Everything about History Of The United States Constitution totally explained
The
United States Constitution was written in 1787, adopted in 1788, and took effect in 1789, replacing the
Articles of Confederation. It remains the basic law of the United States Federal (central) government.
Declaration of Independence
On
June 7,
1776, a resolution was introduced in the
Second Continental Congress declaring the union with
Great Britain dissolved, proposing the formation of foreign alliances, and suggesting the drafting of a plan of confederation to be submitted to the respective states. Independence was declared on
July 4,
1776; the preparation of a plan of confederation was postponed.
Moves toward a Constitution
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
Weaknesses in the
Articles of Confederation became apparent before the Revolution ended. Even before the thirteenth State (
Maryland) conditionally joined the "firm league of friendship" on
March 1,
1781, the need for a revenue amendment was widely conceded. Under the articles, Congress lacked authority to levy taxes; instead, it could request the States to contribute a share to the common treasury. The amounts gained through this technique were not sufficient. To remedy this defect, Congress applied to the States for power to lay duties and secure the public debts. Twelve States agreed to such an amendment, but
Rhode Island refused its consent, thereby defeating the proposal.
Thus was emphasized a second weakness in the Articles of Confederation, namely, the
Liberum Veto which each State possessed whenever amendments to that instrument were proposed. Not only did all amendments have to be ratified by each of the thirteen states, but all important legislation needed the approval of nine States. With several delegations often absent, one or two States were able to defeat legislative proposals of major importance.
The period between the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 1781 and the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 has been seen by some historians as one of weakness, dissension, and turmoil, and by others as basically stable and prosperous. Under the Articles of Confederation, no provisions were made for an executive branch to enforce the laws or for a national court system to interpret them. A legislature was the sole organ of the national government, but it had no power to force the states to do anything against their will. It could theoretically declare war and raise an army, but it couldn't force any state to meet its assigned quota for troops or for the arms and equipment needed to support them. It looked to the states for the income needed to finance its activities, but it couldn't punish a state for not contributing its share of the federal budget. Control of taxation and tariffs was left to the states, and each state could issue its own currency. In disputes between states--and there were many unsettled quarrels over state boundaries--Congress played the role of mediator and judge but couldn't require states to accept its decisions.
Without the power to collect taxes, the federated government plunged into debt. At the same time, seven of the 13 states printed large quantities of paper money, high in face value, but low in real purchasing power, in order to pay Revolutionary War veterans and a variety of creditors as well as settle debts between small farmers and large plantation owners.
By contrast, the
Massachusetts legislature imposed a tightly limited currency and high taxes, triggering the formation of a small army of farmers led by
Daniel Shays, a former Revolutionary War army captain. The incident came to be known as
Shays' Rebellion. In a bid to take over the Massachusetts statehouse, Shays and others demanded that
foreclosures and unfair
mortgages be dropped. Troops were called out to suppress the rebellion, but the national government took notice.
The absence of a single, uniform, and stable currency also disrupted trade among the states and with other countries. Not only did the value of paper currency vary from state to state, but some states, such as New York and Virginia, levied duties on products entering their ports from other states, thereby provoking retaliatory actions. The states could assert, as had the federal superintendent of finance, that their public credit was gone. To compound their problems, these newly independent states, having separated violently from Britain, no longer received favored treatment at British ports. When U.S. minister
John Adams tried to negotiate a commercial treaty in 1785, the British refused on the grounds that the individual states wouldn't be bound by it.
The weak central government also lacked the power to back its policies with military strength. As a result, it was inevitably handicapped in foreign affairs. The British refused to withdraw their troops from the forts and trading posts in the new nation's
Northwest Territory, as they'd agreed to do in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 that marked the end of the Revolutionary War. To make matters worse, British officers on the northern boundaries and Spanish officers to the south supplied arms to various
American Indian tribes and encouraged them to attack American settlers. The Spanish, who controlled
Florida and
Louisiana, as well as all territory west of the Mississippi River, also refused to allow western American farmers to use the port of
New Orleans to ship produce.
Other imperfections in the Articles of Confederation proved embarrassing as well. Congress could, for example, negotiate treaties with foreign powers, but all treaties had to be ratified by the several States. Even when a treaty was approved, Congress lacked authority to secure obedience. Congress couldn't act directly upon the States or upon individuals. Under such circumstances, foreign nations doubted the value of a treaty with the new confederation. Furthermore, Congress had no authority to regulate foreign or interstate commerce. Legislation in this field, subject to unimportant exceptions, was left to the individual States. Disputes between States with common interests in the navigation of certain rivers and bays were inevitable. Discriminatory regulations were followed by reprisals.
