Conduct of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention

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Conduct of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention
The articles of confederation were the foundation document for the United States of
America after independent. By 1786, Americans realized that the articles of confederation
were not sufficient to guide the operations of the country (McDonald, 7). There were several
reasons for this. One was that the articles did not give the congress any power to collect
taxes. In addition, the congress did not have the power to control commerce. It followed that
the congress would have to depend on the states’ contribution for financing. The states often
rejected the financial requests by congress. This left the congress with no ability to pay the
soldiers who had participated in the revolution war. In addition, the federal government could
not settle its foreign debts. The country became bankrupt in 1786 (McGuire, 14). It was due
to these issues that it became necessary to review the articles of confederation and come up
with a more favourable document. This led to the Philadelphia constitutional convention in
1787 (Pope, Jeremy and Shawn, 21).
George Washington was elected the president of the convention. The convention had
delegates from all the states apart from Rhode Island. The Virginia plan had been established
by James Madison and advocated for a strong national government. The government would
have two branches both with representatives elected by the population. The delegates form
the relatively large states advocated for proportionate representation while those form the
smaller ones advocated for equal representation. The delegates took a period of three months
discussing the competing ideas with an aim of establishing a concrete plan that is favourable