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ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>Chop Here>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ>ФФФФФФФФФ Constitutional Convention May 29, 1787 After these few short days of the convention here in Philadelphia, I realized that it would be important to keep personal records of this convention to assist in future discussion. This will also help me with remembering details of the events. Today the "Virginia Plan" was presented by that state's delegates. They proposed a series of many resolutions that seemed well thought out to me. The plan was written by James Madison but was given to us by Edmund Randolph who was a very effective speaker and clear orator. I enjoyed listening to the resolutions and the fresh new ideas I heard in the Virginia Plan. First, the Virginia Plan recommended a bicameral legislature with representation to be determined by the size of the population in each area. The lower body of this legislature would be elected by voters while the upper house would be elected by the members of the lower house. Every night the delegates go down to the taverns at Head House Square and discuss what they have heard. I will debate with them the notions which we have been privy to. One of my personal goals of this convention is to talk freely with Ben Franklin about his ideas about government. Mr. Franklin has traveled widely and has seen many nations. He is old and wise and I want to talk to him before he passes away. Right now he is at the age of 81, I think. May 31 Recently the convention has become vexatious. The summers in this towne are very humid. We are forced to keep the window open everywhere. Flies are about at all times and it is hard to concentrate. Also, some of the discussions at this convention are sluggish and tiresome. One good thing about the weather is that it has given me time to reflect on the Virginia Plan proposed a few day ago. The one point I disagree with regarding the Virginia Plan is that it gives more power to all the states with higher population, thus giving the smaller states no voice. June 3 It is a shame that Tom Jefferson, Mr. Madison's Virginia neighbor, is not here. He feels that we are trampling upon the poor farmers. It's reported that he feels there should be a new government set up every few years because any existing government becomes tyrannical. We must take into regard people who feel this way. I hope we can prove Mr. Jefferson wrong by showing that a stronger, consistent government can protect all its citizens. June 4 Today I stayed home sick. I was well leeched and now feel much improved. June 6 I realized today that I should have begun this diary with the points on the convention that we have all unanimously agreed upon, before it began. First, we agreed that these meetings should be closed to the public so that there could be frank debate and discussion about government, people, and problems. The next thing agreed was that each state could have one vote on topics, making all states equal. Finally we all agreed that no subject could be closed permanently, even if it had been previously voted on. These points have been ALL very helpful in making things run smoothly. June 8 Today I took a walk down along the Delaware River with New York's Alexander Hamilton. Despite my personal feelings that Mr. Hamilton is a autocrat who cares little about most people, I found him enjoyable to talk to. Mr Hamilton has written much about the need for a federal government. When I asked him about this, he commented that "Unless we place country under the foundation of the law, we cannot survive." June 11 Today several of the delegates and I, including James Madison, went to visit John Bartram out in the countryside surrounding Philadelphia. His house was large and his gardens beautiful. Dr. Bartram has researched vegetation and knows much about what to grow and when. His approach is scientific and he has found many new types of plants. I admire his achievements. June 15 Eighteen days after the Virginia Plan was proposed, the first alternative plan came up. The very scholarly William Patterson introduced today the "New Jersey Plan". This plan proposed some interesting ideas of how the government should be run. It suggests a single house of congress which would appoint the executive branch and the courts. In this congress, each state would get one vote (not very different from what we have at this convention). Also in this congress, they planned to add two new powers: taxation and the regulation of commerce (something I feel is very important). Finally this plan named the power of the national government as the greatest law of the land, as it could override anything from the state government. I am going to have to try harder to actually have my long awaited conversation with Mr. Franklin. It seems every time I approach him, he is busy. Tonight I'm going to sleep early. We have a long discussion of the New Jersey plan tomorrow. June 19 After four days of discussing the New Jersey plan, we have finally rejected both the New Jersey plan and the Virginia plan. We have discovered that one problem we had until today was that we had never formally voted to discard the Articles of Confederation. Finally, today, we have set the Articles aside and now we can right past wrongs. The inability to regulate trade and commerce between the states, maintain order and levy taxes of the Confederation made its government ineffectual. Roger Sherman of Connecticut says he has a solution. He is going to propose it on the twenty-fifth. Perhaps this will be the perfect plan. June 22 I decided today to talk to Roger Sherman over lunch and try to gather a piece of information on the plan that will come tomorrow. The roast chicken lunch was excellent! Unfortunately, all I learned from my conversation is that his plan will incorporate the best ideas from both the Virginia and the New Jersey plan. June 25 Today Mr. Sherman gave his presentation which took me by total surprise! It was incredible organized and greatly accepted. Mr. Sherman opened saying he listened quietly to all the proceeding and came up with a plan that will agree with everyone, because it has the best points of each side. He proposed having the bicameral legislature of the Virginia Plan, but now there would be one house from each plan! The Virginia Plan suggested a population based house, which Mr. Serman calls the House of Representatives. He also thought we should have another house where each state has one vote, the "Senate". After some talk we agreed the senate should instead have two members for each state instead of one. June 26 Today, more elements came out of Rodger Sherman's plan of "compromise", which Mr. James Madison (who is in great favor of this plan) has coined the phrase "The Great Compromise". Mr. Sherman now suggests if we have any law going into effect as a bill, it should pass through both houses of Congress before it can be approved by a president. I think this is a excellent way to give equal power to both houses! More details will come out over the next week or so. I will give a summary of those ideas then. July 6 This past week and a half have been incredibly productive! We have finished many important details and have a few problems left. The first point agreed on was the base of powers would be the national government, and it would give reserved powers to the state (similar to the power idea of the New Jersey plan). Next thing we did (which I felt we should have done earlier), was clarify and have a definite government set. We decided to have the three branches of government of legislative (two houses), the judicial (a Supreme court going absolutely by the constitution), and, finally, the executive. We next agreed that when voting for the President and the Vice-President, the votes should be counted under an electoral college. The electoral college would be based on the number of people in congress representing each state. The final thing we did was we found problems with how the slave population should be counted or if slavery should be abolished. We will begin work on this tomorrow. With all this new sudden progress, I regret not having more time around this beautiful, big city. July 11 These days are going by much quicker compared to when we first arrived here. The weather has improved, not much, but it is notably cooler. In our discussions of slavery, some of us (including myself), brought into question abolishing slavery altogether. Unfortunately, Georgia and South Carolina brought up the fact that if we abolished slavery, it would never be accepted by many states, and we would defeat the purpose of holding this convention at all, which is bringing these states together under a government. I know that what these delegates say is true, even though I wish it were not that way! We then agreed to count slaves as part of the population but as three-fifths of it. July 16 Today we finally agreed on all our discussion points and will begin debating, discussing, and writing this document until September seventeenth, when it will be read out and those who wish to, will sign it. After all these days since I first got here in Philadelphia, I finally got to have lunch with Mr. Franklin. It was truly a great experience talking to a man that had accomplished so much. I asked him what he thought of the constitutional work that had been done thus far. He told me he did not agree with everything in the document, but he knew it was necessary and thus supported it. We then talked about the city, I learned it was planned to continually expand much larger. In our conversation I mentioned the great art work of the sun on the horizon behind Mr. Washington's seat. He told me he had not noticed it and would look. When we met back in the convention later, we discussed for about an hour many finalizing topics. When Mr. Washington said "If there are no final questions... this meeting will be adjourned." "I have one..." called out Mr. Franklin "On the picture of the sun behind you, is that sun rising or is it setting ?". We all knew that Mr. Franklin was being symbolic and really asking if this was the beginning or the end of a country. Mr. Washington grinned. "It is rising..." He replied. This concludes the records of my trip to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 1787.