Skip to content

4.3 The Enduring Constitution

The Debate Over Ratification

  1. Analyze Style and Rhetoric: Reread the quote by James Lincoln from South Carolina. What was his main idea? What language did he use to support this idea? James Lincoln’s main idea is that the proposed Constitution would remove ones liberty. A citizen would think that they would have power, but rather it wasn’t fully the citizen’s choice but rather the choice of those in government. Lincoln uses anaphora to provide emphasis to his questions, with the repetition of “What.” This encourages readers to use logos to logically question themselves and draw their own conclusions.

  2. Compare and Contrast: Use the graphic organizer below to take notes on the important arguments made by the Federalists and Antifederalists. Include information about how both sides convinced state ratifying committees to support or oppose the Constitution.

    Federalists Antifederalists
    Wanted strong central government
    Stressed weakness of the Articles and argument that only a new government based on the proposed Constitution could overcome the difficulties facing the nation    		 Wanted weaker central government and stronger state governments, as strong central governments created a elitist government by concentrating power in relatively few hands
    Argued that liberty was being taken away

  3. Draw Inferences: Why did many farmers oppose the Constitution? What inferences can you make about American farmers in the 1780s Farmers most likely did opposed the Constitution because farmers are very dependent on their local environments - which are controlled by their state, not the central government. By giving the state more power, the farmers would most likely have their needs taken care of, compared to the federal government who will need to consider everyone else. It is also said that there is a distrust between farmers, lawyers, and merchants, and other wealthy men, as they thought they were hostile.

Ratifying Conventions in the States

  1. Cite Evidence: What actions did the Federalists take to convince the states to ratify the Constitution? They said they would add the bill of rights, or the first 10 amendments, after ratification, which helped Federalists win the remaining states.

Constitutional Principles

  1. Vocabulary - Determine Meaning: In what way was the Constitution an example of popular sovereignty? Popular sovereignty is where power comes from the people, or when political authority is derived from the people. This referred to the white men who owned property back then.
  2. Synthesize: How did the ratified Constitution reflect the views of both Federalists and Antifederalists? Constitution created what the Federalists wanted: a strong central government. However, this was also alright for the Antifederalists as there were systems of checks and balances implemented to prevent the central government from getting too powerful.
  3. Explain: In what ways did the Constitution “insulate” the government from the people? They made the federal judges have life terms, so that they wouldn’t have to care about being reelected, etc. In other words, they don’t have to care about what the people say, the judges will only judge cases based off the constitution.