The process of ratifying the Constitution required a lot of compromises and reflects a lot of important ideas.
The process of ratifying the Constitution required a lot of compromises and reflects a lot of important ideas. Some of the major concerns where how to fix the struggling economy, representation, slavery, and the preservation of individual rights.
One of the first questions was about how the states would be represented in the new legislature. (1:38) Another contentious issue was the matter of slavery. (2:26) Finally, we discuss both the Bill of Rights (3:10) and amending the Constitution. (3:30)
The Question of the Day asks (5:46): The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was subsequently undone with the 21st Amendment. What was the 18th Amendment about?
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Hi and welcome to the APsolute Recap: US Government Edition. Today’s episode will recap Creating a Constitution
Lets Zoom out:
Unit 1 - Foundations of Democracy
Topic 1.5- Ratification of the US Constitution
Big idea - Constitutionalism
In our last 2 episodes we talked about the failure of the first version of the American government and competing interests over what the new government should look like. As a result, the process of ratifying the Constitution required a lot of compromises and reflects a lot of important ideas. Some of the major concerns where how to fix the struggling economy, representation, slavery, and the preservation of individual rights.
Lets Zoom in:
After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, a meeting was called for May 1887 in the city of Philadelphia. 55 delegates from 12 states came, Rhode Island was too cool to show up, and began writing what would become the Constitution. Keeping Locke’s ideas in mind, they also turned to another Enlightenment thinker, Montesqieu, who wrote about the idea of a balanced government in his book Spirit of the Laws.
Their task was not easy, because although they generally agreed on the big picture, as they say the devil is in the details. One of the first questions was about how the states would be represented in the new legislature. Smaller states like New Jersey wanted everyone to have an equal say in government. This was known as the New Jersey Plan. Larger states like Virginia wanted representation to be based on population rather than give everyone the same vote. Please welcome the Virginia Plan to the floor. Ultimately, both groups would get their way with something called the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise. Did the New Jersey and Virginia plans sound familiar? They should. We adopted both of them. Each state is allowed 2 Senators ( shout out to Jersey!) However, in the House of Representatives states representatives are based on population size and is subject to change every ten years with the census.
Another contentious issue was the matter of slavery. Unfortunately, they were not debating the moral question of enslaving Africans in the United States. The debate was one of both representation and money. The South was happy to have the enslaved people count for representation, but not for taxation purposes. The Northern states pointed out they couldn’t have it both ways. Thus another compromise was reached called the ⅗ agreement. For the purposes of representation and taxation each enslaved person would count as ⅗ of a free person. This compromise was crucial in getting the Southern states to ratify the Constitution and its implications can be traced well into the 20th century.
Remember in our last episode that the Anti Federalists were afraid of a government being too large and strong? There was concern that the government might infringe on personal freedoms.This is one of the reasons they argued at the Convention for a bill of rights. Federalists argued it was covered by the states, but we have the Anti Federalists to thank for our guaranteed constitutional rights and the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson said “The Constitution belongs to the living and not to the dead.” This is why the Constitution is often referred to as a living document; one that can be changed as needed to reflect the beliefs of the day. The process of changing the written language of the document is known as the amendment process. There are two stages to the amendment process and each stage has two different avenues that can be pursued.
An amendment can be proposed by approval of ⅔ of the members of each house of Congress or by a national convention with the vote of ⅔ of the states( which has never happened btw). This means all 33 have been proposed in Congress. Once proposed, an amendment must be ratified to go into effect. To ratify a document means it is made official or given formal consent. The ratification process can happen at a state convention (the less used route) or at the state legislature where the amendment must be approved by ¾ of the states. Overall, the amendments to the Constitution have made it more democratic and extended voting privileges to people of color, women, and then 18 year olds. The Constitution was created with the intention of it being flexible and adapting to changing times.
The Constitutional Convention adjourned from Philadelphia after four months, where they created the document that continues to be the foundation of our democracy. After that, just 9 states needed to ratify it before it became the law of the land. Delaware was the first state in the union and 9 was reached with New Hampshire in June of 1888. The following year George Washington would be sworn in as president and our system of 3 branches of government would begin.
To recap……
The Constitution is a document that continues to evolve over time. When it was drafted compromises had to be reached about representation for the states and enslaved people. Our bi-cameral legislature or two houses of congress (one with equal representation and the other based on population) was a compromise as was the Bill of Rights. Enslaved people counted as ⅗ and it would take until the 13th and 14th amendments for that to change.
Coming up next on the APsolute RecAP US Government Edition: we will continue looking at the preservation of rights with Federalist 51 and Limits on Government
Today’s Question of the day is about the 18th Amendment
Question: The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was subsequently undone with the 21st Amendment. What was the 18th Amendment about?