<P> The Constitutional Convention (also known as the Philadelphia Convention, the Federal Convention, or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia) took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in the old Pennsylvania State House (later known as Independence Hall because of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence there eleven years before) in Philadelphia . Although the Convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison of Virginia and Alexander Hamilton of New York, was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one . The delegates elected George Washington of Virginia, former commanding general of the Continental Army in the late American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783), to preside over the Convention . The result of the Convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States, placing the Convention among the most significant events in American history . </P> <P> At the time the convention was not referred to as a Constitutional Convention, nor was it known among most of the delegates that the purpose of the convention was to draft a new Constitution . Many of the delegates assumed that the purpose of the convention was to discuss and draft improvements to the existing Articles of Confederation and would have abandoned the effort otherwise . The most contentious disputes revolved around composition and election of the upper legislative house in the future bicameral Congress, to be known as the Senate, how "proportional representation" was to be defined (whether to include slaves or other property), whether to divide the executive power between three persons or invest the power into a single chief executive to be called the President, how to elect the President, how long his term was to be and whether he could run for reelection, what offenses should be impeachable, the nature of a fugitive slave clause, whether to allow the abolition of the slave trade, and whether judges should be chosen by the legislature or executive . Most of the time during the Convention was spent on deciding these issues, while the powers of legislature, executive, and judiciary were not heavily disputed . Once the Convention began, the delegates first agreed on the principles of the Convention, then they agreed on Madison's proposed Virginia Plan and began to modify it . A Committee of Detail, assembled during the July 4th recess, eventually produced a rough draft of the constitution . Most of the rough draft remained in place, and can be found in the final version of the constitution . After the final issues were resolved, the Committee on Style produced the final version, and it was voted on by the delegates, inscribed on parchment with engraving for printing and sent to the states and their legislatures . </P> <P> Before the Constitution was drafted, the nearly 4 million inhabitants of the 13 newly independent states were governed under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, created by the Second Continental Congress, first proposed in 1776, adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1778 and only finally unanimously ratified by the Original Thirteen States by 1781 . It soon became evident to nearly all that the chronically underfunded Confederation government, as originally organized, was inadequate for managing the various conflicts that arose among the states . As the Articles of Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of the states, any state had effective veto power over any proposed change . In addition, the Articles gave the weak federal government no taxing power: it was wholly dependent on the states for its money, and had no power to force delinquent states to pay . </P>

The constitutional convention created which form of legislature