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Ratification of Constitution Essay

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The Constitution has been operative since 1789 after the ratification of nine states (American Vision and Values, Page 52). Today many question the relevancy of a document 222 years old to our society. The Founders created a governmental framework, defining three branches and giving powers to the government and others to the states. It also guarantees the rights of the people. It took two and one-half years for the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution. This ratification period was one of great debate and produced a series of essays complied into The Federalist. Authored by John Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay during the ratification debate in New York, they tried to get public support for the Constitution. Thus began the first …show more content…

To further strengthen the rights of the people, The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. With only the first ten amendments, it is no accident that two amendments, 9 and 10, specifically define the Constitutions purpose to protect rights, given to the government from the people; and the powers of the government are “only those delegated to it by the Constitution on behalf of the people” (Spalding, Page 145). Madison in Federalist No. 10 (Page 131) also supports the view of the Framers to have “great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures”. Madison expounds further in Federalist No. 39 (Page 135) about the constitutional limits of government to “certain enumerated objects only,” and the states being delegated the remaining “objects”. Federalism was created in the Constitution and while it seems a difficult concept U.S. Attorney General, Edwin Meese’s definition is very simply put “institution design was to divide sovereignty between two different levels of political entities, the nation and the states”. (American Vision and Values, Page 62). Moore goes further in support of originalism with examples of Jefferson, Madison, Crockett, Pierce and Cleveland vetoing or rebutting congressional bills

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