Ratification
The Big Idea
After great debate, the Constitution was ratified
by nine States and became the supreme law of
the nation
Federalists
● Favored Constitution
● Believed Constitution was strong
enough to solve country's
problem
● Led by Alexander Hamilton and
James Madison
Anti-Federalists
● Opposed Constitution
● Believed Constitution was too
strong. Wanted a bill of rights
added to protect individual
freedoms
● Led by Patrick Henry and John
Hancock
Debate
• Which version of the
Constitution we were
going to have?
• Two Sides
• Federalist: like the
constitution as it was
originally written
• Anti-Federalist: Wanted
the constitution to include
more individual rights
Federalists
● Favored Constitution
● Believed Constitution was
strong enough to solve
country's problem
● Led by Alexander Hamilton and
James Madison
• Most of these were men from
the Constitutional
Convention
• Madison & Hamilton
• They were really concerned
with fixing the weakness of
the Articles of Confederation
• A whole new government
was the only way to fix the
problems
• Many were not at the
Constitutional Convention
• Found many problems with
the version of the
Constitution that the
Federalist wanted
• Most important problems
• The amount of power
given to the Central
Government
• No Bill of rights
Anti-Federalists
● Opposed Constitution
● Believed Constitution was too
strong. Wanted a bill of rights
added to protect individual
freedoms
● Led by Patrick Henry and John
Hancock
Ratification
• 9 States had to ratify the
Constitution for it to be
accepted
• NOT all of the states (like
the AofC)
• All 13 finally did