Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution 1787-1788 Pdf Summary
When the delegates left the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in September 1787, the new Constitution they had written was no more than a proposal. Elected conventions in at least nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify it before it could take effect. There was reason to doubt whether that would happen. The document we revere today as the foundation of our country’s laws, the cornerstone of our legal system, was hotly disputed at the time. Some Americans denounced the Constitution for threatening the liberty that Americans had won at great cost in the Revolutionary War. One group of fiercely patriotic opponents even burned the document in a raucous public demonstration on the Fourth of July.
In this splendid new history, Pauline Maier tells the dramatic story of the yearlong battle over ratification that brought such famous founders as Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Jay, and Henry together with less well-known Americans who sometimes eloquently and always passionately expressed their hopes and fears for their new country. Men argued in taverns and coffeehouses; women joined the debate in their parlors; broadsides and newspaper stories advocated various points of view and excoriated others. In small towns and counties across the country people read the document carefully and knew it well. Americans seized the opportunity to play a role in shaping the new nation. Then the ratifying conventions chosen by “We the People” scrutinized and debated the Constitution clause by clause.
Although many books have been written about the Constitutional Convention, this is the first major history of ratification. It draws on a vast new collection of documents and tells the story with masterful attention to detail in a dynamic narrative. Each state’s experience was different, and Maier gives each its due even as she focuses on the four critical states of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York, whose approval of the Constitution was crucial to its success.
The New Yorker Gilbert Livingston called his participation in the ratification convention the greatest transaction of his life. The hundreds of delegates to the ratifying conventions took their responsibility seriously, and their careful inspection of the Constitution can tell us much today about a document whose meaning continues to be subject to interpretation. Ratification is the story of the founding drama of our nation, superbly told in a history that transports readers back more than two centuries to reveal the convictions and aspirations on which our country was built.
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RatificationRatification: The People Debate the Constitution 1787-1788 Review
5.0 out of 5 stars How the Constitution Was Ratified
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2022
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The author, a historian at MIT, presents an exhaustive study of the ratification of the Constitution. The Constitution was drafted in the summer of 1787 and then sent to the states. It had to be ratified by nine states to come into effect, but opposition was strong. Many — especially small farmers — felt that the Constitution created an excessively power national government. These critics of the Constitution — the Anti-Federalists — worried particularly about the national government’s ability to (1) interfere in how states set up and ran elections, (2) directly tax individuals, and (3) establish a standing army in peacetime. Further, many Anti-Federalists worried about the lack of a bill rights in the Constitution, which left rights (such as a jury trial in civil suits, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.) in jeopardy.
Through a mixture of political chicanery and persuasion, the supporters of the Constitution — the Federalists — managed to get every state except North Carolina and Rhode Island to ratify the Constitution. However, to get necessary support from Anti-Federalists, many of the ratifications came with the explicit expectation that the first Congress would draft amendments to the Constitution.
Once in power, the Federalists avoided the amendments that they thought would weaken the government — in particular, the amendments that would have required the national government to rely on the states to levy taxes. But other amendments — those that protected freedoms — were less threatening to the structure of government. Thus, in autumn 1789 Congress sent twelve amendments to the states. Ten of these amendments were ratified by the requisite 3/4 of states by 1791, and one of the twelve was ratified 200 hundred years later. The first ten Amendments would become known as the Bill of Rights, roughly 100 years after their ratification. And roughly 150 years after their ratification, the Supreme Court held that another amendment — the Fourteenth — had largely incorporated the Bill of Rights against the states.
Thus, by the mid-20th Century, the Constitution that was drafted in 1787 had taken on its contemporary form.
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read in order to understand the ratification process of the Constitution
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2013
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With the current political rhetoric continually referring to the creation of the United States and the government under the Constitution, attention needs to be paid to the ratification process. Since Constitutional originalists insist on purity in their concept of what the Constitution means, it is only right to study how the Constitution was created. To that end, the ratification process is just as important to that issue as the Constitutional Convention itself. The Convention was only one phase of the process of changing the government of the United States. Getting the Constitution ratified was the second part and as the documents of the past show us, far more difficult than the creation was.
Pauline Maier, the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of American History at MIT has written what is the most exhaustive examination of the ratification process to date. Utilizing records from the conventions and state legislatures, private letters from delegates, and newspaper accounts she has reconstructed what took place at the conventions and more importantly, why events occurred as they did. The result is a very detail oriented book that explores what the men who attended the conventions were thinking as well as the factions in the states that were for and against ratification. She makes it perfectly clear that ratification was not a slam dunk affair, but instead a very iffy proposition that came very close to failing.
