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Back to Classroom-tested Lesson Plans and Handouts
Conflict
Over Ratifying the Constitution
Reading 1:
These lawyers, and men of learning,
and moneyed men, that talk so finely, and gloss over matters
so smoothly, to make us poor illiterate people swallow down
the pill, expect to get into Congress themselves...and then
they will swallow up all us little folks, like the great Leviathan.
Amos Singletary, 1788
Reading 2:
I am a plain man, and get my
living by the plough....I have lived in a part of the country
where I have known the worth of good government by the want
of it. There was a black cloud [Shays' Rebellion] that rose
in the east last winter, and spread over the west....It brought
on a state of anarchy and that led to tyranny. I say, it brought
anarchy. People that used to live peaceably, and were before
good neighbors, got distracted, and took up arms against government....
Our distress was so great that
we should have been glad to snatch at anything that looked like
a government. Had any person that was able to protect us come
and set up his standard, we should all have flocked to it, even
if it had been a monarch, and that monarch might have proved
a tyrant.
Jonathan Smith, Massachusetts
farmer
Reading 3:
A little rebellion, now and
then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world
as storms in the physical....It is a medicine necessary for
the sound health of government.
The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson, 1787
Reading 4:
It cannot be denied with truth,
that this new constitution is, in its first principles, most
highly and dangerously, oligarchic.
Richard Henry Lee, 1787
Reading 5:
Among the numerous advantages
promised by a well constructed union, none deserves to be more
accurately developed than its tendency to break and control
the violence of faction....Complaints are every where heard
from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the
friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal
liberty; that our governments are too unstable; that the public
good is disregarded in the conflict of rival parties; and that
measures are too often decided, not according to rules of justice,
and the rights of the minor party; but by the superior force
of an interested and overbearing majority....
The Federalist, 1799
1. Why did
opponents object to the Constitution?
2. How did
supporters of the Constitution defend the new plan of government?
3. Which quotations
do you find most persuasive--those that argue that the Constitution
represented a threat to the liberties of the people and an attempt
to impose aristocratic rule or those that argue that the Constitution
gives expression to republican values?
Politics and Society in Post-Revolutionary
America
| Composition
of State Assemblies in the 1780s |
| State |
Farmers |
Large
Landowners |
Artisan |
Professional |
Merchant |
| Massachusetts |
47 |
1 |
12 |
13 |
20 |
| New
York |
37 |
8 |
10 |
18 |
19 |
| Pennsylvania |
37 |
2 |
22 |
15 |
20 |
| South
Carolina |
14 |
32 |
3 |
15 |
13 |
| Virginia |
20 |
36 |
3 |
21 |
10 |
1. Which occupational
groups were most highly represented in the new state legislatures?
2. What differences
can you identify between the occupational make-up of the various
state legislatures?
| Changes
in Wealth of Elected Officials |
| |
Over
5,000
pounds sterling |
2,000-5,000
pounds sterling |
Under
2,000
pounds sterling |
| North |
|
|
|
| 1765-75 |
36
% |
47 % |
17 % |
| 1783-90 |
12 % |
26 % |
62 % |
| South |
|
|
|
| 1765-75 |
52 % |
36 % |
12 % |
| 1783-90 |
28 % |
42 % |
30 % |
1. What changes
took place in the wealth of elected officials over time?
2. In what
respects did the wealth of elected officials in the North and
South differ?
Differences between Federalists
and Antifederalists
| Political
Alignments of State Senators by Wealth |
| |
Federalist |
Antifederalist |
| Wealthy |
82
% |
18 % |
| Well-to-do |
65 % |
35 % |
| Moderate
means |
42 % |
58 % |
1. Were state
senators who supported the Constitution wealthier or poorer than
opponents of the Constitution?
2. What conclusion
might you draw about support for and opposition to the Constitution?
| Votes
of Delegates to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire
Ratifying Conventions, by Occupation |
| |
Federalist |
Antifederalist |
| Merchants,
manufacturers, doctors, lawyers, ministers, large landholders |
84
% |
16 % |
| Artisans,
innkeepers, surveyors |
64 % |
36 % |
| Farmers |
46 % |
54 % |
1. Which occupational
groups were most likely to support ratification of the Constitution?
2. Which occupational
groups were least likely to support ratification?
The Articles of Confederation
and the Constitution
Deficiencies in the Articles
of Confederation
- No separate executive branch
to carry out the laws of Congress.
- No national judiciary to handle
offenses against the central government's laws or to settle
disputes between states.
- Congress did not have the power
to levy taxes.
- Congress could not regulate
interstate and foreign commerce.
- The states as well as Congress
had the power to coin money.
- Congress could not support
an army or navy and was dependent on state militias.
- Nine states had to approve
every law.
- Amendment of the Articles required
unanimous consent.
| The
Bill of Rights |
| First
Amendment |
Freedom
of religion, speech, the press, peaceable assembly, and petition |
| Second
Amendment |
The
right to keep and bear arms |
| Third
Amendment |
Prohibits
quartering of troops in citizens' homes |
| Fourth
Amendment |
Protection
against unreasonable searches and seizures |
| Fifth
Amendment |
Rules
against taking of life, liberty, or property without due process
of law
Protection against self-incrimination |
| Sixth
Amendment |
A
person accused of a crime has a right to a defense lawyer,
speedy and public trial, the right to hear charges, call witnesses,
and be present when witnesses speak in court |
| Seventh
Amendment |
The
right to trial by jury |
| Eighth
Amendment |
Protection
against excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments |
| Ninth
Amendment |
The
rights enumerated in the Constitution are not a person's only
rights |
| Tenth
Amendment |
Powers
not delegated to the U.S. nor prohibited to the states are
reserved to the states or to the people |
| Checks
and Balances |
|
Executive Branch
|
can
veto laws |
| can
call special sessions of Congress |
| controls
enforcement of laws |
| nominates
judges |
| can
pardon people convicted of federal crimes |
|
Legislative Branch
|
can
impeach President and other high officials |
| Senate
approves Presidential appointments |
| Senate
approves treaties |
| can
override presidential vetoes |
| exercises
power of the purse |
|
Judicial Branch
|
can
declare laws or presidential actions unconstitutional |
| lifetime
appointments |
|
|
