HonorLock Quiz 4 On the Constitution

What did the Northerners, at the time of the Constitutional Convention, think would happen to slavery over time? What did they not foresee?

The Northerners though that slavery would

3/5 Clause of Constitution

The Three-Fifths Compromise established that enslaved men and women would be represented in the House at a ratio of 3 to 5 of their actual numbers. Thus, every five individuals would count as three for the purposes of both legislative representation and taxation.

What was Benjamin Franklin's point in his statement on humility?

compromises might not make great hero's but they make great democracies. The need to recognized that your own certainty is sometimes wrong. He has a list of 12 virtues. Having humility to the person next to you might be right. He accepts his own fallibility. ("For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obligated by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I thought would be right, But found to be otherwise.")

Which region supported abolishing the slave trade? Why? Did this mean they were also for abolishing slavery?

(Keep in mind that Virginia and Maryland were not asking to end slavery itself.) Instead what they wanted was to be able to sell their slaves to South Carolina without competing with the international market. Virginia had a natural increase in its slave population, and so had extra slaves that it did not need. Abolishing the international slave trade would give it a monopoly on selling slaves to South Carolina. Virginia's argument at the Constitutional Convention, however, still claimed that it wanted to end the slave trade for moral reasons. The other delegates could see through the false claim and knew that Virginia wanted to end the slave trade for monetary (not moral) reasons.

What does Dr. Finkelman point out the Electoral College?

He says that the electoral college is the way you will get electors based on the number of representatives that you have in congress. The reason we have an electoral college is because of slavery.

What did Madison say was the best way to elect the president (executive branch)? Why did he not support that way?

Maddison said the best way to elect the president is for the people at large be the fittest. He did not support this was because he said ,the people cannot elect the president because the southern states could have no influence in the election on the score of "negroes"

Why did Madison support the Electoral College as a way to elect the president? How does it connect to the 3/5th clause?

Maddison supported the electoral college as a way to elect the president because it says you will get electors based on the number of representatives that you have in congress. The only slaves that can vote are the free, so, Virginia is not going to get any political power from its slaves. The 3/5 of other people are the slaves.

What did the professors discuss about the 3/5 Compromise? How did the drafters reference slavery without using the words slave or slavery?

The 3/5 compromise, they don't really think that African American are 3/5 of a person. Slaves could not vote, women could not vote. They did not want to use the word slaves, that's why they used the 3/5 to talk about the slaves.

What does Professor Ellis point out about why the debate over slavery was silenced?

Slavery was silenced because it was too difficult to discuss. They could not talk about it without risking the enter republican experiment.

What was the agreement over-representation in the Legislative branch? The Senate was supposed to represented who or what? The House was supposed to represent who or what?

The agreement over-representation in the Legislative branch was to have bicameral legislation that was based on population. The Senate was supposed to represent the population of free people slaves. Representation in the House would be based on population, and each state was allotted two seats in the Senate.

What was it about the legislative branch?

The legislative branch would be bicameral, consisting of an upper house—the Senate—and a lower house—the House of Representatives.

What needed to happen before the Americans were independent of Britain?

The revolutionaries would need to muster a military force to defeat the British to actually be independent from Britain.

the Constitution, overall, was to create...

a strong, federal government

For delegates from the northern states...

many of whom were morally opposed to the institution of slavery, the compromise was viewed as a necessary evil in order to secure the ratification of the Constitution since the southern states had threatened to refuse to ratify the document if the interests of southern slaveholders were not protected therein.

What does the term state mean, especially outside of the United States? When the Constitution was ratified, did the United States become a single state on the world stage?

the term state means, on the world stage, is an independent country with borders and a government. When the constitution was ratified the United States became a sovereign state or single state on the world stage

By looking at Madison's Notes, what was the amount of debate and discussion that went into making the Constitution? (In general, no need to count the number of debates, delegates, days, etc)

there was a lot of decisions and opinions that went into making the Constitution, even though it was supposed to be kept a secret. The discussions looked like it lasted for hours, I am sure they were all stressed out.

What was the goal of those who wanted the Constitutional Convention?

to make a new constitution and decide how America was going to be governed. To revise the Articles of Confederation and to form ideas for a new government.