1787-1789: The Ratification Of The Constitution

The ratification of the constitution occurred between 1787-1789. Just prior to this, the colonists had defeated the French and Indians in the Seven Years War (a.k.a. French and Indian War), and immediately following the victory the British ended their salutary neglect towards the colonies and began to tax the the colonists in order to pay for the war. These events sparked a chain reaction that saw the colonists declare independence and defeat the British in the Revolution. This brings us to the constitutional convention whose task was to design a government for the people, by the people. The most contentious points of this convention involved the matters of political representation in the newly chosen bicameral legislative branch which spawned

There were two proposed solutions. One was the New Jersey plan which sought to utilize a unicameral legislative branch in which each state would get one vote. The other proposed plan was the Virginia plan. The Virginia plan called for representation based on population with larger states having more representatives and smaller states having fewer. New Jersey plan was geared more towards Anti-Federalists, like Thomas Jefferson, who argued for fair representation of farmers, small business owners, and generally impoverished peoples, and also urged that a pure democracy be used. On the other hand, there were Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton, who were mostly wealthy businessmen and politicians, who did not believe that the masses could effectively govern a nation. There was a bitter fight between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists regarding the issue of representation, but in the end the bicameral legislative structure of the Virginia plan was mixed with the one vote per state, equal representation nature of the New Jersey plan. The House of Representatives would have representation based on population with slaves being counted as ⅗ of a person when counting population, while the senate would have equal representation regardless of population. But, this major issue was not the only obstacle the constitution

The divide over political representation and the Bill of Rights did not end after the constitution was formed, rather the issues helped form two political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. With George Washington as President and Alexander Hamilton as the Chief of Staff and Treasurer, the Federalists and their centralizing ideals were in control of the young government. Thomas Jefferson, a long time Hamilton opposer, formed the Democratic-Republican party as a opposition to Hamilton's Federalist party. The Federalists were considered loose-constructionists. They viewed what was written in the constitution as simply a template and that not everything was expressly written in the constitution. The Democratic-Republicans on the other hand, were strict constructionists. They preferred a very literal interpretation of the constitution. So, when Alexander Hamilton wanted to institute a national bank, Jefferson asked where it stated that he could do that and Hamilton pointed to the phrase “necessary and proper”. He felt that the bank was necessary to the success of the government, and with a pro-Federalist government it was created. Because both parties were polar opposites on almost every policy, there were disputes about everything. The Alien and Sedition acts for example were seen as unconstitutional because they infringed on the first amendment's right to free