The Ratification of the Constitution and the New U.S.

Government

The U.S. Constitution may be one of the most important documents in

history, but it wasn't a sure thing. A lot of debate took place. There were

many people passionate about ratification, and many people

passionate about ensuring it didn't get ratified. The divide over the

Constitution shows us the root of political parties in the U.S.

The Constitution Is Sent to CongressIn September 1787, most of the delegates

to the CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

approved the documents they had worked on since May. Delegates quickly returned home to shore up support, most for, but

some against, the new Constitution. Before the Constitution could become law it would

have to survive public scrutiny.

The document put to the United States in Congress assembled that

same month. For two days in September, Congress actually

debated whether to discipline the delegates of the Constitutional

Convention for going too far and creating a new form of government instead of just fixing the Articles of

Confederation.

Congress got over it, and directed the states to call

conventions to vote on the new Constitution. Nine states would

have to vote to ratify the Constitution for it to go into

effect.

The Constitution Is Sent to the StatesThe states held conventions to ratify the Constitution, but these conventions had

other purposes too. The Constitution had been produced in complete secrecy at the

Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. So, the ratifying

conventions also informed the public of the details of the proposed new

government.

They also served as a public place to debate ideas. Importantly, the state

conventions, not Congress, were responsible for ratification. This made sure that the Constitution's

authority came from representatives of the people, not the standing state government.

By circumventing debate in the state legislatures, the Constitution avoided

amendments by the state governments, who were jealous of yielding power to the national

government.

Ratification was in no way certain. Passionate and articulate

citizens used newspapers, pamphlets and public meetings to

debate the Constitution.

The AntifederalistsThe Antifederalists opposed the

Constitution. Many of them kept arguing that the delegates had exceeded their authority by replacing the Articles of

Confederation with what they saw as an illegal document. Many said the

delegates were a well-born aristocracy and had written a document that only

served their own interests and only reserved rights for the property owning

upper class.

A common big objection was that the Constitution gave too much

power to the national government. There was fear that

a representative government could not manage a republic this

large.

The biggest criticism was that there was no Bill of Rights. Most

state constitutions had a Bill of Rights, or at minimum, a statement

of the natural rights of man as found in the Declaration of

Independence. George Mason had actually proposed a Bill of Rights.

George Clinton, governor of New York, aired these Antifederalist

concerns with the Constitution in newspaper essays in New York.

The Federalist PapersThe people who supported the

ratification were called the Federalists, and they fought

back. They were convinced that failure to ratify the Constitution

would result in anarchy and continued strife for the public.

Three men, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay,

responded to Clinton's writings. They wrote 85 essays for New York newspapers. Later these papers were collected into two

volumes with the title The Federalist.

These essays analyzed the Constitution, laid out the details and the thoughts of the framers

and responded to the Antifederalists' concerns.

To the issue of a Bill of Rights, the Federalists argued that a set list might not be complete and

that the new national government was so controlled by the Constitution, that it could not threaten the rights of individual

citizens.

During debate in Virginia, James Madison ceded the point that a Bill of Rights was needed, and the Federalists guaranteed that first on the agenda for the new

government would be the adoption of a Bill of Rights.

The States Begin to RatifyOn December 7th, 1787,

Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, by a

unanimous vote. Delaware was so quick, it thwarted Pennsylvania's

attempt to be first.

Pennsylvania wanted to be first, in an attempt to assure the seat of the new Government would be in

Pennsylvania.

There were several holdout states on ratification. New York and Virginia

were locked in debate for a long time. The absence of these two large and wealthy states would have been debilitating for the new union. The

addition of the Bill of Rights brought most states on board.

Rhode Island had rejected the Constitution in March 1788 by a

popular referendum. They called a ratifying convention in 1790.

Basically, little Rhode Island was faced with being treated as a foreign

government, so it did ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790, but it

just made it by two votes!