Understanding the Bill of Rights by James Wolfe

Author:James Wolfe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC

Virginian James Madison (1751–1836) is called the Father of the Constitution because his Virginia Plan broadened the constitutional debates.

The delegates recognized the need to reconcile two different powers: the power of local control, which was already being exercised by the thirteen individual states, and the power of the central government. They adopted the principle that the power of the national government had to be carefully defined, while all other functions and powers would belong to the states. But the central government had to have real power, so the delegates gave the government the authority to coin money, regulate commerce, declare war, and make peace, among other things.

Representatives of the small states objected to changes that would reduce their influence in the national government by basing representation upon population rather than upon statehood, as was the case under the Articles of Confederation. On the other hand, representatives of large states, such as Virginia, wanted their number of representatives based on the state’s population. This debate threatened to go on indefinitely until Roger Sherman introduced the idea of representation in proportion to the population of the states in one house of Congress, the House of Representatives, and equal representation in the other, the Senate.

This issue was resolved, but almost every question raised new problems to be addressed only by new compromises. Northerners wanted slaves counted when determining each state’s tax share, but not in determining the number of seats a state would have in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives would be apportioned according to the number of free inhabitants plus three-fifths of the slaves. The three-fifths compromise increased the number of representatives the southern states could have and increased their tax obligations, but failed to grant any political rights to the slaves themselves.

The convention finally put on paper the formal organization of the new government. The delegates gave the federal government full power to levy taxes, borrow money, print currency, grant patents and copyrights, set up post offices, and build roads. The national government also had the power to raise and maintain an army and navy, and to regulate trade and commerce between the states. It was given the management of Indian affairs, foreign policy, and the power to wage war. It could pass laws for naturalizing foreigners and controlling public lands, and it could admit new states that would have the same powers as the original states.

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