3. Authorities & decisions: The Constitutional Convention

Decision-makers, laws and consequences

Delegates met in Philadelphia in May 1787; George Washington presided. James Madison and others debated representation, executive authority and federal powers. The Three-Fifths Compromise gave slaveholding states additional representation based on enslaved populations without granting those people rights.

The Constitution was signed in September 1787 and required ratification by state conventions. Its protections and exclusions emerged from negotiations among delegates, not a unanimous national consensus.

Institutional consequences

The authorities identified above acted within institutions that determined who could govern, enforce decisions and challenge official power. The resulting changes to political participation, legal status, military control or property administration are part of the historical record of this specific event, rather than evidence that every later government followed the same path.