Constitutional Convention Bcr

In May of 1787, 55 men, representing 12 of the 13 states, met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. But they soon realized that the AOC was too weak to support the nation, so they decided to create a completely new constitution. This event is called the Constitutional Convention. It was during this convention, that the issues of the representation of the large and small states, the representation of enslaved Africa-Americans, and slave trade, were heavily debated on. Each issue was solved by a compromise that was agreed on by the delegates. The values that that were reflected by the compromises, were the values of a representative government and opportunity of a market economy.

The issues that were heavily debated and resolved with compromises were the issues of the representation of large and small states, the representation of enslaved African-Americans, and slave trade. The issue of representation of large and small states pertained to how each states representation in congress should be determined, whether by population or equal representation for each state. The issue of the representation of enslaved African-Americans in congress pertained to how the slaves should be represented in the count for each state’s representation in congress and the state’s taxation. The issue of slave trade pertained to who runs the slave trade and if slave trade should end, and when it should end.

There were opposing views on how each issue should be carried out. For the issue of the representation of large and small states in congress, the large states believed that the representation should be determined by the population of the state. The small states believed that the representation in congress should be equal for each state, whether large or small. For the issue of the representation of enslaved African-Americans, the northern states believed that the slaves should be counted in only a state’s taxation, not the state’s representation in congress. The southern states believed that slave should be counted in only a state’s representation in congress, not in a state’s taxation. For the issue of slave trade, the northern states believed that slave importation should be outlawed, but if not, the slave trade should be controlled by the national government. The older southern states believed that slave trade should be outlawed, but the newer southern states want to continue the importation of slaves. The newer southern states also believed