Saturday, August 8, 2020

The Constitution of the United States Part 10: "Ratification"

The last article of the constitution explains what's necessary to make it law. Until that point, the United States will still operate under the Articles of Confederation. The founders just fought an incredibly expensive and bloody war because they didn't want to be ruled by a tyrant. To live up to that basic principle, they insisted that their idea in self-governance by approved by those that they mentioned in the first three words, "We the People." 

Article VII lays it out simply:
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Nine of the original 13 States is what was needed to ratify. This number is not arbitrary. If you look back throughout the constitution, the fraction of two-thirds is used for many different things.

The Senate must vote two-thirds in order to convict an official on charges of Impeachment. In order to punish a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate, a vote must consist of two-thirds in favor. Two-thirds in favor of a vetoed law will override the President. The Senate approves treaties, ambassadors, and judges with a two-thirds majority vote. The same with introducing potential constitutional amendments. With the majority of two-thirds being present throughout the document, it made sense that once two-thirds of the states approved the constitution, it would become law. Also, the founders believed that even if the five biggest states chose to ratify or not, the five smallest states would still have influence over the process.

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names.

The first line here could easily be overlooked if we read too fast. It states that it had the unanimous consent of the states present. If you remember earlier in the series, we talked about how Rhoad Island boycotted the constitutional convention because they were afraid of giving the Federal Government and larger states too much power. Rhoad Island would eventually ratify the constitution, but they were the last of the original states to sign. 

The constitution was signed on September 7, 1787, by 38 of the 41 delegates present. Fourteen delegates had already left the convention before it was over. The three who refused to put pen to parchment were Georg Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.

On September 28, 1787, it was

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sent to the states for their debate and approval. There was a heated debate over the constitution. One of the biggest items that were fought over was the lack of a Bill of Rights. The scars of freedom were still fresh and citizens wanted to make sure that they never had to bow to a tyrannical government ever again. James Madison did not believe that a Bill of Rights was needed because he argued, why would free people vote their rights away? However, he did agree to a, "ratify now, amend later" proposal where they promised to add a Bill of Rights. 

Delaware was the first to ratify on December 7, 1787, with a vote of 30 for and 0 against.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey would ratify before the end of 1787, New Jersey unanimously.

In the first two months of 1788, Georgia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts ratified the constitution in their state conventions. Massachusetts was the loudest voice for a Bill of Rights and it shows in their vote to ratify: 187 for, 168 against.

Maryland ratified in April and South Carolina ratified on April 28, 1788. If your keeping track, that's eight. One more and the constitution will be approved. That would have to wait for over a month. 

Then it happened! On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire voted in favor of ratification 57-47. That officially ended the use of the Articles of Confederation and allowed the United States of America to start operating under the new constitution.

Virginia and New York would ratify before the end of 1788. 

North Carolina would not ratify until November 1789 and Rhode Island would end up rejecting the constitution 11 times before finally ratifying on May 29, 1790, by a vote of 34 in favor and 32 opposed.

Since June 1788 the Unites States has bee guided in their experiment of self-government by the greatest political document ever created. The United States has it's struggling, but it is always attempting to keep in mind those basic truths outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Truths that are not given by the government, but rather endowed on all humans by their Creator.  Truths such as freedom, liberty, and equal justice under the law. 

I hold these truths to be self-evident. 

Do you?



This concludes my 10 part series on the U.S. Constitution.


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Here is a link to the U.S. Constitution.


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Resources:

Hart, D., Bower, B., & Lobdell, J. (2002). History alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute.

Other various sources.







https://www.usconstitution.net/ratifications.html

https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2015/05/18/rogue-island-the-last-state-to-ratify-the-constitution/