Final Hurdles: Constitution's Near-Miss Challenges

The United States Constitution was finalized on September 17, 1787, after three months of debate and deliberation. The convention was convened to address the weaknesses of the central government under the Articles of Confederation, which had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, or print money. The delegates, representing a wide range of interests and views, crafted a series of compromises to create a powerful central government with a strong legislature and an executive branch. However, the issue of slavery remained a contentious point, with the Southern delegates successfully protecting the slave trade and ensuring the three-fifths compromise for representation in the federal government. The final draft of the Constitution, containing seven articles, a preamble, and a closing endorsement, was signed by 39 delegates, with several expressing disappointment in the result. The ratification process was long and arduous, with Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire being pivotal states in ensuring its adoption.

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The Articles of Confederation were deemed too weak

The Articles of Confederation created a loose confederation of sovereign states, leaving most of the power with state governments. This led to divisions among the states, with disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade. The Articles also provided for a one-house legislature, a weak executive, no national power of taxation, a lack of standard currency, and voting by state. These flaws would eventually lead to its failure.

Nationalists, led by James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Wilson, began working towards strengthening the federal government. They turned a series of regional commercial conferences into a national constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787. The convention was intended to "render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union". The delegates were generally convinced that an effective central government with a wide range of enforceable powers must replace the weaker Congress established by the Articles of Confederation.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a model of government that relied on a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. The Constitution that emerged from the convention established a federal government with more specific powers, including those related to conducting relations with foreign governments.

The Anti-Federalists opposed a powerful central government

The Anti-Federalists were a late-18th-century political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger US federal government and later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. Led by Patrick Henry of Virginia, Anti-Federalists believed that a stronger government threatened the sovereignty and prestige of the states, localities, and individuals. They were composed of diverse elements, including those who saw in the proposed government a new centralized and "monarchic" power in disguise that would replicate the cast-off governance of Great Britain. They worried that the position of president, then a novelty, might evolve into a monarchy.

The Anti-Federalists' opposition to ratifying the Constitution was a powerful force in the origin of the Bill of Rights to protect Americans' civil liberties. They were chiefly concerned with too much power invested in the national government at the expense of states. Their opposition led to the enactment of the Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists believed that almost all the executive power should be left to the country's authorities, while the Federalists wanted centralized national governments. They also believed that a large central government would not serve the interests of small towns and rural areas, as opposed to the urban interests that most Federalist delegates aligned with.

The Anti-Federalists included small farmers and landowners, shopkeepers, and laborers. When it came to national politics, they favored strong state governments, a weak central government, the direct election of government officials, short term limits for officeholders, accountability by officeholders to popular majorities, and the strengthening of individual liberties. The political split between Anti-Federalists and Federalists began in the summer of 1787 when 55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia to draw up a new plan of government to replace the government under the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution, gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it had no enforcement powers, couldn’t regulate commerce, or print money. The states’ disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington feared their young country was on the brink of collapse, so Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize a Grand Convention of state delegates to work on revising the Articles of Confederation.

The Federalists wanted a strong central government

The Federalists, supporters of the proposed Constitution, believed that a strong central government was necessary to face the nation's challenges. They wanted to replace the weaker Congress established by the Articles of Confederation, which had no enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, and couldn't print money. The disputes between the states over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart.

The Federalists, led by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, argued that the Constitution was required to safeguard the liberty and independence that the American Revolution had brought about. They saw their role as defending the social gains of the Revolution. The Federalists were well-organized, well-funded, and made effective use of the printed word. They also had the support of celebrities of the time, such as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, who favored the Constitution.

The Anti-Federalists, on the other hand, strongly opposed the Constitution as they believed it created a powerful central government that resembled the one they had just overthrown. They also argued that the Constitution lacked a bill of rights. The debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was heated, and the Federalists needed to convert at least three states to their cause.

The Federalists' political philosophy was innovative, and they believed that the ratification of the Constitution should be through conventions of the people rather than through Congress and state legislatures. They were aware that the problems of the 1780s stemmed from the weaknesses of the central government created by the Articles of Confederation. The Federalists wanted to bring the issue before "the people," where ratification was more likely.

The delegates to the convention, representing a wide range of interests and views, crafted compromises to satisfy the various factions. They agreed to protect the slave trade and allow proportional representation in the lower house and equal representation in the upper house, giving each state two senators. These compromises held the Union together and aided the Constitution's ratification.

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The issue of slavery was a major point of contention

The Southern states, particularly Georgia and South Carolina, had strong economic interests in the slave trade and slavery. To satisfy these interests, the delegates agreed to protect the slave trade and slavery in several ways. Firstly, they agreed to protect the importation of slaves for 20 years. Secondly, they allowed states to count three-fifths of their slave population for representation in the federal government, giving the Southern states more political power. Lastly, they required the return of escaped slaves to their owners, even from states where slavery had been abolished.

The delegates also adopted the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a Congress with proportional representation in the lower house and equal representation in the upper house, with each state having two senators. This compromise helped hold the Union together and facilitated the ratification of the Constitution. However, it also perpetuated the institution of slavery for six more decades and contributed to the continued disproportional representation of less populous states in the U.S.

The issue of slavery highlighted the divisions between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists during the Constitutional Convention. The Federalists supported a strong central government, while the Anti-Federalists opposed a powerful central government that reminded them of the one they had overthrown. The Anti-Federalists also criticized the lack of a bill of rights in the Constitution, which included protections for freedom of speech, religion, and the press.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention had to navigate these complex dynamics and interests while crafting a constitution that could be ratified by the states. The issue of slavery presented a significant challenge and required careful negotiation and compromise to reach a consensus.

The Bill of Rights was not initially ratified

The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 39 delegates. The final document was a series of compromises, and some delegates left before the ceremony, refusing to sign. The Bill of Rights, comprising the first ten amendments to the Constitution, was not initially ratified.

The Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution because it lacked a bill of rights and created a powerful central government. James Madison, originally opposed to the inclusion of a bill of rights, gradually came to understand the importance of doing so during the often contentious ratification debates. He proposed amendments designed to win support in both houses of Congress and the states, focusing on rights-related amendments.

The Bill of Rights was introduced following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the ratification of the Constitution and was written to address the objections raised by the Anti-Federalists. The amendments add specific guarantees of personal freedoms, such as freedom of speech, the right to publish, practice religion, possess firearms, and assemble. They also include explicit declarations that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.

On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution. By December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the state legislatures had ratified 10 of these amendments, now known as the Bill of Rights. Article 1 was never ratified, and Article 2 was ratified as the 27th Amendment in 1992.

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