Though there were many opinions and points of view regarding the necessity of a constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation, all that diversity of opinion basically broke down into two factions: the Federalists who supported the ratification of the Constitution and the establishment of a strong central government, and the Antifederalists who feared implementation of the document and perceived it as a threat to state and individual rights won from Britain and established by the Articles of Confederation.
The four-month meeting that produced the Constitution had been held in great secrecy. The document was presented only after the delegates had agreed to its content, form, and wording. But the ratification of the Constitution would not be easy, even with the approval of the beloved George Washington. Ratification would not be debated behind closed doors, but in a public forum in villages and towns all over the country.
Even though there were numerous points of disagreement between the Federalists and Antifederalists, the main items were the Antifederalist’s fear of shifting power from the state governments to a federal government - what we today call “states rights” issues--and also the lack of a bill of rights within the Constitution to protect an individual’s basic freedoms.
With regard to the states rights issue, it was not only the anticipated loss of state sovereignty, but also the perceived transfer of power from the citizens to a government elite that was worrisome. The Antifederalists found the states rights issue chillingly similar to the relationship with Britain before the United States had broken away. The Anti Federalists hat the Constitution did not provide the security to keep a group or an individual from seizing power, and, once in power, stripping away hard-won (Links to an external site.) liberties.
George Mason of Virginia.
Added to this was the specter of Congress in charge of army, navy and militia forces--in effect, Anti Federalists believed, leaving the states defenseless. Also within the state’s sovereignty was the issue of ceding to the central government the power to tax. Staunch Antifederalist George Mason of Virginia saw this, despite statements of shared authority between state and central government and balance of power within the federal government as giving the ultimate authority to the central government, and undermining the states’ sovereignty. By the same token, the states, when they had the power to tax and the responsibility to support the Congress, had failed to provide the revenue necessary to run the country.
Perhaps the most unifying concern held by such notable Antifederalists as Patrick Henry, George Clinton and Samuel Adams was the lack of a specific bill of rights to protect individuals from the abuses of government. The Antifederalists’ desire to have a written guarantee of an individual’s rights had its historical precedent in such documents as the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and numerous colonial documents. The basic distrust of a strong central government fueled the Antifederalists fight to oppose or at least modify the Constitution.
To get their concerns to the people, the Antifederalists, under many pen names such as Sentinel and Cato, began printing their objections to the Constitution in newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides. Working on citizens’ fears that freedoms and rights would be lost if the states were to ratify the Constitution, they gained support in many areas.
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay - Authors of "The Federalist Papers"
The Federalists, represented notably by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, responded in kind by writing a series of 85 articles first under the signature "A Citizen of New York" and later under the pen name of Publius. These became known as The Federalist Papers.
Between October 1787 and April 1788, these articles discussed numerous areas that would be improved under a strong central government. The Federalists gained support by pointing out to merchants the benefits and stability to trade and commerce that would be provided by uniform trade laws and regulations. Publius also addressed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and the citizenry’s fears of anarchy by pointing to Shays’ Rebellion and explaining how a strong central government would prevent such outbreaks and improve security for the country.
The spirited Antifederalist-Federalist debate, weighing how the requirements of an independent and strong United States government could be balanced with the requirements of independent and free Americans, took place not just at the highest levels but also between citizens in taverns and on nearly every occasion people met. Perhaps never before or since have the citizens of a nation been so intimately involved in considering what kind of government they wished to live under. They wondered whether the Constitution was the tool to do the job. By what processes and what practices did the people wish to rule themselves?
As the argument continued, the Federalists moved quickly to bring the ratification of the Constitution to a vote in the states where they knew they held majority sway. On December, 7, 1787, in a unanimous vote, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution. It was followed less than a week later by Pennsylvania. By the second week in January 1788, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut had also met and approved the Constitution. Massachusetts was the next assembly to meet and despite long and vigorous debate, and the fact there was a strong Antifederalist contingent in the state, Massachusetts too ratified the Constitution.
The signing of the U.S. Constitution
With Massachusetts’ ratification in early February 1788, implementation of the Constitution required the ratification of only three more states. Approval of just nine of the thirteen states was needed since the ratification process was being held under the old Articles of Confederation and did not require a unanimous vote of the states for passage. However, ratification was never a foregone conclusion. The debate between the good points of the Constitution (and many of the Antifederalists conceded that there were many valuable aspects of the Constitution) and what some saw as weak or missing aspects of the document continued between the Federalists and Antifederalists.
By late May 1788, Maryland and South Carolina had carried out votes and approved ratification. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire also approved, and provided the decisive vote to ratify the Constitution. By the end of July, Virginia, and, by a very narrow margin, New York ratified the Constitution as well. Though the Constitution had already been implemented, the final ratification vote was narrowly passed in Rhode Island on May 29, 1790.
Though the Constitution was the law of the land, it had not been passed without compromise. Many of the states were uneasy about the lack of a bill of rights, and had formally asked for and received the promise of the addition of such a bill after the Constitution was ratified. The Federalist agreement to amend (Links to an external site.) the Constitution with the addition of specifically stated rights was the leverage that allowed them to win successful ratification votes in Massachusetts and several other states with strong Antifederalist beliefs. The critique and scrutiny of the Constitution brought by the Antifederalists slowed the ratification process and brought an extensive examination of that document that ultimately improved it.