We know today that eleven of the thirteen states ratified the Constitution and commenced operating under it in March of 1789. What most people do not know is that this almost did not occur. Quite possibly a very different national history could have transpired, potentially one that created multiple nations instead of the America we know today. The Constitutional Convention was not employed to create a totally new government, and Congress could easily have decided not to send the proposed Constitution to the states for their legislatures to decide upon calling for a ratification convention or not. However, Congress did decide to send it on as they deemed it was legal to do so under the Articles of Confederation. Had they thought it was not legal, they certainly would not have done so.
Once the states received the Constitution with its proposed national government, the legislatures had to decide whether they should call for a ratification convention or not. One state, Rhode Island, decided not to do so and its legislature voted against ratification. The rest of the states did call for conventions and set forth voting parameters and delegate qualifications. Maier covers this as the process was important and resulted in delegates being elected on the basis of being for or against ratification while in some states a great many were elected because they had not made up their minds and wanted to do so at the convention based on what they learned. Maier also reminds us repeatedly that this was the late 18th century where communications were only as fast as a horse could carry a rider. She also points out how unusual it is to modern readers that delegates in that era were elected to make up their minds later when they went through the information instead of staking out a position one way or the other in many cases. The contrast between that idea and today’s election process stands out.
Maier covers each convention in the order they happened. While some conventions were smaller and a large majority predisposed for ratification, important questions were asked. Maier points out the basic arguments which were brought up in each convention as well as the defenses which countered them. She also addresses where deviations from the discussion took place and why. She does not invent an interpretation, but rather relies on solid work with primary source documents to construct her interpretation of the process. While some states had sparse records of their conventions for political reasons, Maier dug up additional sources which show there was a solid core of opposition in most states. She delves into the background of the prominent delegates who took part in the process, but she also brings many of the minor delegates to the forefront, men who could be considered as minor Founders. These delegates played a role albeit secondary to the main figures, but still important as in a few states the voting came down to several men who either switched their votes from their original positions or made up their minds on the last day.
Maier’s book contends that while the Federalist Papers were written during this period, their impact on the various conventions was slight. She refers to it in explaining what James Madison, John Jay, or Alexander Hamilton thought of the Constitution, but does not use it as a means of explaining what everyone thought. In fact, she goes to great lengths to show that there were many different opinions on both sides of the argument and that even the men who signed the Constitution at the Convention had differing opinions on most of the articles in it. This is important because the concept of originalism is dependent upon the idea that the Founders were in agreement on what they were doing. The complete opposite is true. Often they agreed that something needed to be done in a certain way, but they disagreed on why it should be done.
All in all, this is an outstanding book for any student of the Constitution to read. Readers will finish it with the realization that ratification almost failed. They will also emerge knowing that unlike today’s politicians who continually fight and work to impede the progress of legislation that has already been made law, the men of the ratification conventions worked to create a national government regardless of how they voted at the conventions. They worked together once the votes were finished in order to create a more perfect union. They disagreed on many issues, but once the voting ended they abided by the results and worked to make things better. Maier shows this result as well as how each person’s individual beliefs and personalities influenced each other. Many historians of this period remark on this as well.
This book is highly recommended for students of this era as it is quite informative in explaining how the Constitution became the frame for the new national government and why certain events occurred as they did. Quite often the personalities of the people played important roles in those events. The example of James Madison barely being elected to the first House of Representatives is a good example of how personalities clashed over ratification. Also, the fact that George Washington favored ratification and the fact that practically every delegate assumed that Washington would serve as the nation’s first president is brought up in several chapters. In the end, that could have been one of the factors that changed a few delegate’s minds about ratifying the Constitution. As stated earlier, Maier’s depiction of the events brings them to life and makes the participants human. That in turn makes this book a great read and a worthwhile addition to any history scholar’s library.
About Pauline Maier Author Of Ratification Pdf Book
Dr. Pauline Maier Author Of Ratification Pdf Book was a historian of the American Revolution, though her work also addressed the late colonial period and the history of the United States after the end of the Revolutionary War. She was the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of American History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Maier achieved prominence over a fifty-year career of critically acclaimed scholarly histories and journal articles. She was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and taught undergraduates. She authored textbooks and online courses. Her popular career included series with PBS and the History Channel. She appeared on Charlie Rose, C-SPAN2’s In Depth and wrote 20 years for The New York Times review pages. Maier was the 2011 President of the Society of American Historians. She won the 2011 George Washington Book Prize for her book Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788. She died in 2013 from lung cancer at the age of 75.
Ratification Pdf, Paperback, Hardcover Book Information
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster (October 19, 2010)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 608 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0684868547
- ISBN-13 : 978-0684868547
- Item Weight : 1.9 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.7 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #929,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #499 in Constitutions (Books)
- #2,066 in U.S. Revolution & Founding History
- #22,780 in World History (Books)
- Customer Reviews: 4.6 out of 5 stars 203 ratings
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