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The Pros And Cons Of Ratifying The Constitution

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“The American Dream comes from opportunity. The opportunity comes from our founding principles, our core values that's held together and protected by the Constitution. Those ideas are neither Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, white, or black. Those are American ideologies”. This quote by Ted Yoho asserts the importance of the United States Constitution in establishing our beliefs. Even though this document made a great impact on our nation at the time of its writing, the path to ratification was not straight forward. In the summer of 1787, debate was waged in the newspapers, articles, and state conventions regarding the division of power among groups. The Federalists favored a strong national government and therefore, supported the Constitution. The opponents, however, named themselves the Anti-Federalists, and they argued that the new plan handed too much power to the central government. Ultimately, before it could go into effect, nine of the thirteen states needed to ratify the document. The Constitution should be ratified because it will it divides the government power appropriately, unites the states, …show more content…

The original text of the Constitution contained very little about the protection of natural rights. With the addition of the Bill of Rights, the people’s rights became clear. The first Congress passed twelve amendments to the Constitution guaranteeing freedom and justice to all people. This settled uncertainty about the central government taking away the power of the people (Doc. F).Farmers from Massachusetts remind their state, “... the people may, and will rise to arms to prevent it (injustice)... to keep our liberties in our own hands…” (Doc. A). The power given to the people gives them the right to rebel and speak up if they feel they are being taken advantage of. The basic freedoms of the American people are guaranteed in the first ten amendments of our

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The primary argument against ratifying the constitution by the Anti-Federalists was that they imagined that the administration would be made would be too effective and they would simply be making ready for another government like the one that they had quite recently contended so energetically to free themselves from England. They likewise needed to include a Bill of Rights before endorsing the constitution and not afterward. The Pros are that the report had expressed to give trust against the unfeeling and unlawful demonstration of decision the american colonies. Freedom of development which is under Article IV. This area said the security and interminable associations and organization among the natives of the rose country.

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In the years 1787 and 1788 right after the Constitutional Convention, many people argued over the context of the constitution. The ratification started when the Congress turned the Constitution over to the state legislatures. Because most of the framers had already decided to discard the Articles of Confederation when drafting the Constitution, the lack of people following the articles made the legislatures feel that an unanimous vote was unnecessary. The delegates agreed that approval from only 9 of the 13 states would be adequate to ratify the United States Constitution. However, the process to ratifying the constitution was difficult including groups of people and regions who supported or opposed the ratification.

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These authorities that the national government should have, were all up to the states to decide under the Articles. With the taking away some of the states rights in the Constitution, Anti-federalists feared that this would leave the states too weak, resulting in more problems. Under the new Constitution, many powers that were now in the government 's hands are: the power to levy and collect taxes, the power to regulate interstate commerce, the government set up a national court system consisting of district, circuit, and a supreme court, the government could enforce laws, there was now a house based on population, and a senate based on equal representation (two votes per state), to amend the Constitution, a ⅔ vote of Congress was needed, and a ¾ vote of the states were needed, and a majority rule was needed to pass bills. These new powers and abilities of the national government helped to create a strong, new

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The United States Constitution was created to define the powers and limitations of the government. It replaced the Articles of the Confederation, and was ratified by all 13 states in 1787 (American Government, n.d.). The ratification of the Constitution was not without opposition, and the government was split into two groups: federalists, and anti-federalists. The federalist group believed that a national governing body, ruled by the elite class was necessary. Antifederalists, on the other hand, believed that state governments should have more say, and that the government should be run by ordinary people (American Government, n.d.).

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Many of the state conventions ratified the Constitution, but called for amendments specifically protecting individual rights from abridgement by the federal government. The debate raged for months. By June of 1788, 9 states had ratified the Constitution, ensuring it would go into effect for those 9 states. However, key states including Virginia and New York had not ratified. James Madison, the principal author of the Constitution, knew that grave doubts would be cast on the Constitution if those states (the home states of several of its chief architects, including Madison himself) did not adopt it.

