Us’s First Constitution: Should The Constitution Be Ratified

How well do you know about US’s First Constitution? The Constitution in the US reflected a strong political voice that many citizens didn’t have for a while increasing the power of the government. Many states were forming their own constitution, but America’s leaders felt a need for a sturdier, more controllable government. So were we should the constitution be ratified? Many different factors, plans and actions were made to improve our government in many ways as well as making our nation a whole.

It was a lengthy process trying to get a ratified constitution. Congress had to give the constitution over to the state legislators to decide if they actually wanted to be ratified. There were two sides to the constitution issue Federalist being the ones who believed in a strong central government and then the Antifederalists who implied that their rivals were negative thinkers who lacked a program of their own. Going against each other they both had good points about the Constitution; Antifederalists most convincing evidence was that the proposed Constitution lacked a bill of rights but Federalists struck back saying that Constitution could preserve the Republican ideals of the Revolution far better than the Articles had done. The Federalists won and had ratified ten states Virginia being the last state to ratify. Although it took some convincing to do the Constitution was finally ratified and now it was on to the Articles of Confederation which took place before the ratification.

The Articles of Confederation was the main thing that the government had before the constitution was completely created. Articles consisted of one legislative house, mainly of the richest and most conservative men in a colony; it was created to bound states together as well as give them majority of governments power. The articles were not the best thing for our country though; they refused to give central government the power to tax, they could not regulate trade or commence at a national level, state would not send aid to national government and congress had the power to make decisions but not enforce them. All of these weaknesses caused a downfall for the Articles and led to the need for a new document. This new document called the United States Constitution was created due to the fact that they regretted having created a national government so restricted that it could not deal with the problems faced both at home and abroad. At last the constitution was finally starting to be made right.

The Constitution Convention sat delegates from eleven of the thirteen states consisting of lawyers, merchants, or planters and many of them served as officers in the Continental Army. The Constitutional Convention did expect to make significant changes in the structure of the government and need to freely make the many compromises it would require ample reasons to keep deliberations a secret. One big question in the convention was if the articles should be revised or abandoned this led to the first plan of action called the Virginia Plan. Edmund Randolph proposed the existence of the Articles on the convention floor which called for a government with three branches- legislative, executive, and judicial to replace the Confederation’s Congress. This division of power gave congress the power to veto laws passed and came up with the idea of having three branches by state legislatures but not every delegate was on board with certain issues in the Virginia plan. Small states were against proportional so a small state delegate threw in a second proposal called the New Jersey Plan which still had three branches but gave Congress power to tax and to regulate trade; however this plan created a equal voice and vote for each state within a unicameral legislature. Those plans were being considered in the June, but a compromise came from Roger Sherman called the Great Compromise giving satisfaction to both sides by providing proportional representation in lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation within the upper house (Senate). This compromise resolved the first major controversy in the convention and created two legislative bodies in Congress but made delegates wonder which Americans would be counted to determine states population when eligible voters elect their members of the House. This was a stumble which led to the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Three-Fifths Compromise established that three-fifths of the slave population would be included in a state’s critical headcount which included that a slave trade could continue for a twenty-year period. The significance of this is 3/5 of a state’s slave population could be used for representation and taxation. All of these plans and compromises led to the creation of the Bill of Rights.

The Constitution was just ratified but there was a need for one more plan of action called the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights consisted of ten amendments which were added to the Constitution. Some of these rights were: the freedom of speech, religion, and the press as well as the right to bear arms even granting the right to a fair trial. The government also could not deprive of life, liberty, or property without “due process of law”. The ten amendments held a lot of rich history that now protect the role of the states in the American Government without this and all of the other plan of actions our government wouldn’t be where it is today. Who knows we could still have one branch of government or even have the states make the decisions if it wasn’t for the creation of the Constitution?