Although there were signs of returning prosperity in some areas of the fledgling nation, domestic and foreign problems continued to grow. It became increasingly clear to many nationalists that the confederation's central government wasn't strong enough to establish a sound financial system, to regulate trade, to enforce treaties, or to go to war when needed. With
Shays' Rebellion of 1786 vividly in mind, George Washington warned: "There are combustibles in every state which a spark might set fire to."
Mount Vernon Conference
Virginia, recognizing the need for an agreement with Maryland respecting the navigation and jurisdiction of the
Potomac River, appointed, in June 1784, four commissioners to "frame such liberal and equitable regulations concerning the said river as may be mutually advantageous to the two States." Maryland, in January 1785, responded to the Virginia resolution by appointing a like number of commissioners "for the purpose of settling the navigation and jurisdiction over that part of the bay of
Chesapeake which lies within the limits of Virginia, and over the rivers
Potomac and
Pocomoke" with full power on behalf of Maryland "to adjudge and settle the jurisdiction to be exercised by the said State, respectively, over the waters and navigations of the same."
At the invitation of
George Washington, the commissioners met at his
Mount Vernon home, in March 1785, and drafted a compact which, in many of its details relative to the navigation and jurisdiction of the Potomac, is still in force. What is more important, the commissioners submitted to their respective States a report in favor of a convention of all the States "to take into consideration the trade and commerce" of the
Confederation. Virginia, in January 1786, advocated such a convention, authorizing its commissioners to meet with those of other States, at a time and place to be agreed on, "to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to examine the relative situations and trade of the said State; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several State, such an act relative to this great object, as when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress, effectually to provide for the same."
Annapolis Convention
This proposal for a general trade convention seemingly met with general approval; nine States appointed commissioners. Under the leadership of the Virginia delegation, which included
Randolph and
Madison,
Annapolis was accepted as the place and the first Monday in September 1786 as the time for the convention. The attendance at Annapolis proved disappointing. Only five States--
Virginia,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware,
New Jersey, and
New York--were represented; delegates from
Massachusetts,
New Hampshire,
North Carolina, and
Rhode Island failed to attend. Because of the small representation, the
Annapolis Convention didn't deem “it advisable to proceed on the business of their mission.” After an exchange of views, the Annapolis delegates unanimously submitted to their respective States a report in which they suggested that a convention of representatives from all the States meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday in May (May 13) 1787 to examine the defects in the existing system of government and formulate "a plan for supplying such defects as may be discovered."
The Virginia legislature acted promptly upon this recommendation and appointed a delegation to go to Philadelphia. Within a few weeks, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina,
Delaware, and
Georgia also made appointments. New York and several other States hesitated on the ground that, without the consent of the Continental Congress, the work of the convention would be extra-legal; that Congress alone could propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation.
George Washington was quite unwilling to attend an irregular convention. Congressional approval of the proposed convention became, therefore, highly important. After some hesitancy, Congress approved the suggestion for a convention at Philadelphia "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and reporting to Congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein as shall when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the States render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union."
Therefore, the remaining States,
Rhode Island alone excepted, appointed in due course delegates to the Convention, and Washington accepted membership on the Virginia delegation.
Philadelphia Convention
On
February 21,
1787, Congress resolved: "It is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation." On the appointed day,
May 14, few representatives were present. The Convention (also known as the
Philadelphia Convention) only obtained a quorum—delegates of seven states—on
May 25.
The 55 delegates who drafted the Constitution included most of the outstanding leaders, or
Founding Fathers, of the new nation. They represented a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and stations in life, although they shared a common background: the vast majority of them were wealthy landowners and all were
white males. All agreed, however, on the central objectives expressed in the preamble to the Constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The primary aim of the Constitution was to create a strong elected government that was responsive to the will of the people, although there's some controversy over this. Many of the Founding Fathers believed that the new government needed to be insulated from the will of the people; hence the design of such features as the
Electoral College or the election of
Senators by the state legislatures. The concept of sovereignty of the people in a republic was new--a key ingredient of
Republicanism in the United States. By the time the Constitution was adopted, Americans had considerable expertise in the art of self-government. Long before independence was declared, the colonies were functioning governmental units controlled by the people. By 1777, ten of the thirteen states had adopted their own constitutions. Most states had a governor elected by the state legislature. The legislature itself was elected by popular vote. Every state but
Pennsylvania had a bicameral legislature as well.
