Alexander+Hamilton-2

Janine Abdeen Alexander Hamilton __**Constitutional Delegate**__

__**Introduction:**__ The Constitutional Convention took place on 1787 at the State House in Philadelphia. This is the same place that the Declaration of Independence was signed 11 years earlier. From May 25th to September 17th, 55 delegates from several different states got together to frame a flawless government that would "last into remote futurity." They also realized that the Articles of Confederation were not a good way of controlling the states. When they first had this convention, they were intending to revise the Articles of Confederation, not create an entire, new government. The delegates elected George Washington to control the convention. The result of the Convention was the United States Constitution.

__ **Background Information:** __ Alexander Hamilton was born on about 1755 and died on 1804. He was born on the West Indian Island of Nevis. His exact birth date and the circumstances of his early life are unknown. We do know that his family did have some problems. They were not the richest of all families and he had to overcome quite a bit to accomplish all that he did. He attended King's college, which is now Columbia University in New York. Some of his greatest accomplishments are that he was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, he wrote most of //The// //Federalist Papers// and, of course, he was a delegate at the Constitutional Convention. He was one of the delegates from New York.

__**Role at the Constitutional Convention:**__ Alexander Hamilton's contributed to the Constitutional Convention in many ways. His most important contribution, introduced on June 18th 1787, was the Hamilton plan. This argued that neither the Virginia Plan nor the New Jersey Plan were adequate. Hamilton believed that if there was power in the states, people would want to acquire that power, which would be very bad for the nation as a whole. He proposed a British monarchy and parliament. The other delegates at the convention thought his plan was very well thought out and complete, however it was too similar to the British system, which America had suffered from in the past.

__**DBQ:**__ Alexander Hamilton's thoughts on...

1) Federalism: Alexander Hamilton was defiantly a federalist. Federalism is when the state and the nation share powers. He wrote most of // The // // Federalist Papers //. By 1780, he had come up with a plan that focused on a very strong central government. This plan would replace the weaker Articles of Confederation. He was a big believer in having a very strong national government. In fact, at the Continental Congress, he continually asked for the national government to be strengthened. He believed that the Constitution did not give enough power to the national government, but he still did all he could to get it ratified.

2) Separation of Powers: Alexander Hamilton did not believe in separation of powers. Separation of powers means that all the branches of the government, legislative, executive and judiciary, have equal power. In // The Federalist Papers, //Hamilton describes the judiciary as the least powerful branch. This goes against the policy of separation of powers. All the branches should have exactly equal power, which is why Hamilton did not believe in separation of powers.

3) Checks and Balances: Alexander Hamilton did believe in checks and balances. In //The Federalist Papers,// he suggests that there should be three parts of the government which would be part of checks and balances. They decided that each branch would run by themselves and also serve as a check on the power for the two other branches. This is what checks and balances means. All the branches will control themselves and also check on the two other branches.

4) The Big and Small State Compromise: Alexander Hamilton was a delegate from New York and he favored the Virginia Plan. The Virgina Plan meant that the bigger states got more power. Since New York was a big state, it had a lot of power. He did, in fact, like the plan that was the compromise because it appealed to both the big states and the small states. The compromise allowed both of the states, big and small, to have equal power by letting the House of Representatives be based on population and the Senate was 20 r epresentatives for each.





__**Attendance Record:**__

Alexander was absent at the Constitutional Convention more than he was present. He was absent a total of 45 days and present only 31 days. I thought it was interesting how on the days that Alexander Hamilton was absent, all the other New York delegates were also absent. This was not true for every day he was absent, but most days. I do not think that all the delegates from the same state should all be absent. What if a decision was needed to be made and then all the New Yorkers would have no say in the decision. There are also some days when Alexander Hamilton is the only New York delegate present. He did not attend the convention very often, but, from what I have observed, he was the most present delegate from New York.

__//Alexander Hamilton's Present Days at the Constitutional Convention//__
 * || ** Present ** || ** Absent ** || ** Do Not Know ** || ** Probably Present ** || ** Probably Absent ** ||
 * ** Act 1 ** || 18 || 1 || 0 || 3 || 0 ||
 * ** Act 2 ** || 7 || 20 || 1 || 2 || 0 ||
 * ** Act 3 ** || 1 || 20 || 0 || 0 || 2 ||
 * ** Act 4 ** || 5 || 4 || 0 || 5 || 0 ||
 * ** Totals ** || 31 || 45 || 1 || 10 || 2 ||


 * __ Primary Sources: __**

Constitutional Connection- Alexander Hamilton would agree with the system of checks and balances. It says in //The Federalist Papers// that there should be a system like checks and balances. Checks and balances gives all the branches the ability to somewhat control the other branches. Yes, this type of government is a little less efficient, but they were willing to sacrifice some of our efficiency if it means avoiding tyranny and giving the citizens the rights they deserve. The benefits are worth more then the consequences which is why Alexander Hamilton was in favor of checks and balances.

Bill of Rights- The tenth amendment says "The powers no delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This amendment has to do with federalism which Alexander Hamilton strongly believes in. In other words, this amendment says that all the powers not granted to the National Government and not forbade from the States, belongs to each of the states or to the people within each state. This relates to federalism which is why Alexander Hamilton agrees with this amendment.

__Work Cited:__ 1) "Alexander Hamilton": americanrevwar 4/27/2010 [] 2) "Alexander Hamilton": Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 4/27/2010 [] 3) "The Constitutional Convention": TeachingAmericanHistory.org -- Free Seminars and Summer Institutes for Social Studies Teachers 4/28/2010 [] 4) "UMKC School of Law": The Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia 4/28/2010 [] 5) "Archiving Early America": Primary Source Material from 18th Century America: Overcoming Adversity: The Childhood of Alexander Hamilton 4/28/2010 6) "Index Page - The U.S. Constitution Online": USConstitution.net 4/28/2010 [] 7) "Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help — FactMonster.com:" Alexander Hamilton: Federalist Leader — FactMonster.com 4/30/10 [] 8) "American Bar Association - Defending Liberty, Pursuing Justice:" Talking Points: Separation of Powers 4/30/10 [] 9) "LotsOfEssays .com - Over 32,000 essays, term papers and book reports available for instant access!!" Alexander Hamilton 5/4/10 []