The original purpose of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was to amend the Articles of Confederation to create a stronger executive branch and address the limitations of the Articles. The Articles of Confederation had established a weak central government with a strong legislature but no executive branch, which led to various problems such as inefficiency in governance and inability to raise funds or regulate commerce effectively. The convention, initially tasked with revising the Articles, ended up creating a completely new document—the United States Constitution—that established a stronger, yet limited, federal government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
The Convention also tackled major issues such as state representation in Congress, leading to compromises like the Great Compromise (bicameral legislature with representation based on population in the House and equal representation in the Senate) and the Three-Fifths Compromise concerning the counting of slaves for taxation and representation.