The
Articles of Confederation had tried to unite these self-governing states. The Constitution, by contrast, established a strong central, or federal, government with broad powers to regulate relations between the states and with sole responsibility in such areas as foreign affairs and defense.
Drafting the Constitution
The sense of potential disaster and the need for drastic change pervaded the
Constitutional Convention that began its deliberations on
May 25,
1787. All of the delegates were convinced that an effective central government with a wide range of enforceable powers must replace the weaker Congress established by the Articles of Confederation.
On
May 29,
Edmund Randolph, on behalf of the Virginia delegation, submitted to the convention 15 propositions as a plan of government. Despite the fact that the delegates were limited by the instructions of their State legislatures to a revision of the Articles, Virginia had really recommended a new instrument of government. For example, provision was made in the
Virginia Plan for the separation of the three branches of government; under the Articles executive, legislative, and judicial powers were vested in the Congress. Furthermore, the legislature was to consist of two houses rather than one.
On
May 30, the Convention went into a committee of the whole to consider the 15 propositions of the Virginia Plan
seriatim. These discussions continued until
June 13, when the Virginia resolutions in amended form were reported out of committee.
The delegates agreed that the new government would be composed of three separate, branches, based on ideals enumerated in
John Locke's
Two Treatises of Government: legislative, judicial, and executive, each with distinct powers to
balance those of the other two branches. It was also agreed that the legislative branch, like the British
Parliament, and the state legislatures (except Pennsylvania), should consist of
two houses.
Beyond this point, however, there were sharp differences of opinion that threatened, at times, to disrupt the convention and cut short its proceedings before a constitution was drafted. The Virginia Plan provided for
proportional representation in both houses. The small States were dissatisfied.
The large states argued in favor of proportional representation in the legislature--that is, each state should have voting power according to its population, calling equal representation, "confessedly unjust." The small states, fearing domination by the large ones, insisted on equal representation for all states.
At the time of the convention, the South was growing more quickly than the North, and it was Southern states who had the most extensive Western claims.
South Carolina,
North Carolina, and
Georgia were small in the 1780s, but they expected growth, and thus favored proportional representation.
New York was one of the largest states at the time, but two of its three representatives (Hamilton being the exception) favored an equal representation, as part of their desire to see maximum autonomy for the states. (The two representatives other than Hamilton left the convention before the representation issue was resolved).
James Madison and
Alexander Hamilton were two of the leaders of the proportional representation group. Madison argued that a conspiracy of large states against the small states was unrealistic, as the large states were so different from each other. Hamilton argued that the states were artificial entities made up of individuals, and accused small state representatives of wanting power, not liberty. (see
History of the United States Senate).
For their part, the small state representatives argued that the states were, in fact, equal, and that proportional representation would be unfair to them.
Gunning Bedford, Jr. of
Delaware notoriously threatened on behalf of the small states, "the small ones w[ould] find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice."
Therefore, on
June 14, when the Convention was ready to consider the report on the Virginia plan,
William Paterson of
New Jersey requested an adjournment to allow certain delegations more time to prepare a substitute plan. The request was granted, and, on the next day, Paterson submitted nine resolutions embodying important changes in the Articles of Confederation, but strictly amendatory in nature. Vigorous debate followed. On
June 19, the delegates rejected the
New Jersey plan and voted to proceed with a discussion of the Virginia Plan. The small States became more and more discontented; there were threats of withdrawal. On
July 2, the Convention was deadlocked over giving each State an equal vote in the upper house--five States in the affirmative, five in the negative, one divided.
The problem was referred to a committee of 11, there being 1 delegate from each State, to effect a compromise. On
July 5, the committee submitted its report, which became the basis for the “
Great Compromise" of the Convention. The report recommended: in the upper house, each State should have an equal vote; in the lower house, each State should have one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, counting three-fifths of the slaves; money bills should originate in the lower house (not subject to amendment by the upper chamber).
