The Substance of the Debate

The first major hurdle the Convention faced was to decide how to proceed based on the instructions they had been given by the Confederal Congress. Having been specifically charged by the Confederal Congress to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation, many delegates believed it would be a breach of their duty to do away with the Articles altogether and create a framework for a new government. As they discussed the problems that plagued the Confederation, however, it quickly became clear to a majority of the delegates that simply amending the Articles would not suffice. Sensing that the Convention had such inclinations, Patrick Henry, who was opposed to efforts to bolster the national government, had boycotted the proceedings declaring that he “smelled a rat.” In any case, having made the decision to abolish the Articles, the work of the Convention began in earnest.

Another major problem was that under the Articles of Confederation, the unanimous consent of all the states was required to make changes to the Articles. With Rhode Island absent and its later cooperation unlikely, unanimity would be difficult if not impossible to achieve. This threatened to make irrelevant any progress the Convention was able to make toward the formulation of a new government for the young nation. Before the Convention ended, the delegates determined that the Constitution could be ratified by nine of the thirteen states. While this agreement made ratification easier, it also raised the possibility of as many as four states being left out of the new “union.”

The delegates decided to meet in secret because they knew that if news of their decision to abolish the Articles of Confederation became public, the opposition to such a decision would likely disrupt the work of the Convention. They agreed that it would be better to draft a proposal for a new government first and then announce their recommendation to do away with the Confederation. That way the people could consider such a dramatic change with a clear alternative in hand.

While each of these decisions was significant in its own right, they paled in comparison to the Convention’s two most divisive points of debate — representation and slavery. Indeed, delegates from the smaller states and from some of the Southern states threatened to walk out of the Convention if their demands with regard to representation and slavery were not met. For the Convention to succeed, these two issues had to be resolved.