James Madison and Benjamin Franklin essays

James Madison and Benjamin Franklin essays James Madison studied both ancient and modern confederacies and decided that the confederacy wouldnt last if it only made rules to direct the state. The confederacy had to be good for the individuals of each state. Madison wrote a paper about confederacies and drew up an outline of a new system of government. This outline became the basis of the Virginia Plan. He supported the use of population in order to give larger states more power. He also recommended that the lower legislature be elected for shorter periods of time. Madison kept careful records of the Convention and took on a leading role in debates. Madison convinced his states delegates to support the constitution even though two Virginia leaders, George Mason and Edmund Randolph, were opposed to parts of the constitution. He also wrote 29 of the papers in The Federalist which was written to convince people in every state to ratify the constitution and spoke in favor of the constitution when Virginia was preparing to vote on ratification. Benjamin Franklin was 81 years old when he attended the Constitutional Convention. Franklin believed that instead of a president that the government should have an executive committee and a single legislature. Even though the things he wanted were not part of the constitution, he made an important speech on the last day of the convention asking everyone to accept the compromises and called for unanimous support of the constitution. When he made a motion for a vote that the constitution to be unanimously passed, his motion was immediately carried. James Madison was a young man when he attended the Constitutional Convention. He had studied and prepared a proposal for the constitution that he wanted used. He took a leading role in the debates and made many speeches in support of the constitution and wrote many articles to help get the constitution ratified. Benjamin Franklin was an old man and was in poor health b...