Remembering the Power of the United States Constitution

Considering the reverence often expressed about the U.S. Constitution, it may be surprising to some that the ratification process was a heated debate and even involved rioting in certain cities. At stake was whether new rules for the American government should replace the Articles of Confederation. The young nation was polarized: Federalists were in favor of the proposed constitution; anti-Federalists were not.

The anti-Federalists were divided amongst themselves: some arguing that the Articles of Confederation should be retained, some arguing that it would be best to scuttle the proposed constitution and start all over, and some arguing that any constitutional change must include a national "bill of rights" to safeguard individual freedom and the power of the states.

Defending the Document of the Public

The Federalist Papers, newspaper op-eds, were written to sway New York to support ratification. Those 85 essays were penned by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, men who advocated a stronger central government. New York was a "battleground state" and was largely dominated by anti-Federalists. As New York tarried, enough of the other states approved ratification. This included Massachusetts, which was politically divided in the wake of Shays's Rebellion, as well as Virginia, the nation's most populated state. With Virginia's approval, there was no way New York's obstinacy would matter.

By a close vote of 30-27, New York's convention finally agreed to ratification. In the end, the thirteen states were unanimous in adopting the U.S. Constitution. The famous quote of the entire ordeal belongs to Benjamin Franklin: "Gentleman, you have a republic, if you can keep it."

Setting the Stage for the Constitution

It was largely a "gentleman's agreement" to later draft the Bill of Rights, which became the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The framers, who met in Philadelphia with George Washington as the ceremonial head, did not include any formal bill of rights because at the time states already had such. Not until the first session of Congress did the national Bill of Rights emerge. Astonishingly, the French Revolution broke out the year George Washington became the first president and the National Assembly in Paris drafted The Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which is now known as the Enlightenment Era's first national bill of rights.

The French Rights of Man argues that ignorance, contempt, and neglect of human rights are the "sole causes" of government corruption. The French enumerated the natural rights as they saw them, and the concepts are comparable to the U.S. Bill of Rights as well as the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence. After all, both nations were influenced by Enlightenment philosophy.

Interestingly, the French document suggests that "Every community in which a separation of powers and a security of rights is not provided for, wants a constitution." The U.S. Constitution is ultimately about the separation of powers; that is, dividing the authority between three branches of the federal government and the state governments. Article I of the U.S. Constitution makes it clear that the original vision was for the legislative branch to be stronger than the executive and judiciary branches. The general concern at the time was "monarchism" and how to have an effective government without the executive becoming like a king.

Dr. Roger Chapman, who joined Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2007, teaches U.S. history, Russian history, the Cold War, history of modern terrorism, history of the American presidents, and modern humanities. He is the faculty advisor of the campus chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Dr. Chapman is the editor of the two-volume Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices (2010), editor of Social Scientists Explain the Tea Party Movement (2012), and co-editor of the three-volume Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices (2014). He has published in academic journals, namely the Journal of Cold War Studies, Film & History, the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, and the Florida Historical Quarterly.