1. The “Founding Fathers” at the Constitutional Convention, 1787 Who is left out here? List as many as you can

2. The Constitution- who is left out? Only 6% of the population was able to vote at first White male property owners age 21 or older

3. The Constitution- who is left out? No landless men, women, African- Americans, or Native Americans could vote in 1789 No rights in society of the time, government seen as protecting the interests of “respectable” men

4. Ratification Social Contract: the people and states agree to a stronger central authority in exchange for giving up some power delegates submitted the Constitution to the states to vote to ratify or not 9 out of 13 of the states had to vote for it to ratify

5. Ratification Debates Federalists (usually wealthier, owned property) supported the Constitution Antifederalists opposed it for several reasons

6. Antifederalists Opposed Constitution because: (1) fear of centralized power (2) would take away states’ power, (3) did not include a Bill of Rights (4) such a large republic would not work

7. Federalist vs Antifederalist Economic differences between the two

8. One of the key questions in debates around the Constitution is how much power a central government should have. History is filled with examples of tyrants and kings abusing individuals and their freedom. Working in pairs or alone, Read through the “Ratification Debate Documents” on our class wikispaces page. You will each represent a Federalist perspective or Antifederalist perspective from the documents we have read. You may WRITE or DRAW how an individual from your side feels about this question of government power. Pick a person from one of the documents to represent. In representing someone from your side, what would he look like? What profession might he be or what area of the country would he come from? Be sure to include at least two specific pieces of evidence from the documents.

9. Ratification, 1788 Political cartoon from the Boston Intependent Chronicle June 12, 1788 Federalists promised to add a Bill of Rights to get states to agree Close votes in many states (MA 187- 168, 30-27 in NY, 57-47 in NH)

10. Constitution: a “living” document Constitution is easier to amend than the Articles of Confederation Both houses of Congress vote- if 2/3 approve, the amendment goes to state legislatures 3/4 of states (38) must approve for it to pass

11. Amendments Of 10,000 proposed, only 27 have passed First 10 are the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791

12. Expansion of Suffrage Men without property: 1830s under President Andrew Jackson African-Americans: 15th Amendment (1870) and renewed during 1960s Women: 19th Amendment (1920) Native Americans (1920s-40s)

13. Other Amendments Prohibition- 1919 (18th Amendment) Repeal of Prohibition- 1933 (23rd Amend.) Other proposals: right to healthcare, marriage only between a man and woman, eliminate restriction on President being native-born, remove citizenship from children of illegal immigrants