1.3 The Constitution

Main Ideas:
The states created constitutions that gave people more rights, but the national framework could not address all the problems of the new nation.
American leaders created a new constitution based on compromise.
The promise of a Bill of Rights guaranteed the ratification of the Constitution.

Vocabulary
republic, recession, popular sovereignty, federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, veto, amendment, ratification

Reading Objectives:
Describe features of the governments set up under the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
Identify key steps and events leading up to ratification of the Constitution.

The Young Nation

• In the new United States of America, a republic was formed. In a republic power resides with a body of citizens who have the right to vote. Elected leaders must govern according to a constitution.
• Many states already had constitutions that embodied ideas such as separation of powers and a list of rights guaranteeing freedoms.
• The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, passed in 1786, reflected the concern for individual liberty. It said that Virginia no longer had an official church.
• Voting and most other political rights were extended to white males only.
• After the Revolution, women made some advances. They could more easily obtain a divorce. They also gained greater access to education.
• Thousands of enslaved African Americans obtained their freedom during and after the war. Many American leaders felt that enslaving people conflicted with the new views of liberty and equality.
• On March 2, 1781, American leaders created the Articles of Confederation which loosely organized the states under one governing body, the Confederation Congress.
• Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress could negotiate with other nations, raise armies, and declare war, but could not regulate trade or impose taxes.
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• To raise money, Congress created the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, a plan for how states would be created in the lands west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio River—the Northwest Territory.
• Because the Congress lacked the power to regulate trade and to tax, the new country fell into a recession, or economic slowdown. Congress could not pay its expenses or war debts, or stop the states from issuing their own money, which further damaged the economy.
• Poor farmers were hit hard by the recession. In 1787 a bankrupt Massachusetts farmer named Daniel Shays led 1,200 followers in a protest of new taxes. Shay’s Rebellion illustrated the weaknesses of the Confederation Congress. People began to argue for a stronger central government.

A New Constitution

• At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, 55 delegates went to Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. They threw them out and wrote a new framework of government.
• The convention appointed a special committee to resolve differences between the large and small states. The committee worked out the Great Compromise. It proposed that in the House of Representatives, the states would be represented according to the size of their populations. The Senate would have equal representation. The voters in each state would elect the House of Representatives. The state legislatures would choose the senators.
• The Three-Fifths Compromise was a plan for counting enslaved people in a state. Every five enslaved people in a state would count as three free persons for determining both representation and taxes.
• The Constitution was based on the principle of popular sovereignty, or rule by the people. The Constitution created a system of government called federalism. This divided the government between the federal, or national, government and the state governments.
• The Constitution provided for a separation of powers among the three branches of government. The legislative branch makes the laws. It is made up of the two houses of Congress. The executive branch enforces the laws. It is headed by a president. The judicial branch interprets federal laws. It is made up of a system of federal courts.
• The Constitution also provides for a system of checks and balances to prevent any one of the three branches from becoming too powerful. The powers of the president include proposing legislation, appointing judges, putting down rebellions, and the ability to veto, or reject, legislation. The powers of the legislative branch include the ability to override the veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses. The Senate approves or rejects presidential appointments. Congress can impeach, or formally accuse of misconduct, and then remove the president or any high official in the executive or judicial branch if convicted during trial. The judicial branch would hear all cases arising under federal laws and the Constitution.
• The Constitution has a system for making amendments, or changes to the Constitution. There is a two-step process for amending the Constitution—proposal and ratification.
• New amendments can be proposed by a vote of two-thirds of the members of both houses of Congress, or two-thirds of the states could call a constitutional convention to propose new amendments. A proposed amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or by conventions in three-fourths of the states.

The Fight for Ratification

• On September 28, 1787, the Confederation Congress submitted the Constitution to the states for ratification, or approval. Nine of the 13 states had to approve it.
• People who supported the Constitution were Federalists. Many Federalists were interested in protecting their property and regulating trade.
• Constitution opponents were called Antifederalists. They wanted a national government but were concerned about which would be supreme—the state governments or the national government.
• Federalists organized their arguments in a collection of 85 essays called The Federalist.
• In order to get the Constitution ratified in Massachusetts, Federalists promised to add a bill of rights to the Constitution once it was ratified and to support an amendment that would reserve for the states all powers not specifically granted to the federal government.
• The Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments to the Constitution, guaranteed the freedoms of speech, press, and religion; protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; and the right to a trial by jury.
• In June of 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. New York and Virginia had not ratified it, however, and many feared the new government would not succeed without their support. Gradually, all 13 states ratified the Constitution.
• George Washington was chosen as the first president under the new Constitution.