Question

Why did the leaders of the United States decide to create a new plan of government in 1787

Answer 1

The Articles of Confederation was enacted in 1781, the time when the whole country was under the loose confederation of states, where all states working like autonomous countries.

The federal government was composed of a single legislature, The Congress there was neither a president nor judicial branch. The central government, under the Articles, was proved to be too weak to impose their rules and regulations and therefore had no authority. Due to these issues, delegates created a new plan in  1787 convention, for a powerful federal government with three branches i.e executive, legislative and judicial followed by the system of checks and balances to assure that no single branch could exercise too much authority.

Answer 2

The Constitutional Convention or Philadelphia Convention took place in 1787 and gathered the main goverment delegates from the league of states, which at this point was only legally governed by the Articles of Confederation. The initial aim of the convention was to revise the existing articles to develop an adequate supranational way of governing the league of states. This convention was presided by George Washington.

Once the convention started, deliberations about a completely new form of government began. The three main federal power branches were created: legislature, executive, and judiciary, and also the system to balance them. The number of representatives per state and slavery were two main polemic issues. Finally, the result of this Convention was the creation of the Constitution of the United States.

In the end, the final draft of the Constitution was ready in September 1787. 9 out of 13 states had to approve the Constitution draft for it to become the supreme federel law. Five of them,  Delaware , Pennsylvania, Nueva Jersey , Georgia y Connecticut did it in December 1787. In 1788, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Caroline and New Hampsire did in 1788. The government of the states under the Constituion started in 1789, and George Washington was named the first president of the United States of America.