Sunday, November 8, 2009
Right after the revolutionary war was fought, the Articles of Confederation were written to set a new government. Unfortunately the articles of confederation failed, therefore they needed to start all over again with a new document called the Constitution which proposed a new federal government. The constitution needed to be ratified by the thirteen states, this wasn’t so easy since there were Anti-Federalists, people that opposed the constitution and federalists, which were for the constitution. Each of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists had their opinions and reasons for why they thought it should be ratified or not. Some important Federalists were George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams and John Jay. Some important Anti-Federalists were Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and George Mason. Each of these men had their own opinions for the new proposed Constitution.
In Document 1, it shows proof why the Constitution should be ratified. It’s an excerpt from a newspaper, they are saying to look at all the sadness in the country, all the complaints they get from farmers and other citizens. America got many insults from the courts in Europe. All of these things made them think that a new protecting and efficient government was required. The person who wrote this was a Federalist since he gave an example of problems in America and thought the Constitution should solve it all. Many Federalists supported the Constitution because of this. They wanted a new strong Federal Government that would unite all the states together as one nation. This support came mostly from wealthy merchants and plantation owners.
Not everyone agreed with the Constitution, many because they were afraid some rights were insecure. As it shows in Document 2, Mercy Ortis Warren wrote, there is no security in the system under the proposed new U.S. Constitution for the rights of conscience or the liberty of press. This means that he was opposing to the Constitution since he knew it would not have security for the rights or the liberty of press. He also says that there is no provision for a rotation nor anything else to prevent political office from remaining in the same hands for life. Many Americans saw that the Constitution did not have all the things they were expecting. Most of these people were farmers and tradesmen. This was in the head of many Anti-federalists and used it on the debates.
George Washington says in Document 3 that they have errors to correct, since they had probably too good opinions of human nature in forming the confederation. He is referring to the mistakes they have done in the Articles of Confederation. He proposes to help fix those mistakes by making the new Constitution. He also states that the thirteen states are in the habit of refusing to work with the national congress. George Washington was a Federalist as well as other people that thought the Constitution would unite all the states into one land to become a better nation. Something that they could add to the Constitution to make it better was check and balances, this would limit the three branches from getting too much power. Anti-federalists did not trust this.
In Document 4, you see a speech from Patrick Henry, an Anti-Federalist. He says that their rights and privileges are endangered and the sovereignty will be destroyed. He is afraid many rights will disappear if the Constitution is ratified. He knew rights like trial by jury or liberty of the press would be taken away. This reminded many Americans of the Monarchy in England and made them very afraid that the President would be like a King taking away the states rights and rule of only the wealthy. Several Anti-federalists saw that the constitution did not offer enough individual rights for the people. This is what the Anti-Federalists debated most of the time.
Before the Constitution was finally approved by all the states, there were many debates. The people were either Federalists or Anti-Federalists each with their own opinion for or against it. The Constitution was eventually ratified by the thirteen states and it is now a very important document for the United States.