Delegates and Compromises of the Constitutional Convention
Following the Annapolis Convention, by mid- February seven states agreed to send representatives to Philadelphia and by February 21st 1787, Congress called upon the states to send their representatives to the meeting. These fifty-five representatives would be the delegates of the United States Constitutional Convention of 1787. An assorted bunch of politicians, the delegates at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were a motley crew of bureaucrats. The median age of the collective was forty-three, the youngest member was twenty-seven, and the oldest member, Benjamin Franklin, was eighty-one. Half of the men were in their thirties. Thirty-one members had training as lawyers. Thirty-two of them were, or at one point been farmers. Seventeen delegates were slaveowners, with Virginia’s George Mason owning 300 slaves as the largest slaveholder. Though the majority of these men were youthful, most of them had considerable experience in politics, as many of them were lawyers. However despite their individual skill-level, the collective of these men in Convention were separated by plethora of dichotomies regarding political decisions. For every opinion, there was a rebuttle, and for every inquiry, there was a retort. In order for progress to be made, there had to be compromise involved in every proposition. The primary compromises made during the convention were, the Three-Fifths Compromise, the Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise, and the Great Compromise.
Boasting about twenty percent of the U.S. citizen population in 1787, slaves were a noticeable presence, and a critical subject of discussion for the delegates of the Constitutional Convention. The state’s-rights supporting southern representatives wanted to use the increasing slave population to their advantage. Because the House of Representatives expressed membership based on population, recognizing the slaves as citizens would increase the southern presence in the lower-house of the bicameral legislature. The
Boasting about twenty percent of the U.S. citizen population in 1787, slaves were a noticeable presence, and a critical subject of discussion for the delegates of the Constitutional Convention. The state’s-rights supporting southern representatives wanted to use the increasing slave population to their advantage. Because the House of Representatives expressed membership based on population, recognizing the slaves as citizens would increase the southern presence in the lower-house of the bicameral legislature. The