1 / 16

Chapter 7, Section 4

Chapter 7, Section 4. Ratifying the Constitution Many critics of the Constitution worried that it didn’t have a bill of rights. A Vigorous Battle. 9 out of the 13 states had to ratify the Constitution before it could go into effect

odette
Download Presentation

Chapter 7, Section 4

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Chapter 7, Section 4 Ratifying the Constitution Many critics of the Constitution worried that it didn’t have a bill of rights.

  2. A Vigorous Battle • 9 out of the 13 states had to ratify the Constitution before it could go into effect • Voters in each state elected delegates to met to decide whether or not to ratify the constitution

  3. Heated debate • Federalists: supporters of the Constitution • Antifederalists: opposed the Constitution

  4. Federalists • Favored a strong national government • James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote a series of essays called The Federalists Papers • Federalist papers defended the Constitution

  5. Antifederalists: • Opposed the Constitution • Felt it made the national government too strong and left the stats too weak • Constitution gave the president too much power

  6. Need for a bill of rights • Chief argument made by the Antifederalists against the Constitution was that it had no bill of rights • Federalists argued that the Constitution protected citizens without a bill of rights • Impossible to list all the natural rights of people

  7. Need for a bill of rights • Antifederalists argued that if rights were not written in the Constitution it would be easy to ignore them • Several states refused to ratify the constitution unless they got a firm promise that a bill of rights would be added

  8. The states vote to ratify • June 1788, 9 states had ratified the Constitution: the new government would go into effect • New York and Virginia, the two of the largest states had not yet ratified • Patrick Henry, (Virginia) strongly opposed the Constitution but Washington Madison and other Virginia federalist prevailed

  9. The states vote to ratify • NY ratified one month later Then North Carolina • Rhode Island was the last to ratify

  10. “We Have Become a Nation” • The nation celebrated the news that the Constitution was ratified • Americans voted in the first election under the Constitution • George Washington was elected president, John Adams was Vice President

  11. Adding a Bill of Rights • The first Congress turned its attention toward adding a Bill of Rights • Amend: change the Constitution

  12. The amendment process • An amendment is proposed • 2 ways • 2/3of both house of Congress can vote to propose an amendment • 2/3 of the states can request special conventions to propose amendments • The amendment must be ratified • ¾ of the states must vote for the amendment before it becomes part of the constitution

  13. The amendment process • In 200 years only 27 amendments have been approved • 10 of these amendments were added in the first years after the Constitution was ratified

  14. Ten amendments • Bill of Rights: first ten amendments proposed by the first Congress in 1789 • James Madison who wrote the amendments , insisted the Bill of Rights do not give Americans any rights they already have the rights listed in the amendments. • They are natural rights, they belong to all humans beings • The Bill of Rights prevents government from taking away these rights.

  15. Protecting individual rights • 1st amendment: guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly. • 3rd amendment: prevents Congress from forcing citizens to quarter, or house troops in their homes • Amendments 5 through 8 protect citizens accused of crimes and brought to trial

  16. Protecting individual rights • Due process: the government must follow the same fair ruled in all cases brought to trial • Trial by jury, defended by a lawyer, speedy trial • Amendments 9 and 10 limit the powers of the federal government to those that are specifically granted in the Constitution

More Related