New Hampshire becomes the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land.
By 1786, defects in the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation were apparent, such as the lack of central authority over foreign and domestic commerce. Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new constitution, and on May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of debate moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution, which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.
Beginning on December 7, five states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut–ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July.
On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution–the Bill of Rights–and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.
And at that very moment it’s demise began.
The Constitution must have worked fairly well or they wouldn’t have needed to destroy it in the Civil War.
What is left out of this article is the fact that the “Constitutional Convention” is a myth. Congress was never given the authority to pen a “new” document. The original authority of the convention was to draft essentially a “Bill of (States) Rights” as an addendum to the original “Articles of Confederation”. This was the first successful ‘coup’ in the united states, the second was the civil war, which solidified the federal government as ‘supreme’ power and was the death of the US republic.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h368.html
This is when the lies began. Preceding George Orwell by 150 years, those who wanted to create an empire in north america termed themselves dishonestly as “federalists,” leaving the actual ones with no choice but to affix “anti” before it. Washington himself straddled the fence keeping some distance between both camps, but keeping close to both. Not being much of an intellectual himself, his ultimate choice was made not for philosophical reasons but political ones. In the end he adopted the federalist position because he thought the anti-federalists, led by Jefferson, were too enamored of France and allowed it undue influence over US policies. On the other hand, Madison, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, in later life switched sides and moved much closer to Jefferson’s positions.
I think history has shown the anti-federalists were right all along. The republic under the Articles might have grown into a monster itself, but it would have taken much longer.
We weren’t a Republic under the Articles of Confederation, we were, in effect. a small handful of independent nations in close proximity to each other with the Articles being a very loose alliance system between them that had no real power to do anything other than make suggestions that could just be ignored.
We became a united single Republic under the original Constitution for the United States of America.
” The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” (Benjamin Franklin)”
http://www.ourrepubliconline.com/Author/21
The term “United States of America” was coined under the Articles of Confederation. History is always (re)written by the victors. Try doing your own research (hint: many of the founding fathers, as well as other influential persons of the time, wrote prolifically.)
I’ve done research and ever posted a link for you to do the same.
The term “United States of America” appears in both the Articles and the Constitution as a title for the country, but is not what is being talked about here and does not of itself imply a Republic. The articles refer to it as a “Union”.
The United States was not a Republic under the Articles, it was, as I pointed out, independent governments in a loose alliance and friendly agreement with each other. There was no common form of government established for them (the States) and it was the Constitution that finally guaranteed them (the States) a Republican form of government.
Take your own advice and do some research, the information is readily available on line if you don’t want to travel to multiple libraries.
The main reason that the Constitution was brought about was that Washington and others lamented that the states completely ignored most of the Articles Of Confederation .
Shay’s Rebellion prodded this process along as well.
The Constitution would have worked if folks wouldn’t have allowed the Gooberment to expand their powers a 1000 fold via the Interstate Commerce Clause
“The Constitution would have worked if folks wouldn’t have allowed the Gooberment to expand their powers a 1000 fold via the Interstate Commerce Clause”
The Constitution was a 1000 fold expansion of GovCo. powers over the Articles of Confederation, they are just continuing the tradition.
“Washington and others lamented that the states completely ignored most of the Articles Of Confederation”
Yes, the intention was to bring the states to “heel”, and when that didn’t completely work the Civil War was kicked off the complete the process. (Hint: The Civil War had nothing to do with slavery, other than the fact that it exasperated the “state’s rights” versus GovCo. argument.)
con•stitution. rat•ification.
And thus the evil deed was done.