Question/Problem 5: How was the Constitution written and adopted?

Objectives

Description of lesson/activity

1. trace the drafting and ratification process of the United States Constitution.

2. defend a Federalist or Antifederalist view of the ratification debates.

3. explain why the Bill or Rights was added to the Constitution.

4. gather and organize information.

5. defend a point of view.

6. interpret and reword the Bill of Rights.

1. To take effect, the Constitution needed to be ratified by popularly elected conventions in nine of the thirteen states as specified by Article VII. At the beginning of this lesson, students should know that: the Constitution was drafted, not adopted, in Philadelphia; a two-step process (drafting then ratification) was required to adopt the Constitution (i.e., bring it into effect); and the process of ratification was set out in Article VII of the Constitution. Beyond this background students also need to know the following points.

Key points of ratification to stress with students:

• The ratification process was a political process with a principled reason and a practical reason for everything. Federalists and Antifederalists were skilled politicians as well as statesmen.

• The ratification was the second step of a two-step process. It was important to have two steps for good reasons and practical reasons:
  • According to republican principles, public decisions should be based on reason and reflection. (See the very first paragraph of The Federalist.) The ratification process would allow time for both. It would also involve more people. There were only fifty-five framers, but nearly 2,000 were involved in the ratification debate.

  • Federalists realized that they would need to involve the people and bypass Antifederalists who controlled many state legislatures if their Constitution was to survive.

  • Antifederalists also favored having a ratification process because they felt they were "closer" to the people and could persuade the people to vote against the Constitution.

• This was the first and, with one exception, the last time that the American people have had the opportunity to elect representatives for the purpose of deciding a specific constitutional question. The only other instance was ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment on whether to repeal the Prohibition Amendment.

• The ratification process had three political stages:

  1) Campaign politics in which Federalist and Antifederalist candidates debated and campaigned against one another. (It was during this stage that Alexander Hamilton persuaded James Madison and John Jay to co-author The Federalist papers to convince the voters of New York to elect Federalist candidates to the state ratifying convention.) Today, we teach students that The Federalist papers are the most authoritative statement on the intent of the Framers, but it is also important to teach our students that this document was political campaign rhetoric at its best.

  2) Election politics in which eligible voters decided who to elect to their state ratifying convention. Urban vs. rural, farmer vs. merchant, radical vs. conservative, east vs. west, all figured into the final election results.

  3) Convention politics in which smaller groups of elected representatives decided whether their state should ratify the Constitution. In this stage, elected delegates could begin to negotiate with one another behind closed doors yet in calmer surroundings.

• The substance of the campaign debate is very important. Students should know what the Antifederalists wanted (i.e., a loose federation of small republics with all of the values of small republic life). They need to understand that Antifederalists were for something as well as opposed to the Constitution as written. When Antifederalists realized they were fighting a losing battle, they concentrated on approving the Constitution with recommended amendments. And many of their recommended amendments served as the basis for our Bill of Rights.

• The result of the ratification debate was the approval of the Constitution and the drafting by the First Federal Congress of the Bill of Rights. Students should understand that something came out of all the talk on ratification. One of the reasons why we have a Constitution that has endured for over 200 years is that the winners listened, everyone was heard, and something was done about the Antifederalists' concerns.

2. Have students in groups make a timeline poster that gives a visual image to a long and deliberate process to adopt a new Constitution. Have students look for the dates of key constitutional events starting with the call for the Annapolis convention by the Virginia legislature on January 21, 1786, through the ratification of the Bill of Rights by Virginia on December 15, 1791. The teacher can decide on specific events or give students guidelines for choosing events. Patriotic symbols designed by students can flag key events (e.g., a quill pen for the start and end of the Constitutional Convention; a flag with thirteen stars for the last state to ratify). Groups should prepare notes as to why the key events on the poster deserve special flagging. Hang posters in classroom.

3. Have students walk around to view the posters and engage in informal discussion about the differences they see. In a large group, elected representatives of each small group can explain/defend why certain events were flagged. After studying ratification, students should come back to the timelines and discuss the importance of taking time to make important decisions in a deliberate manner.

4. Assign each group to prepare for a Federalist or Antifederalist position on one issue of the ratification debates. After each of the groups has presented arguments, have the entire class vote on whether to ratify the Constitution. Here are some of the issues that were important in the debate of 1787-88:

• Should the Constitution have a Bill of Rights?

• Should there be federal judges?

• Should Congress have the power to tax?

• Should members of Congress represent the average person or the best and brightest?

5. This activity will engage students in the amendment process. Students should have a copy of the Bill of Rights, preferably one on which they can write. In small groups they should read and discuss each of the amendments, using interpretations and text found in their textbooks and other sources the teacher may have. They should rewrite each amendment in plain English to aid understanding. Limit discussion according to time available.

6. Each group should then make a list of up to three changes they feel should be made in the Bill of Rights. They should present a short written defense of their choices.

7. To advise students on this Bill of Rights activity, the teacher should understand several basic points:

• The rights in our United States Bill of Rights are not "substantive rights" (like affordable housing, a meaningful job, or a good education). Rather they are "process rights" designed to provide every person with the opportunity to the pursuit of happiness without undue governmental interference.

• The Fourteenth Amendment incorporates most of the Bill of Rights as a protection against state and local government action.

• The U.S. Supreme Court has already expanded the original Bill of Rights by judicial review. (For example, the right to counsel now includes the right to be provided a public defender if the accused cannot afford his/her own lawyer.)

• History lives. In the 1990s, a college student in Texas who also worked for the Texas State Legislature organized a movement that persuaded the necessary number of states to ratify an amendment still pending before the states. That amendment was one of two in the proposed Bill of Rights that the states had never ratified. It requires two successive Congresses to authorize an increase in compensation to members of Congress, and it is now the Twenty-Seventh Amendment of the Constitution because one student dared to do it.