<P> Two alternative plans were developed in Convention . The nationalist majority, soon to be called "Federalists," put forth the Virginia Plan, a consolidated government based on proportional representation among the states by population . The "old patriots," later called "Anti-Federalists," advocated the New Jersey Plan, a purely federal proposal, based on providing each state with equal representation . The Connecticut Compromise allowed for both plans to work together . Other controversies developed regarding slavery and a Bill of Rights in the original document . </P> <P> The drafted Constitution was submitted to the Confederation Congress . It in turn forwarded the Constitution as drafted to the states for ratification by the Constitutional method proposed . The Federalist Papers provided background and justification for the Constitution . Some states agreed to ratify the Constitution only if the amendments that were to become the Bill of Rights would be taken up immediately by the new government, and they were duly proposed in the first session of the First Congress . </P> <P> Once the Confederation Congress certified that eleven states had ratified the Constitution, elections were held, the new government began on March 4, 1789, and the Articles Congress dissolved itself . Later Amendments address individual liberties and freedoms, federal relationships, election procedures, terms of office, expanding the electorate, ending slavery, financing government, consumption of alcohol and Congressional pay . Criticism over the life of the Constitution has centered on expanding democracy and states rights . </P> <P> On June 4, 1776, a resolution was introduced in the Second Continental Congress declaring the union with Great Britain to be dissolved, proposing the formation of foreign alliances, and suggesting the drafting of a plan of confederation to be submitted to the respective states . Independence was declared on July 4, 1776; the preparation of a plan of confederation was postponed . Although the Declaration was a statement of principles, it did not create a government or even a framework for how politics would be carried out . It was the Articles of Confederation that provided the necessary structure to the new nation during and after the American Revolution . The Declaration, however, did set forth the ideas of natural rights and the social contract that would help form the foundation of constitutional government . </P>

Who was charged with creating a set of amendments to the constitution