3.7: Ratification

After the Constitution was written and signed, the states had to decide to accept or reject it. Article VII specified that the Constitution would not be official until nine states had ratified the it. Twelve states—with Rhode Island again being the exception—elected delegates to conventions to vote on the new plan for America’s government.

The ratification debate was a crucial moment in American history. The Constitutional Convention had clearly not kept to its stated purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it had designed an entirely new system of government. It was essentially asking the states to secede from the old system and join the new one. This would be nothing short of a rebellion against the existing government—a bloodless rebellion with noble intentions, but a rebellion nonetheless.

Leading the fight to ratify the Constitution was a faction calling themselves the Federalists, which included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. The Federalists had supported a stronger national government during the Constitutional Convention and were generally satisfied with the result. They believed separation of powers and checks and balances would prevent the new government from using its powers tyrannically.

Opposing ratification were the Anti-Federalists, including Samuel Adams, George Clinton, Patrick Henry, and George Mason. To them, the Constitution represented a major power grab by the national government. It would strip the states of their sovereignty and leave America back where it started, with an oppressive government and no safeguards for people’s rights. Their perspective was informed by historical examples of countries, such as the Roman Republic, that had attempted large-scale democratic government only to revert to monarchy.

The Federalists and Anti-Federalists waged a war of words at the state conventions and in the press. Essays by Anti-Federalists in New York newspapers criticized the new Constitution and urged the states to reject it. The authors of these essays often wrote pseudonymously, using pen names such as “Cato” (a Roman senator who committed suicide rather than live under Julius Caesar’s dictatorship) and “Brutus” (one of the senators who eventually stabbed Caesar) to emphasize that the Constitution would lead to tyranny.

Tourists visit the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., where America’s founding documents are displayed beneath a mural of 25 signers of the Constitution.

In Tourists visit the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., where America’s founding documents are displayed beneath a mural of 25 signers of the Constitution. response, three Federalists—Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay—wrote 85 essays defending the Constitution. These essays, known today as the Federalist Papers, were signed “Publius” in honor of one of the founders of the Roman Republic. The Federalist Papers responded directly to the Anti-Federalists’ arguments, explaining and justifying each part of the Constitution. Hamilton wrote the most essays and Jay the fewest, but Madison’s (particularly Federalist No. 10 and No. 51) eventually became the most famous and widely read.

The Federalists won in the end. Anti-Federalist at state ratifying conventions were convinced to support the Constitution on the condition that amendments be made to secure certain liberties, a condition that would eventually lead to the creation of the Bill of Rights. One by one the states accepted the Constitution until New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it in June of 1788, satisfying the requirement in Article VII. America’s second—and, so far, last—constitution went into effect a year later in 1789.