Ratifying The Constitution Dbq

The United States constitution was signed and approved by the constitutional convention delegates in 1787, and it needed ratification from nine states as it is required in article VII of the constitution before it could be enforced. States that decided not to ratify the constitution will be considered a different country, and not part of the union. With this knowledge, the urge of the ratification led to a conflict among the delegates that resulted in numerous documents, essays, pamphlets, and articles. The conflict; perhaps debate consists of two opposing sides; the Federalists who wanted the ratification of the constitution, and the Anti-Federalists objected to the ratification. The Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton were in favor of …show more content…
Few of the Anti-Federalists influential figures such as George Mason, and Patrick Henry argued that ratifying of the constitution would result in problems evolving the nation to a completely new and unreliable government. Unlike the Federalists, the Anti-Federalists have differing positions on why the constitution should not be ratified; however, all its delegates preferred the States weak alliance under the Article of Confederation compared to the national government power under the constitution. The Anti-federalists formed a coalition with the Federalists by forging with James Madison, Thomas Jefferson a semi-federalists as he agrees with views from both sides, and others who came to realize the national government may gain too much power. They then used the ratification arguments of the federalists asserting that the power of the national government is limited, and the federal government has exceeded those powers. Regarding to the citizens, most of the citizens were against the Anti-Federalists view, as they believe the nation is weak enough already, and a centralized power is exactly what it needs. Despite the majority of the citizen’s opinion, the Anti-Federalists were still concerned about the Bill of Rights, and the preservation of certain rights of the people; such as trial by jury, freedom of speech, and other basic rights. They also express their thought on the power of the central government in the United States; saying that a nation as large as the Unite States could not be possibly controlled by one national government even though the constitution have granted them power. Despite the Anti-Federalists unity in opposing the ratification of the constitution, they could not come to an agreement on an alternative to operate the government. This made them