UNIT III
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UNIT II
FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Lesson 8
What are the main arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution?
SS.7.C.1.8 Explain the viewpoints of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists regarding the ratification of the Constitution and inclusion of a bill of rights.
Source
Adapted from a lesson by the Bill of Rights Institute at
Overview
The debate over the Bill of Rights was not an argument over whether rights exist, but about how best to protect those rights. The Founders disagreed about whether a bill of rights was necessary, and whether it could be effective. Current and future generations continue to face the challenges of safeguarding individual rights.
Objectives
• Students will explain the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists regarding the Bill of Rights.
• Students will identify continuing controversies regarding appropriate powers of government versus individual rights.
• Students will analyze the implications of Federalist and Anti-Federalist positions.
• Students will participate in civil discourse concerning the Bill of Rights.
Time
• One 50 minute class period
Passport Vocabulary
• Federalists
o Advocates for ratification of the Constitution and for a strong centralized government.
• Anti-Federalists
o People who were against ratification of the Constitution because they thought it gave too much power to the federal government and did not protect the political rights of the people (because it didn’t have a bill of rights).
• Ratification
o Formal approval of the Constitution by the ratifying conventions held in each state.
Strategies
• Critical reading
• Venn diagram
Materials
All materials for this lesson are located in the Bill of Rights Institute Worksheets (see PDF file with this lesson).
• Copies of “Background Essay,” 1 per student
• Copies of “Understanding Positions of Federalists and Anti-Federalists” worksheet, 1 per student
• Copies of “Federalists and Anti-Federalists” Venn Diagram, 1 per student
• Copies of “Classifying Quotes” worksheet, 1 per pair of students
• One copy of “Primary Passage Quotes” for display around the classroom
Activities
Background/Homework:
1. Assign the Background Essay, “Why a Bill of Rights? What Impact Does it Have?” for students to read prior to class time. Along with the essay, give students Understanding Positions of Federalists and Anti-Federalists to fill in as they read.
2. Before class, print out Primary Passage Quotes, laminate them, and tape them up around the room.
Warm-up:
3. Divide students into pairs or trios and ask them to share their homework chart responses and compare their answers.
4. Then distribute Federalists and Anti-Federalists Venn Diagram to students and instruct them to work with their partner or group mates to fill it in.
5. When students finish, go over the diagram as a class and answer any questions.
Activity:
6. Have students walk around the room with a partner and read each of the quotes. Each pair should have Classifying Quotes. Each pair should discuss each quote and decide whether it represents Federalist or Anti- Federalist beliefs. They should then circle “F” or “AF” beside each number on their paper as they walk around the room.
7. After everyone has finished, discuss each quotation as a class and reveal who the speaker in each case is.
8. Wrap up by asking students about a time when they either experienced their own rights being abridged, or witnessed this happen to someone else. How did this make them feel? What was, or should be, the government’s role in protecting everyone’s rights?
Extension Suggestions
Have students choose one quote from the quote cards and write a two to three paragraph essay either supporting or refuting its position.
OR
Ask students to choose one Federalist or Anti-Federalist thinker and assume their persona. Have them compose a one-page persuasive speech he might have given about the Constitution and whether it should be ratified as is, ratified with conditions, or not ratified.
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TEACHER CONTENT KNOWLEDGE RESOURCE
UNIT II
FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Lesson 8
What are the main arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution?
SS.7.C.1.8 Explain the viewpoints of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists regarding the ratification of the Constitution and inclusion of a bill of rights.
Passport Vocabulary
• Federalists
o Advocates for ratification of the Constitution and for a strong centralized government.
• Anti-Federalists
o People who were against ratification of the Constitution because they thought it gave too much power to the federal government and did not protect the political rights of the people (because it didn’t have a bill of rights).
• Ratification
o Formal approval of the Constitution by the ratifying conventions held in each state.
