part 5
Defending the Constitution:
The Struggle over Ratification
and the Bill of Rights
points to remember
1. After the Constitution was signed by the delegates to the Federal
Convention in Philadelphia, it was submitted to the States for ratification. The approval of only nine States was needed to make the Constitution the supreme law of the land. The delegates to the State ratifying
conventions were elected by the people, thereby placing the Constitution on a democratic foundation. The Americans were the first to establish popularly based constitutions.
2. The Anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution on a number of
grounds, but their chief objection was that it gave too much power to
the Federal government and encouraged consolidation.
3. The authors of The Federalist attempted to explain and defend the
Constitution in a series of 85 essays that were published in New York
newspapers and later distributed throughout the country. They agreed
that the new government would be powerful, but denied that it would
be too powerful or that it would be a threat to liberty and the independence of the States.
4. The federal system of government established by the new Constitution was a uniquely American contribution to the science of government. It was rooted not in abstract political theory but in compromise
and the practical necessities of the time. It is unlikely that the Constitution would have been acceptable to the American people had the
Framers stripped the States of their reserved powers and created a unitary form of government.
5. One of the major concerns expressed by the Anti-Federalists was
the issue of local control of civil liberties. They insisted that the Federal
government would be so powerful that it would trample on the rights
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