“A More Perfect Union” viewing questions. 1. What concerns did Americans’ have about Britain during this time? a. The American’s were concerned about the unbalanced tariffs on goods/trade. Americans’ were expected to pay the import and export taxes while Britain’s main goal was to isolate their trade to only to British. This was to make Britain rich. 2. Why did Madison feel that Washington should be at the convention? a. They would only appoint delegates if Washington attended the convention. Washington’s presence was the only one that could give the convention the leverage to create a new government. American’s respected him and he could motive a country follow a new form of government. 3. What other problems contributed to Madison’s feeling that Americans needed a stronger government? a. Madison writes that the states and their people are in a rebellion, some burning down courthouses, others turning to the torch and sword because of the bad government. Somehow these states need to be unified. 4. How did Madison prepare for the convention? a. Studied many different types of governments (ancient and modern). He found all governments had defects. He planned an idea of government. In this plan the rules of the Articles of Confederation were abolished. 5. What “battles” did Madison anticipate in the convention, even before the first meeting? a. States to ratify the new government plan. b. Smaller states will oppose losing their equal voting in states. 6. What role did George Washington play at the convention? a. He played president of the convention (he presided it) 7. According to the rules of the convention, what was the difference between the “Committee of the whole” and the “General Assembly”? a. Committee of the whole=votes taken will not recorded and not binding, and votes can be changed b. General Assembly: binding votes 8. Why did the convention vote for secrecy? a. For the ability to freely share opinions. Protect the public from distorting their opinions. 9. What were Roger Sherman’s and George Mason’s criticisms of the Virginia Plan’s goal of a large republic? What was Madison’s response? a. Sherman said that the articles did not give enough powers to congress, but he did not want to cut into them too deep because the states wouldn't accept them. 10. What primary issue divided the large and small states? Madison said that the time had come to see if America would survive and be a blessing to the world or not. He pointed out how discontent the people of America are under the Articles of Confederation. He suggested to "amend the articles out of existence". a. The small states wanted each state to have the same number of representatives in Congress. The big states wanted representation based on population. 11. What compromise was made over slavery? a. counted 3/5 of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. 12. What was the nature of Roger Sherman’s compromise? a. He proposed the senate and House. Congress would be a bicameral. Every state would get a number of representatives in the House proportional to its population and two representatives in the Senate 13. What plan did William Patterson propose? a. was a plan composed by Patterson in reaction to the Virginia plan. This plan said that Government should remain the same with no changes (unicameral). It was rejected in favor of the Virginia Plan. 14. What did Benjamin Franklin propose when the convention could not resolve the issue of representation? a. They needed to offer prayer for God's assistance in helping their great nation rise. This sent them on recess until July 2nd. George Washington went home and knelt in prayer. Franklin also urged Madison to compromise. 15. Why did Madison call the proposed congress a “centaur”? a. Madison called the proposed congress a centaur because it was half of each both a strong national government and strong states. 16. Why did George Mason choose to not sign the Constitution? a. Mason chose not to sign because the constitution originally lacked a bill of rights.