What issues most divided the Delegates to the Contitutional Convention?

Question

What issues most divided the Delegates to the Contitutional Convention?

Answer 1

The issue of states rights.

There were two items at tension here. First, the new United States had just fought a Revolution against a strong central government in Britain. The idea of a strong central government was repulsive to many people in the new nation.

And, if you have a strong central government, how would it look. England, for instance, had a strong executive in the king and prime minister. If you give the central government power, how do you balance the power so that the central government can not be oppressive.

However, in the decade following the British defeat at Yorktown, the Articles of Confederation had proven to be unworkable because the central government had no powers. The United States central government could not tax, could not raise an army, could not limit the printing of currency, etc. and etc. The nation was falling apart and the central government couldn't do anything to keep it together.

The compromise worked out was federalism. The national government would have certain exclusive powers, such as the powers to print money, conduct foreign policy and collect tariffs, the states would have exclusive powers, such as the power to regulate intrastate trade, and the national and state governments would share some powers, such as the power to tax. This still wasn't good enough for some states, which insisted on a Bill of Rights, which was passed along with the Constitution, and which gave individual citizens rights independently of the national and state governments.

A number of things were done structurally to limit the power of the national government. The national government was divided into three branches, with each branch having checks and balances. The legislative branch, for instance, passes laws, but can do nothing unless the executive branch enforces the law. The judicial branch weighs in on the laws, but does not have any means of forcing their decisions to be carried out (again, this is a power of the executive branch).

To keep the states balanced in the legislature, two houses were created. The House of Representatives is based on population. New York, because of its population, has more Representatives than Montana. Each state, though, has two senators. The House of Representatives prevents the small states from frustrating legislation desired by the large states. The Senate prevents the large states from running over the small states.

Left unresolved by the Constitutional Convention was which group, the national government or the states, was first among equals. This matter was not settled until the Civil War, when the Union, by force of arms, settled the matter in the favor of the national government.

BTW, very few people in the Constitution Convention were in favor of a true democracy. That is why we have a republican form of government.