Let’s Fix This Thing
In 1787, representatives from every state except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia
to fix the Articles. We call this meeting the Constitutional Convention because
they ended up doing more than just fixing the articles—they wrote the Constitution!
But agreeing on a new way to structure the government wasn’t easy.
Some states floated a new idea: Why not create a government with
three
branches?
The new government could have a
legislative branch
with a congress to make laws,
an
executive branch
led by a president to carry out laws, and a
judicial branch
with
courts to interpret laws. It sounded good, but there was one major problem: How
many votes would each state get in the Congress?
Wanted: A Just Right Government
Name:
Reading p.2
Voting in Congress: Yes, It’s a Big Deal
Why? Because some states have a large population and some have a small
population. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state got one vote no
matter how many people it had. That meant people in large states had less
influence in Congress. Naturally, large states thought this wasn’t fair. They
thought they should get more votes because they had more people. Small
states, however, thought it was a pretty good deal. Even though they were
small, they had the same amount of power and influence as large states.
They wanted to keep a one-vote-per-state system.
Battle of the Plans
Two different plans emerged—one favoring small states and one favoring
large states. Can you tell which is which?
Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan
Legislative branch has 2 chambers
Number of votes for each state
depends on the state’s population
Legislative branch has one chamber
Each state gets one vote
The Constitution Solution
The two sides—large states and small states—finally reached a
compromise. The Constitution was the second and final attempt to write
a document that would govern the United States, and we still follow it
today. Under the Constitution, Congress is divided in to two chambers: the
Senate and the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state gets
two votes no matter what size it is. This favors small states. In the House
of Representatives, the more people a state has, the more votes it gets.
This favors large states. The Constitution also solved some other problems
found in the Articles of Confederation.
The Articles didn’t require states to treat citizens from other states the
same as their own citizens, but the Constitution does.
The Articles couldn’t be changed unless all states agreed, but the
Constitution can be changed if 3/4 of the states agree.
The Articles didn’t require states to follow the laws Congress passed,
but the Constitution says federal laws are superior to state laws.
The Americans were a lot like
Goldilocks in the story about the
three bears: They had to try
different governments until they
found one that was “just right!”