The Constitution’s ratification
In 1787, Congress became mindful of the weakness of the Article of confederation. They were also worried about the dangers that the authoritarian government would have brought. Therefore, they decided to develop a system that would allow a counter check of powers in different government branches and amalgamate all the 13 American states. Additionally, this new form of government would allow the house of the legislature to oversee one another. The Constitution was ordained to bring a perfect union, bring standard fortification, ensure justice prevails, and liberate America’s people.
The United States Constitution is a confounding document. It has proved to be so stable and flexible enough to have remained influential for more than 200 years. The United States government was formed to rectify the government’s weakness of the Articles of confederation that existed shortly before the emergence of the current Constitution. One of The main features of the new government was the separation of power. The federal government was divided into three branches; the executive power endowed to the President, the legislative power he invested in Congress ( Both House of Representatives and the Senate). The judicial power that surrounds the Court of supreme and federal courts put in place by Congress.
There were several issues in the Philadelphia plan that brought about the conflict at the conference. Slavery, executive powers, and representation were the hot topics about division during the constitutional convention. At this time, the 13 Britain colonies were considered the 13 states, but they were in unison under a central government. The States were having different opinions on slavery, representation, and the State vs. federal powers. The states had to compromise on slavery matters and agreed on the ‘Three Fifth compromise” in which the Congress assumed powers of regulating the slavery business. In representation, there was a conflict between the large states and the smaller states. The issue of population and government size rose, but the great compromise allowed equal representation by establishing the Senate and The House of Representatives. Lastly, there was a misunderstanding in the delegates on who between the State and the federal government should have more powers to overrule another. They agreed to allocate a few responsibilities to the federal government; while the State was left with all the other functions.
Between 1787 and 1789, the debate about the Constitution’s ratification had brought bad blood between the Americans and managed to divide it into two factions. The Federalists supported the new Constitution while, on the other hand, there were Antifederalists who were against it. At least nine States were expected to ratify the new Constitution of the 13 total states. The Constitution’s architectures knew that only after all of the 13 States ratified the Constitution, it will have absolute power. The main federalist worry was on strengthening the national government to achieve unity and stability; on the contrary, their opponents were worried that the new Constitution would take away power from the State, translating to powerless people.
The fiery debate between these rival groups raged ferociously. Fortunately, the Federalists finally agreed that a bill of rights should be added to the Constitution immediately after ratification. After some journalists had written a series of newspapers on the new federal system that may have convinced many Americans, especially in New York, to accept the new Constitution, by 1790, all the holdout states had been persuaded to ratify the document.