History 103: US History I

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!

Lesson Summary

So now we know that there was a real battle to get the Constitution ratified. A big part of ratification was the writing and publishing of the Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The development of the Antifederalists fighting against the Constitution, and the Federalists fighting for the ratification of the Constitution, should also demonstrate the very early versions of political parties in the U.S.