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“By the People”
• John Adams’ Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest functioning constitution in the world.
• The American Constitution is the second oldest.
• What do both of these documents have in common?
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“. . . A Government of Laws, and Not of Men”
• When constitutions are created by legislatures, the constitution is subservient to the legislature.
• In Contrast, both the Massachusetts and U.S. Constitutions are superior to the legislature, since they had come from the people.
• Many legislatures have created constitutions, only to change them – or do away with them – after a fickle 51% vote.
• As a result, these constitutions never lasted very long.
• The founders wanted to create a document that would stand the test of time.
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Important Clarification!
• The federalists in this debate are not necessarily the Federalist Party that formed in the 1790s, though many in this movement do join the Federalist Party.
• Here, “federalist” refers to a loose movement and should not be capitalized since it is not a proper noun.
• Likewise, “anti-federalist” refers to a very loose movement and not a proper noun.
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The Federalists
• Those who favored ratification of the Constitution were known as federalists.
• Noteworthy founders such as George Washington, Ben Franklin, Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson supported ratification.
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay went so far as to write serious letters to New York Newspapers answering anti-federalist attacks and outlining reasons to ratify the Constitution.
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Hamilton
Madison
Jay
The Federalists
• The 85 letters written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay became known as The Federalist Papers.
• Written between September 1787 and August 1788, the letters were an attempt to convince New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution.
• Most of the letters were published in The New York Packet and The Independent Journal.
All 3 authors used the penname Publius in honor of the Roman consul who helped overthrow the Roman monarchy and
establish the Roman Republic in 509 B.C.
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The Anti-federalists• Anti-federalists fought against
the ratification of the Constitution.
• They believed that the Articles of Confederation could be strengthened.
• They ardently believed that states’ powers must be preserved in a weak union of states.
• Some notable anti-federalists included Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Thomas Paine.
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Adams Henry
Mason Paine
The Anti-federalists
• The anti-federalist papers were a series of editorials critical of the Constitution. – some argued that a strong
federal government would encroach too much on states’ powers.
– others worried the federal government posed a threat to the individual rights of citizens.
• Unlike, The Federalist Papers, these letters were written ad hoc, with no real coordinated effort.
Anti-federalists used a variety of pennames. It is widely believed, for
example, that Richard Henry Lee wrote as the “Federal Farmer.”
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Polarization
federalists
• wanted a stronger central government
• believed that since the Constitution only gave the central government a limited number of enumerated powers, it would not be able to infringe on most states’ powers or individual rights.
anti-federalists
• wanted power to reside with the states.
• demanded a bill of rights that would list the state powers and individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution to ensure that the federal government could never infringe upon those rights.
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Ratification of the Constitution made many Americans rethink just what the new United
States should look like.
Ratification!
• In the end, the federalists were able to achieve victories in enough states to ratify the Constitution.
• For their part, anti-federalists were able to convince legislators to adopt a Bill of Rights to protect the rights of citizens.
• The Bill of Rights was presented by James Madison to the first U.S. Congress as a series of Constitutional amendments.
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are referred to
collectively as the Bill of Rights.
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A Built-in Safeguard• An amendment process was built into the structure of the
Constitution because the Founders recognized that times change and laws should be able to change with the times.
• They did not, however, want the Constitution changed on a whim: – They wanted to make sure a super majority of Americans wanted to
change the Constitution before a change could be made.
– They did not want a quick 51% vote of a legislature to have the power to make any changes.
• Therefore, the amendment process is long and drawn out – by design.
• To date, there have only been 27 amendments added to the Constitution.
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