A central issue at the Convention was whether the federal government or the states would have more power. Many delegates believed that the federal government should be able to overrule state laws, but others feared that a strong federal government would oppress their citizens.

A convention of delegates from all the states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May of 1787. Known as the Constitutional Convention, at this meeting it was decided that the best solution to the young country’s problems was to set aside the Articles of Confederation and write a new constitution.

The result of the convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States, placing the Convention among the most significant events in American history.

The three major compromises were the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Electoral College. The Great Compromise settled matters of representation in the federal government.

The Constitution of the United States established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

5 Issues at the Constitutional Convention. When the 55 delegates gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, there were several major issues on the agenda to discuss including representation, state versus federal powers, executive power, slavery, and commerce.

Three-fifths compromise, compromise agreement between delegates from the Northern and the Southern states at the United States Constitutional Convention (1787) that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives.

Read day-by-day entries recording the proposals, conflicts and compromises as the men struggled to live up to the resolution that had called them to Philadelphia to “render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.”

In September, the final draft came for voting for adoption. On September 17, 1787, the Constitutional Convention voted in favor of the Constitution, with 39 of the participating 55 delegates signing it.

The notorious Three-Fifths Compromise apportioned representation to the southern slaveholding states in a scheme that counted five enslaved men and women as three. From May 25 to September 17, 1787, 55 delegates from 12 states convened in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention.

George Washington. The Constitutional Convention was initially scheduled for May 14, 1787, but was deferred to May 25, as only the delegates from two states―Pennsylvania and Virginia―turned up on the scheduled day.