But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On February 16, , under the pretext of sending reinforcements to the French army occupying Portugal, The controversial U. Brigadier General John J. The Americans suffered 22 casualties, John W. Hinckley, Jr. On this day in June in two different years , two future presidents, Zachary Taylor and Richard Nixon, marry the women who will become their first ladies.
As a teen, he won a commission in the Spanish army and might have been expected to live out an Tambourine Man, marked the beginning of the folk-rock revolution.
In just a few months, the Byrds had become a household name, with a 1 single and a smash-hit album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of the Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. The Anti- Federalists claimed the Constitution gave the central government too much power, and without a Bill of Rights the people would be at risk of oppression. Led by Alexander Hamilton, albeit secretly at first, the Federalists were the first political party of the United States.
They supported the Constitution, and attempted to convince the States to ratify the document. Hamilton, along with John Jay and James Madison, anonymously published a series of essays known as the Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius. Both Hamilton and Madison argued that the Constitution didn't need a Bill of Rights, that it would create a "parchment barrier" that limited the rights of the people, as opposed to protecting them. However, they eventually made the concession and announced a willingness to take up the matter of the series of amendments which would become the Bill of Rights.
Without this compromise, the Constitution may never have been ratified by the States. Surprisingly enough, it was Federalist James Madison who eventually presented the Bill of Rights to Congress despite his former stance on the issue. In the ratification debate, the Anti-Federalists opposed to the Constitution. They complained that the new system threatened liberties, and failed to protect individual rights. The Anti-Federalists weren't exactly a united group, but instead involved many elements.
They provided that the Constitution could be ratified by the vote of nine of the thirteen states. Nor would unanimity be needed for future amendments.
Instead, the approval of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of the states would be required to ratify an amendment. From May until September , the delegates deliberated over all aspects of the new government. They worked out its structure and listed the specific powers of each branch. On September 17, , most of the delegates signed the new Constitution.
Otherwise, the signers had good reason to feel satisfied with their accomplishment. The elderly Benjamin Franklin pointed out at the end of their deliberations that the back of the chair where General Washington sat while presiding had a half-sun carved upon it. Afterward, some of the delegates traveled directly to New York City to serve in the Confederation Congress.
They presented the Constitution to the Congress, which transmitted it to the states for ratification. Proponents of the Constitution identified themselves as Federalists. Its skeptics became known as Anti-Federalists.
The opponents feared the Constitution would create a powerful central government that would overwhelm the states and would run contrary to the democratic spirit of the American Revolution.
The Constitution was a pragmatic document that sought to balance the varied interests of the large and small states, the mass of people and the wealthier elite, and those who supported and those who opposed human slavery. George Mason had never left his native Virginia until he traveled to Philadelphia as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Born on a Virginia plantation in , Mason was a planter and also treasurer of the Ohio Company, which sold land to settlers moving westward. To assist his work with the Ohio Company, he read each of the colonial charters.
At first he worked closely with his fellow Virginia delegate, James Madison, but soon their thinking diverged and Mason grew disillusioned. Mason feared the Constitution gave too much authority to the President over Congress, and too much power to the national government over the states. He died in , suspicious of the Constitution to the end.
The northern states had already begun to abolish slavery at the time of the Constitutional Convention, but the southern states were growing more dependent on slave labor. At the convention, southern delegates insisted that the Constitution not interfere with slavery. Northerners agreed, both because they considered slavery a state matter, and because they felt that the southern states would never enter the Union without such a guarantee.
The Constitution prohibited Congress from ending the importation of slaves before It also provided that slaves be counted as three-fifths of a person to determine taxation and representation in Congress. At the time, slaves accounted for about 20 percent of the U. During the ratification of the Constitution, the most inflammatory issue was not its toleration of slavery but its lack of a bill of rights. Thomas Jefferson, who had drafted the Declaration of Independence, was away serving as the American minister to France.
In order to win ratification, the authors of the Constitution needed to explain and defend their handiwork to the people. These essays have been reprinted in book form in many editions since then, and are known today as The Federalist. In one of his essays, Madison discussed the failure of past republics when one faction grew so strong that it dominated and suppressed all others.
Madison predicted that the American republic would survive because of its size and its continued growth. In a large republic, no single faction would predominate, he reasoned. This would prevent a powerful majority from suppressing the rights of the minority. As Americans moved westward into new territories, they would form new states that would join the Union and add even more groups into the equation. The arguments put forth by the authors of The Federalist carried great weight, and they still inform us about the thinking of the framers of the Constitution.
On December 7, , Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution, and other states quickly followed. The fiercest battles took place in the larger states.
To gain support, Madison pledged that the new government would move speedily to adopt a bill of rights. On June 25, , after four months of debate, the Virginia convention voted 89 to 79 for ratification. On July 26, New York concluded an equally divisive debate and approved the Constitution by the narrow margin of 30 to Still, eleven of the thirteen states had ratified the Constitution, which was two more than required.
North Carolina eventually joined the Union in , and Rhode Island in The journey to ratification, however, was a long and arduous process. Until the new Constitution was ratified, the country was governed by the Articles of Confederation. The Confederation Congress endorsed his initiative, and representatives from all 13 states were subsequently invited to convene in Philadelphia on May 25, , to participate in the Convention. The initial purpose of the Convention was for the delegates to amend the Articles of Confederation; however, the ultimate outcome was the proposal and creation of a completely new form of government.
Three months later, on September 17, , the Convention concluded with the signing by 38 out of 41 delegates present of the new U.
Under Article VII , it was agreed that the document would not be binding until its ratification by nine of the 13 existing states.
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