Ratification of the Constitution

Federalists vs. AntifederalistsAka liberals vs. conservatives

Sound familiar?

Question: Why was the new Constitution controversial?

• The delegates at the convention did not have the power to make a new constitution. “Extra-legal act”

• The new congress (legislature) had too much power (could make any law “necessary or proper”).

• The president had too much power(too wide and not specific)

• People were afraid of this new government’s power – it reminded people of the British government!

Answer:

Many people (conservatives) could not get what the king and parliament had done out of their minds. To them this government was like nuclear government power!

Question: What was the side for the constitution? Answer:

• The Federalists were for the Constitution.

• George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton were influential Federalists.

Question: What was their argument?Answer:

• They believed that the Articles were too weak.

• The Articles gave states too much power which stopped the government from being able to do anything.

• The Constitution gave the government the power that it needed.

• These people were known as radical (or liberal) because they wanted the national government to have the power it needed to act.

To a Federalist – accepting the new government was a no-brainer!

Question: How did they convince people?

Answer:

• They had to convince 9 of the 13 states to ratify (accept) the Constitution.

• They used essays in newspapers today known as the Federalist Papers to convince people that the Constitution was needed and should be ratified. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay

wrote the Federalist papers. They were another form of propaganda (a way to convince people)!

Question: What was the side against the Constitution?

Answer:

• The Anti-Federalists were against the ratification of the Constitution.

• Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Patrick Henry were three very outspoken opponents of the new constitution.

Question: What was their argument?Answer:

• They believed the new government would be too strong and the states were too weak.

• They believed that the new government would become like the British government had been.

• The president was too powerful and the government could make too many laws that the people and the states had no protection from.

• These people were known as conservative because they wanted the government not to have too much power. They thought the power should go to the states and the people.

Question: How did they convince people?

Answer:

• Anti-Federalists fought the ratification with essays of their own

• Made passionate speeches about rights and freedom in state legislatures where the voting would have to occur.

Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee helped contribute to the less famous and less successful “Anti-Federalist Papers”.

Question: What solved the argument between the two sides?

Answer:

• The Federalists agreed to include a Bill of Rights after the states had ratified the Constitution.

• This caused Virginia and New York to finally give in and ratify the new constitution.

Question: Why?Answer:• The Bill of Rights (the first ten

amendments to the Constitution) gave the states and individuals the protection that they needed from government power. This made the conservatives happy for now.

• Problems = things in the body of the constitution went against the Bill of Rights: 10th amendment vs. the elastic clause.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

“The Congress shall have Power - To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” Article 1 section 8 clause 18 of the United States Constitution

VS.

Complete the Comparison Chart

• On the back of 5L complete the chart. • Use your notes, your notebook, and your

memory to complete the chart. • Come up with as many arguments as you can

for each side.• Remember what you have learned and the

importance of POWER!