After six weeks of tumult,
North Carolina switched its vote to equal representation and
Massachusetts abstained, and a compromise was reached, the so called "Great Compromise." In the "Great Compromise," every state was given equal representation, previously known as the
New Jersey Plan, in one house of Congress and proportional representation, known before as the
Virginia Plan, in the other. In the
Senate, every state would have two seats. In the
House of Representatives, the number of seats would depend on population. Because it was considered more responsive to majority sentiment, the House of Representatives was given the power to originate all legislation dealing with the federal budget and revenues/taxation.
When, on
July 12, the motion of
Gouverneur Morris of
Pennsylvania that direct taxation should also be in proportion to representation was adopted, the crisis had been successfully surmounted. A compromise spirit began to prevail; however, the small States were not willing to support a strong national government.
The Great Compromise ended the rift between the large and small states, but throughout the summer the delegates worked out numerous other compromises. Some delegates, fearful of giving too much power to the
people, argued for indirect election of all federal officials; others wanted as broad an electoral base as possible. Some wanted to exclude the western territories from eventual statehood; others saw the future strength of the nation in the lands beyond the
Appalachian Mountains. There were sectional interests to be balanced; differing views to be reconciled on the term, powers, and method of selection of the president; and conflicting ideas on the role of the federal judiciary.
The high quality of the delegates to the convention eased the way to compromise. Only a few of the great leaders of the American Revolution were absent:
Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams, both future presidents, were serving as America's envoys to
France and
Britain, respectively;
John Jay was busy as secretary of foreign affairs of the Confederation. A handful of others, including
Samuel Adams,
Thomas Paine, and
Patrick Henry, chose not to participate, believing that the existing governmental structure was sound. Of those in attendance, the best known by far was
George Washington, commander of American troops and hero of the Revolution, who presided over the convention.
Benjamin Franklin, the scientist, scholar, and diplomat, was also there. So, too, were such outstanding men as
James Madison of Virginia,
Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, and
Alexander Hamilton, the brilliant young lawyer and soldier from
New York.
Even the youngest delegates, still in their twenties and thirties, had already displayed political and intellectual gifts. As Thomas Jefferson in
Paris wrote to John Adams in
London, "It really is an assembly of demigods."
Debates on the Virginia resolutions continued. The 15 original resolutions had been expanded into 23. Since these resolutions were largely declarations of principles, on
July 24, a committee of five (
Edward Rutledge of
South Carolina,
Edmund Randolph of Virginia,
Nathaniel Gorham of
Massachusetts,
Oliver Ellsworth of
Connecticut, and
James Wilson of
Pennsylvania) was elected to draft a detailed constitution embodying the fundamental principles which had thus far been approved. The Convention adjourned from
July 26 to
August 6 to await the report of this "committee of detail". This committee, in preparing its draft of a Constitution, turned for assistance to the State constitutions, to the Articles of Confederation, to the various plans which had been submitted to the Convention and other available material. On the whole, the report of the committee conformed to the resolutions adopted by the Convention, though on many clauses the members of the committee left the imprint of their individual and collective judgments. In a few instances, the committee avowedly exercised considerable discretion.
Some of the ideas embodied in the Constitution were new, but many were drawn from
Classical Antiquity and the British governmental tradition of
mixed government which was in practice among 12 of the 13 states and were advocated by the writings of
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. The United States Constitution was partly based on ideas from the
uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, such as Article 39 from the British
Magna Carta of
1215, which states:
No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.
The
British Bill of Rights also acted as a source of ideas for the United States Constitution. For example, like the British Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution requires jury trials, contains a right to bear arms, and prohibits excessive bail and of "cruel and unusual punishments".
The
Declaration of Independence also acted as an important guide, keeping the minds of the delegates fixed on the ideas of self-government and preservation of fundamental
human rights. The writings of such European
political philosophers as
Montesquieu and
John Locke were also influential. What they sought to create was a balanced government of
checks and balances.
From
August 6 to
September 10, the report of the committee of detail was
discussed, section by section, clause by clause. Details were attended to, further compromises were effected. Toward the close of these discussions, on
September 8, another committee of five (
William Samuel Johnson of
Connecticut,
Alexander Hamilton of
New York,
Gouverneur Morris of
Pennsylvania,
James Madison of
Virginia, and
Rufus King of
Massachusetts.) was appointed “to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed to by the house.”
On Wednesday,
September 12, the report of the "committee of style" was ordered printed for the convenience of the delegates. For three days, the Convention compared this report with the proceedings of the Convention. The Constitution was then ordered engrossed on Saturday,
September 15, and the work was done by
Jacob Shallus.
