Chapter One: Constitutional Convolution
Originally planned to begin on May 14 at the Pennsylvania State House, the convention had to be postponed when very few delegates were present. Hence, it did not begin until May 25 when a quorum of seven state delegations had arrived. New Hampshire delegates would not arrive at the convention until July 23, while Rhode Island refused to send any delegates to Philadelphia at all. The first thing done was unanimously electing George Washington unanimously elected to be the president of the convention and James McHenry as its secretary. In its governing rules, each state delegation received a single vote corresponding to a proposal that aligns with the majority opinion of the delegates. This helped keep the smaller states at the table. States did not cast votes when they were evenly divided on any given motion or if too few of the delegates were in attendance. Unlike the other states, Connecticut and Maryland allowed a single delegate to cast their vote, while New York required all three delegates to be at the table. This would come back to haunt Alexander Hamilton later on in the Convention. It was agreed upon that all discussion and voting would be done in secrecy and not revealed to the public until the meeting concluded, even going so far as to nail the windows of the hall shut in spite of the summer heat. James Madison provided the most complete set of notes accounting for the events.
In general, the meeting was almost a disaster. The initial outlook was promising, though. Before the convention formally began, James Madison created a proposal that was strongly nationalist in nature known as the Virginia Plan. The plan was modeled on the state models and had fifteen resolutions, including replacing the unicameral legislature with a bicameral one, with one of them being elected by the people. It did, however, lack a system of checks and balances between the branches of government despite calling for a more supreme national government. On May 29, Virginia governor Edmund Randolph presented the Plan. The convention also agreed, the next day, that the government should have legislative, executive, and national branches, with there being one single executive (determined on June 1). The Virginia Plan called for both chambers of Congress to have representation based on population because Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, the most populous states, were unhappy with having one vote per state in Congress. On the other hand, the small states were opposed to changes that decreased their influence, with the Delaware delegation threatening to walk out without equal representation. On June 7, it was decided that state legislatures would choose Congressional senators. On June 15, William Patterson introduced an alternative to the Virginia Plan called the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress, each state having one vote, and plural executives among other things.
The two plans were inherently at odds. On June 19, the delegates voted whether to proceed with the New Jersey Plan. With the support of Connecticut, Georgia, and the Carolinas, most of the larger states defeated the plan by a 7-3 vote. Maryland's delegation abstained. The delegates found themselves in a stalemate for days. Before a compromise could be found, Delaware and New Jersey walked out of the convention in July. Thus, the Virginia Plan prevailed. When it seemed like the Articles of Confederation were going to be tossed aside, two of the New York delegates walked out as well. Another issue the Constitutional Convention had to face was slavery and the Atlantic slave trade. Dating back to a proposed amendment to the Articles of Confederation in 1783, one of the most popular proposals for the representation of slaves for Congress was three-fifths of a person. While southerners wanted slaves counted so they could have more seats in Congress, many in the north viewed them as property hence they should not count at all. It looked like three-fifths would be the accepted ratio. However, several delegates from New England offered to raise the ratio to two-thirds in exchange for an abolition of the slave trade. All states except Georgia and the Carolinas had officially abolished it and with North Carolina, it was de facto abolished. Georgia and South Carolina threatened to walk out if the motion passed, which it, unfortunately for them, did. Withdrawing from Philadephia, the issue of slavery was settled.
Most Georgian and South Carolinian delegates, with a notable perception of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, walked out. There were only seven states represented: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. New Hampshire would show up on July 23, while Rhode Island refused to commit any delegates regardless of the outcome. The convention soon favored legislative impeachment in the event of executive removal from office. It was also decided that the Senate would approve new federal judges. In late July, the committee delegations voted to submit the Constitution and proposed amendments for approval. Through drafting and modification process took place through August and September. The Constitutional Convention departed on September 17 after signing the document, with the air much cooler and calmer than in May. Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts were the first three states to ratify the Constitution. With controversy ensuing, Maryland followed in spring 1788. New Hampshire (with influence and pressure from Massachusetts), Virginia, and New York ratified it later that year. North Carolina and Rhode Island would only ratify it with a guaranteed Bill of Rights. Once the latter state ratified the Constitution on August 31, 1790, after reaching a quorum of nine states, Georgia and South Carolina declared independence, and Delaware and New Jersey split off into the Federation of Delaware Bay. Tough times laid ahead for the United States of America.