Philadelphia Constitutional Convention Report

The simulated Constitution Convention that we held in class today was very eye-opening. Reading about the events that took place that day in Philadelphia, and actually participating in the tedious act certainly put things into perspective. It was interesting to take the concerns of the colonists in 1787 and fight for them as they did 230 years ago. By conducting this experiment, we got the chance to put ourselves in the delegates shoes and voice our apprehensions and get a sense of the hardships they had to face in that Pennsylvania State House the hot summer of 1787. Anyone can research the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, but by reenacting, and actually revising our own Convention in class, we got a real appreciation of what occurred
We were to examine our Founder and dig deep into their personal views and trepidations in order to represent them accurately and verbally express their concerns in hopes to help mold the Constitution. The Founder chosen for me was George Read who represented the state of Delaware. Understanding his concerns was not a difficult task, because I too am from Delaware and understand the hardships of growing up in a small state. We had to take into consideration the other states’ views. Some of the larger states had ideologies that differed greatly from those of the smaller states. Objectives of the Southern States contrasted those of the Eastern States. A new national government was the goal of the Convention, but many conflicts arose before a decision and a widely reviewed Constitution could be
Three out of every five slaves would be counted as a part of the state’s population. This satisfied the Southern States because most of their population were slaves. Once our class finally came to the agreement of a bicameral legislature, we had to decide how much power the legislatures would hold and for how long. This proved to be the most difficult task in class; deliberating about congressional and presidential term limits. In our class assembly we chose to have six-year terms for the Senate with no more than two consecutive terms for Senators. Then, we decided on two-year terms for House members who could serve no more than five consecutive terms for a total of ten years all together. We began to discuss the Executive Branch and the President’s powers and terms, but did not have much time to finish the discussion, which is a shame because we could have contracted a good