Even though the creation of a constitution wasn’t the main objective of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, it definitely helped shape the United States to the country it is today. The Articles of Confederation, which was adopted in 1777, didn’t go as planned and left the United States bankrupt in 1786 (Linder). Realizing the major issues that have occurred, the Continental Congress finally called to meet in May 1787. Among the fifty-five delegates at the convention was George Washington. Before becoming our nations first president, Washington was one of the key leaders in creating our constitution. Born and raised in Virginia, Washington received his education from private schools where he learned surveying (Lloyd). At 17 Washington began …show more content…
Even though George Washington had inherited his father’s slaves when he was just eleven-he still viewed slavery as a conflicting factor. He knew that it would be hard to abolish slavery at the time since some states were considered slaves states. If the issue arose any more the states who still had slaves could have walked away from the convention to start their own pro-slavery constitution (PBS). The issue of slavery needed to be discussed separately with a compromise. Washington hoped that slavery would be eliminated as soon as a stronger union had been formed …show more content…
The constitution ratification, however, was not an easy task. As the states began their own ratifying conventions, individuals began to grow for and against it. The federalist and Anti-federalist were formed and argued mostly about the political issues in the Constitution. During the Ratification process George Washington played a very active role. He fist sent a copy of the document to Thomas Jefferson and General Lafayette, not present during the convention, hoping to gain their support off the bat (Mary Stockwell). He continued to write letters to other political leaders in hopes for their support of the constitution. He clearly expressed his reasoning for why the document would be so important to the states. Washington knew the harm that the Articles of Confederation had wan wanted to make sure that the government wouldn’t become powerless. As the great leader he was, Washington also sent his reasoning’s to the individuals who doubted it most (Mary Stockwell). When the final vote took place on June 25 1788, the Constitution was approved by a margin of 89 to 79 (Mary