Essay Sample on Constitution of the United States of America (1787)

The Constitution was signed in September of 1787 by 39 of the 55 delegates from the 13 colonies. The Constitution was made to give more power to the central government. Anti-Federalists like Patrick Henry were opposed to the idea of the government having more power, as they thought that it might lead to monarchy and menace civil liberties.

The Constitution was essentially a document created to try to resolve debt from the Revolutionary War. This document replaced the Articles of Confederation (1777), which were 13 articles that gave more power to the states. The problem with the Articles of Confederation was that the states were almost their own countries. This gave the federal government less power and opportunity to control the states. In May of 1787, delegates from the 13 colonies came together and composed a new system of government. This would result in the government having three branches; the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. The delegates also agreed that all the branches would have the same amount of power and authority. This convention would lead to the signing of the Constitution. 

When the Constitution was signed in 1787, 5 states had already ratified the Constitution. These states were Delaware, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Some other states like Massachusetts did not want to ratify the document because it lacked basic rights such as the freedom of speech and religion. In February, 1788, the congress agreed to amend the document in hope that Massachusetts and other states would ratify the document. Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina ended up signing the document, with New Hampshire being the final state to finalize the document. The congress then agreed that the Constitution would take effect on March 4, 1789. Shortly after, Virginia, New York, and South Carolina also ratified the Constitution. Rhode Island objected to ratifying the document because it did not yet abolish slavery. The government decided to threaten Rhode Island if it did not ratify the document, so in May, Rhode Island ratified the document. Rhode Island was the last and final state to ratify the document.

While the Constitution was being signed back in 1787, there were a group of people who strongly opposed the idea of the government having lots of power because of it threatening civil liberties. This group of people were called the Anti-Federalists. Some of the well-known Anti-Federalists were Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, George Mason, and James Winthrop. One famous quote opposing the Constitution was written by Samual Bryan; “If anarchy, therefore, were the inevitable consequence of rejecting the new Constitution, it would be infinitely better to incur it, for even then there would be at least the chance of a good government rising out of licentiousness.” This quote is saying that ----------------------------. Federalists like John Adams and Alexander Hamilton wanted a stronger government and felt that the Constitution did not need a Bill of Rights, while Anti-Federalists wanted a weaker central government and felt that the Constitution very much needed a Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists favored a Bill of Rights because they felt that it would protect individual’s freedom, and that citizens would know when their rights were being violated, broken, or threatened. The Federalists opposed that the Constitution did not need a Bill of Rights because, “the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government.” On October 2, 1789, President Washington decided to settle the argument by sending the states the 12 amendments, 10 of which became the Bill of Rights from three-fourths of the states ratifying them.