The Constitution didn't just come out of nowhere. There were many debates held over a long period of time. This was not the first document that the United States tried to run its government on; the first was the Articles of Confederation. On November 15, 1777 the United States wrote their first constitution. The Articles of Confederation was a plan of government adopted by the continental congress after the American Revolution. It established a league of friendship among the states at the time, but it had very few powers to the central government and didn't give them much power at all. This document did not last long and the Continental Congress called for a change just a few years after the Articles of Confederation was written. …show more content…
“They were George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe and, Benjamin Franklin”. (Biography.com). All of these very intelligent men came up with the same idea. They all agreed on making the Constitution stronger, and giving the government a lot more power. (Federalist Papers, Page 1).
Throughout the months of debating they finally came to a couple agreements. The two most famous agreements were the Connecticut Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Connecticut Compromise balanced popular sovereignty and state sovereignty based on the population. The Three-Fifths Compromise had to do with slaves. The states that had slaves wanted slaves to count as a person to vote, but everyone did not agree on that. They came to an agreement that every three out of five slaves made up one person and one vote. (Constitution Through Compromise. Page …show more content…
The first Constitution had 10 amendments, this document was known as the Bill of Rights. One of the biggest changes to the Constitution was the 16th Amendment. “This amendment gave the US Government the right to tax income”. This was important because the government need money and they needed to show that they had power. Another amendment that was very important was the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment states “the procedures for a successor of a President”. It was important because a few years before the amendment was passed President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. (27 Amendments Par.