How did the Constitution change how the nation was governed?

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The Pennsylvania Statehouse
The constitutional convention assembled at the Pennsylvania statehouse in the summer of 1787. Despite the heat, the delegates nailed the windows shut to eliminate the chance of being heard by eavesdroppers, so intent were they on secrecy. The building is now called Independence Hall in honor of the signing of the Declaration of Independence there in 1776. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

SHAYS’S REBELLION PROVOKED an odd mixture of fear and hope that the government under the Articles of Confederation was losing its grip on power. A small circle of Virginians decided to try one last time to augment the powers granted to the government by the Articles. Their innocuous call for a meeting to discuss trade regulation led within a year to a total reworking of the national government, one with extensive powers and multiple branches based on differing constituencies.

KEY FACTORS

The Constitutional Convention of 1787

  • – Rhode Island refused to send a single representative.
  • – Most delegates were from the wealthier classes.
  • – Convention established the three-fifths clause in counting slaves for the apportionment of representation.
  • – All but three delegates signed the Constitution produced by the convention.