This document addresses the following issues:
1. Key arguments favoring the new federal Constitution
2. Key arguments opposing the new federal Constitution
3. How the Bill of Rights was viewed as the compromise between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists
4. The Bill of Rights (text and graphic)
1. Key arguments favoring the new federal Constitution
The group that favored the new federal Constitution was called the “Federalists”. They made the following arguments favoring the new federal Constitution:
a) The separation of powers and checks and balances system protected the people. No
one group could control the other two.
b) The Constitution lacked a specific enumeration of rights. This approach actually
protected the people because a list of protected rights might suggest that rights that were not on the list could then be violated.
c) The Constitution would more closely unite the states as one nation.
d) A strong central government would foster the commercial growth of the new country.
2. Key arguments opposing the new federal Constitution
The group that opposed the new federal Constitution was called the “Anti-Federalists”. They made the following arguments against the new federal Constitution.
a) The Constitution gave too much power to the national government at the expense of
the state governments.
b) The Constitution lacked a specific enumeration of rights which was needed in order to
protect the people from the national government.
c) The national government would be allowed to maintain an army in peacetime.
d) The “necessary and proper” clause (also called the “elastic clause”) gave too much
power to Congress.
e) The executive branch held too much power.
f) The new constitution created a new and untested form of government
g) The method selected for ratifying the Constitution violated the Articles of Confederation
h) A country as large as the United States could not be controlled by one national government
3. How the Bill of Rights was viewed as the compromise between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists
The most effective argument presented by the Anti-Federalists was the lack of a specific enumeration of rights. The American Revolution, in which the American people had fought to defend their rights, had ended just 10 years earlier, and remained fresh in the minds of Americans. Americans feared that the newly formed and empowered national government might withhold those rights. The lack of a bill of rights became the centerpiece of the Anti-Federalists’ arguments against the new federal Constitution.
Article VII of the new constitution required that nine of the existing state legislatures ratify the document. This meant that several state governments, elected under a state-centered political system, had to be convinced that a shift in power to a shared system was in their best interests. The Anti-Federalists could take advantage of these circumstances, as it was the original purpose of the Second Continental Congress that began in May 1787 to retain the Articles of Confederation and the result of that process a federal system. Put another way, most current state legislators expected that the Articles of Confederation would be retained, and likely supported the system, at least in principle. Anti-Federalists could capitalize on these state legislators’ concerns.
Concerns about a shared power system were especially experienced by farmers and tradesmen who were less likely to be a part of the wealthy elite that was overrepresented at the Second Continental Congress. The most vocal Anti-Federalists included Patrick Henry, an American Revolutionary War hero who is best known for the phrase “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” who later served as Governor of Virginia, and George Mason, another Virginian and American Revolutionary War hero who later served as a delegate to the Second Constitutional Convention.
While the first nine states ratified the new Constitution in 1788, within the first nine months of its completion in September 1787, it was not until 1790 that Rhode Island agreed to support the new document. Still, the Anti-Federalists’ concerns did have an impact, as in 1791, state legislatures voted to add the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. These 10 amendments are, together, called the Bill of Rights. Together, this means that the new federal Constitution was ratified without a bill of rights; soon after all states ratified the document, the Bill of Rights was added to the document. Both the Federalists’ desires for a federal system, and the Anti-Federalists’ concerns about the absence of a bill of rights, were both addressed by 1791.
4. The Bill of Rights (text and graphic)
First Amendment – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Second Amendment – A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Third Amendment – No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Fourth Amendment – The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment – No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Sixth Amendment – In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
Seventh Amendment – In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment –The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
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REFERENCES
Frohnen, Bruce, ed. The Anti-Federalists: Selected Writings and Speeches. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishers, 1999.
Hoffman, Ronald and Peter J. Albert, eds. The Bill of Rights: Government Proscribed. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia for the United States Capitol Historical Society, 1997.
Wills, Garry. Explaining America: The Federalist. New York: Penguin Books, 2001.
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