supported the New Jersey plan and then argued that some allowance had to be made for state representation even in the Virginia plan. Larger states supported a popularly elected legislature based on proportional representation.

Your assignment is to prepare to speak on these issues as you would have in 1787 at the constitutional convention. Your delegate assignment is on an attached sheet, and the sheet also indicates the days when your delegate spoke. It is usually necessary to read the day’s proceedings in their entirety to get a sense of what your delegate advocated.

There are two ways to access the debates:

2. Go to one of the website: http://fas-history.rutgers.edu/clemens/constitution.html

And look at the Virginia Plan resolutions about the Legislative Branch (a print out of this is attached). Find your delegates, and check to see if your delegates brief biography is listed. You will need the USER NAME: and PASSWORD: If you click on “II. Debates in the Constitutional Convention,” you can then follow the link to debates on any given day, and locate your delegates remarks.

And/Or go to the website: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/intrdouction.html

And look at the Virginia Plan by following the links to the June 19^th, 1787 debates. The plan follows Madison’s defense of it. You can also go to the list of individual delegates and click on yours to get a more traditional biography of the delegate. In the calendars, you can click on an individual day and get the debates for that day.

Note: the Virginia and Pennsylvania delegates will be expected to defend the Virginia Plan. The Connecticut and New Jersey delegates to defend state-based representation, and the South Carolina and Massachusetts delegates to pay particular attention to how proportional representation would be calculated.