The Question of Representation at the 1787 Convention.
Ultimately, during the ratification debate in Virginia, Madison conceded that a bill of rights was needed, and the Federalists assured the public that the first step of the new government would be to adopt a bill of rights. It took 10 months for the first nine states to approve the Constitution. The transition from the Articles of Confederation to the United States Constitution wasn't a seamless one, and fixing the problems of the Articles of Confederation required a series of lengthy debates both during and after the convention. Though the United States existed prior to the ratification of the Constitution, it was a nation held together by the tenuous threads of the Articles of Confederation, a sometimes contentious, and often ineffectual national government. The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. The debate that almost ended the Constitutional Convention was the  debate between large states and small states, regarding how  representation in legislature should be dete … rmined. The result of  the debate was the Connecticut Compromise. Lesson 2: The Question of Representation at the 1787 Convention. When the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention convened in May of 1787 to recommend amendments to the Articles of Confederation, one of the first issues they addressed was the plan for representation in Congress. Before the convention officially began, Madison and the other delegates from Virginia had drafted a plan—the Virginia Plan—for correcting the Articles of Confederation. Their plan went well beyond amendments and corrections and actually laid out a completely new instrument of government. The hundred day debate known as the Constitutional Convention was one of the most momentous occurrences in United States Constitutional History, and the events that would take place in the Pennsylvania State House during that time would set the United States on the course towards becoming a true Constitutional Republic. As it became increasingly clear that the government created under the articles of confederation was too weak to govern effectively delegates met at the Second Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to discuss the creation of a new form of government. Some delegates, including James Madison, believed this arrangement led to many of the problems that the United States faced during the 1780s (See Lesson 1 of this unit, The Road to the Constitutional Convention).
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/ratification.html http://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-articles-of-confederation/the-great-debate/ http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_ccon.html https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/convention-and-ratification http://www.answers.com/Q/What_was_debated_most_at_the_constitutional_Convention http://edsitement.neh.gov/curriculum-unit/constitutional-convention-1787 http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-25-2-the-major-debates-at-the-constitutional-convention.html http://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/the-constitutional-convention/ http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Lesson_11_Notes.htm http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/question-representation-1787-convention
which problem caused the most debated during the constitutional convention