The Convention met on Monday,
September 17, for its final session. Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result. A few deemed the new Constitution a mere makeshift, a series of unfortunate compromises. Some delegates left before the ceremony, and three of those remaining refused to sign:
Edmund Randolph and
George Mason of Virginia, and
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. Of the 39 who did sign, probably no one was completely satisfied, and their views were ably summed up by
Benjamin Franklin, who said, "There are several parts of this Constitution which I don't at present approve, but I'm not sure I'll never approve them." He would accept the Constitution, however, "because I expect no better and because I'm not sure that it isn't the best."
An amendment was agreed upon to change "the number of Representatives shan't exceed one for every forty thousand" to "the number of Representatives shan't exceed one for every thirty thousand." A paragraph making clear this change and a few minor modifications was appended to the document by Shallus, and attested to by secretary
William Jackson.
The advocates of the Constitution, realizing the impending difficulty of obtaining the consent of the States to the new instrument of Government, were anxious to obtain the unanimous support of the delegations from each State. It was feared that many of the delegates would refuse to give their individual assent to the Constitution. Therefore, in order that the action of the Convention would appear to be unanimous, Gouverneur Morris devised the formula “Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present the 17th of September...In witness whereof we've hereunto subscribed our names.” Thirty-nine of the forty-two delegates present thereupon “subscribed” to the document.
Ratification
It was within the power of the old Congress to expedite or block the ratification of the new Constitution. The document which the Philadelphia Convention presented was technically only a revision of the Articles of Confederation. But the last article of the new instrument provided that when ratified by conventions in nine states, it should go into effect among the States so acting. In effect, Congress was asked to sanction a secession of nine States from the old Union which had been declared perpetual. Congress eventually yielded and passed the Constitution on to the States.
Then followed an arduous process of
ratification of the Constitution by specially constituted conventions. The need for only nine states was a controversial decision at the time, since the
Articles of Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of all the states. Despite this, the new Constitution was ratified by all 13 states within two and a half years.
Three members of the Convention—
Madison,
Gorham, and
King—were also Members of Congress. They proceeded at once to New York, where Congress was in session, to placate the expected opposition. Aware of their vanishing authority, Congress on
September 28, after some debate, unanimously decided to submit the Constitution to the States for action. It made no recommendation for or against adoption.
Two parties soon developed, one in opposition (
Antifederalists), and one in support (
Federalists), of the Constitution, and the Constitution was debated, criticized, and expounded clause by clause.
Hamilton,
Madison, and
Jay, under the name of "
Publius," wrote a series of commentaries, now known as the
Federalist Papers, in support of the new instrument of government. These commentaries on the Constitution, written during the struggle for ratification, have been frequently cited by the Supreme Court as an authoritative contemporary interpretation of the meaning of its provisions. The closeness and bitterness of the struggle over ratification and the conferring of additional powers on the central government can scarcely be exaggerated. In some states, ratification was effected only after a bitter struggle in the state convention itself.
Delaware, on
December 7,
1787, became the first State to ratify the new Constitution, the vote being unanimous. Pennsylvania ratified on
December 12,
1787, by a vote of 46 to 23 (66.67%), a vote scarcely indicative of the struggle which had taken place in that State. New Jersey ratified on
December 19,
1787, and Georgia on
January 2,
1788, the vote in both was unanimous. In New York, fully two thirds of the convention were at first opposed to the Constitution. Hamilton led the Federalist campaign, including the fast-paced appearance of the Federalist Papers in New York newspapers. An attempt to attach conditions to ratification almost succeeded, but on
July 26,
1788, New York ratified, with a recommendation that a bill of rights be appended. The vote was close—yeas 30 (52.6%), nays 27—due largely to Hamilton's forensic abilities and his reaching a few key compromises with moderate anti-Federalists led by
Melancton Smith. Opposition to ratification was led by Governor
George Clinton.
