American Government Week 4 Part III Ratification Controversy

1. Ratification Controversy

2. Federalists & Anti-federalists
● Who was in favor of ratification?

3. Federalists & Anti-Federalists
● Who was in favor of ratification? Federalists
● How many states needed to approve it in order to ratify it?

4. Federalists & Anti-Federalists
● Who was in favor of ratification? Federalists
● How many states needed to approve it in order to ratify it?
Nine, but they wanted a unanimous approval
● Federalist Papers – What were they?

5. Federalists & Anti-Federalists
● Who was in favor of ratification? Federalists
● How many states needed to approve it in order to ratify it?
Nine, but they wanted a unanimous approval
● Federalist Papers – What were they?
- a series of letters supporting ratification that written under
the pseudonym Publius which means “the people” or “the
common people”
● Who actually wrote these letters?

6. Federalists & Anti-Federalists
● Who was in favor of ratification? Federalists
● How many states needed to approve it in order to ratify it?
Nine, but they wanted a unanimous approval
● Federalist Papers – What were they?
- a series of 85 newspaper articles supporting ratification
that were written under the pseudonym Publius which
means “the people” or “the common people”
● Who actually wrote these articles?
- Alexander Hamilton (New York), James Madison
(Virginia) and John Jay (New York); easy to do since they
all lived on Wall St. in NYC at the time

7. Anti-Federalists
● What was their goal?

8. Anti-Federalists
● What was their goal? To defeat ratification
● Who were they?

9. Anti-Federalists
● What was their goal? To defeat ratification
● Who were they?
- “Cato” = George Clinton (New York), “Brutus” & “Sydney”
- Patrick Henry (VA), George Mason (VA), Elbridge Gerry
(MA)

10. The Main Issues
#1: Was the Constitution legitimate?
- Fed:
- Anti:

11. The Main Issues
#1: Was the Constitution legitimate?
- Fed: Yes b/c state legislatures appointed them to the
Constitutional Convention
- Anti: No b/c delegates only had authority to amend the
Articles of Confederation
#2: Was the new national govt too strong, thus reducing
the states to mere administrative districts?
- Fed:
- Anti:

12. The Main Issues
#1: Was the Constitution legitimate?
- Fed: Yes b/c state legislatures appointed them to the
Constitutional Convention
- Anti: No b/c delegates only had authority to amend the
Articles of Confederation
#2: Was the new national govt too strong?
- Fed: No, there were enough protections in the
Constitution to prevent this from happening and a stronger
union was desperately needed
- Anti: Yes, the states would be reduced to mere
administrative districts doing the national govt's bidding &
the people's liberties would be threatened

13. The Main Issues
#3: No Bill of Rights
- Fed:
- Anti:

14. The Main Issues
#3: No Bill of Rights
- Fed: Most thought it unnecessary b/c Constitution did not
give national govt power to interfere or infringe on
individual rights
- Anti: Adamantly in favor of BOR to protect individual
liberty
● Note: What did Hamilton fear would happen with a BOR?
- govt would assume authority in any area not specified in
the BOR (such as the right to eat what you want?!!!)

15. The Main Issues
#4: Amending the Constitution
- Fed:
- Anti:

16. The Main Issues
#4: Amending the Constitution
- Fed: Too difficult under the Articles of Confederation b/c
all the states had to agree to any changes; majority rule
should be enough
- Anti: Felt that the amendment process in the Constitution
would make it too easy to make changes & therefore
wanted unanimous consent of all the states
● Of course, plenty of other issues were debated, but these
four were the most contentious issues.

17. Compromise
● Who compromised and what was the compromise that
allowed the Constitution to be ratified?

18. Ratification
● Officially ratified June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire
voted for it as the ninth state to do so
● Two most contentious & important convention battles?

19. Ratification
● Officially ratified June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire
voted for it as the ninth state to do so
● Two most contentious & important convention battles?
- Virginia (ratified June 25, 1788
- New York (ratified July 26 1788)
● Which state was the last to approve the Constitution?

20. Ratification
● Officially ratified June 21, 1788 when New Hampshire
voted for it as the ninth state to do so
● Two most contentious & important convention battles?
- Virginia (ratified June 25, 1788
- New York (ratified July 26 1788)
● Which state was the last to approve the Constitution?
- Rhode Island, who didn't even send any delegates to the
Constitutional Convention
● Note: George Washington took office on April 30, 1789
even though North Carolina & Rhode Island had not voted
yet

21. Who was right?
● Who compromised and what was the compromise that
allowed the Constitution to be ratified?
- The Federalists agreed to send suggested amendments
that would serve as a BOR along with the Constitution to
the various state ratification conventions. They also
promised to pass this BOR as soon as the Constitution
was ratified. They held true to this promise.

22. Hindsight: What Do You Think?
● Given what has happened to our national govt, should the
Constitution have been ratified?
● Were the Anti-Federalists right to oppose it?
● What could the Founding Fathers have done differently?
● How could/can the national govt be restrained and more
power returned to the states? Or is this impossible at this
point?