Miracle at Philadelphia the Convention Began Gathering

¶ … Miracle at Philadelphia

The convention began gathering here on the 14th of May (Bowen), but the condition of the roads have kept many of the delegates away. The men already assembled from Virginia and Pennsylvania believed that this is going to be more than just a reaffirmation and strengthening of the old Articles of Confederation (Library of Congress). Since the Articles of Confederation is only a loose contract between the thirteen new states, it is assumed that a completely new document will have to be drawn up. The concern is that there is a great deal of conflict between the factions due to geographical and ideological differences which may subvert the process before it starts.

The roads into Philadelphia were a problem, but the delegates finally began to assemble on the 25th in some strength. It was on that day that a quorum of states was attained when those from a seventh finally arrived (Bowen). Work began shortly after that when the delegates from Virginia, who have taken upon themselves to act as the leaders of the convention, asked for a vote as to the President of the convention. No one disputed that it should be General Washington, and he was soon presiding over the foundational structure of the meetings and what the convention was to accomplish.

From the talk of the delegates, the issues to be discussed are a varied as the men who are to debate them, but a few seem to be preeminent. Some of the delegates are concerned that other members want to make a centralized government that will be too strong which could supposedly undermine state's rights (Bowen). The issue here is that the states which have the most people, and therefore the most power, do not want to have that taken away by the less populous states. The delegates debated measures that they could take to ensure the sovereignty of the states while shaping a central government that can take appropriate actions that the states, as individuals, will not be able to.

Since Washington, from the Virginia delegation, was elected president of the convention, another man from that body has become the leader of the discussion among the Virginians. His name is James Madison. One day the group from New Jersey, headed by Paterson (Bowen), introduced a plan that countered the one that had already been proposed by the Virginians. The Virginia delegation was in favor of a stronger central government that would have a three separate branches with equal power. The legislative branch would have two houses, like the English, and these two would have defined responsibilities. The plan called for one executive and a judicial branch also. The new Jersey delegates wanted to decrease the power they believed that this type of government could exercise over the states and the cost of the government by reducing the number of legislative houses to one and by increasing the number of executives (Bowen). The main difference between the two plans, as far as some were concerned, was that the Virginia central legislature would have the power to veto state legislatures, whereas under the New Jersey plan they would not have that ability.