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LESSON 13

The Ratification Process

In this lesson we will discuss the ratification process that occurred between 1787 and 1789.

Each of the states held conventions to consider the merits of the new Constitution. One of the common factors of all of these conventions was the debate over a national bill of rights.

The Federalists argued that it was not necessary to change the Constitution without giving it a chance to work. The Anti-federalists were concerned that the federal government would have too much power without a bill of rights in the Constitution.

Over the past two hundred years, the U.S. Constitution has been changed through an informal and formal process.

The writers of the Constitution realized that the Constitution would have to be flexible enough to meet the demands of future generations.

James Madison, the Father of the U.S. Constitution, remarked that "In framing a system which we wish to last for ages, we should not lose sight of the changes that the ages will produce."

George Washington stated that future generations will determine "the alterations and amendments that are necessary..." to the framework of government that was created in the Constitution. (PICTURE: GWASH)

The framers of the Constitution provided a formal process for amending or changing the Constitution. This amending process outlines two ways an amendment may be proposed and two ways that an amendment can be ratified or approved.

This amendment process is shared by both the states and the federal government. Please note the chart on the next screen.

(PICTURE: contamen)

The Constitution has been formally amended or changed 27 times since 1789. We will conduct an in-depth study of each of these 27 formal amendments in the future lessons. This study will include an examination of the political, social, and economic events that led to the passage of these amendments.

The Constitution provides the means of proposing amendments and two methods of ratification, or acceptance. This makes a total of four possible ways changes can be made in the Constitution. Only two have ever been used.

One amendment was proposed by Congress and ratified by state conventions. This was the Twenty-first Amendment that repealed the Eighteenth Amendment.

The Constitution has also been amended through an informal process.

The Constitution has undergone many changes as a result of the judicial interpretation by the court system, the actions of the executive branch of government, and the legislation passed by Congress. Do you recall the definition of implied powers that was discussed in Lesson 13?

The Constitutional source of implied powers can be found in Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, which gives Congress the power to make all laws "necessary and proper" to carry out their other powers.

The "necessary and proper clause" gives the Congress a degree of freedom in carrying out the six goals of government outlined in the Preamble.

The actions of the executive and judicial branches have also changed the Constitution.

The expressed powers of the executive branch are listed on the next screen. Presidents throughout our history have used each of these expressed powers to expand and stretch the meaning of the Constitution.

1. Acts as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces

2. Appoints the members of the executive branch

3. Issues pardons

4. Makes treaties and appoints ambassadors to other countries

5. Appoints federal judges (including those on the Supreme Court)

6. Vetoes acts of Congress and calls special sessions

7. Delivers the State of the Union address

8. Commissions military officers

9. Ensures that laws are faithfully executed

Executive Implied Powers

Ensuring that laws are faithfully executed is one of the most significant of the expressed powers, because it gives the President the opportunity to expand the influence of the executive branch. The executive branch will be discussed in detail in later lessons.

Judicial Implied Powers

In Article 3, Section 1, the Constitution vested the judicial power of the United States in a Supreme Court and the inferior courts that would be created by Congress.

In Article 3, Section 2, the Federal courts were given jurisdiction over cases that involve the Constitution, federal laws, disagreements between states, or between the citizens of states.

Jurisdiction refers to the authority that a court has to hear a case.

The decisions of the Supreme Court have had a profound effect on the Constitution and the civil rights of the American citizens. We will discuss the powers of the courts in later lessons.

Amending the Constitution

The debate over the new Constitution began almost immediately after the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 after 89 days of meetings. George Washington sent the Constitution to the Congress under the Articles of Confederation and that body, on September 28, ordered that it be sent to the states for ratification or acceptance.

The process that allowed the states to ratify the Constitution was one of the Federalists proposals. This proposal called for ratification of the Constitution by popularly elected conventions in each state rather than by the legislatures.

An important provision was that the new Constitution would go into effect if nine states ratified the plan.

Arguments against the plan were led by the very people who did not attend. The people who favored the new Constitution, the Federalists, were led by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.

The fight over the ratification of the constitution was different in each state. The first state to ratify the Constitution with a unanimous vote was Delaware on December 7, 1787.

Constitutional Arguments:

For

1. Articles of Confederation were weak.

2. The Constitution would solve problems created by the Articles.

Against

1. God was not mentioned in the Constitution.

2. States could not print money.

3. Central government was too powerful.

4. There was no Bill of Rights.

By June 21, 1788 the nine states listed below had accepted the new Constitution. The ratification process was delayed because two of the largest states, Virginia and New York, had not yet reached a decision.

Delaware - December 7, 1787

Pennsylvania - December 12, 1788

New Jersey - December 18, 1787

Georgia - December 31, 1787

Connecticut - January 9, 1788

Massachusetts - February 6, 1788

Maryland - April 26, 1788

South Carolina - May 23, 1788

New Hampshire - June 21, 1788

In Virginia, George Washington played a key role by convincing Thomas Jefferson to support the Constitution.

Without Washington, the Anti-federalist group against the Constitution (James Monroe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason) would have had the added prestige of Jefferson among their group, and the Constitution might have failed.

Thomas Jefferson was concerned about a lack of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

Many historians believe that the addition of the Bill of Rights (First 10 Amendments) to the Constitution can be attributed to the writings and influence of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was dismayed when he read the Constitution, because the unalienable rights he had authored in the Declaration of Independence were missing.

Unalienable rights are those rights that cannot be lost or transferred.

The Declaration of Independence includes the following statement of basic human rights:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Just over eleven years had passed between the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 and the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787. The Revolutionary War had ended with the surrender of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781.

On September 3, 1783, the United States and Great Britain signed a peace treaty that formally ended the Revolutionary War.

The Intolerable Acts and other legislation passed by the British Parliament and the actions of King George III were still a vivid memory to the American citizens. Thomas Jefferson included in the Declaration of Independence a list of grievances against the British government because the basic rights of the colonists had been violated.

Many of these grievances were to become a part of the Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.

Between 1776 and 1787, eleven of the thirteen states wrote new constitutions. Many of these new state constitutions included bills of rights that guaranteed the basic freedoms of the citizens.

It is important to remember that these state bills of rights were written because of the actions of the British Government and the British Army before and during the Revolutionary War.

The rights of citizens included the freedom of the press, the right to a trial by jury, the freedom from unreasonable searches, and the illegal seizure of property.

Many people argued that a national bill of rights was not necessary because of the inclusion of bills of rights in these state constitutions.

Others believed that Article 6, Section 2 of the U. S. Constitution, the Supremacy Clause, would allow the federal government to override the guarantees in the state constitutions.

Article 6, Section 2 states: "This Constitution, and laws of the United States which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."

In other words, the bills of rights in the state constitutions could be restricted or removed by the federal government.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution are also known as the Bill of Rights.

These amendments were promised by the Federalists to influence people to support the ratification of the Constitution. Congress proposed these amendments as it had promised in 1789. It would take two years to ratify these ten amendments.

These ten amendments are some of the most important features of our federal system of government.

Remember, the first ten amendments are also known as the Bill of Rights.

Bill of Rights

1. Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.

2. Right to keep and bear arms and maintain state militias.

3. No lodging troops in private homes in peace time.

4. No searches and seizures without legal warrants.

5. Due process; cannot be made to testify against oneself.

6. Rights in criminal trials.

7. Jury trial in civil cases.

8. No excessive bail or cruel or unusual punishments.

9. Rights that are not enumerated, written down, are not denied.

10. Powers reserved to the states or people.