The Constitution

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• The Constitution

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May 1787

• 55 Delegates- All states except RI
• Penn. State House- Philadelphia (Independence
  Hall)
• Most were wealthy
• 30-40s
• 19 owned slaves
• More than half had legal training

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Closed Session

• Press kept out
• No official journal
• Ben Franklins chaperone
• FREEDOM TO DEBATE

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Continental or National Perspective

• 39 had sat in Congress
• Convinced that unless that national government
  were freed from the states legislatures control
  country would fall victim to foreign aggression
  or simply disintegrate.

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Faced 2 Basic ISSUES

• Tinker or Scrap- Articles of Confederation
• Balance the conflicting interests of small and
  large states.

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James Madison to the RESCUE

• Virginia Plan
• Called for the establishment of a national
  government- rather than a federation of states.
• Gave Congress virtually unrestricted rights of
  legislation and taxation
• The power to veto any state law
• The authority to use military force against the
  state.
• Bicameral based on population
• Voters in the lower- elected the upper chamber.
• Both houses jointly name the president and judges.

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William Patterson- THE NEW JERSEY PLAN

• Single Chamber Congress
• Each states had an equal vote.
• Congress
• Raise taxes
• Regulate interstate commerce
• Use military force against the states.
• Was the first to define congressional laws and
  treaties as the supreme law of the land
• Establish courts to force reluctant states to
  accept these measures.

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The Greatest Stumbling Block?

• Virginia Plan
• Given the four largest states a majority in both
  houses.

• New Jersey Plan
• Would allow the 7 smallest states (included 25
  of all Americans ) to control Congress.

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JULY 2-IMPASSE

• Delegates assigned a member from each state to a
  grand committee- dedicated to compromise
• Adopted a proposal offered by the Connecticut
  Delegation
• An equal vote for each member in the upper house
• Proportional Voting in the lower house.
• Opposed by Madison and the VA delegates

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Articles of Confederation vs. the
Constitution      The following chart compares
some of the provisions of the Articles of
Confederation with those in the Constitution.
It's important to note that most commentators see
the Articles period (1781-1789) as a weak one in
terms of governmental power. Whether that is a
positive or negative for the United States
depends on one's point of view regarding the size
and influence of a national government.
Libertarians would view the Articles period as
the pinnacle of American freedom, while those
favoring a strong central government would see it
as a failure.    
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September 17, 1787 Constitution Approved.
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Conflicting Opinions

• every member of the convention should sign. A
  few characters of consequence, by opposing or
  even refusing to sign the Constitution, might do
  infinite mischiefNo mans ideas were more remote
  from the plan than me are known to be but is it
  possible to deliberate between anarchy on one
  side and the change of good to be expected from
  the plan on the other.
• Alexander Hamilton

• A Civil War may result from the present
  crisis.In Massachusetts. There are two
  parties. One devoted to Democracy, the worst.of
  all political evils. The other as violent in the
  opposite extreme for this and other reasons the
  plan should have been proposed in a more
  mediating shape.
• Eldridge Gerry

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• September 28, Congress directed the state
  legislatures to call ratification conventions in
  each state.
• Article VII stipulated that nine states had to
  ratify the Constitution for it to go into effect.

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State Conventions

• Explain provisions of the proposed new
  government.
• Forums for proponents and opponents to articulate
  their ideas before the citizenry.
• Significantly, state conventions, not Congress,
  were the agents of ratification.

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Ratification Debate in MA

• Delegate Fears for the Little People
• A Storekeeper Blasts Standing Armies
• A Farmer Favors The Constitution

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Anti Federalists

• opposed the Constitution for a variety of
  reasons.
• delegates in Philadelphia had exceeded their
  congressional authority by replacing the Articles
  of Confederation with an illegal new document.
• the delegates in Philadelphia represented only
  the well-born few and consequently had crafted a
  document that served their special interests and
  reserved the franchise for the propertied
  classes.
• Constitution gave too much power to the central
  government at the expense of the states and that
  a representative government could not manage a
  republic this large.
• Constitutional Convention had failed to adopt a
  bill of rights proposed by George Mason.
• New York, Governor George Clinton
• Patrick Henry
• James Monroe
• PSD An Anti Federalist Demands Deliberation

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Federalists

• convinced that rejection of the Constitution
  would result in anarchy and civil strife.
• Alexander Hamilton,
• James Madison,
• John Jay
• The Federalist, which analyzed the Constitution,
  detailed the thinking of the framers, and
  responded to the Anti-Federalist critics.
• James Madison Defends the New Constitution

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10 months for the first nine states to approve
the Constitution.

• The first state to ratify was Delaware, on
  December 7, 1787, by a unanimous vote, 30 - 0.
• first real test for ratification - Massachusetts,
  
• New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve
  the Constitution in June
• key States of Virginia and New York were locked
  in bitter debates.
• Federalists prevailed, however, and Virginia and
  New York narrowly approved the Constitution.
• When a bill of rights was proposed in Congress in
  1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution.
• Finally, Rhode Island, which had rejected the
  Constitution in March 1788 by popular referendum,
  called a ratifying convention in 1790 as
  specified by the Constitutional Convention.
• May 29, 1790.