Constitutional Convention

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Constitutional Convention

At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, delegates faced a number of conflicting issues. Two issues that were mainly discussed was the conflict over representation in Congress and the issue of slavery. In the Congress there was a man named Edmund Randolph who proposed the Virginia plan which was basically to, provided for a legislature of two houses with proportional representation in each house and executive and judicial branches to be chosen by the legislature.   There was another man named William Patterson who proposed that they should provide for a single legislative house with equal representation for each state. The enslavement of blacks in America was of great concern to the men at the convention. Some genuinely felt that the black man was as much "man" as the white man, but this was a minority view.

Well the Virginia Plan wanted three legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature was more powerful, as it chose people to serve in the executive and judicial branches. Also the proposal stated that it would be better that they had two houses, the House of Representatives which is to be elected by the people and also the senate is to be elected by the state legislatures but both are to be represented proportionally. He also proposed that legislature could regulate interstate trade, strike down laws deemed unconstitutional and use armed forces to enforce laws.

On the other had the New Jersey Plan required that there should be three branches legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature appoints people to serve in the executive branch, and the executive branch selects the justices of the Supreme Court. He also requested to have one house of legislature and that States would be represented equally, so all states had the same power. He also believed that the national government could levy taxes and import duties, regulate trade, and state laws would be subordinate to laws passed by the national legislature.

Southern delegates had one thing...

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