Eleanor Finch
The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 delegates, with George Read signing on behalf of John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total to 39 signatures. The Constitution was created to revise the existing government, but the delegates ended up creating a powerful central government, sparking a contentious ratification campaign between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The Constitution was initially applied to the people in collectivity, rather than by the individual states, as only four states had constitutions at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and three of those were provisional.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Country | United States of America |
| Date of signing | 17th September 1787 |
| Number of signatures | 39 |
| Previous constitution | Articles of Confederation |
| Previous constitution's weaknesses | No enforcement powers, couldn't regulate commerce, or print money |
| First Continental Congress | 5th September to 26th October 1774 |
| Second Continental Congress | 10th May 1775 |
| First Amendment | 1807 "Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves" |
| Twentieth Amendment | 1933 |
| Twenty-second Amendment | 1951 |
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What You'll Learn
The Constitution's application to slavery
The Constitution of the United States was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 delegates, with George Reed signing on behalf of John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. The Constitution was created to revise the existing government, but the delegates ended up creating a powerful central government. The Constitution first applied to the signers and the citizens they represented.
The Constitution implicitly recognized slavery through provisions such as the Three-Fifths Compromise (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3). This clause provided that three-fifths of each state's enslaved population ("other persons") was to be added to its free population for the purposes of apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives, its number of electoral votes, and direct taxes among the states. The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution, as the framers consciously avoided using it, recognizing that it would sully the document. However, slavery received important protections in the Constitution. The Three-Fifths Clause gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution also prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years. This was a compromise between the Southern states, where slavery was pivotal to the economy, and the states where the abolition of slavery had been accomplished or was contemplated. The Fugitive Slave Clause, which was also a part of the Constitution, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of the Southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, Southern states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. However, by avoiding the issue of slavery, the framers sowed the seeds for future conflict. Many of the framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. On August 21, 1787, a debate broke out over a South Carolina proposal to prohibit the federal government from regulating the Atlantic slave trade. Luther Martin of Maryland, a slaveholder, argued that the slave trade should be subject to federal regulation and was inconsistent with America's republican ideals.
The Thirteenth Amendment (Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution, passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, declared that almost all slaves in Confederate-controlled areas were free.
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The Articles of Confederation
A few years after the Revolutionary War, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington feared that the young country was on the brink of collapse due to the limitations of the Articles of Confederation. The states retained considerable power, and the central government was unable to regulate commerce, tax, or effectively support a war effort. Disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the country apart. As a result, Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organise a Grand Convention of state delegates to work on revising the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787, marking the beginning of the process to create a new constitution for the United States.
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Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
The US Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 delegates (39 with George Reed signing for John Dickinson of Delaware). The delegates, representing different interests and views, crafted compromises to revise the existing government, but ultimately created a powerful central government.
This powerful central government was a key point of contention between Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Federalists believed in the necessity of a strong central government to face the nation's challenges. They were nationalists and played a crucial role in shaping the new US Constitution in 1787. In their view, the new Constitution strengthened the national government at the expense of the states and the people.
On the other hand, Anti-Federalists vehemently opposed the Constitution, arguing that it created a powerful central government reminiscent of the one they had just overthrown. They also criticised it for lacking a bill of rights. The Anti-Federalists fought against the ratification of the Constitution in every state convention, but they lacked efficient organisation across all thirteen states. Their significant achievement was forcing the first Congress under the new Constitution to establish a bill of rights to protect the liberties they believed the Constitution violated.
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists had vast and complex differences. The ratification campaign was a close contest, with the tide turning in Massachusetts, where a "vote now, amend later" compromise helped secure victory for the Federalists.
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The 20th Amendment
The Constitution of the United States was first applied to the founding fathers and the citizens of the United States in 1787. On September 17, 1787, 38 delegates signed the Constitution, with George Reed signing for John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total number of signatures to 39. The Constitution was revised from the existing government, creating a powerful central government.
The full text of the 20th Amendment, as originally ratified, is as follows:
> Section 1—The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.
> Section 2—The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such a meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
> Section 3—If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, the Vice President-elect shall become President."
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The signing of the Constitution
In the years following the Revolutionary War, prominent figures such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington feared that their fledgling nation was on the verge of collapse. America's initial constitution, the Articles of Confederation, had granted the Confederation Congress rule-making and funding powers, but it lacked enforcement authority, the ability to regulate commerce, and the capacity to print money. Territorial disputes, disagreements over war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to fracture the young country.
To address these challenges, Alexander Hamilton persuaded Congress to convene a Grand Convention of state delegates in Philadelphia in May 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. This Constitutional Convention, which included delegates with diverse interests and viewpoints, crafted a powerful central government through a series of compromises. The delegates' primary task was to revise the existing government, but they ended up creating an entirely new system.
The convention witnessed intense debates, and near its end, a Committee of Style and Arrangement was tasked with shaping the final document. They condensed 23 articles into seven in less than four days. On September 17, 1787, 38 delegates signed the Constitution, with George Reed signing on behalf of the absent John Dickinson of Delaware, bringing the total signatures to 39.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution first applied to US citizens, with the exception of slaves and their children, who were considered property.
The First Continental Congress met in 1774 and agreed that the states should boycott British trade and drew up a petition to King George III. The Second Continental Congress functioned as a de facto national government at the outset of the Revolutionary War.
The Constitutional Convention was a Grand Convention of state delegates assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation.
The key outcome was a completely new government structure, with a powerful central government, and a list of 20 proposed amendments to be sent along with the state's resolution of ratification.
