3.4 The Road to Ratification

Unit 3-4

Lesson Overview

• Students Will Be Able To:

• Identify how the ratification process for the Constitution
formed the government by the "people."
• Identify the reasons Anti-Federalists objected to the
Constitution.
• Explain why factions formed over the ratification of the
Constitution and their views.

Vocabulary

• Anti Federalists
• Bill of Rights
• Federalists
• Federalist Papers
• Preamble

Essential Question- Why did Federalists and Anti-Federalists disagree during the ratification period of the U.S Constitution?

Let's Start At The Beginning...Preamble

• The Final Draft of the Constitution was assigned to the Committee of Style
• James Madison, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Hamilton, Rufus King and Gouverneur Morris
• Gouverneur Morris (I hope he gave his parents grief for the name) created the Preamble

• Preamble- introductory paragraph to the Constitution

​Do you know how our Preamble begins?

Multiple Choice

The first line in our Constitution's Preamble is....

• Our fore fathers fought for this country...

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness....

• Friends, countrymen, lend me your ears....

• We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union...

The U.S Constitution

• Every year Sep. 17th is celebrated as Constitution Day (Actual date of Ratification)

• It is organized with a Preamble and 7 Articles

• Hint- Think of the Preamble like an introductory paragraph and the Articles like the body paragraphs

The 7 Articles of the Constitution

• The first three Articles established and laid out how the
national government would look:

• Article I- Established the Legislative Branch (Senate and House of Representatives)

• Article II- Establishes the Executive Branch (President) and the Electoral College

• Article III- Establishes the Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court)

• Article IV- States must honor laws and court decisions of other states and lists the way to become a state

​

• Article V- Describes how to Amend (change) the Constitution
• Article VI- establishes the Constitution as the supreme law of the land
• Article VII- Explains how to ratify the Constitution followed by all the
signatures

• This document created the federal government and showed how power would be shared by both the States and National

​

So, what is the big deal about all of this? Why is this such an important document?

Multiple Choice

Why is the Constitution a big deal?

• It establishes the government of the United States of America

• It declares the United States independent from Great Britain

• It give states all the power in deciding how to govern themselves

Draw

Circle the correct answer: Which parts of the Constitution represent the concept of separation of powers?

Ratifying the Constitution

• The Convention sent the finished document to the states to ratify it (they need 9 out of the 13 States to agree to it)

• Each State had to have a convention with delegates that would vote on the Constitution

• So, the people of each state (those that were allowed to vote) had a say in the process

• However, this is where the problems started, because not everyone was happy with this new document.

• Point to Ponder- Why do you think that the Framers wanted to have the people of the states involved in this process?

• Only 39 of the 55 delegates signed the Constitution (Most had left
before the signing happened)
• Three delegates refused to sign it at all, they were still in favor of the
Virgina Plan (pictured below)
• George Mason, Edmund Randolph and Elbridge Gerry
• All of them wanted a Bill of Rights- a list of fundamental rights of the people that the government could not restrict

Ratifying the Constitution Continued...

The Federalists and Anti-Federalists

• Federalists
• Supported the ratification of the Constitution
• Wanted a strong central
government
• Wealthy landowners,
businesspeople and merchants

• Antifederalists
• Didn't support the ratification
of the Constitution
• Feared a strong central
government
• Included largely poorer
working-class people, farmers
and people who liked the
Articles of Confederation

Battling It Out In
The Newspapers

• Newspapers were the mass media of the day and how to get your message out to the people

• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay were the Federalists spokespeople

• Wrote 85 articles that were printed in the papers in support of the Constitution called the Federalist Papers

• The articles were largely targeting the people of New York to get them to ratify the Constitution, but it could apply to all people

• Called themselves Publius as an alias when writing an article, it means "The People," in Latin

Multiple Choice

Why did the Anti-Federalists object to the ratification of the Constitution?

• They wanted the national government to determine voter qualifications.

• 
  They believed the Constitution was too similar to the Articles of Confederation.

• They believed the central government would have too much power.

  
  

Multiple Choice

What was the purpose of the Federalist Papers?

• 
  to convince the states to reject the Constitution

• 
  to gain support for the ratification of the Constitution in New York

• 
  to promote the adoption of a Bill of Rights

• to educate the public on each article of the Constitution

Essential Question- Why did Federalists and Anti-Federalists disagree during the ratification period of the U.S. Constitution?

• The Constitutional Convention voted to approve the Constitution and sent it to the states for ratification on September 17, 1787, which today is celebrated as Constitution Day.

• Ratification delegates were elected by the people, signifying that “We the People” created the government of the United States, unlike the Articles of Confederation, which were formed by the state legislatures.

• Despite the months of work, some delegates of the Constitutional Convention refused to sign the final document because it lacked a Bill of Rights, which would put limits on the powers of the federal government.

​•During the ratification debates, factions formed among Federalists, who supported the adoption of the Constitution, and Anti-Federalists, who opposed the document because it lacked a Bill of Rights.

•Federalists and Anti-Federalists argued their perspectives in articles published in newspapers. 

•James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote 85 essays combined under one pen name to produce the Federalist Papers. Anti-Federalists also printed essays but were not united in one voice like the Federalist Papers. 

Essential Question Cont..

Tuesday:
The Factions Make Their Case

Wednesday:
Forming a Constitution Unit Review

Thursday:
Live Classroom

Friday:
Unit 3 Test