ABSTRACT
Twelve of the thirteen states-Rhode Island was the sole holdout-sent representatives to Philadelphia. There, it quickly was agreed that the Articles of Confederation should be scrapped entirely and that the convention should start building a new government from scratch. The delegates labored throughout the summer to produce a constitution that would protect republican principles but also make for a stable nation. They created a strong central government, divided into three branches-executive, legislative, and judicial-and gave each branch the power to control abuses by the other two. Two of the three branches, the executive and the legislative, were to be lled by of cials chosen by pop u lar vote-direct pop u lar vote in the case of the lower house of the legislature, and indirect pop u lar vote in the case of the upper house of the legislature and the chief executive.