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The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, but there was a grapple for its ratification that went on until about two decades after the ratification. Members of Congress believed that the first government of the United States or the Articles of Confederation, needed to be adjusted while others did not want anything to change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central government, because it reminded them too much of what they were trying to escape from. Under the Articles, each state had their own laws, and the need for a new Constitution was desired by many. The Constitution of 1787 created huge debates, arguments and splits in the nation that lasted for several year after its ratification between people who

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One last thing the constitution has that stopped tyranny rule was making sure the smaller states got a fair vote in congress compared to the bigger states. They had a meeting called the constitutional convention where they proposed two distinct plans. The first was the Virginia plan where they favored large states, and wanted it to be based off of population. The second one was the New jersey plan which favored small states, and gave each state an equal amount of votes. They eventually came up with the great compromise, where they proposed that congress would be composed of the senate, and the house of representatives.

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The Articles of Confederation structured the first government of the thirteen states. The thirteen states included: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. However, Rhode Island did not vote to revise the Articles right away. Therefore, the proposals of the Constitution continued to be declined by the other states due to not having a balance on votes. When Rhode Island finally sent a representative to the Constitution Convention, the Constitution was approved.

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Before the famous Constitution became published on September 17, 1787, there was a huge democracy over it since some people supported it (federalists), while others opposed it (anti-federalists). Basically the main arguments used by the Anti-Federalists in the discussion of the U.S. Constitution was the fact that the Constitution offered too much power to the federal government and that the rights of the people were not promised through a Bill of Rights. In order to get their words out, they had ratified convections for the thirteen states. They choose to go to Pennsylvania first because of its size, influence, and wealth.

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The United States confronted many problems once they gained their independence from Great Britain. One of the biggest problems was their form of government at that time, which was stated in the Articles of Confederation. This presented many problem to the states, as stated in a document about the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, some of the problems of the Articles of Confederation were the poor international trade, poor foreign relations, weak economy, and Shay’s Rebellion. The people, specifically the Federalists, wanted a new government because of the weakness of the government at that moment. According to many history books, the government also faced financial problems and tried to resolve them by taxing the states, because

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The constitution was signed and sent out to the states in 1787, but was not ratified until 1788. During this time in the states the constitution caused a great deal of controversy. While some, the Federalists, believed that a constitution is exactly what was needed, others, the Anti-Federalists, felt that a constitution severely needed a bill of rights. There are many reasons a bill of rights was included in the constitution. Although it was not in the first copy, it was promised to be in the next one if nine states would ratify it.

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On June 21, 1788 the Constitution of the United States of America was signed. It was signed by some of America’s greatest heroes. Men like George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin. But just signing it wasn’t good enough. It needed to be ratified.

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“The Federalist Papers” were a series of 85 articles from 1787-1788. James Madison, James Jay and Alexander Hamilton are the authors and the three of them wrote about how the new government will work and why the idea of a new government would be beneficial to the United States. The authors signed the articles under the name “Publius” in honor of the Roman aristocrat Publius Valerius Publicola because they hoped the he would be credited in the founding of the American Republic. One of the articles’ major topics was idea of having a state constitution and why it is so important for America to have one. “The Anti-Federalist Papers” was also a series of 85 articles.

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They felt the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a system in which the national government holds significant power, but the smaller political subdivisions also hold significant power. They felt the country needed a strong central government so that it didn’t fall apart. The Ant-Federalists were on the opposing side, they felt the Constitution granted the government too much power. They also felt there wasn’t enough protection of their right with an absent Bill of Rights. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists mainly came from the lower classes, from their standpoint they thought the wealthy class would be in main control and gain the most benefits from the ratification of this document.

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In the late 1700’s, James Madison wrote the first Ten Amendments that are listed in the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights were written to ensure American citizens that they have freedoms and rights that the government can 't infringe. Out of the Ten Amendments, I believe that the First and Eighth Amendment are the most significant. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and for people to assemble peaceably.

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