The Continental Congress—which still functioned at irregular intervals—passed a resolution on
September 13,
1788, to put the new Constitution into operation.
| Ratification of the Constitution |
| |
Date |
State |
Votes |
| Yes |
No |
| 1 |
|
|
30 |
0 |
| 2 |
|
|
46 |
23 |
| 3 |
|
|
38 |
0 |
| 4 |
|
|
26 |
0 |
| 5 |
|
|
128 |
40 |
| 6 |
|
|
187 |
168 |
| 7 |
|
|
63 |
11 |
| 8 |
|
|
149 |
73 |
| 9 |
|
|
57 |
47 |
| 10 |
|
|
89 |
79 |
| 11 |
|
|
30 |
27 |
| 12 |
|
|
194 |
77 |
| 13 |
|
|
34 |
32 |
The new government
The process of organizing the government began soon after ratification by Virginia and New York. On September 13, 1788, Congress fixed the city of New York as the seat of the new government. (The capital was moved to
Philadelphia in 1790 and to
Washington D.C., in 1800.) It set Wednesday,
January 7,
1789 as the day for choosing presidential electors; the Wednesday, February 4 for the meeting of the electors to select a president, and Wednesday, March 4 for the opening session of the new Congress and the beginning of the first presidential term. Thus,
March 4,
1789 became
inauguration day.
Under the Constitution, each state
legislature had the power to decide how presidential
electors, as well as representatives and senators, would be chosen. Some states opted for direct elections by the people, others for election by the legislature, and a few for a combination of the two. Rivalries were intense; delays in setting up the first elections under the new Constitution were inevitable. New Jersey, for example, chose direct elections but neglected to set a time for closing the polls, which stayed open for three weeks.
By
March 4,
1789, when the first Congress opened, only 13 of the 59 representatives and 8 of the 22 senators had arrived in
New York City. (Seats allotted to
North Carolina and
Rhode Island were not filled until those states ratified the Constitution.) A
quorum was finally attained in the House on April 1 and in the Senate on April 6. The two houses then met jointly to count the electoral vote.
To no one's surprise,
George Washington was unanimously elected the first president, and
John Adams of Massachusetts, the vice president. Adams arrived in New York on April 21, and Washington on April 23. They were sworn into office on
April 30,
1789. The business of setting up the new government was completed.
Bill of Rights
The
Constitution has been amended 27 times since 1789, and it's likely to be further revised in the future. In the first ten years after ratification, ten amendments, known collectively as the
Bill of Rights, were added. Congress approved these amendments as a block in September 1789 and eleven states had ratified them by the end of 1791.
Much of the initial resistance to the Constitution came, not from those opposed to strengthening the federal union, but from statesmen who felt that the rights of individuals must be specifically spelled out. One of these was
George Mason, author of the
Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was a forerunner of the Bill of Rights. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Mason refused to sign the document because he felt it didn't protect individual rights sufficiently. Indeed, Mason's opposition nearly blocked ratification by Virginia. Because of similar feelings in Massachusetts, that state conditioned its ratification on the addition of specific guarantees of individual rights. By the time the
First Congress convened, sentiment for adoption of such amendments was nearly unanimous, and the Congress lost little time in drafting them.
Subsequent amendments
Amendments to the Constitution subsequent to the Bill of Rights cover a wide range of subjects. One of the most far-reaching is the
fourteenth, ratified in
1868, which establishes a clear and simple definition of citizenship and guarantees equal treatment under the law. In essence, the Fourteenth Amendment required the states to abide by the protections of the Bill of Rights. Other amendments have limited the judicial power of the national government; changed the method of electing the president; forbidden slavery; protected the right to vote against denial because of race, color, sex, or previous condition of servitude; extended the congressional power to levy taxes to individual incomes; and instituted the election of U.S. senators by popular vote.
The most recent amendments include the
twenty-second, limiting the
president to two terms in office; the
twenty-third, granting citizens of the
District of Columbia the right to vote; the
twenty-fourth, giving citizens the right to vote regardless of failure to pay a poll tax; the
twenty-fifth, providing for filling the office of
vice president when it becomes vacant in midterm; the
twenty-sixth, lowering the
voting age to 18; and the
twenty-seventh, concerning the compensation of U.S. senators and representatives.
Views of the Constitution
Prior to the
Civil War,
abolitionists hated the Constitution because it allowed slavery.
William Lloyd Garrison famously denounced the Constitution as "a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell."
During the
Gilded Age, when the United States government was swamped with corruption, there arose a view that the Constitution was defective.
Woodrow Wilson's scathing critique of the committee system and the
separation of powers in
Congressional Government was widely read among students of political science.
In the early
Twentieth Century, when the Supreme Court routinely struck down safeguards for consumers and workers as unconstitutional (see
Lochner era), the Constitution was criticized for being such a seemingly inflexible document that it put the government at the beck and call of big business and the wealthy.
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