Simone Lawson
The US Constitution was written and signed in 1787, a few years after the Revolutionary War. The country's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers, the ability to regulate commerce, and the ability to print money. Disputes between the states 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 they convinced Congress to organize a Grand Convention of state delegates to revise the Articles of Confederation. The delegates, however, decided to completely redesign the government, creating a powerful central government with a federal structure. The Constitution was ratified by the vote of nine of the thirteen states, and it continues to be the supreme law of the land.
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What You'll Learn
The Articles of Confederation were ineffective
The inherent weakness of the Articles of Confederation stemmed from the fact that it called for a confederacy, which placed sovereign power in the hands of the states. Congress commanded little respect and no support from state governments anxious to maintain their power. Congress could not raise funds, regulate trade, or conduct foreign policy without the voluntary agreement of the states.
The Articles were also practically impossible to amend. They required unanimous consent to any amendment, so all 13 states would need to agree on a change. Given the rivalries between the states, that rule made the Articles impossible to adapt after the war ended with Britain in 1783.
The Articles also lacked proportionality in voting matters. Each state had one vote in Congress, so small states and large states had the same voting weight. Considering the large discrepancy in state populations, states with larger populations were unhappy with this set-up. For example, in 1780, Virginia had over ten times the number of citizens as Delaware, yet each state received only one vote in Congress.
The Articles of Confederation were first proposed at the Second Continental Congress in 1777 in Philadelphia. They were fully ratified and put into effect in 1781, but their reign was brief. By 1787, the Articles were deemed highly ineffective in meeting the young nation's needs, and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 effectively ended the era of the Articles of Confederation.
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Disputes between states threatened unity
The United States Constitution is the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world. The drafting of the Constitution, often referred to as its framing, was completed at the Constitutional Convention, which assembled at Independence Hall in Philadelphia between May 25 and September 17, 1787. The convention was held to address the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation, which served as the United States' first constitution.
The Articles of Confederation gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers, could not regulate commerce, and could not print money. This led to disputes between the states over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade, which threatened to tear the young nation apart. Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize a Grand Convention of state delegates to work on revising the Articles of Confederation.
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were chosen by the state legislatures of 12 of the 13 original states; Rhode Island refused to send delegates. The convention's initial mandate was limited to amending the Articles of Confederation, but by mid-June, the delegates had decided to completely redesign the government. After three months of highly charged debate, the new Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 delegates.
One of the fiercest arguments during the Constitutional Convention was over congressional representation. The framers compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate. They also agreed to count enslaved Africans as three-fifths of a person. Slavery itself was a contentious issue, and the delegates agreed to temporarily resolve it by allowing the slave trade to continue until 1808.
The Constitution addressed disputes between states by establishing federal judicial power and vesting original jurisdiction in the Supreme Court to hear suits between states. The diversity jurisdiction clause was included to address concerns about potential prejudice between states and their citizens. Alexander Hamilton argued for a national judiciary to ensure "the inviolable maintenance of [the] equality of privileges and immunities to which the citizens of the Union will be entitled." Chief Justice John Marshall also acknowledged the potential for state courts to have biases, justifying the establishment of diversity jurisdiction in federal courts.
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A strong central government was needed
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington were among those who believed that a strong central government was necessary to face the nation's challenges. They turned a series of regional commercial conferences into a national constitutional convention at Philadelphia in 1787. They wanted a strong central government to provide order and stability.
The Federalists, who believed in a strong central government, needed to convert at least three states to their cause in order to ratify the new constitution. The Anti-Federalists fought against the Constitution because it created a powerful central government that reminded them of the one they had just overthrown, and it lacked a bill of rights.
The delegates to the convention were chosen by the state legislatures of 12 of the 13 original states; Rhode Island refused to send delegates. The convention's initial mandate was limited to amending the Articles of Confederation, but by mid-June, the delegates had decided to completely redesign the government. One of the fiercest arguments was over congressional representation—should it be based on population or divided equally among the states?
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The Federalists and Anti-Federalists disagreed
The US Constitution was created to address the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation, which was America's first constitution. The Articles of Confederation gave the Confederation Congress the power to make rules and request funds from the states, but it lacked enforcement powers, the ability to regulate commerce, and the authority to print money. Disputes among the states over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young nation apart.
One of the main points of contention between the two groups was the lack of a bill of rights in the original Constitution. The Anti-Federalists argued that a bill of rights was necessary to ensure individual liberties, while the Federalists were initially reluctant to include one. The Anti-Federalists' opposition ultimately led to the adoption of the First Amendment and the other nine amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights.
Another issue that divided the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was congressional representation. The Federalists generally supported representation based on population, while the Anti-Federalists favoured equal representation for each state. A compromise was reached, with each state getting one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate.
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists also disagreed on issues such as direct taxation, the loss of state sovereignty, and discrimination against southern states in navigation legislation. The Anti-Federalists also criticised the Constitution as being the work of aristocratic politicians serving their own class interests. The debates between the two groups were often heated and sometimes even led to violent clashes during marches and meetings.
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A new model of government was required
Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize a Grand Convention of state delegates to work on revising the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787. The delegates wanted to forge a new government that would provide order and stability. They shuttered the windows of the State House and swore secrecy so they could speak freely.
The framers of the Constitution found a way to agree on the following basic principles: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution".
One of the fiercest arguments was over congressional representation—whether it should be based on population or divided equally among the states. They compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate. They also agreed to count enslaved Africans as three-fifths of a person. Slavery itself was a thorny question that threatened to derail the Union. It was temporarily resolved when the delegates agreed that the slave trade could continue until 1808.
The Constitutional Convention created a model of government that relied upon a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority between the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive branches of government. The US Constitution that emerged from the convention established a federal government with more specific powers, including those related to conducting relations with foreign governments.
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Frequently asked questions
America’s first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, 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. They wanted to create a strong central government to provide order and stability.
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. The convention's initial mandate was limited to amending the Articles of Confederation, but it ultimately created a model of government that relied on a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority between the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive branches.
The US Constitution established a federal government with more specific powers, including those related to conducting relations with foreign governments. It also set out basic principles such as establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty.
The founders set the terms for ratifying the Constitution, bypassing the state legislatures and calling for special ratifying conventions in each state. Ratification by 9 of the 13 states enacted the new government. The Federalists, who believed in a strong central government, faced opposition from the Anti-Federalists, who fought against the Constitution due to its lack of a bill of rights and creation of a powerful central government.
