Constituion Convention?

Question

please help me wit mt homework..!

An important challenge facing the Constituion Convention was how to balance the
A)needs of eastern and western states.
B)interests of large and small states.
C)rights of slaves and slaveholders
D)demands of farmers and workers

Answer 1

Short answer off the top of my head....

A. Really wasn't any concern for east and western states, as there really weren't any. I suppose Pennsylvania was west of NJ and NY, but as they were all Middle Colonies, "east/west" wasn't really an issue. The issues were more in terms of north and south--big and small.

B. This was the big issue. There were two plans--Virginia or Large State Plan (introduced by Edmund Randolf) and the New Jersey or Small State Plan (introduced by William Patterson). LSP wanted bicameral legislature; representation porportioned by population; executive chosen by legislature. SSP was really nothing more than a rehash of the Articles of Confederation--unicameral legislature and each state having equal votes in the legislature.

To say the least the big states didn't like this and the small states didn't want to be runover by the big state populations. This led to the Connecticut Compromise that created the system we have today. I'll let you look that up yourself.

C. Slaves continued to have no rights. Slaveholders on the other hand (mainly the south) debated taxation and representation with the north regarding slaves. The south wanted slaves to count to up the representation but not for taxation, while the north said, "no taxes for slaves, no representation." This led to the 3/5s Compromise saying that five slaves equaled three persons for purposes of representation (based on population and making the north happy) and taxation (making the south happy). In otherwords, the north wasn't overrun with representatives from the south based on slaves and the south didn't have to pay taxes on property (what slaves were considered and had been since the late 1600s).

D. There wasn't, to my knowledge, any provisions designed specifically for famers and workers except for the Connecticut Compromise which outlined representation in Congress. In otherwords, representation would encompass *all* people, not just elites. Additionally, Article I gave Congress the right to set laws on interstate commerce, which would affect the business owner--or perhaps a farmer and a worker with something to sell.

The resultant Constitution, often referred to as a "bundle of compromises" almost didn't pass ratification and required one more compromise, the promise of a Bill of Rights after the Constitution's ratifiation.

A long answer that I hope helps and kind of quick and dirty. Your history book should provide more detail, as should your history teacher.

Of course, if you are just looking for an answer to this question, it would be "B". That issue resulted in our Congressional form of government and pretty much paved the way for Article 1.

Hope I pass.

Answer 2

Looks like you have spelling homework also.

Think this one through for yourself. The convention was when? How many states were there and where were these states located? That's right, no Texas or California yet, the states were all along the eastern coast. Bye A!

Slaves didn't have rights, they were slaves. Property, like a house or car. Bye C!

Most of the folks back then were farmers, modern industry had not yet arrived, Yes, there were townfolk, but even many of them had garden plots. Bye D!

Leaves B. Large populous states would have more votes, thus more power, than small states. This is why we now have a bi-cameral legislature, one with two separate entities, Senate and House. The number of Representatives each state sends to the house is a percentage of population (there is a census every 10 years) to the total number of Representatives. Each state, no matter the size or population, gets only two Senators. This was the compromise that solved that challenge you ask about.

Answer 3

B) There were NO western states yet...slaves by definition have no rights...farmers and workers are the vast majority of people...the major difference in how power can be divided rests on how you allow states to influence the government- by size and population, or by each getting one vote...thus B.

Answer 4

knock out A. we didn't have western states....
knock off C since slavery did not come up until nearly a century later-- Civil War.
knock off D-- this did not come until about the turn of the nineteenth century going into 20th....

B is the answer. don't you remember the Virginia Resolution? or the Rhode Island Resolution?
Or the Connecticut Compromise?

Answer 5

B. This is how we came up with the bicamerral system, and how the electoral college was created.

Answer 6

I'd say both A and B are good guesses.