Ratification and Amendments

Once the Constitutional Convention completed its work, the states had to ratify the Constitution. Nine states were required for the Constitution to become effective. Rather than allow the state legislatures to ratify the Constitution, Article VII called for ratification by state conventions called to consider ratification. This was seen as a move to keep the Constitution out of the hands of the people-controlled state legislatures where the chance of ratification was diminished.

By this time, the forces for the Constitution were labeled ìFederalistsî while the forces opposing the Constitution were labeled ìAnti-Federalists.î Other terms used at the time for the two sides were ìRatsî and ìAnti-Rats.î The Federalists were well organized while the Anti-Federalists had no central organization and were split on many issues. The dilemma for the Anti-Federalists was that they could neither accept nor reject the Constitution, since they were strongly committed to both their state and the United States. They had strong commitments to the following:

the great American republic and the small states;

civic virtue and commerce; and

private gain and public good.

During the ratification period, Federalists Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison published a series of papers under the pen name Publius. These papers illuminated the arguments in support of the Constitution. Hamilton wrote two-thirds of the 175,000 words contained in the eighty-five pamphlets. Federalist Paper No. 10 by James Madison dealt with the control of factions under the Constitution. Federalist Paper No. 51 by Madison dealt with the checks and balances on power under the Constitution. Both of these papers are in the Lowi textís Appendix.

Anti-Federalists had their own publications seeking public support. These included the Centinel essays published in Philadelphia, The Federal Farmer published by George Bryon, and Brutus by Robert Yates. Lesser-known publications included A [Maryland] Farmer, The Impartial Examiner, the speeches of Melancton Smith in New York, and the speeches of Patrick Henry in Virginia. With a more cohesive organization, it may have been possible for the Anti-Federalists to defeat the Constitution, since the vote in some of the states was very close. The points that the Anti-Federalists argued in 1788 are still relevant today. The main achievement of the Anti-Federalists was the agreement on the part of the Federalists to amend the Constitution with a Bill of Rights.

After the ninth state ratified, the Government of the United States of America was formed and George Washington was elected as the nationís first president. The first Congress approved the first twelve amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states. Ten of the twelve amendments were quickly ratified and became known as the Bill of Rights. One of the other two amendments, dealing with Congressional pay raises, did not get the required three-fourths of the states to ratify until 1992 as the 27th Amendment after a ìprolongedî 203-year ratification process. The other amendment, dealing with the apportionment of the House of Representatives, was never ratified.

Amendments sent to the states today normally require ratification by thirty-eight states within a seven-year period, although this period can be extended. For example, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was given three additional years after getting thirty-four states to ratify within the seven-year period. The forces supporting ERA were unable to get ratification by four more states in the extra three-year period. The amendment effort failedóthe fate of over 3,000 other proposed amendments, most of which fail in Congress, such as recent attempts to mandate the balance of the budget each year and to protect the flag.