September 24, 2013

Objective: Students will be able to identify the opposing sides in the fight for ratification and describe the major arguments for and against the Constitution.

Question: Why did the Articles of Confederation fail? How did the Compromise differ from the Articles of Confederation?

Agenda: Notes Feds vs. Anti-Feds/Ratification Packets.

Once the Constitution is written it must go to the states for their approval

People will be able to vote for or against the Constitution

FEDERALISM – a system of government in which power is shared between the states and the national government

JAMES MADISON

• Writes The Federalist papers because he supports a strong central government

• Writes the first 10 amendments to the Constitution

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

• Alexander Hamilton a lawyer co-writes several The Federalist essays

• Supports a strong national government and ratification of the Constitution

Patrick Henry

• Active leader during the Revolution who demanded that the British “give me liberty, or give me death!"

• He is against the Constitution because it reduced states rights and had no Bill of Rights

George Mason

• Anti-Federalist, a Virginian Plantation owner

• Wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights which becomes the model for the Bill of Rights

• He refused to sign the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was included

An Unfair Advantage?

• The Federalists publish their essays in New York newspapers and pamphlets in 1787-1789

• Newspapers support the Federalist side and publish more Federalist writings than Anti-Federalist writings!

Two groups begin to develop:

1) FEDERALISTS – want the Constitution to pass as is

2) ANTI-FEDERALISTS – do NOT want the Constitution to pass as is

The Constitution is awesome! I think everyone should rush out

and vote for it!

1) Supported taking some powers from the states and giving them to the national government

2) Wanted to divide powers among the different branches of government

3) Wanted a single person to lead the executive branch

The Constitution is not worth the paper it is printed on! Where is the

Bill of Rights?

1) Wanted the states to keep the most important powers

2) Wanted the legislative branch to have more power than the executive branch

LEGISLATIVE (CONGRESS)

EXECUTIVE (PRESIDENT)

3) Feared a single person in the executive branch might become a king or tyrant

4) Believed a Bill of Rights need to be added to the Constitution to protect people’s rights

Both sides published their viewpoints in newspapers, pamphlets, etc.

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS – a series of essays which supported the Federalists viewpoint (wanted the Constitution to pass)

Federalists Anti-federalists

Supported removing some powers from the states and giving more powers to the National Government

Wanted important political powers to remain with the states

Favored dividing powers among different branches of government-filled with men of “reputation”

Wanted the Legislative Branch to have more power than the Executive Branch

Proposed a single person to lead the Executive Branch

Feared that a strong executive might become a king or a tyrant

No Bill of Rights Needed- they are “inferred” in the Constitution

Believed a Bill of Rights needed to be added to the Constitution to protect people’s rights

The Federalists Papers were written by such men as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay

James Madison John JayAlexander Hamilton

Federalists had an advantage because most newspapers supported their cause

Take a moment and reflect….

• Do the Anti-Federalists care more about protecting individual rights or promoting the common good?

• Do the Federalists care more about protecting individual rights or promoting the common good?

Individual Rights

• The Anti-Federalists were more concerned with protecting the rights of the individual people and states, then promoting the pubic good as a whole.

Common Good

• The Federalists were more concerned with promoting the common good of everyone then protecting individual rights

• “All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born; the other, the mass of people…. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore the first class a ….permanent share in the government….they therefore will ever maintain good government.”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #1:

Quote #1

• Who said it?

•FEDERALISTS

Quote #2:

• “It must be by this time evident to all men…that (the Articles of Confederation) is a system so radically vicious and unsound as to admit….an entire change.”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #2

• Who said it?

•FEDERALISTS

Quote #3:

• “Our country is too large to have all affairs directed by a single government.”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #3

• Who said it?

•ANTI-FEDERALISTS

Quote #4:

• “I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground – that all powers not delegate (given) to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, or to the people….”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote # 4

• Who said it?

•ANTI-FEDERALIST

Quote #5:

• “The powers contained in the constitution….ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote # 5

• Who said it?

•FEDERALISTS

Quote #6:

• “I am not among those who fear the people. They, not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #6

• Who said it?

•ANTI-FEDERALISTS

Quote #7:

• "I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire."

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #7

• Who said it?

•ANTI-FEDERALISTS

Quote #8:

• "I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire."

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #8

• Who said it?

• ANTI-FEDERALISTS

Quote #9

• Who said it?

•FEDERALISTS

Quote #10:

• “An elective [monarchy] was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote # 10

• Who said it?

•FEDERALISTS

Quote #11:

• “When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #11

• Who said it?

•ANTI-FEDERALISTS

Quote #12:

• “… the power vested in congress of sending troops for suppressing insurrections will always enable them to stifle the first struggles of freedom."

• Who said it? _______________________

Quote #12

• Who said it?

•ANTI-FEDERALISTS

By June of 1788 a total of 9 states had ratified (passed) the Constitution

9 states were required to officially make it the legal form of government

Two very important states though, Virginia and New York, had not yet passed it and were needed

Two important Virginians, GEORGE MASON and PATRICK HENRY were against the Constitution

George Mason Patrick Henry

Virginia finally passes it once they are convinced it will soon add a Bill of Rights

New York passes it once they hear Virginia had

Rhode Island is the last state to officially ratify it in 1790

BILL OF RIGHTS – the first ten amendments to the Constitution

Insures personal rights to each U.S. citizen

Final 5

• List 3 major differences between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.