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 Congress
In 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 States
The 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 Antifederalists
The 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 Papers
The 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 Ratify
On 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!