What were the major debates during the Constitutional Convention?

Answer 1

Representation in Congress. Smaller states wanted a legislature in which each state was equally represented, while bigger states wanted a legislature based on the population of the states. Thus, a compromise was reached, there will be two chambers, a Senate in which each state is represented equally (2 senators) and a House in which representation is proportional to the population of each state. Still, the southern states felt that they were being cheated, since they wanted slaves in their states to be counted toward the total population of the state, while the northern states oppose it, since under the laws of the time, slaves were not citizens, thus they should not count in favor of the southern states population, the compromise that was reached is still part of the text of our constitution, even though the 14th and 15th ammendments made the former slaves, citizens, here is the text:
"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three."
The provision 3/5 of all persons, refers to the slaves. That was the compromise, the slave population will be counted, but only 3/5 of that number will be used to determine representation in Congress for states that had slaves.

Answer 2

Actually, the major debates during the Constitutional Convention revolved around two key issues: A) Slavery: The North didn't want it, the South did. They kept it to keep the South (most thought it would die out soon anyway). For the census, they compromised and made slaves only 2/3 of a person. B) Legislature: Population based versus state based. The New Jersey compromise made two houses of the legislature: one population based (House of Representatives) and the other two representatives per state (the Senate).

Answer 3

Slavery was a huge issue, to the point that it was ignored in the final draft to be sure the South agreed to sign the Constitution. Also, the power of the federal government versus the state governments was a big point of contention. The fact that slavery wasn't addressed, and the South's belief that the states should have been given more rights, were the two main issues that eventually led to the Civil War (or as they call it in the South, the War of Northern Aggression).

Answer 4

Simply: There are 2

The Great Compromise = Representation in Congress, small states v. large states ....the result was a Bicameral Legislature...in the House, large states had more representation based on their population...in the Senate, small states had equal representation to the more populous states.

The 3/5ths Compromise = again a disagreement over representation in Congress....Southern states wanted more representation. Therefore, they wanted slaves counted as "population." Northern states, of course, didn't want slaves counted as population for the purpose of representation. The compromise .... a slave = 3/5 a white man.



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Answer 5

Whether the new jersey plan or Virginia plan were better, If slaves should be counted in the population of each state and how states should be represented in congress

Answer 6

The framers debated whether or not the State's governement should be more powerful than the Central government.