The constitution was constructed on September 17th 1787. It took quite a long time to ratify the constitution because there were a lot of disagreements and many heated debates over what was in it. Finally though, after many compromises and thoughtful reconsiderations the constitution was ratified. The founders of the constitution were delegates that were appointed by each states government to represent the welfare of the state that they were serving. They first meet in Philadelphia on May 25th, 1787. Fifty five men were sent from the states to represent them. Twelve of the thirteen states attended this meeting. The state that didn’t attend was Rhode Island. The meetings were to really be held over revising the Articles of Confederation which was the nation’s first constitution in 1777. The first Constitution was created after the Revolutionary War with Great Britain.
The Articles of Confederation was to be honored as a “loose confederation” or like a friendship among the thirteen states. It was thought of that the thirteen states could join together in resolving issues that faces the nation. The states were to be individually limited. They didn’t want to see any form of an executive branch such as Britain’s King George III, where in Britain the government was leaving the people under an extremely strong central government and it was stripping their freedoms. Within this Congress the states only had one vote. This gave the people of the states a voice in to what was to be done. In order though, to get something passed in Congress they needed to have a unanimous vote from all the states. This made passing things through Congress extremely difficult because many times a certain state would have vast interests that didn’t always go over with other states. So to pass something through this Congress was almost impossible. By having Congress run like this it made for a really weak congress, because nothing could ever get resolved. Congress then came to the conclusion that the states could be somewhat independent from the other states. The states now were free to establish their own trading and navigation laws, even if the other states didn’t agree with them. Congress could also no longer enforce a tax collection program; it all had to be given voluntarily from the states. This tax system killed the economy and proved that it didn’t work. The states also had to deal with problems on the trade front. Many trades were disrupted or completely halted due to pirates at sea. States also thought that it would be a good idea to mint their own currency but this resulted in mass inflation. The citizens were also become extremely angry over the things that were going on among the states.
With all of these problems facing the nation Virginia decided to take matters into their own hands by calling for a meeting in Annapolis Maryland, in 1786. The problem with this meeting was that only five states attended. Alexander Hamilton saved the convention from total collapse. Hamilton told Congress that they needed to summon all states to be in attendance at the next meeting in Philadelphia the following year. Congress agreed but stated that they wanted the meeting to be about weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was to bring up things that should be added to the Articles of Confederation from all the thirteen states. The delegates from the states realized that they all had two goals in common. They wanted to create a republic along with a new constitutional form of government. In attendance at the convention were members from all over the United States who all had different views as to what they wanted in the new republic. The main conflicts up for debate were the issues of; large and small states, northern and southern states, and slave and Free states. Those were the three main issues but there were also a plethora of other small issues. One positive thing about the delegates who came to the convention was that they all realized that there is a problem that needs to be fixed and that they need to compromise with one another in order to come to a final solution. They didn’t want the public’s interaction with the meeting so they met in secrecy with guards guarding the doors to the front of the convention. There were many famous names that were in attendance and also where later noted as the main framers of the constitution. George Washington was unanimously elected as the chairman of the convention. The man who was later known as “the man of the Constitution” was James Madison. The job of the convention and the delegates was to strength the republic. They wanted to form a government that when seen from across the Atlantic by Europe they would envy the United States.
These delegates met for seventeen weeks and discussed many different plans such as Virginia’s plan that was known as “large state plan.” This plan stated that the Articles of Confederation should be destroyed and that the republic needs to form a bicameral government. They also stated in this plan that it would be best to factor in the population and size of the states. This would give more representation to larger states. The House of Representatives members would be elected directly by the people of the state and that each member would serve a two year term and members of the senate would serve a term of six years. The states finally came to an agreement, but they still needed to have the constitution ratified. There were 42 delegates who refused to sign the constitution. In order to get the constitution ratified they needed an approval of two thirds or nine of the states. Then in July of 1789 the people of the United States approved and ratified the Constitution of the United States of America. This document was now known as the supreme law of the land.
To this day the Constitution of the United States is the oldest living Constitution. This document formed the first federal government, and also the first system of checks and balances that would prevent the government from having too much power. Thanks to the Delegates coming to a final compromise we can be a free American people.
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